In Praise of David Torrence

malmo wrote:

Welcome to Tom Byers' average day at the office. Or Alan Webb's.

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Please explain the above.

Most guys aren't going to PR soloing a 1500 so I don't think it was surprising Torrence and everyone else was off their PRs.

It will be interesting to see if this helps David in future races.

In 2000, I went to the first Stanford race and JK told me to run with the leaders in the 10k for 4 miles and/or as long as possible. We thought it would be I think a like high 28 minute pace. Get to the starting line and Lananna is there and says there will be two rabbit. The first rabbit was going 28:10 I think which was the "A" standard. Second rabbit over 29 minutes.

The first pace was "too fast" for me, but the whole point was to see what I could do. I decided I didn't quit my job to be mediocre so I went with the faster group.

Made it 18:10 for 6400. One of the few times I really surprised John Kellogg. He thought 18:30 would be really good. (Also crazy how 5 seconds a mile is such a huge difference). Hanging on as long as I could was such a different type of running and helped me mentally.

Torrence is never going to run 3:31 unless he tries to run 3:31. He now has experience going out at that pace.

And this proves my point. Yes he ran bold, yes he tried to hang on to a hot pace, yes it MAY help his future development, but the performance itself was nothing special. If this running community keeps limiting our thought that Americans losing time to the East Africans is worthy of praise because he tried really really hard, we will never compete internationally. The expectation should be that Americans actually compete with the best in the world.

wejo wrote:

Made it 18:10 for 6400.

just wondering...what happened after 6400m?

Crazy Huge Base + Drugs wrote:

Agreed. It was awesome to see he understood what needed to be done and was all-in. Tactically savvy combined with balls of steel.

HE WILL NEED BLOOD OF STEEL TO BEAT MAKHLOUFI!!!

reed wrote:

wejo wrote:

Made it 18:10 for 6400.

just wondering...what happened after 6400m?

anybody know what ethnicity David Torrence is? He doesn't seem white. He seems Hispanic or Portuguese. Just curious. If he is of Mexican background, with Leo Manzano and Brenda Martinez, it's interesting to note that the recent US middle distance success can be attributed to the development of first or second generation immigrants. Which is very cool and what America is all about.

puro pinche BS wrote:

He doesn't seem white.

Dunno what on earth you're seeing but Torrence is as white as a polar bear in a snowstorm.

Not that he's Portuguese, but the Portuguese are also white.

Chad Ochocinco wrote:

puro pinche BS wrote:

He doesn't seem white.

Dunno what on earth you're seeing but Torrence is as white as a polar bear in a snowstorm.

Not that he's Portuguese, but the Portuguese are also white.

He's Peruvian

Why are you asking for an explanation? He felt like picking a fight by laying out a snarky comment. When no one hit the bid, he slithered off in another direction.