There are lots more kids in Ontario who go to French Immersion now. I remember learning French in a rural Ontario school and doing nothing. I live near Montréal now and still have trouble with some of the heavier accents and slang. I think the standard in Ontario is quite a bit higher now, but they still tend to be short of French teachers. Lots of young people in the Montreal area speak English now, but not so much in Québec City.
Depends on how you qualify a comeback. Seeing lots of people saying 4:03 isn't a comeback for someone who has run 3:56 which is true.
But at the same time, this is someone who couldn't break 4:15 for love nor money and ran 4:23 *twice* last year (for the 1500m not the mile!). Always liked GDS but definitely thought she was cooked and her career was over. This meet was the same weekend as Sound Running Track Fest - last year she raced there and finished DFL and went 4:23 there.
That she ran a 4:03 solo as her first 1500m of the season was not something anyone was predicting.
Her season opener vs eventual season best the years she broke 4:
2019 - 4:01 + 3:56
2021 - 4:10 + 3:58
2022 - 4:03 + 3:58
Kazimierska and Mackay were both sub 4 and Olympic finalists last year and went 4:03 at Sound Running this past weekend too, so a respectable opener.
Interesting article on the LR homepage that has some comments from her on her training.
“Like in January, coming off an illness and an Achilles injury where I was in awful shape, we started at just 10x100m in 15-16 seconds, and slowly built out those reps over months. Next week, I did a combination of 100m and 200m reps at goal pace, then just 200s, and then eventually 300s. If I were doing a 1500 session, I was never doing a rep long enough that I couldn’t hold that goal pace of 4:00 during the rep. We still kept the rest relatively short, but the most important thing was nailing the pace,” she added.
“We’ve taken the same approach to top speed, building out strides from 50m to 60m, to 100m, 150m, then 200m, etcetera. Only after being able to hit an all-out 200 at 26.9s did I do my first proper lactic-buffering speed session. So, I only just did my first hard/sub-60 400 last week.”
A different approach. Reminds me a bit of how Jess Hull said she would run 400m reps in 62 and start with 3min recovery but by the end of the season she could do it of 60s or something.
Would be interested to see how she'd have done in the Rabat Diamond League or any other race where the next best runner wasn't 5 seconds behind her.
This is a very good post and clearly GDS is quite open about her training. I bet this could be a good first post in a megathread about Progression, he said, hoping for it to be.
Depends on how you qualify a comeback. Seeing lots of people saying 4:03 isn't a comeback for someone who has run 3:56 which is true.
But at the same time, this is someone who couldn't break 4:15 for love nor money and ran 4:23 *twice* last year (for the 1500m not the mile!). Always liked GDS but definitely thought she was cooked and her career was over. This meet was the same weekend as Sound Running Track Fest - last year she raced there and finished DFL and went 4:23 there.
That she ran a 4:03 solo as her first 1500m of the season was not something anyone was predicting.
Her season opener vs eventual season best the years she broke 4:
2019 - 4:01 + 3:56
2021 - 4:10 + 3:58
2022 - 4:03 + 3:58
Kazimierska and Mackay were both sub 4 and Olympic finalists last year and went 4:03 at Sound Running this past weekend too, so a respectable opener.
Interesting article on the LR homepage that has some comments from her on her training.
A different approach. Reminds me a bit of how Jess Hull said she would run 400m reps in 62 and start with 3min recovery but by the end of the season she could do it of 60s or something.
Would be interested to see how she'd have done in the Rabat Diamond League or any other race where the next best runner wasn't 5 seconds behind her.
Classic LetsRun. A post that actually engages in discussing track gets passed by while two posters go back and forth hurling insults at each other.
Curious where the progressive goal pace work goes from there and how she progresses across the season.
Please see my post above. Lets blow this popsicle stand on French and Takes. Make that thread!!
Got a chance to go to the race.There was a ridiculous number of women on the startline and a massive fall 200m in that took out a bunch of runners. DeBues Stafford had to run on the infield and hurdle the speakers to avoid going down. must have been in 20th or so when that happened and was way back.
She finished one second behind Chelangat in the end but she must have been 15m or even 20m or so behind her at the bell. It reminded me of some Woody Kincaid last lap finishes.
She was behind the 14:55 wavelights going into the last lap so must have closed in around 64s.
Got a chance to go to the race.There was a ridiculous number of women on the startline and a massive fall 200m in that took out a bunch of runners. DeBues Stafford had to run on the infield and hurdle the speakers to avoid going down. must have been in 20th or so when that happened and was way back.
She finished one second behind Chelangat in the end but she must have been 15m or even 20m or so behind her at the bell. It reminded me of some Woody Kincaid last lap finishes.
She was behind the 14:55 wavelights going into the last lap so must have closed in around 64s.
Update - is now on the startlist for Paavo Nurmi Games. Looks like a strong but not insane field. 8 women with sub 4 PBs but none have broken 4 yet this year so lots of people with something to prove. Will be the most informative race so far to see how "back" she is. If she comes top 4 in that field that's probably a good day in the office. Hasn't really been a proper 1500m since Prefontaine 2022 so I'm curious.