German Fernandez Fades To 4:03.13 at Arkansas Last Chance Meet

Is Ritzenhein partly responsible for people's high expectations for the "recovery-trail" Fernandez, given the amazing performances the former managed (beginning at CU, continuing post-collegiately) when only a month or two removed from cross-training through injury?

WTF. DO NOT change the name of a thread. This is retarded.

wtf are you talking about. It does not take years ro recover from anemia. He was top 10 at ncaa cross. He is having a bad track season but its not due to anemia.

German Fan wrote:

When he ran 7:47 he already had a full year's worth of hard training/racing. He lost most of that fitness with anemia issue last year and really it will take him all the way up to his senior year to be 100% back.

That's just how it is. You can't just turn on a switch to be back at your old self. Look at Mottram and Tegenkamp. They are also sloooowly getting back.

I would say just be patient and endure one more outdoor season of "mediocre" performances. I have confidence that he will have a senior season for the NCAA record books. His senior season also coincides with the Olympic trials so I also wouldn't surprised if that is the end goal for him.

2011-2012 prediction:

1. A few more NCAA records

2. Outdoor NCAA champ

3. Olympian.

Will not win XCs. Just not his specialty.

leave this guy the f*** alone hell be fine

86 of their 106 total points wrote:

... He is having a bad track season but its not due to anemia.

How the hell do you know?

J.R. wrote:

I disagree with this and feel him "keeping things in" or whatever is a major reason for his poor performances. He used to be very outgoing and happy, now he is keeping things in and appears to be miserable, not enjoying at all what he's doing. I think he needs to go back to what he used to do to get fast, and enjoying the process. Right now he's not enjoying what he's doing at all.

You have got to be kidding me! All he really needs to do is to find his happy place?!?!?

Get this through your head - He is miserable because he can't run fast, not the other way around. Get a freakin clue.

hannsen wrote:

leave this guy the f*** alone hell be fine

Leave him alone, sure.

He'll be fine? Something sure as heck is not fine. I don't know what it is and neither do you.

He'll be fine? You have no idea.

Dysthymic Adler wrote: But let's be honest, his running 4:03mi would be like Ritz running 13:50 5k (very, very good high school times). It would be (is?)devastating.

Not a 13:50, but Ritz opened 2009 in the 5k with a 13:34 losing which worried a lot of people at the time. He ended up running 12:56 and 27:22. I don't think he ended that year devastated.

Let's not freak out so quickly. GF could finish this year as a flop, or maybe he'll bust some sick times out after getting his grove back on the track.

Heck 90% of the board was hating on Webb a week ago, and now 75% are feeling encouraged by him. (i'm estimating obviously). things can change very quick.

Mrr82 wrote:

Not a 13:50, but Ritz opened 2009 in the 5k with a 13:34 losing which worried a lot of people at the time. He ended up running 12:56 and 27:22. I don't think he ended that year devastated.

Let's not freak out so quickly. GF could finish this year as a flop, or maybe he'll bust some sick times out after getting his grove back on the track.

Heck 90% of the board was hating on Webb a week ago, and now 75% are feeling encouraged by him. (i'm estimating obviously). things can change very quick.

It's been a year and a half or more of performances that have varied from horrible to mediocre. Something just aint right. I really hope that GF and his coaches have/get a handle on it but I don't see any evidence of this.

No, he was sick. Not with anemia, but a cold. My point was if he could do that while sick, something must be seriously wrong if he can't break 7:50 now.

Just an opinion I suppose wrote:It's been a year and a half or more of performances that have varied from horrible to mediocre. Something just aint right. I really hope that GF and his coaches have/get a handle on it but I don't see any evidence of this.

Not always so easy...what top athlete hasn't gone through that? Webb, Ritz, Goucher, Flanagan, Hall, Teg...pretty much everone one of our top runners. Some never improve again, some come back better like Ritz and Flanagan did.

From what i've read, most of GF's problems were out of the hands of the coaches and down to medical issues.

I wouldn't write him off, or his coaches, just because of some sub par indoor races. That's all i'm saying. His 3k wasn't that far off his best ever. his mile is a long ways off, but maybe that's not such a bad thing and he'll do some great stuff outdoors. One can hope at least..

I hope the kid fares well in the future but something just isn't right. Maybe he just can't stay healthy long enough to get back to the level he probably should be.

