Tom Jordan- Meet Director, Prefontaine Classic

“I think (Rupp) is going for the American record, and Solinsky wants to protect it,” Jordan said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if those two ran side-by-side for the entire race.” -Elite 10K race lures Solinsky

Don't forget Mo Farah and the 20 plus other African runners! start list

Chris Solinsky- 12:55!

Check out the candid post race interview with Chris Solinsky following a 5th place finish in Stockholm where he ran the second fastest 5000 ever by an American - Chris thinks he's go the same speed as the Africans, it's just that with a lap to go they are aerobic and he's anaerobic. He's knocking on the door.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Chris Solinsky in Sports Illustrated!

"If any one of us was to train the way he does, even for a week, we'd break down.'' - Simon Bairu, 2x NCAA cross country champion speaking about Chris Solinsky, a former teammate at Wisconsin. SI.com

Need some inspiration? Check out the article on Solinsky by Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated. My old college teammate, Donn Behnke, who coached Solinsky in high school, is even quoted!

I love it anytime runners gain national exposure, and Solinsky is deserving as anyone. What an amazing athlete!

Chris Solinsky- AMERICAN RECORD SUB 27:00 FOR 10,000!

Chris Solinsky of Stevens Point Wisconsin and former U of Wisconsin Badger became the first American in history to break 27 minutes for 10,000 meters, smashing the American record by 14 seconds at the Peyton Jordan Invitational Track meet at Stanford University (results).

Solinsky, normally a 5K runner that missed our 2008 Olympic Team (5th in the trials), said after the race he's been training with guys preparing for the New York Marathon- putting in plenty of hard, long distance threshold runs. After averaging 4:40 per mile on one particular 8 mile effort, Schumacher decided to enter him in the 10K instead of the 5. I believe this is Solinsky's first attempt at 10K on the track, and to set the American record is phenomenal.

Also in the race and receiving most of the pre race hype was Galen Rupp, a Nike teammate of Solinsky who is coached by Alberto Salazar (Solinksy is coached by Jerry Schumacher). Rupp finished 4th in 27:10 after hold the lead for several laps.

I don't know Galen, and I met Chris once (his high school cross country coach, Donn Behnke, was a teammate of mine at UW-Stevens Point).

I'll go out on a limb and say there is a bit of a rivalry between the two, and Chris has no trouble getting psyched to run hard against Galen Rupp.

Solinsky- 3:55 Opener!

Nike runner and former Badger from Stevens Point, WI opened up his 2010 season with an impressive 3:55.75 mile at the oversized indoor U. of Washington track. According to Chris, with the exception of 2 track workouts, all he's been doing is "base" distance work.

I recall back in my college days developing a huge distance base going into my last year preparing for the N.A.I.A marathon. Indoors, I managed to pick off 5th place in the 2- mile running 9:25 (very fast for me!)on nothing but distance work (OK I jumped in for a few 800s once a week but that was following a morning run and another 6-8 miles before practice).

One of our outdoor meets was Conference Relays, including a 4 x 1 mile, and somebody talked me into running a mile at UW- Eau Claire. I guess we must have been short-handed, because I was slow and never competed in such a short race in college. In what felt like a painful all out sprint I ran 4:30 to make the 4 man team, only to tie up and run a disappointing 4:35 relay leg when it counted.

Trust me when I say I was slow, but somehow I ran half way respectable off nothing but strength distance work. Not near Solinsky's level, but I know it doesn't take much speed to run a decent short race off huge volume and tempo. It will be interesting to see how he does this season- no secret Chris is on a mission to break 13 min for 5K, and he's off to a great start.

Will Solinsky or Tegenkamp Run Sub-13?

Has Dathan Ritzenhein awakened the Americans? Or maybe Jerry Schumacher is beginning to figure out that his athletes won't run fast if all they do is train then sit home and watch races on TV.

I'm mildly surprised that Chris Solinsky and Matt Tegenkamp are entered in the 5,000 meter run at the Belgacom Memorial Van Damme - ÅF Golden League track meet in Brussels. World record holder Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia is in the race along with 15 Kenyans. (Solinsky on Twitter- Big night tomorrow night. Race time 2:25pm central time catch it on www.universalsports.com. Great field, fitness, lets go get it done!!)

Unfortunately, according to the IAAF website, rain clouds are threatening and temperatures are dropping.

You can watch the meet live at universalsports.com starting at 1:50 pm EST today. World record holder Usain Bolt is running the 200 meters, with Tyson Gay in the 100. Nick Symmonds is in the 800. The US also has a team entered in the rarely run 4 x 1500 meter relay. Apparently teams are gunning for the world record of 14:38.8 set by Germany way back in 1977. On the women's side, American Maggie Vessey will be attempting to bounce back following her poor showing at the World Championships in the 800. Anna Willard, who recently broke 4:00 in the 1500 is also entered.

Chris Solinsky in Stevens Point, WI

This brings back memories! I may have run more miles in Stevens Point than Chris- I went to UW-Stevens Point in the 70s and lived there another 5 years logging many year round 70-100 mile weeks.

How Fast Will Solinsky Run?

Last year, I'd say I was definitely heavier. I've lost right around 10 pounds from last year, and I can tell. I feel a lot better. But obviously I'm a little bit bigger than my competitors, but in no way does that ever affect the way I approach the race. I kind of joked when I ran 13:12 a couple of years ago "yeah, I probably have the weight class world record -Chris Solinsky who attended Stevens Point Area High School in Stevens Point, Wisconsin runnersworld.com

MY COMMENT: I am guessing, but let's say Chris weighed 175 last season, and now he weighs 165. Running a 13:12 the prior season, his maximal oxygen consumption must have been around 80 ml/kg. Doing the math, at 175 he was able to process 6.36 liters of oxygen (80 ml x 79.5 kg). At 165 (75 kg), assuming he can process the same amount of oxygen (6360 ml), his VO2 (ml/kg) jumps to 84.8 ml/kg (6360/75). There are other factors involved such as running economy, environment, hydation, nutrition, etc. but a 6% increase in V02 is more than enough to improve a 5K by several seconds. If he has, in fact, lost 10 pounds, even if a couple of those are muscle, watch for a breakthrough.