It is an Olympic year. German will be there when it really counts, not when the snow is falling in New York City....
It is an Olympic year. German will be there when it really counts, not when the snow is falling in New York City....
Conto wrote:
At the end of the day, German's problems are clearly mental, not physical. So anyone who is saying he's burnt, clearly doesn't realize the talent and fitness that is required to coast to two top 11 NCAA cross finishes the last 2 years. That doesn't suggest someone who is physically fried.
Bottom line, he obviously can't deal with the pressure of being all alone on the track, with no where to hide. In cross he can chill in the pack, has the safety and comfort of CL and his teammates there. He can "run for the team" and doesn't have to be exposed, all alone, on a track. Many of us bashed Smith for holding German back in cross. I now think that he's probably quite smart for doing so. By holding him back, it kept the pressure off. Smith was doing it for German's mental well being... not because of some stupid pack-running/help your teammates philosophy. Without telling German to run for the team, he goes out for the win and is exposed... exposing OK State to a dnf or blowup.
I guess looking back... with the fall in cross country his freshman year, we can see the mental weakness/cracking from pressure from then. Its strange, because it "went away" that track season. One could argue that it didn't really go away, and he just wasn't stressed when he was winning miles by 10 seconds, or when he was part of the USATF 5000 where he had no expectations placed on him (so why would he buckle?). But then that doesn't hold any water what so ever when you consider his NCAA 1500 meter win.
I don't know what triggered it, but its obviously been there. He has hit a mental barrier. The best training he could have right now is mental training. Get that kid a good sports psychologist and you will see things turn around with no change in his training. Unfortunately, the mind is the hardest thing to overcome... hopefully he can do it.
Wow, you've got it all figured out!
Now, if you had posted this theory as speculation that would have been one thing. But instead you write, "German's problems are clearly mental", "he obviously can't deal with the pressure"...
Well, my friend, you clearly don't have any real idea what is going on and are obviously full of it.
l;jl;sjsl;ad wrote:
It is an Olympic year. German will be there when it really counts, not when the snow is falling in New York City....
Has German even punched his ticket to Indoor NCAAs yet? Only thing I've heard form him is a 4:05 or 4:06 or something.
Has this ever happened before? A 92nd ranked (German's current NCAA ranking in the mile) runner, breaks through and qualifies for the Olympics 4 months later...
Yfhfufncudj1 wrote:
Has this ever happened before? A 92nd ranked (German's current NCAA ranking in the mile) runner, breaks through and qualifies for the Olympics 4 months later...
Nope. And it aint gonna happen this year either.
Yfhfufncudj1 wrote:
Has this ever happened before? A 92nd ranked (German's current NCAA ranking in the mile) runner, breaks through and qualifies for the Olympics 4 months later...
4 days closer to the trials and now ranked 94th...
Yfhfufncudj wrote:
I was thinking something similar. After yesterday, Fernandez is just an afterthought. We now have to follow (in no particular order):
Lalang
Batty
Hill
Sambu
Estrada
Korir
Derrick
Levins
McCarthy
Van ingen
O'Hare
Centro (?)...
...before even thinking about Fernandez. There are literally dozens... It's tough to think of 2 or 3 athletes only. What happened yesterday/this year? Why such a step improvement?
It seems like guys are not training to break 4 anymore, they are training to break 3:55.
In the 3,000, they are not thinking about 7:55, but 7:45 (or even 7:40, I am sure).
Fernandez had one good College race 3 years ago, but things are different now...
Drugies. The drugies keep getting better, the times keep coming down. Win at any co$t.
Conto wrote:
Bottom line, he obviously can't deal with the pressure of being all alone on the track, with no where to hide.
Thank God he had all those sub-8:50 California high schoolers there to pace him when he got the record.
Tool.
Conto wrote:
German's problems are clearly mental, not physical.
It's clear to me that German's running problems are entirely physical.
Some of you are complte feebs, some have some valid points, figure out who you are first.
If Fernandez never did another thing he ran 3:55, won NCAAs and outdoors at the 1500 controlling the race all the way. He also ran 7:47 in like early Indoors.
A friend of mine once said, it is better to have had a career even young than NONE at all.
Both those times are way better than he ran in HS, who gets credit for that? Him? Dave Smith?
he only ever finished top 8 in XC , to me that is not that surprising as he did not dominate even HS XC really, and he still has two top tens(scoring wise) in tough comp.
There is something wrong. But it probably is not Dave Smith's fault.
You're absolutely right. He did not dominate XX in High School. He only ran a 14245k at the california state meet.
Trialswatcher wrote:
There is something wrong. But it probably is not Dave Smith's fault.
Who's fault is it then?
ascmann wrote:
You're absolutely right. He did not dominate XX in High School. He only ran a 14245k at the california state meet.
Oh state meet, divided into 4 divisions, when it matters, not Footlocker nationals where the Midwest boys always destroy the XC runners coming out of Cali.
No shoe incidents in 2012. Progress.
passing the buck wrote:
Who's fault is it then?
"Whose"
Your welcome.
"You're welcome"No need to thank me.
Pass This wrote:
passing the buck wrote:Who's fault is it then?
"Whose"
Your welcome.
you're. you're welcome
Montesquieu wrote:
"You're welcome"
No need to thank me.
Pass This wrote:"Whose"
Your welcome.
Your knew a round hear, huh?
I'm sick of all of the German Fanboy junk. Bottom line, he hasn't performed as a miler. What I'm trying to say is, German has not lived up to the miler expectations he set when he ran the 3:55 his freshman year and won the outdoor 1500m.
Now I will say that German has had some good showings during this XC season, nothing super spectacular, but some solid performances. If anything, he should try to focus on the 5k/10k.
I'm not convinced that his frail body could handle the miles required to run a good 5,000 or 10,000... Actually his body can't handle very much of any kind of training. So I don't think it could be any worse ... So why not... What is a 4:05 mile worth at the 5,000? He may be able to rank higher than 95th...