Explosive New York Times article: Mary Cain breaks silence about NOP

Question?? wrote:

Don't most female runners at the upper D1/Pro level not get periods due to high mileage, genetically low body fat and other genetic factors(more masculine figures, more natural testosterone, etc)?

Nope it's because their body is breaking down and in order to survive, starts shutting down its functions.

So, first she says there was no certified sports psychologist and then later she says she told Alberto and the sports psychologist that she is cutting herself. That was no certified sports psychologist? Did Nike just hire some random person as sports psychologist?

I don't mean to discredit her, it just stuck out to me.

What she is describing regarding the weight loss is basically how it was on my college team (without any weight loss medications that I know of though). Our coach called some people on the team fat and openly told them to lose weight. We also had to log our weight in our training log which he checked once a week. Most girls were terrified to gain any weight. So, this is definitely not solely a NOP problem.

Also, she turned pro at a very young age. It's not really a secret that professional sports are unhealthy. If you want to be healthy join the local YMCA. I am not saying that Alberto is not a terrible person, but that at least her parents should have known what she is getting herself into is not going to be healthy.

These days, it's fashionable and easy to dog-pile onto the accused, and doing so can earn you notoriety, acclaim, sympathy, or a pay day.

In this case, trampling the legacy of Salazar and NOP is easy opportunity for some to push questionable agendas, or accusations without close scrutiny - and perhaps motivated due to past, personal differences.

You don't want to be seen as the person who stood up for an accused (or actual) drug-cheat, lest you then be painted with the same tar brush, ruined and ostracised.

This latest, me-too-esque rant is makes for good press, but what's not well assessed here - Cain has significant mental health issues and is not owning that.

She is deflecting - blaming others for failures and problems largely relating to her choices or nature.

It just seems like she went from doing well under salazar in HS to falling off a cliff and breaking 5 bones in a really short period of time if she was only there for a year.

1955 wrote:

I am also disappointed that the older women in Mary's group (apparently) didn't do more to support & protect her.

A) It shouldn't be up to them.

B) He likely didn't treat all his athletes the same, so they might not have seen it. Just because they didn't doesn't mean it didn't happen to her.

The victim blaming that so many posters are engaging in makes me sick to my stomach.

Obviously being lean and at a good racing weight is important - Mary Cain acknowledges that in her comments! But there is an obvious line between staying lean through diet and exercise, and being unhealthy.

To those who say "this is pro running, she shouldn't have gone pro if she couldn't handle it!" are just dead wrong. This is her profession, and was Salazar's profession. IN ANY OTHER WORKPLACE if a supervisor acted how Salazar did towards Cain they would have been fired. Healthy work environments do not involve mental abuse, and pressuring an employee to become physically unhealthy.

Really, as she said there need to be checks and balances in these types of training groups. An independent HR - type person, not just a bunch of sycophants and yes-men surrounding a megalomaniac coach.

That's true, but you can't deny it's effectiveness - not sure about Jager, but in 2008 Frodeno admitted that he was starving, and he got rewarded with an Olympic gold medal. He said it was very important to be at low weight as a tall guy in an Olympic tri which includes a 10k running race. These days he is at least not starving anymore, as he is doing Ironman's but he is still obsessed with his nutrition, only eating absolutely healthy foods and only allowing him a burger once a year when he becomes world champion in Hawaii.

When I went on a crash diet I lost weight extremely quickly and my running times dropped dramatically, but I also felt out of energy and was glad when it was over. It makes you feel miserable, but running times improved so it's a trade-off between optimizing running performance and feeling well.

It would require incredible talent to become a top distance runner (let's say 1500-10k) without being at low weight - for example, Solinsky, Mottram, Makhloufi or Obiri, Muir on the women's side. But even these athletes improve when dropping weight - when Solinsky went from 165 to 157, he set the American 10k record.

Okay, Boomer

AlexW136 wrote:

Mary Cain would’ve broken down exactly the same if she had chosen to run in college. As someone who ran D1 and has dozens of female friends who did, this is the norm. Weigh ins are mandatory and many factors go into determining the range you’re supposed to be in. And yes, your diet will come change if your not making that weight. Mary refused to stand up for herself, yes she was only 17, but many college athletes are and they stand up for their best interest. She’s the worst case of a sheltered teen running star who broke when pressured.

This is not and should not be the norm. It's unacceptable.

Rick Cheney wrote:

The whole obsession with losing weight is beyond me.

This is what fat people say

opportunistic pathogen wrote:

I really don't buy this story.

It's complete opposite of what other athletes say about Alberto being like father to them.

Smells fishy here

I've said it once and I'll say it again. It's a red flag for a professional adult athlete to call their coach a father figure.

I've gotten more into watching soccer and playing indoor soccer. I visited Rio a few times and I've gone to games there. I've also been to a few MLS games for a pretty low price (the last game was a playoff game for a team that's now in the final and I got a ticket from somebody for $20). If anybody is interested in getting into the game, there's a lot of streams online and one Brazilian team that I follow, Flamengo, has their league games online. I kind of regret that I didn't play real organized soccer as a young person. I played it a lot on breaks at school.

Just saying, guys. I'm not saying soccer is clean and perfect, but track has had a lot of bs over the years. It's hard to stay a fan of running and I rarely visit this site.

Yep, this thread is about as toxic as I thought it would be.

Good for Mary Cain.

Alberto is a horrible human being. Ban him forever.

No amount of medals or success is worth living like this, let alone risking somebody's life altogether.

Glorify sports all you want, they're just games at the end of the day.

here are two people who did not read the transcript or watch the video.

Coachy Coach wrote:

This went mainstream so Nike is going to take a hit on this one.

They tried to treat a girl like a professional athlete and that typically doesn't work out good on the end. Her parents need to look in the mirror and take at least partial blame on this.

Enabling and encouraging an eating disorder, self-harm and suicidal thoughts in NOT professional or ethical.

THIS THIS THIS!!!!!!!!!!!! Times a million.

Leave those kids alone wrote:

Mary Cain? There have been others. Does Caitlin Chick sound familiar?

That always concerned me that she was recruited even though it was known she had an ED.

Does anyone know how much much she was paid to endure this? It’s not as if she couldn’t say screw this, I’m going back to college.

Question?? wrote:

Don't most female runners at the upper D1/Pro level not get periods due to high mileage, genetically low body fat and other genetic factors(more masculine figures, more natural testosterone, etc)?

If they have low energy availability, then yes (which WILL cause problems down the road). And part of the college culture, I feel, is almost being proud to lose your period as it means you're "fit." I would bet, however, that most pros ensure they get a period because without it comes problems. For example, Steph Bruce is as lean as they come and has talked about how she's maintained her period her entire pro career due to maintaining a proper energy balance (she did lose it for a time in college). Good reading: