Vessys first race of year

you've got to start somewhere

Who?

Alright: VESSEY'S

Corrected!!!!

She got too far behind.

After all of these months off this is a decent first race.

I have always felt that with her talent she needs more work on the mental side of racing the 800. Following her running career is sort of a mixed bag. You never know which Maggie will show up. Also she is running out of time. 29 this year.

IMHO, she doesn't respond well to pressure. She does better when people around her have less expectations of her racing performance.

The best runners have a way of shutting out this pressure or at least minimizing it. Watch her performance in the worlds last year. She goes right to the back and stays there. Even she couldn't explain it. Maybe it's just a case of needing more experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZHWsVdZ-4

She lives not too far from where I live and I have see her training but have held back from saying anything. She has a coach (I know him) and it just isn't kosher to interfere. Besides what does a former 4:30 miler know about world class runners?

Kicker wrote:Besides what does a former 4:30 miler know about world class runners?

That Paul Tergat rulez?

the way she races she basically has to get lucky with how the people in front of her configure themselves in the last 200m

this weekend there was a wall of several women extending out a few lanes from 200 left to the end, she decided not to go that wide on the curve, settled back in at the rail, and then couldn't get around them the last 100m

when she ran 1:57, she darted into an opening left when the rabbit dropped out with 250m left. smooth sailing on the rail from there to the finish. but if no one had dropped out, she wouldn't have been able to get around

how come when a female opens 9 seconds! off her pb, you say gotta start somewhere, and noone really see's anything that wrong with it... if a 1:46 guy open'd with a 1:55 everyone would go insane... we get it you can't always have you're best day... but 9 seconds out in an 800m come on now

No idea what she was doing. During the first lap, she stayed way back in the large field. Kind of her common strategy which already caused some trouble in the past when she tried to reel in the leaders on the home straight. Cummins was still right next to her at the beginning. However, Cummins started to accelerate and pass people between 400 and 600m while Vessey didn't (couldn't?) switch gears. Even at this point, I thought Vessey was going to start her kick and finish at least like top 5. On the final 100m she wasn't even boxed in that badly because she was so far back behind the leaders.

It wasn't even that fast (61 first 400 for the Japanese) and the competition was good but not excellent. Even on a bad day she should not finish 10th in that field and 9sec off her PR. Either she is really not fit at all at the moment or didn't take the race seriously. But in the latter case, then why race at all? As previous posters mentioned, it's like Symmonds or Robinson opened in 1:52 or 1:53. Makes no sense…

I'll say there's something wrong with it, and in her postrace interview, she doesn't seem too pleased either. For someone who accomplished what she did last year, 2:06 at any stage of the outdoor season in not good

why?!... wrote:

how come when a female opens 9 seconds! off her pb, you say gotta start somewhere, and noone really see's anything that wrong with it... if a 1:46 guy open'd with a 1:55 everyone would go insane... we get it you can't always have you're best day... but 9 seconds out in an 800m come on now

I agree. BUT...I would still call this a rust buster. However I want to see 2:03 or better on the next one or I would suspect New Balance hasn't spent money wisely.

Was she dumb enough to think she could do it without assistance?

Next we will see Wurth-Thomas open up with a 4:15 (not mile).

Kicker wrote: She lives not too far from where I live and I have see her training but have held back from saying anything. She has a coach (I know him) and it just isn't kosher to interfere. Besides what does a former 4:30 miler know about world class runners?

On the other hand, it's possible that she and her coach simply haven't yet noticed her habit of staying at the back, or of racing poorly under pressure. Perhaps if you pointed it out to them, they would suddenly understand and then fix it. Think how grateful they'd be!

This why we love Maggie. But I think she maybe needs to work on the mental aspect. Her coach seems like too much of a nice guy and not a winner.

the mental aspect is up to her not her coach. she is a terrible racer. utilizing the same old strategy every race is pretty dumb

novio wrote:

This why we love Maggie. But I think she maybe needs to work on the mental aspect. Her coach seems like too much of a nice guy and not a winner.

why?!... wrote:

how come when a female opens 9 seconds! off her pb, you say gotta start somewhere, and noone really see's anything that wrong with it... if a 1:46 guy open'd with a 1:55 everyone would go insane... we get it you can't always have you're best day... but 9 seconds out in an 800m come on now

Exactly.

Once you have broken two minutes, or one fifty as a guy, you should never be so out of shape that you can't get within 3-4 seconds of your PR.

In high school once I had broken 2 Mins, I could always break two minutes, in or out of season, off of 6 miles a day with a mile or two of fartlek thrown in here and there.

Every body is different; and Maggie, as much as we all love her persistence and break through -- is definitely different.

She needs one coach for her lungs, and another coach for her head.

Or, maybe she just stayed up too late with Ryan the night before her race...

I dont think she can on her own she needs a coach to give her the WIN mentality.

termes wrote:

the mental aspect is up to her not her coach. she is a terrible racer. utilizing the same old strategy every race is pretty dumb

novio wrote:

This why we love Maggie. But I think she maybe needs to work on the mental aspect. Her coach seems like too much of a nice guy and not a winner.

she got beat by at least 5 Canadians to add insult to insult LOL

i think she is a huge talent but very stupid! Why does she continue to run from so far back? it pisses me off! act like a world class runner and take control of a race for once!