Interest in Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gianluca Busio continues to grow, with sources confirming that Fiorentina, Manchester United and Inter Milan have engaged in varying levels of contact.

Sources confirmed a report from Italy that Fiorentina has made multiple offers in the $3 to $4 million range, while SKC's director of scouting Edward Burleson indicated Manchester United and Inter Milan had expressed interest. A club source added that the Red Devils were "kicking the tires" as it relates to the U.S. Under-17 international, while Inter's contact was preliminary as well.

SBI Soccer reported that Genoa was also prepared to make a bid for Busio, who holds an Italian passport, but a club source indicated that they have yet to receive an offer from the Serie A side.

Busio, 17, enjoyed a breakout season in 2019 with SKC after making his first-team debut in 2018. After logging just 153 minutes in 2018, the Greensboro, N.C. native played 1,012 minutes over 26 league and cup appearances this year, scoring three goals.

Busio was also part of the U.S. U17 side that qualified for the FIFA U17 World Cup. Though the U.S. was eliminated in the group stage, Busio scored the team's lone goal in its 4-1 defeat to Senegal.

Busio's contract expires at the end of the 2020 season, but Sporting does hold club options for the following two years.

Don't be surprised by Mauricio Pochettino's sudden departure from Tottenham Hotspur. The timing may have caught the football world on the hop, coming towards the end of an international break and the return of Premier League action just four days away, but the fault line between the club and the Argentine has been growing for months.

Pochettino's side-door exit from Madrid's Estadio Metropolitano, within an hour of Tottenham's Champions League final defeat against Liverpool in June, when he and his coaching staff walked through the media centre, past bemused journalists and straight for a flight to Barcelona, was a clear hint that all was not well at the London club. While the Spurs players gathered their thoughts and headed home the following day, Pochettino was already somewhere else. In the minds of many at the club, he'd checked out long before that 2-0 loss to Liverpool in the Spanish capital.

The 47-year-old had done little to dampen speculation linking him to vacancies at Manchester United and Real Madrid during the middle part of last season. While that was viewed within Spurs as both the nature of the game and a ploy that any leading coach would adopt, Pochettino's sustained refusal to rule out leaving the club at the end of last season was a cause for alarm and displeasure, both in the dressing room and among the hierarchy.

Spurs went into the Champions League final -- the first in the club's history -- with Pochettino repeatedly being evasive when asked if he'd still be in charge at the start of this season, with the former Southampton and Espanyol coach even admitting he would be "open to anything" when asked if he would considering leaving the club. When he confirmed, during Tottenham's preseason tour of Singapore in July, that he would probably have left his job had Spurs won the Champions League, the guessing game that was a distraction among the club's players, supporters and senior figures finally had its answer.

The seeds of disaffection that were sown in the weeks before Madrid began to emerge at the start of this season, too. Spurs have made a dismal start, winning just three of their 12 Premier League games so far this term as well as suffering a humiliating 7-2 defeat at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stages.

Pochettino had made it clear that he was no longer fully focused on his job at Spurs, so how could he be surprised that Christian Eriksen would not sign a new long-term contract or that the likes of Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose have since questioned their own futures at the club? Sources have told ESPN FC that Pochettino's methods began to grate with senior players, with one claiming privately that his demands on the training pitch would not be accepted by players at a "super club" like Real Madrid, Manchester United or Barcelona, because they were methods that would only be accepted by young players making their way in the game.

Perhaps there is an element of truth in that suggestion. Pochettino's undoubted success at Spurs was rooted in his ability to identify and nurture youthful talent in the shape of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Eriksen, Heung-Min Son, Harry Winks and many others. Once those youngsters became experienced players, the message needed to changed and finessed, but Pochettino chose to stick with what he knew best and in the end, Spurs have decided to change the messenger rather than wait for him to change the message.

Pochettino's time in charge has been transformative for Spurs, however, and history will judge him positively, as Spurs legend Gary Lineker suggested on Twitter in the moments following confirmation of the manager's dismissal. "Mauricio Pochettino has been sacked by @SpursOfficial. He helped the club to punch massively above their weight for years. Good luck with finding a better replacement... ain't gonna happen."

- Harry Kane wants to conquer Premier League... and then NFL

Spurs may not have won a trophy under Pochettino, but they have re-established themselves as a major Premier League force, become Champions League regulars and emerged from the long shadow of neighbours Arsenal in North London. All of that is down to Pochettino and his five years in charge -- 293 games in all competitions -- will be remembered for his exciting football, the Champions League final, four successive top four finishes and his ability to keep the team competitive while the club spent 18 months playing at Wembley while White Hart Lane was rebuilt.

Ultimately, he wanted what Spurs chairman Daniel Levy could not, or would not, deliver: funds to take the team to the next level. The rebuilding that Pochettino wanted to undertake this summer was only partially done and that's a big reason why the team now lies in the bottom half of the Premier League ahead of Saturday's trip to West Ham. But the rift had already begun to widen long before the start of this season. What has happened now is merely the inevitable conclusion.

Spurs will look to hire a proven manager, with the out-of-work Jose Mourinho available to start immediately and Leicester City's Brendan Rodgers an option in the summer, if Levy chooses to make an interim appointment in order to wait for the former Celtic and Liverpool manager. As for Pochettino, Real and United remain his likeliest next destination, with both Zinedine Zidane and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer struggling to live up to expectations at the Santiagio Bernabeu and Old Trafford respectively.

The only thing we know is that today has been coming. Pochettino had said and done too much for a parting of the ways not to happen.

Joe Root has urged Jofra Archer not to underestimate his talent when facing the new challenge posed by New Zealand conditions in the upcoming Test series.

Speaking at Mount Maunganui ahead of the first of two Tests, Root backed Archer's raw pace as a potential game-changer despite this being Archer's first Test series outside of England and with the red Kookaburra ball.

"Knowing Jofra, he wants to see the ball moving sideways," Root said. "But one thing he underestimates is his own talent sometimes and that pace through the air can be a quite a big skill in its own.

"I just want him to go and bowl and enjoy bowling, the different challenges that this part of the world will throw at him. I want him to come away from it learning there is more than one way of taking 20 wickets, he doesn't have to be seaming or swinging it round corners, we've already seen hostile spells of bowling. Can he tailor that to these conditions? And make sure that he's grown his wealth of knowledge on these types of pitches.

"He makes it look ridiculously easy with his action and the way he approaches the crease, the nature of his style … but to be able to bowl at that pace for a period of time is a skill in itself and I think he needs to understand that."

Archer admitted in his Daily Mail column recently that he had never bowled with a red Kookaburra before the warm-up games in New Zealand and he was underwhelmed, saying, "it doesn't hold its shine and gets very old, very fast".

The pitch appeared a little green on Tuesday, two days out from the toss, although it was expected to deteriorate somewhat and offer more in the way of spin with Root already observing changes during the course of the day.

"It's actually changed [in colour] quite drastically since this morning," he said. "It will be interesting to see how that continues until the start of the game. There's quite a lot of grass on it so am pretty open-minded about what to expect. I'll have another look in the morning."

ALSO READ: Five questions for England in New Zealand

Root also said that while he wanted Archer to develop his learning curve after playing four Tests so far - all of them during the Ashes - the England captain was still working out how to get the best out of his burgeoning fast-bowling star.

"One thing I have learned is that he has a huge hunger for wickets," Root said. "He wants to be in the game and once you get the ball in his hand and he feels like he has something to offer, a bit like Jimmy [Anderson], he can be very hard to get it off.

"It's a great trait to have and over this next period it's about trying to manage that carefully, sensibly, to get the most out of him in that moment but also the longevity of a young man's career who has that ability to change a game - you want him to bowl as many spells as possible over 90mph, not one a series or once in a blue moon. That's something over time we'll get better at."

On the other hand, Root has the vastly experienced Stuart Broad to call upon within a pace attack also including Sam Curran and Ben Stokes.

"He has a wealth of knowledge in this part of the world, got a fantastic record with the new ball," Root said of Broad. "He did well on the last tour - got five in one of the innings and caused a lot of problems. He's full of confidence, and has got that in the back of his mind, and you always feel like he's someone you can go to for control at different points throughout the game."

Broad claimed 6 for 54 and 2 for 72 in the drawn second Test in Christchurch in 2018, the most recent of his seven Test appearances in New Zealand.

The first Test, starting on Thursday (10pm Wednesday UK time), marks England's first with new head coach Chris Silverwood at the helm after he was promoted from his post as bowling coach to replace Trevor Bayliss at the end of the Ashes in September, with the express mission of regaining them in Australia during the next edition in in 2021-22.

"It's married up nicely with him coming in as coach and does give that fresh feel, fresh start to the next couple of years," Root said. "It's a good chance to see where we're at, more than anything, and for us as a bowling group to be quite creative and do things slightly differently to how we've done it before. And to grow as a side, come up with different ideas of how we're going to get wickets when it does go flat."

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford told reporters Tuesday that he deleted his social media accounts after receiving death threats and vulgar messages regarding the Nittany Lions' first loss of the season, to Minnesota this past Saturday.

"I usually delete it closer to games, but I completely deleted it after the Minnesota game," Clifford told reporters. "It's kind of sad to say, but you know how fans sometimes get ... it gets a little crazy. I was kind of, I guess, sick and tired of getting death threats, and some pretty explicit and pretty tough-to-read messages."

Despite having an excellent season overall, Clifford threw three interceptions in the 31-26 loss to Minnesota, which apparently upset some fans who then took to social media to voice their displeasure.

Penn State coach James Franklin said he was involved in the issue and was there to give Clifford support, as he would with any of his players in a similar situation. After learning about the incident, Franklin made comments in his media availability thanking the loyal and positive fans, which was a not-so-subtle dig at the fans voicing negative comments.

"I don't know where we are as a society, it's concerning," Franklin said. "We're 9-1, we're ranked in the top 10, I think. We've had a pretty good year based on most people's standards, and sometimes you go on social media and you wouldn't feel that way."

Franklin recalled having death threats centered around former Penn State kicker Sam Ficken and noted that it's not just the Penn State fan base doling out trolling comments and over-the-line messages.

"You hate to see it, but the sad thing [is] it's a part of our reality of our society right now," Franklin said. "You see that in a lot of areas; the last thing I want to do is get into other things besides football right now, but you see a lot of things that are behaviors in our society now that we accept that I don't know why we're accepting. You see some things from a violence perspective, you see some things that people in positions how they're conducting themselves, just a lot of things that we're accepting in our society that we would never have accepted before."

Although Clifford deleted his social media accounts, he said he has not let the negative comments deter him or tarnish his thoughts about this season and himself.

"You learn how to deal with certain things and how certain people are just gonna react because, you know, it's a very passionate game with a lot of passionate people," Clifford said. "Our fans are definitely one of if not the most passionate in the country. I just try to stay away from it. I appreciate all of the positive people that are around, but there's also people that try to tear you down.

"It's always just been better to keep your head away from that kind of stuff."

This edition of the NBA mailbag features questions on RJ Barrett's minutes load, a hypothetical West-East move and pick-sixes in the NBA.

You can tweet your questions using the hashtag #peltonmailbag or email them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Do we have evidence on the impact that big minutes have on young players? People seem hysterical about the minutes RJ has played, as if he's a high-school pitcher who was left on the mount for 135 pitches.