I'm pretty sure the last big headline (before the Big 12s win) about GF was in regards to training long and racing short. If that's the case, would you expect him to have a lot of pop in his legs at the end of every mile race?

-I believe that's a legitimate question regarding training in general.

I also believe that an intelligent Coach Smith would not rush GF into shape for a quick indoor campaign, only to have him hurt or sick again. Coach Smith seems to be interested in GF past his collegiate career.

We can all speculate and be worried, or we can understand that training is about stacking solid weeks, months, and seasons together rather than training 6 weeks on, 6 weeks with injury issues.

Don't worry about GF, that Coach Smith's job.

Mrr82 wrote:

Not always so easy...what top athlete hasn't gone through that? Webb, Ritz, Goucher, Flanagan, Hall, Teg...pretty much everone one of our top runners. Some never improve again, some come back better like Ritz and Flanagan did.

From what i've read, most of GF's problems were out of the hands of the coaches and down to medical issues.

I wouldn't write him off, or his coaches, just because of some sub par indoor races. That's all i'm saying. His 3k wasn't that far off his best ever. his mile is a long ways off, but maybe that's not such a bad thing and he'll do some great stuff outdoors. One can hope at least..

I am totally with you on hoping for the best. And no I am not writing him off (although even if I did that would say something about my emotional state and nothing really about GF).

But, this is not just "some sub par indoor races". This has been going on for over a year and a half. Was anyone really impressed by GF's 2010 XC finish where he couldn't even keep up with Girma and Stanford's #2 at the end? Come on, this is the guy who crushed Puskedra and Derrick at USA Junior nationals two years ago and had Derrick openly wondering if he would ever be able to beat GF. Before 2010 XC he missed all of 2010 outdoor. Before outdoor he missed 90% of 2010 indoor. Before that he completely bombed 2009 XC.

Sorry, this has been going on for some time. It's not about a few indoor races over the last few weeks.

Okie State Fan wrote:

I'm pretty sure the last big headline (before the Big 12s win) about GF was in regards to training long and racing short. If that's the case, would you expect him to have a lot of pop in his legs at the end of every mile race?

-I believe that's a legitimate question regarding training in general.

I also believe that an intelligent Coach Smith would not rush GF into shape for a quick indoor campaign, only to have him hurt or sick again. Coach Smith seems to be interested in GF past his collegiate career.

We can all speculate and be worried, or we can understand that training is about stacking solid weeks, months, and seasons together rather than training 6 weeks on, 6 weeks with injury issues.

Don't worry about GF, that Coach Smith's job.

I'm pretty sure that this big headline (train long, race short) was exactly the same two years ago when he popped a 3:56, then a 3:55 out of the blue. What's so different this time. Sorry, but something IS wrong.

And as far as worrying about GF, I think a lot of folks who wish him the best are worried. And based solely on the publicly available information - rightfully so.

Hey Mods, what gives on hijacking my thread and changing the title to something negative? I don't care that much, being I am anonymous, but isn't that pretty tactless and unprofessional . . .

Anyway, There was no other reason for German to be racing this unless he was going for, and believed he could get, the 3:59 Auto Mark. He apparently failed at a max effort that is 8 seconds outside what he ran as a freshman.

In regards to being on the comeback trail . . . Wasn't he on the VERY BEGINNING of that trail when he popped the 3:56/7:47/Junior Nats Win? He had a whole spring, summer and cross season after his latest health bouts.

I'm afraid this is not a good result.

J.R. wrote:

He didn't have "medical issues" with his high school coach.

You do understand that 17/18 year-old's could run speedwork 4 days a week and still walk away healthy as a billy-goat don't you? The concept that being older means getting sick and injured less is...well...a misconception.

Well......... his time in this race was nevertheless a small improvement since coming back to track this season. He is getting faster, but still seems to lack that "extra gear" that he's mentioned. He's going to have to really step it up if he can and run somewhere under 7:50 in the 3K next week if he wants to be in the mix! Otherwise, hopefully just keep improving little by little with in each race, working towards the outdoor season.

Dysthymic Adler wrote:

J.R. wrote:

He didn't have "medical issues" with his high school coach.

You do understand that 17/18 year-old's could run speedwork 4 days a week and still walk away healthy as a billy-goat don't you? The concept that being older means getting sick and injured less is...well...a misconception.

Yeah, 20 years old is SOOOO old. No wonder he is constantly sick/hurt.