"Worried about his health" is a pretty common euphemism. Given that Young responded that they were blowing it out of proportion, I can take a pretty good guess at what has prompted their departure - and no, I don't think it's a Goucher/Salazar situation. I think this is all about Young. Most likely, it's about alcohol.
There's a "get away from this guy quickly" vibe to the whole thing which seems to reach beyond worried about his health, drinking issues or panic attacks.
Simple truth is we don't know right now. Until more info comes out we're just left speculating. I have my suspicions, but they're just that, suspicions. Until Muir or Reekie speak on the matter, if at all, we won't know for sure. And if they do, it might not be for many years like with Kara Goucher.
All we can really do is wish them the best and respect their privacy until they decide to speak publicly on the matter. And if they choose not to, we should respect that as well.
Well there’re a couple options. One is that she could take over her own training. That works for some athletes, but it is risky and tricky. Alternately she can link up with a coach with a more flexible approach/advisory type role. You could say this is where Jakob/Woody are at with Henrik and Mike Smith respectively. If she’s looking for a similar program with her not playing a huge role in the training it could get complicated to find a UK-based coach able to work with Nike who is a strong fit.
Muir could coach herself I suppose, though she has been so closely mentored by Young it would be a big departure. Reekie will need more structure. There's the Painter/Meadows group but would they want to potentially disrupt the group that's getting so much or of Hodgkinson? Geoff Wightman could also be a solution. He seems to be accommodating to low mileage training - Muir and Wightman often have similar beats to their seasons as well.
I'd say Meadows/Painter would be very willing to take on Reekie; before her form collapsed she was almost as exciting a prospect as Hodgkinson, and I reckon they'd fancy a crack at that.
Muir, otoh, would be a much better fit with the Wightmans pere et fils, I think. A pair of old heads as it were.
Hasn't gone very well for GDS since going to Canada.
We'll see, I think it is too early to tell.
She had two very solid races since moving there but they were close enough to her time at BTC you can't give full credit to her new setup since you can't really overhaul fitness in 6-8 weeks. Likewise though that she had such a major injury so soon after leaving BTC, it makes me hesitant to drop all the blame at the feet of the new setup too since there's only so much damage to bone density you can do in 6-8 weeks (fractured sacrum).
Will be more comfortable giving a verdict once she races this year. She puts all her training on Strava now - splits and rest included, so kudos (pun intended) for transparency there. Recently posted a workout where she did some 3:00min kilometre repeats off minute recoveries sandwiched between two 16:10 5ks which seems like a pretty solid workout to me. Certainly too early for a "Is GDS done?" thread.
But yes, regardless think it would be incredibly far fetched to imagine Muir+Reekie training in Canada. Wherever they end up if it isn't back with Young I'd bet it would be in the UK.
Muir could coach herself I suppose, though she has been so closely mentored by Young it would be a big departure. Reekie will need more structure. There's the Painter/Meadows group but would they want to potentially disrupt the group that's getting so much or of Hodgkinson? Geoff Wightman could also be a solution. He seems to be accommodating to low mileage training - Muir and Wightman often have similar beats to their seasons as well.
I'd be surprised. Multiple junior athletes who left Young on bad terms (including bad terms with the athletes who stayed ie. Reekie/Muir) went to the Painter group and seem to be getting on quite happily there. Don't see why Trevor or Keely would want to bring in a medal rival who is slipping and help put them back on track *plus* upsetting the training group balance.
My source is just hearsay on the bad terms, but don't it meshes with the Instagram sleuthing that those athletes don't follow Reekie/Muir anymore and vice versa.
Yeah, I imagine this was not a one-time thing for him -- it was a longstanding pattern. Showing up for any job hungover and not at your best consistently will get you fired. They probably gave him an ultimatum and he showed up (yet again) not at his best. Coaches generally work for their athletes so they are paying him to be at his best. At some point it become intolerable.
Yeah, they have never had a training base outside the UK, so very unlikely they would move 4,000 miles away. UK Athletics would probably have to OK the move as well which I imagine they wouldn't inclined to.
Wow, this is huge. Young's training is quite specific and happened to suit Muir extremely well. According to her, it's very low mileage but even "easy" days are ran at what most would consider to be a strong pace (I think she said 6 min/mile). That kind of training philosophy doesn't seem very widespread, she might struggle to find a similar style of coach.
For both Reekie and Muir to leave suggests the problem is to do with Young. Not ideal for one Britain's few medal hopes on the track
When I saw the headline on the front page I immediately thought "alcoholism". This could've potentially been going on for years, but gotten worse, and he had a few recent episodes that the athletes couldn't ignore. Then again, it's speculation.
Tough for Muir given she's been with him for over a decade. Even tougher position for Reekie cause she's been struggling with a medical condition since getting 4th in Tokyo and was working hard to get her form back. Best of luck to them in finding a coach suitable.
1) Alcohol can be lumped into what the ladies decided to put in their bodies. The ladies could have split a gallon of ice cream and were too sick to train. Alcohol as you state is a possibility. Ladies may have binged at an all you can eat pizza buffet. After 25 slices, no one is fit to run for awhile (unless one is a 225 pound person).
2) Ladies may be sick of cross training. Ladies may have read comments from numerous posters stating: Cross training is stupid and does not make an athlete run faster. Today may have been leg day. One has to be in the mood to get in squat rack and go for it!
3) The two ladies may have decided to go into strong women mode. Ladies may have simply had enough. A man telling them what to do was something they were not going to tolerate this week.
1) Alcohol can be lumped into what the ladies decided to put in their bodies. The ladies could have split a gallon of ice cream and were too sick to train. Alcohol as you state is a possibility. Ladies may have binged at an all you can eat pizza buffet. After 25 slices, no one is fit to run for awhile (unless one is a 225 pound person).
2) Ladies may be sick of cross training. Ladies may have read comments from numerous posters stating: Cross training is stupid and does not make an athlete run faster. Today may have been leg day. One has to be in the mood to get in squat rack and go for it!
3) The two ladies may have decided to go into strong women mode. Ladies may have simply had enough. A man telling them what to do was something they were not going to tolerate this week.