— Paul Theiss (@PaulTheiss) Nov 3, 2019

The furor over the heavy workload for No. 3 overall pick RJ Barrett erupted after he played 41 minutes, including seven in the fourth quarter, during a 21-point loss to the Sacramento Kings on Nov. 3. Following the game, New York Knicks coach David Fizdale pushed back on a question about Barrett's playing time.

"We've got to get off this load management crap," Fizdale said. "Latrell Sprewell averaged 42 minutes for a season. This kid is 19. Drop it already."

The funny thing about the outcry is that Fizdale did almost immediately cut Barrett's minutes, possibly because he has been less effective following a fast start. After playing at least 39 minutes three times in New York's first seven games, Barrett hasn't played more than 35 in any game since.

So while he still is high on the leaderboard for minutes per game during a season concluded at age 19, no longer is he ahead of everyone but LeBron James.

Adding in seasons begun at age 19 offers the second years for James and Dwight Howard at 42.4 and 36.9 minutes per game, respectively, as well as Lamar Odom and Andrew Wiggins each playing more than 36 MPG. But no matter where you set the bar, it's certainly atypical for a teenager to play as much as Barrett had been early in the season. And that was true even a decade ago at the dawn of the one-and-done era, long before NBA folks were using the phrase "load management."

Fizdale's choice of Sprewell as a comparison was an unusual one given that, at the same age, Sprewell still was playing in obscurity as a sophomore at Three Rivers Community College. After two years at Alabama, Sprewell made his NBA debut at age 22 and still averaged fewer MPG (35.6) as a rookie. It wasn't until turning 23 that Sprewell's workload grew to a league-high 43.1 MPG in 1993-94. So I'm not sure Fizdale's example tells us much about how many minutes Barrett is playing at age 19.

Unfortunately, given the small sample size of predecessors for Barrett, it's tough to draw any real conclusions here. In the 2011 Pro Basketball Prospectus, I studied how players with high minute totals early in their career developed and found they tailed off earlier than their low-minutes peers. However, that study contrasted players who either entered the NBA out of high school or were one-and-done in college like Barrett against those like Sprewell who reached the NBA later. It doesn't necessarily tell us much about the extra handful of minutes per game Barrett was playing early in the season.

I think Fizdale is right to show more caution. The benefit of playing Barrett extended minutes, occasionally in garbage time, doesn't seem to be worth whatever risk does exist of hampering his performance down the line when the Knicks can make better use of it.

And the fact that so few players have played so much as teenagers is evidence in and of itself. Obviously, a lot of them weren't good enough to merit so much playing time, but the likes of Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and Karl-Anthony Towns didn't play this much, even as teenagers who were as effective as Barrett or more so.

Still, if you're looking for evidence that high minute totals early in a player's career hinders him, I don't think there's much out there.

"If the NBA were to expand with two teams in the Western Conference, which team should move to the East?" -- Matt

First, I like this hypothetical, which doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon. Second, my answer to this question has always been the Minnesota Timberwolves, but additional research changed my mind.

My logic was that Minnesota's nearest neighbors are all in the Eastern Conference. Going by the website distancecalculator.net, the five closest NBA cities to Minneapolis (Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto) are all in the East. By contrast, the Memphis Grizzlies have five West rivals (Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and San Antonio) closer than the nearest West city to Minneapolis (Oklahoma City).

However, when you look at all other current NBA cities, it becomes clear that the Grizzlies would see a greater travel benefit from moving to the East than the Timberwolves. Memphis is an average of 1,071 miles from the other 14 West cities (counting L.A. twice), as compared to 1,143 for Minneapolis. But Memphis is far closer on average to the 15 East cities (counting New York twice) at 706 miles to 869 from Minneapolis. So the net travel benefit of moving Memphis from West to East (365 fewer miles to the opponents the Grizzlies would play more frequently) is greater than for the Timberwolves (274 fewer miles).

The fact that the Grizzlies get to play their nearer division rivals slightly more frequently than the more distant teams on the West Coast probably cuts into that difference a little; but presumably if we're expanding, the schedule will change to some extent, too.

