Nothing Better wrote:
Ryan Hall only goes all out for marathons and the occasional half.
BTW, Meb Keflezighi ran 36:16 for 6th place last year.
Exactly.
How many times has Hall run a solid marathon after running "only" 64:00 for a half? Not to mention he's doing a half next Sunday and probably saving some for that. He's not peaking for it like his 59:43, stop comparing it to that.
Nothing Better wrote:
Ryan Hall only goes all out for marathons and the occasional half.
BTW, Meb Keflezighi ran 36:16 for 6th place last year.
Good point. Although, I still wish he would have won. I might need it more than him...
The field doesn't have the depth it used to. A friend of mine ran a 5:24 pace back in the early 1980's and barely cracked the top 90. This year he would have been in the top 35.
I ran B2B today. They had to change the course this year due to the Tour of CA bike race. It added 2 extra sharp 90 degree turns and an incline to connect them. These were the 2nd slowest B2B times in like 40+ years for both the men's field and the women's field.
It was also the warmest B2B I've ever done. No fog even on the coast.
I'm not saying the field ha fast or slower runners, only that it wasn't exactly the same course.
Race was a bore to watch. Fufi (1st) and Alemayehu (3rd) ran together for about three miles. Fufi took off and the bay area (it was on TV) spent the rest of the race watching this dude run solo. Hall wasn't even in sight. Not only that, but no coverage at all for the women until the finish.
The guy is clearly on the comeback from injury and getting used to a new system under Canova. That is pretty solid given the conditions and first race in a while. You all better watchout talking trash about God's chosen one.
Later I'll respond in more detail, but now I need to finish the letter I was writing to Carlos Lopes and Bernard Lagat about your ideas.
Link wrote:
That's what I meant.
You know, this is not really all that unexpected. It's been, what, seven eight years since Hall became a threat at the world level? That's about all you get, it seems. Think about guys from the classic era, guys like Viren Shorter or Rodgers. Rodgers became world class in 75. By 82, 83 he was good but he was never really again considered a threat at a top level race. Shorter's time at the top was even shorter (no pun intended). Same thing with Hall, same thing with Webb. You keep stretching that band, and, sooner or later, it breaks, or, it loses its elasticity. It might happen - it sometimes does, but usually only in cases where a guy has been injured off and on. Viren's an example although, really he won in 72 and was competitive but not victorious eight years later in Moscow. Ritz is another example. He might get another year or two because he missed time along the way over the last 8 years.
I'm a pretty big fan of Ritz, Hall and Webb. I'd love to see them winning big races again, but, realistically, their time up near the top has come to an end. In spite of what I wrote above, I'm going to stop posting critical reviews of their performances here. They've earned some appreciation in their sunset years. That class really brought US running back to respectability.
hall and cheerios wrote:
The guy is clearly on the comeback from injury and getting used to a new system under Canova. That is pretty solid given the conditions and first race in a while. You all better watchout talking trash about God's chosen one.
Hall is no longer with Canova.
chalktalk wrote:
Hall is no longer with Canova.
says who
trello wrote:
chalktalk wrote:Hall is no longer with Canova.
says who
Can anyone clarify this?
Lagat and Geb are exceptions. Lopes is not. He was (mostly) out with injuries between 77 and 82 or so.
You can probably come up with other exceptions, too, in fact so could I, but they are also exceptionally rare.
have to ask wrote:
In comparison, I'd like to see a list of all the race victories by Rupp, Ritz, Solinsky, etc. They often post great times, but how often do they actually win? Obviously, Rupp won the 5 & 10 USATF champs last year, but besides that how often has he won a race? I don't think they won any of the races in which they went sub-13 or sub-27.
The 3k AR this year in Stockholm:
http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/250462-XL-Galan/video/695486-M-3000m-Rupps-last-250m-XL-Galan-2013He's won the 10k USA every year since 2009, won Stanford Payton-Jordan in 27:33 CR(7th American all time at the time) in 2007 over numerous pros in the race, his 13:30 PR in 2007 was a win over Solinsky in a 5k, all those NCAA titles his senior year.
Solinsky has his 26:59 win at Stanford over Rupp, etc, and some NCAA titles.
Hall is no longer with Canova.[/quote]
BOOM
It is really not fair to expect Hall to win a mid-distance road race. There are too many E. Africans who specialize in the mid-d road racing scene who do not run marathons. They are always going to be in better shape for that distance than full time marathoners. This was a decent outing for Hall. He needs to race more. Being a hermit in the mountains for 6 months before a marathon, except for a paid 64 min 13.1 mile tempo run at a RnR event, has not been good for Hall.
those ethopians 1 and 3 can run what 60 and 61 ish for the half marathon?
hall coming off injury, that has to be seen as good result.
hall should break an hour again in the half before doing another marathon. why not take to the roads for awhile?
He is running a half this coming Sunday isn't he?
Hall is back on faith based coaching.
Enough already wrote:
Beat by some second rate Ethiopean. Tolassa Gedfa Fufi.
I realize this isn't a top event but I was at least hoping to see I victory here.
All things considered, that was a good result Hall.
Perhaps Fufi is not a top tier Ethiopean, but he is by no means 2nd rate; think he ran a one hour half last year. Btw, an distance besides the marathon is just an appearance fee pay check for Hall. Hall almost never runs well in these off distances.
j-hova wrote:
Hall is back on faith based coaching.
Praise the Lord!
Impressive that Hall was able to beat Coach Harbaugh and Batman:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BKtq1aaCMAAD_TD.jpg:large
Crazy that the race gave him bib #1.
