Is Chris Solinsky finished?

It's a shame his career got permanently sidelined to mediocrity when it did. Imagine where he would have been by now if not for a dog.

Now his emotional responses to his inevitable future is making things worse. He could follow teg to the thon. Nothing more left for him in running. He does have a pretty wife though. That should count for something.

I heard that he's training well - is that true? Could he be trying to train like the old Solinsky and just not able to handle it yet? Maybe (hopefully) it will click for him eventually.

Could it be a mental block? (He does seems like a bit of aheadcsae IMO.)

Or has his injury truly left him physically unable to ever get back to his previous form?

I'm intrigued. Opinions?

80'ssss ruuuner wrote:

DNFed today at the US 12K Champs. Me thinks Nike is going to be putting him on gear only contract. *He's best shot to ressurect his career is to give the marathon a shot. No way does he ever make a US 5K or 10K team again.

*He's best shot?

Sol is not done......

He needs some sort of year round speed training like the NOP guys do......He has 18 months of base right now with the speed of a 4:13 guy right now versus the 3:55 he is capable of.................

Sol is not done............

Invisible Walrus wrote:

Yes, Chris isn't to blame for his recent struggles. His pooch was the culprit: he tripped over the dog when walking down the stairs and destroyed his leg.

i never quite buy these "injured by dog" stories (the running version of "dog ate my homework) didn't ritz have the same story? you don't want to blame your body or training or coach so...... blame the dog. it"s easier.

(but in all seriousness, just like it's often not the last thing you ate that made you sick, it's also often not the last thing you did that injured you. that hammy i believe was on the brink. a wrong step on the stairs, the next hard workout, whatever, was gonna be the final straw. so he very well might have pushed too hard leading to some problems, and he has himself stated that he was seriously pushing the envelope. in the past it did not matter. this is the double-edged sword of being super durable and relying on an extremely high levels of training to reach your peak: despite obvious benefits, one could throw all caution to the wind, since one has almost never gotten hurt or even over-trained. furthermore, because one is unaccustomed to recovering from injury, he does not know how to do so. lastly, if one is unable to fully recover(even 95% might not be enough), one may never reach the extreme levels of volume/intensity in training reached before, and therefore not be able race nearly as well either. solinsky seems like one of these guys. a modified scaled back training program with either a little less quality or quantity with some additional cross training just might not be enough for him to be a 13:00 or better runner again. we'll see )

Does anyone really care about this guy any more? Seriously, he is a has-been. Just go off in to the sunset please.

Styx can hurt me wrote:

Does anyone really care about this guy any more? Seriously, he is a has-been. Just go off in to the sunset please.

Aside from one magical, spectacular race I'm surprised anyone ever did. While it's easy to proclaim that as his pinnacle in hindsight, how anyone would think we'd get more than a sub-27 from that bruiser is a joke. The bigger joke was all the 2010 talk of a "rivalry" between Salazar's world beaters and Schumacher's JV team.

22:30 would be nice wrote:

Not worried about today. I think it will be really hard to get back to sub 13. I hope he does some halfs and marathons. He may go 61; 2:10

Isn't he too heavy for a marathon? Who is the heaviest runner ever to break 2:10?

HC wrote:

Aside from one magical, spectacular race I'm surprised anyone ever did. While it's easy to proclaim that as his pinnacle in hindsight, how anyone would think we'd get more than a sub-27 from that bruiser is a joke. The bigger joke was all the 2010 talk of a "rivalry" between Salazar's world beaters and Schumacher's JV team.

So, three times under 13:00 (including all three under Rupp's PR) count for nothing? Hmmm...

Wonder if he took the dog to a kill shelter? He was hurt long before the dog incident .

When I think of Solinsky I think of one word: LOOSER

Curtis Sliwwa wrote:

When I think of Solinsky I think of one word: LOOSER

Does he untie things or something?

Invisible Walrus wrote:

Yes, Chris isn't to blame for his recent struggles. His pooch was the culprit: he tripped over the dog when walking down the stairs and destroyed his leg.

This is just one more reason why I shall never own a dog.

garfield wrote:

Invisible Walrus wrote:

Yes, Chris isn't to blame for his recent struggles. His pooch was the culprit: he tripped over the dog when walking down the stairs and destroyed his leg.

This is just one more reason why I shall never own a dog.

Is he now blaming his woes in his poor dog? Has he sunken that low?

True, you never know when the fog will ruin your US record setting run right?

Salt Lake City man wrote:

oatmeal + water wrote:

SOLINSKY...CHRIS SOLINSKY IS...TAKING OFF!!!

Not being mean to Chris, but if the 10k at Stanford is the best we get from him, that will be fine. It was amazing.

agreed!

*dog

It really only would happen if you where in a fog though.

Bleu wrote:

*dog

It really only would happen if you where in a fog though.

Hey you guys, we all get an injury sooner or later.

The frustration & pressure to come back from or try to train & race with a nagging injury that just won't go away is bloody awful!!!

Believe you me I know.

So, lay off this guy. I hope C. Solinsky does get healty one day & make a comeback.

Invisible Walrus wrote:

Yes, Chris isn't to blame for his recent struggles. His pooch was the culprit: he tripped over the dog when walking down the stairs and destroyed his leg.

Now maybe if his hamstring was 100% and not 80% I would agree with this post. However, he was already having issues to begin with (This is the same problem that caused him to DNF at the pre classic). If the same situation happened when he was healthy, it probably would have been a strain at the worst and not a 90% tear.