"There has been discussion about the tolls on teams reaching the NBA Finals consecutively for years, most recently the Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat championship teams. If the tolls are indeed as big as some of the arguments implied, I wonder what would have happened had Michael Jordan not retired in 1993 (the Chicago Bulls got a break as a result). Would the Bulls have faced similar issues (and been unable to get six championships)?" -- Sam L.

Let's take a look at the history of teams reaching the NBA Finals in consecutive years since the ABA-NBA merger, something I first wrote about when I incorrectly picked against the Heat making the 2014 Finals:

Teams that reached the Finals for the first time the previous year have gone back nearly 40% of the time over that span. That increases to 58% chances of returning a third time for back-to-back finalists, which makes sense given the higher bar to get there. Things then drop from there to 45% for teams trying to make a fourth consecutive Finals appearance. (Those chances used to be much lower before it happened three times in the past decade.) Only the Warriors last season had gone five consecutive years since the Bill Russell Boston Celtics.

It's a little tough to separate these stats from the natural aging progress and regression to the mean, but the particularly low rate of teams going five times in a row -- and the way Golden State splintered thereafter due to free agency and injuries -- does seem to suggest the odds were against Chicago going to eight consecutive Finals had Jordan never retired.

One issue that's tough to determine in this hypothetical is whether the Bulls would have experienced the same roster turnover they did in reality. When they won the 1996 championship, Jordan and Scottie Pippen were the lone players left from the 1993 team that completed the previous three-peat. Refreshing the role players around the stars helped Chicago stave off some of the fatigue related to deep playoff runs, and while Jerry Krause was going to bring Toni Kukoc over either way, I'm not sure the Bulls would have added starters Ron Harper and Dennis Rodman had they been coming off four or five titles in a row.

I'll give the last word to Steve Kerr, a key part of the rotation for Chicago's second three-peat, who spoke about this hypothetical with Bill Simmons on the B.S. Report back in 2013 before he left TNT to coach the Warriors:

"Sometimes people say to me, 'Gosh, if Jordan hadn't left, you guys would have won seven straight titles or eight straight titles.' I just laugh when people say that. I wasn't there for the first three, but after the second three, we were absolutely running on fumes. I think the reason we had that great stretch for the second three was because Michael stepped away from the game and recharged his battery and came back with a vengeance. But to do it over and over and over again like that, years in a row ... I think especially in today's era with so many games and so much pressure from the media and everything else, I think it's virtually impossible."

"Who leads the NBA in pick-sixes?" -- Nate

During the fall crossover between football and basketball season, it's worth considering the NBA's equivalent to a pick-six in football: a steal that leads immediately to a layup for the same player at the other end of the court. According to Second Spectrum tracking, here were the leaders in this category during the 2018-19 regular season:

This is an eclectic list that doesn't exactly match up with the leaders in total steals. Of the top 10 players in steals, just four (Andre Drummond, De'Aaron Fox, Paul George and Russell Westbrook) crack the top nine here. (Several other players were tied for 10th with 11 pick-sixes.)

The Celtics' wing duo was particularly effective at turning their steals into pick-sixes. Jayson Tatum ranked 48th in the league in total steals and Jaylen Brown 80th; more than one-sixth of Brown's steals were of the pick-six variety.

Alas, that might not be a repeatable skill. Tatum has just two pick-sixes this season despite increasing his steal rate. Kris Dunn leads the league with seven of them and Kendrick Nunn is next with six.

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez has been denied bail and is facing 21 additional felony counts from his alleged sexual assault of a minor.

The bail decision and announcement of additional charges were made at a Tuesday hearing in a Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, courtroom.

The new charges consist of 10 counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor, 10 counts of child pornography and one count of corruption of a minor.

