ATTEMPTING TO PEAK IN A TIME OF CHAOS
CORONAVIRUS CRISIS LEARMONTH CHASING PBs... AND ANSWERS
AS CONCERNED as Guy Learmonth may be about whether Tokyo 2020 will go ahead on schedule, it’s important to note that he is a lot more worried about the most vulnerable in society.
Even elite athletes, by definition the most extreme breed of one-note obsessives, find it impossible to ignore a real-world crisis.
Almost the first thing Learmonth said in conversation with
Sportsmail, for instance, was about his dad — a dentist who just happens to suffer from asthma — and the potential risks he had already faced.
These things obviously matter more than mere Games. Even those emblazoned with the Olympic Rings.
Yet the Scot is a professional runner. Someone whose life revolves around covering two laps of a 400-metre track very, very quickly.
And so Learmonth, a month short of his 28th birthday and hitting his absolute peak, is obviously following specific developments with particular interest.
Hardly reassured by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insisting that the Olympics will run as planned from July 24 to August 9, he has no option but to keep working as if that daydream stands a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming reality.
For someone whose training routine involves a lot of lonely running across a variety of distances, the practical impact of even a widespread shutdown isn’t the worst-case scenario; he laughs when talking about ‘jumping a few fences’ to gain access to his local running track should the gates be closed as a precaution.
But Learmonth offers up a fascinating insight into the havoc already wreaked upon athletics and athletes by the coronavirus crisis.
There’s the warm-weather training break in Lisbon cancelled on short notice. The acceptance that competing in the USA this spring, part of the planned ideal build-up to the summer season, will almost certainly fall through.
Incredibly, the opening Diamond League event in Doha is still on the official calendar.
But Learmonth finds it hard to believe that he will be taking part in that lucrative circuit curtain-raiser in just a month’s time.
Above all, just like everyone else not privy to government briefings from senior sources, athletes are completely confused by the variety of opinions being presented as hard fact.
‘I’ve still been smashing out PBs in training and I’ve never had any problem with motivation,’ said Learmonth.
‘But a lot is going through my head. Every hour, things are changing. And all athletes are in the same situation. A lot of athletes operate on four-year training cycles, looking to peak at the Olympics.
‘Since last year, I’ve been putting my body through absolute hell. I’ve been on a 1800-calorie deficit diet to shed some of the timber that I like to carry around most of the time!
‘So the stresses have been insane. But it’s all worth it for the Olympics. Athletes also have peak years. So having the Olympics knocked back for two years can make all the difference, depending on how old you are.
‘Yeah, this was going to be Laura Muir’s big year. And a lot of athletes will be in the same boat. The only positive is that, if the Olympics were pushed back to 2022, you would effectively have back-to-back Games just two years apart.
‘That would be something special for athletes to experience. And we’d hopefully still get the World Championships next year, maybe even a European Championships late this year.
‘The worst thing for everyone, not just athletes, is the complete information void at the moment.’
Unless and until someone says otherwise, the very best have no option but to carry on putting in the hardest of hard miles.
Experts at overcoming obstacles, athletes and their coaches may have to improvise a little more than anticipated. But they will find a way to keep the legs moving.
Learmonth, revealing how even his decidedly and deliberately low-tech approach to training has suffered, told Sportsmail: ‘I’ve grown up running around the streets, so that’s going to continue just as usual.
‘The gyms I normally use are now talking about shutting down, which is a concern. We converted one of the garages at my mum and dad’s house into a very basic gym. We call it the dungeon!
‘It has a bike and a couple of other things, just enough to do the most basic circuits. I also train up at Tweedbank (near Galashiels), on the track up there. When it was closed over Christmas, I’ll be honest, we just jumped the fence.
‘So, if it comes to the stage where the track is closed because of the coronavirus, we might have to jump a few fences again.
‘I was due to go to Lisbon soon for some warm-weather training. But I’ve been told that the entire centre, the track and everything, is shutting.
‘A lot of the British Athletics altitude camps have been cancelled.
‘I was supposed to be in Lisbon for two or three weeks. Then I had some races lined up in America.
‘Those races haven’t officially been cancelled yet but so much is off, big NCAA events, that they’ll definitely follow. And, even if they aren’t cancelled, I can’t get there because of the travel ban on flights from the UK to USA.
‘I was booked into the Doha Diamond League race on April 17. The flights and everything have been booked way in advance.
‘Everything I’ve been working on over the first part of the year, the whole indoor season, has been about peaking for Doha, so I can set the (Olympic) qualifying time, tick the box, get everything done nice and early in the season.
‘All I can do is keep training, keep
“A lot is going through my head. Every hour things are changing”
fit and play it all by ear. Being in Berwick, we’re kind of self-isolated as it is, I suppose.
‘I’m more worried about my dad, who is a dentist. He’s got asthma, so that’s where my real concern lies.
‘What is really annoying me is the number of athletes on Twitter speaking with the authority of Harvard professors, like they’re experts.
‘But more worrying is the folk who say they’re just carrying on as normal, because they’ll be fine.
‘I know I should be fine. But we should be worrying about the older people and those with medical conditions. We all have a responsibility to them.
‘The panic buying of soap and hand sanitiser is particularly baffling to athletes.
‘We live in fear of even a cold ruining a year of training, so we spend our entire lives cleaning our hands, applying the hand sanitiser regularly when travelling, taking our zinc and vitamin C.’
The new hygiene precautions likely to become part of daily life will be easier for some to take on board, then. In the meantime, well, everyone just waits.
Learmonth hopes some clarity will be provided in time, noting: ‘The Japanese PM didn’t fill me full of confidence.
‘I think we can expect more updates on that in the next few weeks. A lot of races are going to get cancelled or postponed. Then there are the travel bans. It’s all crazy at the moment.
‘Do you postpone the Olympics back to October, then cram all the Diamond League events into a two-month period?
‘Or do you push the Games back to 2022 and just say this year is a write-off?
‘Whatever the decision is, make it early. A last-minute call in June or whenever is going to be the worst thing.
‘The worry is that, if the Olympics does go ahead, nobody will be really ready for it. A decision has to be made by the IAAF.
‘Our Olympic trials are supposed to be in June. But, listening to what (Prime Minister) Boris Johnson was saying the other day, this thing is supposed to spike in May or June.
‘It’s not the most important thing in life. But I think everyone could do with some answers.’