Oxy Men's 5k: Aaron Braun is Badass; the rest of the field were a bunch of ________

You make the silly assumption that getting the A standard was a goal for the field. That was simply a goal for the clueless spectators.

Dude you're the one who is clueless. The whole point of Oxy is getting the standard. There is nothing to win, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't even think they give prize money in the 5k's.

Solinsky said word for word after Payton Jordan that the goal at this meet was getting the standard. Clearly it was Braun's goal. I don't think Ritz was out leading that chase pack for the hell of it...he just missed the standard. Salazar said word for word his biggest concern going into this meet was that Centro got his "A" standard in the 1500 (he didn't either).

Oxy races aren't races. They are rabbitted time trials ... time trials where the point is to get the standard. The plan was to have Balota Asmeron to pace through 3k in 7:56 aka 13:13 pace. Think they just pulled that number out of their a$$?

Truth be told, it's probably not a big deal for Puskedra or Ritz. This was already a big PR for Puskedra (the 5k is too short for him) and Ritz will probably focus on 10k.

A standards are the whole point of Oxy. It is why the meet is designed like it is.

Not Cool Bro wrote:

Truth be told, it's probably not a big deal for Puskedra or Ritz. This was already a big PR for Puskedra (the 5k is too short for him) and Ritz will probably focus on 10k.

or Braun or Curtis who will be running the 10k. or anyone that is planning on running PRE (as this would be a rust buster). The OP felt like the only purpose of this race was the A standard which is ignorant.

Clearly it's not the ONLY purpose. Farah was in the race and gets a free pass to Worlds anyway as he's the defending champ. Rupp was in it, but didn't need to be (I'm assuming it was a workout although I figured it was also to help pace Ritz).

Yes, clearly there are benefits to racing other than just getting the standard. But it is ignorant to say the standard wasn't the goal (it was and was stated as such even on the heat sheets). Especially for a guy like Solinsky who is 100% focusing on the 5k.

Even guys who will focus on 10k would like to have it. Gives them options. If they don't make it in the 10k at US Champs they can throw a Hail Mary and come back in the 5k a couple days later.

My streaming from Flotrack sucked so I didn't finish watching the men's 5000, it was too frustrating. I looked at the results and saw a few guys with a SCR; what does this mean?

why was there no pacemaker? supposedly asmerom was scheduled to go 756 at 3k, which there was no way in hell he would be able to do. why get a national/world class field in a 5k, with no reliable pace?

Perhaps Rupp and Farah were instructed to run at 10k goal pace, with Farah intended to stay in and take the win, and Rupp instructed to DNF in order to keep it a workout and not a race effort since he had already raced earlier.

Ritz and Puskedra ran well.

Not sure what was up with Solinsky.

And Webb...

SCR = scratch I belive.

Not Cool Bro wrote:

But it is ignorant to say the standard wasn't the goal (it was and was stated as such even on the heat sheets). Especially for a guy like Solinsky who is 100% focusing on the 5k.

Solinsky was hurt for 2 years. The A standard is not realistic this year. Anyone that thought he had a legitimate chance for the A standard is foolish.

The reason that most people never return from a long lay off is because of unrealistic expectations followed by discouragement.

killer kowalczyk wrote:

Solinsky was hurt for 2 years. The A standard is not realistic this year. Anyone that thought he had a legitimate chance for the A standard is foolish.

The reason that most people never return from a long lay off is because of unrealistic expectations followed by discouragement.

I think most of us agreed until he ran 13:23 in his first race of the season. He ran about as well as any of the men did. Not sure why no one could get the standards, but I wouldn't rule it out for anyone based on this race. It's hard to believe anyone other than Rupp and Farah are on track to compete well in Moscow, however.

Showing signs of greatness is part of the process. Running 13:23 for his first OUTDOOR race back was good. But with 2 years off no one should expect that the next race would be an A Standard. HE WAS OFF FOR 2 years. We should now expect a half dozen mediocre races before we see another good performance. Keeping the expectations in check is the toughest part.

Talent has a funny way of showing itself , he is still getting his legs back , training rhythm , racing rhythm , it will all fall into place and bingo headlines here will read he's back.

Braun , well , sorry , he will never have it.

killer kowalczyk wrote:

Showing signs of greatness is part of the process. Running 13:23 for his first OUTDOOR race back was good. But with 2 years off no one should expect that the next race would be an A Standard. HE WAS OFF FOR 2 years. We should now expect a half dozen mediocre races before we see another good performance. Keeping the expectations in check is the toughest part.

Saying he was "off for 2 years" is very misleading. It has been less than 2 years since he was in top form (making the 2011 World Championships) as he raced late into that summer before getting hurt. And he has not been "off" this whole time since then. He's been training and racing. Yes he had a slow build back after his surgery, but he ran some ok races as early as this winter.

Taking less than 8 seconds off his seasoning opening 5k is not unrealistic whatsoever. Especially considering we're talking about a guy who ran sub 13 and sub 27. It's not like he needs to PR to run the "A".

Now, making the team for Moscow is unrealistic. I'm rooting for him, but he's got a lot of guys in front of him right now even he gets the "A".