Vazquez pleaded not guilty to the charges and his new attorney, Robert Wheelock, said he plans to defend Vazquez on the merits of the case, despite all the evidence presented against him.

Wheelock gave an indication while cross-examining a state trooper that he may present evidence that the alleged victim lied about her age and may have shown Vazquez a fake ID. Wheelock declined to elaborate or comment after the hearing.

Vazquez did not speak during the hearing. His only reaction after bail was denied was to audibly sigh.

Vazquez, who was arrested in September, faces multiple felonies in both Pennsylvania and Florida. He had previously been charged with three felonies in Pennsylvania -- statutory sexual assault of a minor 11 years or older; unlawful contact with a minor; and corruption of minors -- as well as one misdemeanor, indecent assault of a person less than 16 years old.

Vazquez, 28, told police in September that he had "sex but not really" with a then-13-year-old girl in 2017, according to a criminal complaint released by Pennsylvania State Police at the time. The state trooper who interviewed Vazquez in September said in the Tuesday hearing that Vazquez told him he had intercourse with the girl. Vazquez said he was only able to get the tip of his penis into the girl's vagina before stopping, according to the criminal complaint.

Police said Vazquez met the girl while he was in the bullpen at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Vazquez told police he communicated with the girl through text messages and social media and sent her nude photographs and videos of himself committing sexual acts, according to the complaint. Vazquez "claimed initially that he refused to communicate with her due to her age," saying the girl appeared to be 16 or younger, according to the complaint.

The girl, now 16, told police Vazquez drove to her residence in Scottdale Borough, Pennsylvania, about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, in August 2017. When Vazquez, then 26, arrived, the girl got into his car. She told police Vazquez placed her on his lap, removed her pants and tried to have sex with her. Vazquez then told the girl he had to leave because he had a game that night.

In Florida, Vazquez faces charges of soliciting a child for unlawful sexual conduct using computer services or devices and giving obscene material to a minor, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Vazquez and the girl maintained contact via text messaging when she moved to Fort Myers, Florida, according to the FDLE. The girl's mother found photographs allegedly sent from Vazquez on her daughter's device and sent a message to Vazquez informing him the girl was a minor. The mother also called police, spurring the investigation.

Florida law enforcement officials sought to extradite Vazquez but were denied in a separate Westmoreland County hearing Tuesday.

ESPN's T.J. Quinn contributed to this report.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said he believes the sign-stealing scandal that has engulfed the sport involves only the Houston Astros and that he can mete out discipline beyond the standard fine and draft pick penalties if necessary.

Speaking as the owners meetings began Tuesday, Manfred called the allegations of technology-driven sign-stealing by the Astros "the most serious matter." He said "it relates to the integrity of the sport" and promised "a really, really thorough investigation."

"Right now, we are focused on the information that we have with respect to the Astros," Manfred said after a tour of Globe Life Field, the Texas Rangers' new stadium set to open in 2020. "I'm not going to speculate on whether other people are going to be involved. We'll deal with that if it happens, but I'm not going to speculate about that. I have no reason to believe it extends beyond the Astros at this point in time."

Cheating accusations are commonly levied by teams against other teams in discussions with officials in the commissioner's office, although none had taken hold until former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers alleged the 2017 World Series champions used a camera feed near the home dugout to steal catchers' signs and relayed them to hitters by banging on a trash can.

Fiers' allegations prompted the league to open an investigation, which thus far has focused on the 2017 Astros but has included questions about more recent Astros teams, sources told ESPN.

The maximum penalties Manfred has handed out include a $2 million fine and docking of two first-round draft picks after a St. Louis Cardinals employee illicitly accessed the Astros' proprietary database, and a ban on international signings after an investigation into the Atlanta Braves' practices in Latin America.

MLB instituted new rules before the 2019 season in hopes of limiting stealing signs via technology, and the scope of Manfred's discipline could depend on the timing of any alleged wrongdoing.

