What the hell does this mean? Jo Pavey will miss 2015 Worlds to focus on 2016 Olymipcs?

not a brit wrote:

Can someone explain to me how missing Worlds this year is necessary to train for Rio?

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/athletics-jo-pavey-miss-world-championships-focus-olympics-142448131--spt.html

I think a lot of women are afraid to admit the obvious. You can't have it all.

I think the real reason is this, "I feel this is not a good balance for my kids and so I am going to stay at home in 2015."

But if she says that, she'd probabliy get slammed by the women's lib movement as it's not PC to admit in the year 2015 that family obligations impact women. So she emphasized some elaborate training excuse when in reality it's not good for her mentally due to her family.

The headline writer took the bait and ran with it.

One could be cynical and say that she achieved a very high profile last year by winning a mediocre (by world standards) European title (lots of endorsements, slots doing race commentaries on national TV etc.) so why ruin the image by competing on the world stage and being well beaten? OK, this will almost certainly happen in 2016 but she will have another full year of her neo celebrity status!

Being more generous to her, it could simply be that she realises that at her age the body will not take high volumes of quality training year after year. Better to have a down season in 2015 and then put it all in to a big build up for 2016 - surely her last big championships?

Good answer. Also haven't they cheapened out ( allegedly) and not sent qualified athletes/full teams in the past? Maybe they told her that they weren't going to pay to send her to get stomped. At least they let her save face if that is the reason.

mark b wrote:One could be cynical and say that she achieved a very high profile last year by winning a mediocre (by world standards) European title (lots of endorsements, slots doing race commentaries on national TV etc.) so why ruin the image by competing on the world stage and being well beaten? OK, this will almost certainly happen in 2016 but she will have another full year of her neo celebrity status

good post

you aren't by any chance, butler ?

Probably has something to do with picking one year to go for it which is wise at her age and with her history of injuries.

She hasn't run WC since 2007. WCs have not been a focus for her in the latter part of her career. She has mainly focused on the Olympics and European championships. So, this is really nothing new.

It's not unlike what Viren did. In 1975 I was in some races in Finland with him in some B level meets. He wasn't winning many of those races and was running times that were nothing for him. I asked someone who was a friend of his what was going on and the answer was that Viren was doing almost nothing but base training that year because his performances didn't matter. By doing almost purely base work in 1975 he would be much better prepared for 1976 than if he was doing hard training and races.

yeah

but viren was already double-champ in '72, so had exceptional base already & he couda gone

13'05 / 27'20

in 1-off euro tt's in munich shape

it is nonsensical to believe it took 2y for him to achieve another peak for '76 from fall-'74

geb/tergat/kennster coud achieve their peaks year-in-year-out, so all this indicates for viren is that he was off the reindeer-blood, sorry, typo, milk, in '75 as no medals to win & not apparently interested in re-capturing wrs from emiel/bedford

viren's friend's comments don't pass the sniff-test...

Viren's friend's comments don't pass a sniff test but some guy who never had even second hand contact with Viren's do? Lydiard actually agreed that what Viren did was a good idea as well.

Jo Pavey is still one of the top, if not the top, UK long distance female runners. She doesn't have a chance for medals in the OG, but she should be able to make the UK team.

Paraphrasing Bill Parcells, Viren ran what he ran. What he could have run is irrelevant to taking 1975 to race little and focus on aerobic work. So is anything related to Farah.

Except Viren wasn't 41 when he did it. You see the trouble Geb has now at his age keeping free from injury. Bekele is far younger and still has to fight off injuries. How many races did Tergat run at 41?

You're comparing apples to oranges.

I agree with ventolin. Whether or not Viren cheated, he already had a huge base. Top athletes like him don't need to take a whole year off to build a big base, it actually doesn't even make sense from a coaching/training perspective.

Guys writing as mom's to complain about women.....always cracks me up.

35 year old mom wrote:

not a brit wrote:

Can someone explain to me how missing Worlds this year is necessary to train for Rio?

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/athletics-jo-pavey-miss-world-championships-focus-olympics-142448131--spt.html

I think a lot of women are afraid to admit the obvious. You can't have it all.

I think the real reason is this, "I feel this is not a good balance for my kids and so I am going to stay at home in 2015."

But if she says that, she'd probabliy get slammed by the women's lib movement as it's not PC to admit in the year 2015 that family obligations impact women. So she emphasized some elaborate training excuse when in reality it's not good for her mentally due to her family.

The headline writer took the bait and ran with it.

HRE wrote:Viren's friend's comments don't pass a sniff test but some guy who never had even second hand contact with Viren's do?

eh ???

you are not viren & can't speak for him

if you raced viren, good for you, but so did a few 100 guys & that makes none of them an expert on viren

we have decades of history to draw upon from much, much faster guys than viren & history tells us that to claim it takes 2y to peak for a track meet is utter nonsense

Lydiard actually agreed that what Viren did was a good idea as well

i'm sure he means a lot to contemporary coaches, especially the ones coaching the africans

tell a top present day coach that it takes 2y to peak for a 5k/10k at a meet & i'd bet they'd laugh at suggestion

more likely off reindeer-blood, sorry i meant milk, for '75 as no big meets

your assertion he took off '75 to build a base is nonsense

he had damn good base in '74 even with supposed injury running 13'22 in brutal heat of rome in euros losing to foster's incredible 13'17

given cool, temperate conditions in an actual tt, viren was likely close to his 13'16pb & ex-wr, which obviously was a tt

therefore, viren had superb ability in '74 & great base

you are claiming he thought it a good move to throw that great base away in '75

it seems the concept of just taking an easy year with no major meets in '75 & therefore no need to take reindeer-blood, sorry, i meant, milk, is beyond you

eh ???

farah is probably the best-trained distance track guy in history including best scientific back-up

his training/scientific support is the template for which all other distance track guys in history have to be judged

ventolin^3 wrote:

yeah

but viren was already double-champ in '72, so had exceptional base already & he couda gone

13'05 / 27'20

in 1-off euro tt's in munich shape

it is nonsensical to believe it took 2y for him to achieve another peak for '76 from fall-'74

geb/tergat/kennster coud achieve their peaks year-in-year-out, so all this indicates for viren is that he was off the reindeer-blood, sorry, typo, milk, in '75 as no medals to win & not apparently interested in re-capturing wrs from emiel/bedford

viren's friend's comments don't pass the sniff-test...

So Viren without any proof is a doper but you think Gatlin was innocent!