I wonder what it’s like to be in that training system long term. It’s so focused on the marathon without much focus on anything else. Fauble hasn’t sniffed his PRs at shorter distances in years. He should be running low 61s for a half with his marathon PR but he’s never broken 62. NAZ has gotten good results for Scott, but I don’t think at this point he’s likely to get any better without a change of scenery.
I've always felt like it's pretty natural for runners to outgrow the team environment eventually. At some point, you've been around the block so many times that you don't really need the same structure and guidance. You can still bounce ideas off of people and have friends help out with workouts on occasion, but if you've been running as a pro for 6 years, you should know what you're doing.
Hopefully Scott switches shoe companies. It has to be a kick in the teeth to know you could run 2 min faster in the marathon with Real Super shoes not just wanna be carbon Hoka shoes. His 2:09in AZ could have been2:08 .
I don't think any results so far indicate that he was ready to run 2:08. 28 flat 10k, 62:18 @ great north. He's run 2:09 twice. Hopefully the change will be a good one
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/scott-fauble-14452474
Linkletter announced on strava he is leaving NAZ as well.
My guess, either 1) all the dudes are done with Ben's training; 2) they realize they can't be competitive in Hoka shoes; or 3) NAZ cut them all at years end.
My guess is it is the shoes and a little bit of Ben
I hope, for his sake, this is a break from Hoka as well. He could run 2:07 in the Next% but Hoka insist that their athletes wear their dated shoe tech. At this point, Hoka road runners succeed in spite of their sponsor, not because of them.
NAZ training is basically a tweaked version of Hanson’s. I think it is good to get guys up to to a certain level, but not to take the next step.
This is funny. It's 100% the runners. They've shown zero glimmer of upside over the past two years. Their women are getting on podiums at national champs and making the US Olympic team despite those awful shoes and in spite of Rosario's awful coaching while these guys just fizzle left and right. Taylor is 1000% tougher than Fauble or Linkletter.
Also, Burrito Mafia is a lame gimmick. It seemed like Fauble considered himself above the SM requirements of NAZ and Hoka and just barely went through the motions. Bruce can show her post-partum belly to anyone while Fauble is curled up in a gloomy, sensitive ball. When you can't race as well as the women and don't keep up with their SM output, either, it's difficult to see your value as anything but diminished.
Good luck out there, Faubs! Same to Linkletter, who could have a future as a Geddy Lee impersonator.
Gone are the days of mid-tier groups, shoe companies want heavy hitters that can make teams (OAC) and compete. 2:09, 2:11 and 2:14 at a time trial doesn’t cut it anymore. They want Olympians and medalists or ambassadors with huge social media presence that they can give free product to and increase brand awareness for relatively free.
It's funny that people act so certain about what's going on when they don't really have a clue. Just 100% guesses.
That said, I have it on good authority (me making it up) that Fauble will be signing with Xtep.
Fauble was back in Portland training just a couple of weeks ago. Pete is a Portland Alum. Could definitely be a possibility.
That’s half of life pal and this board
With new Covid lockdowns all over the world currently being imposed it stands to reason that next year's big marathons are all endangered - again - and a pure marathon team like theirs would be the first to go or be seriously downsized IF a business decision had to be made already by this month.
Pay close attention to what's happening in the NHL - how many games are postponed - when are they throwing in the towel over a full season this round - it'll be a predictor for other sports like T&A and possibilities to make a living off them.
Noah Droddy alluding to something more going on here? Wonder what it is
Friend of mine got dropped by Hoka this year as well (not a big time guy) and he was sad for about 5 min before he said he was glad that he could finally wear a decent racing shoe.
Hoka had the shoe game by the nuts. They had taken a big chunk of the market. They still have it, but many Hoka fans I know are putting more and more shoes that aren’t Hoka into their rotation. Mainly the go fast shoes.
No idea what the situation is here, but Hoka needs to get some new foams going or they won’t have anyone wanting to race for them.
Yeah, I think at this point it's not fair to HOKA athletes to have to race in HOKA. If they have permission to wear other shoes like some other teams do (e.g. Reebok in Adidas), that would be okay. All of their athletes are at a disadvantage.
orsilochus wrote:
https://twitter.com/IBuiltTheArk/status/1472607604387958784Noah Droddy alluding to something more going on here? Wonder what it is
Droody needed a minor slight to whine about for attention on Twitter and he found this after he manufactured some mileage out of the Shelbo GFM non-story. He's no canary in the coal mine, otherwise he would have dropped dimes himself. He's not singing praises about Salomon shoes because nobody's hearing that after NYC. He also refuses to acknowledge that athlete sponsorships are finite and come with opportunity costs. I'm guessing he didn't get much out of the Econ courses at his fancy college.
The below comment is so 2012.
gretchen weiners wrote:
Gone are the days of mid-tier groups, shoe companies want heavy hitters that can make teams (OAC) and compete. 2:09, 2:11 and 2:14 at a time trial doesn’t cut it anymore. They want Olympians and medalists or ambassadors with huge social media presence that they can give free product to and increase brand awareness for relatively free.
Somewhat offensive that Nike employees or unpaid interns have taken over this thread. The last 3 posts and 4 of the previous 10 are a shameless plug. Not the topic this thread was supposed to be about. What you are suggesting is that Galen himself may have run under 2:10 but probably not anywhere near 2:08 with any pre-2016 Nike shoes. If Rupp is about the talent level of Bjorklund or Pfitz, and the shoes are literally worth minutes (plural) then I suppose you're right.
Back on topic (and off the Vapor-commercial for a moment):
No one seems to have realized that Hoka may be the ones making the decision. They could be dumping what they view as excess weight. I certainly don't view Faubs that way: I think he's pretty good. Quite a bit better than anyone at BTC in my mind, although Derrick could surprise us all eventually.
(Interstingly, Faubs is about the same level as the Rupp if all of your - about a dozen posters by now - claims of 3 minutes are true. Easily within a minute of him if around 2 minutes or so is more accurate. But that is back to the topic that this thread has unfortunately become...)
So I'm not saying I ditch the guy id I'm Hoka. But that very well could be what's happening here. If he has a contract with them for another year or whatever, we'll know be a use he'll still be wearing them and there won't be any news of a new deal. If a new sponsor emerges very soon, it means his Hoka deal ended.
Just saying maybe not completely his decision.....
agree completely wrote:
Yeah, I think at this point it's not fair to HOKA athletes to have to race in HOKA. If they have permission to wear other shoes like some other teams do (e.g. Reebok in Adidas), that would be okay. All of their athletes are at a disadvantage.
Reebok is an adidas-owned brand. It's like when you see an ESPN game on ABC. Same company. Perhaps you should have used On as an example. Paid by On, run in Nike. I suspect that is the kind of deal you meant. By the way, I ran in the Rocket X yesterday. I like it (but who cares).