"I'm not going to speculate on what the appropriate discipline is," Manfred said. "That depends on how the facts are established at the end of the investigation. The general warning I issued to the clubs, I stand by. It certainly could be all of those [past disciplinary actions], but my authority under the major league constitution would be broader than those things as well."

Manfred said he does not have a timeline for the investigation, but "I certainly would hope that we would be done before we start playing baseball again."

Discussion of the Astros, sources told ESPN, is expected to be a common topic at the owners meetings, which run through Thursday.

The fear among a number of top executives, sources said, is that the practice of technology-driven sign-stealing has become commonplace in the game and that the Astros' case will serve as a litmus test for Manfred's ability to clamp down.

"Any allegations that relate to a rule violation that could affect the outcome of a game or games is the most serious matter," Manfred said. "It relates to the integrity of the sport. In terms of where we are, we have a very active -- what is going to be a really, really thorough investigation ongoing. But beyond that, I can't tell you how close we are to done."

The European 5000m silver medallist on her training and life in athletics

AW: Tell us a little bit about your background. What you do off track and where you are based?

Eilish McColgan: I’m from a small golf town called Carnoustie in Scotland, but currently live in Manchester with my boyfriend, Michael Rimmer – although I spend a lot of my year away on training camps at altitude. I studied maths and accountancy at Dundee University before taking my athletics career full time. I also run an online coaching business with Michael – helping runners of all ages and abilities, across the world: see runningmadeeasy.co.uk

AW: How did you get started in athletics?

EM: It was my PE teacher who first entered me into the county cross-country champs. I absolutely loved it and although I didn’t win a medal I realised it was something I would love to do, so I begged my parents to let me join the local club, Dundee Hawkhill Harriers. I did everything at the club and actually started off in the high jump and javelin; my first Scottish youth medal was in the javelin! It wasn’t until I was around 15 that I decided to really start focusing on the longer events which were only 800m and 1500m at the time. I didn’t do my first 5000m until I was about 20.

AW: Have you any advice for young athletes and particularly females taking up athletics in terms of training and progression?

EM: To focus on yourself. I used to always come home from races, frustrated that I was only coming seventh or eighth … when other young athletes were setting fast times and breaking records. I wanted to be fast and to win medals. But I wasn’t. I’ll always remember my mum saying “focus on you” because some of these kids will be training too hard for their age and not make it into the senior ranks. Looking back now she was spot on. Everyone develops at different rates, so just because you’re not a successful junior doesn’t mean you can’t do it as a senior. I was 21 when I made my first ever GB team.

AW: What has enabled you to get through periods of injury and are there any things that you would do differently now in hindsight?

EM: I found other ways to keep my mind busy. I started aqua jogging instead of running and replicated all of my training in the pool. I then progressed gradually to the spin bike and finally to the cross trainer. Having these progressions set out allowed me to see the improvements I was making and kept me motivated.

I started a daily journal too – jotting down all my thoughts, which mentally allowed me to keep my thoughts in place. Looking back now, I needed more balance to my training and that’s why I no longer double-run and implement more cross training instead.

AW: What do you do to avoid injury?

EM: I have reduced my training load a lot. I only run 45-50 miles a week with a focus on quality track sessions every third day. I have a rest day every week and as mentioned never double-run. Instead 3-4 days a week, I’ll cross train easy. Training smarter has allowed me to stay injury free; sometimes less is more.

AW: What are your specific experiences of altitude?

EM: I train at altitude a lot. I’ve found that higher altitude, like in Kenya, is a struggle for me and it is usually 50/50 as to whether I run well when I return to sea level. However, 1800m definitely seems to be a workable height for me. I have to be really careful around travel days and races – making sure I really taper down otherwise I can end up very fatigued; it’s a fine line!

AW: Do you follow any particular nutrition plan?

EM: No, I just make sure I’m eating everything and covering all bases; loads of fresh fruit and vegetables. For females, iron is definitely important – especially with menstruation. I always make sure I’m supplementing with iron and eating iron-rich foods. Keeping a healthy weight is important too. Periods should be occurring monthly as it shows your body is healthy and functioning well. Keeping that balance is so important.

AW: What advice have you for athletes making the transition from the junior ranks?

EM: Perhaps some form of mentoring would be useful. I was fortunate to have my parents who were world-class athletes, so their advice kept me going through the tough times. They always drilled into me that being a successful junior athlete means nothing and that if you’re willing to work hard you can achieve your goals.

AW: Tell us about your current coaching set-up and who has coached you in the past?

EM: I’ve only ever had the one coach – my mum, Liz. She now lives in Doha, so we keep in touch over Whatsapp. She sends me through my schedule and we discuss training almost daily. I’m very independent so I just crack on and get the work done. My boyfriend is also a huge help – he’s the one on the ground timing me or pacing me in sessions. He also tries to come to the majority of my training camps.

Eilish McColgan’s training

Typical training in season

Monday: Easy 40min run (HR 140). Easy 40min spin bike (HR 130)
Tuesday: Easy 50min run (HR 140)
Wednesday: 5km based track session. Easy 30min cross trainer
Thursday: Easy 40min run (HR 140). Easy 40min spin (HR 130)
Friday: Easy 50min run (HR 140)
Saturday: 5km based track session. Easy 30min
Sunday: Easy 70min run (HR 140)

• During the off season sessions target 10km and all easy runs go up by a few miles to average out at about 50-55 per week.
*Sessions provided for illustrative purposes and reflect Eilish McColgan’s experience and training maturity

AW: What’s a typical weekly mileage for you?

EM: My mileage is low but that’s what works for me – purely because it allows me to stay injury-free. In the past, I’ve frequently had to spend 6-18 months out of the sport which is very difficult to gain back, so a 45-mile average works well and allows me to keep my sessions on the track at a high quality. I now work off a longer weekly cycle and don’t stick to the typical Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday training days. We have spaced things out a lot more and it seems to be working.

AW: What are your strengths and weaknesses?

EM: I definitely need to get stronger – both in the gym and endurance-wise. I’ve only really started looking toward the 10km but if I want to be competitive in that event I really need to improve my endurance; longer runs and longer sessions.

AW: Can you tell us about the value of training specifically to designated heart rate zones? Do you monitor sleep and recovery too?

EM: I use my Polar Vantage V to monitor heart rate (HR) on all easy runs and the cross trainer too. I know that if I keep it between 130-135 beats per minute (bpm) for me, it allows my legs to be fresh for sessions. If I’m working too hard, I’ll slow the pace down. Heart rate is a great indicator of fatigue or illness too. If it’s 10 beats higher than normal then I’ll make sure I adapt my training and even take the day off to ensure I recover quicker.

I use the new Polar Ignite to track sleep and recovery as it gives really in-depth information into how you’ve slept that evening. My recent results from a DNA test through DNA Fit showed that I was a light sleeper and the watch data backed that up – so, I’m getting a lot stricter about creating better sleep hygiene when going to bed in the evenings.

AW: What specific, if any, other physiological tests do you have over a year and how are they spaced out?

EM: None. I’ll have a blood test to check ferritin every three months as I’ve struggled with low iron in the past.

AW: Paula Radcliffe put a lot of her later success down to specific S&C and developing greater leg stiffness through weights and plyometrics, for example. Many runners shy away from weights, but what are your thoughts?

EM: It’s something I really need to start focusing on and an area I continue to neglect. This winter we will really be knuckling down to create a programme to make me more robust. It’s definitely an important aspect of every athlete’s training, but should never overtake the fundamentals of running either. First and foremost, running is priority.

At present I only really do a small rehab circuit … glute activations like crab walks, clams, donkey kicks. Then I use the weights machines for hamstrings and quads, plus a small core stability routine on the Swiss ball.