every once in a while, letsrun can still be awesome. thank you for this post!
You're welcome.
Grant's one of several personal favorite t&f athletes, so happy to put in the time & effort.
Although a few have attempted to derail this discussion with their personal biases stated as fact, Grant's own recent comments along with actual recent race results -- including breaking 3 WRs in the past 13 months -- have kept this thread on the rails.
Biggest data point of all forthcoming Sunday morn . . .
Could the 2028 USA men's marathon team both have Fisher and Blanks? I know it's a long time ago and things have changed, but it worked out pretty well for Frank in 72.
Insane take. If you are 2 spots away from gold in 2 track events, you cannot say his best chance of gold is in a road event he has never competed in. He might be horrible at the marathon and struggle to break 2:08. We just don't know.
Yes
The HM is probably ok to excel at with his backround, but the marathon is 'over that hump', into the unknown. My personal opinion is that he won't be one of those 'good converters' of shorter times to marathon. Have my reasons.
-- Likely will wear AlphaFly 3s. Likely will only consume gels during the race, not water.
I can't see how anyone gets any beneficial effect from a gel (more complex carbs) in a race as short as an HM, let alone a highly trained elite. The water won't hurt, but shouldn't come at great time expense
Here's another, just up today, again with Mike Scannell.
Over an hour long. Specific talk about Grant's training starts at the 52-minute mark.
Hard to believe there was more to learn about Grant's buildup to the race tomorrow, but Mike provided a real nugget or two.
After mention of Grant's illness back in January, Mike stated they have had a 6-week training block leading up to the half -- implying Grant recovered quickly from his pneumonia and started putting in workouts the first week in February soon after Millrose.
Here are the highlights from his perspective as a coach:
-- Despite what we saw in the All Access YT video, according to Mike, Grant's primary sessions have been repeat 1000s, all on the roads.
-- Mike's big concern with this training was "leg fatigue"; namely, when would it happen, when would the lactate spike and Grant starts slowing down.
-- Primary sessions have been 12x1000s.
-- At the first of these workout sessions, sometime early February, Mike was expecting Grant to begin experiencing leg fatigue at around the 7th, 8th or 9th repeat.
-- Big Reveal: leg fatigue never happened. And that was Grant's first session back from the illness. Mike stated that he knew then, "We're going to be golden. Grant will be just fine."
-- Mike will be in NYC for the race, positioned around the 11-12 mile mark, looking to see if he can tell if Grant is exhibiting any leg fatigue symptoms. He is not concerned about time, just place. Sunday's results will inform his training decisions going forward whenever Grant's next road race comes around. No mention of when that will be. Only an offhand mention that, someday, Grant will run a marathon.
-- Finally, Mike's focus as Grant's coach this summer is on the European DL circuit, namely, some 3000s and 5000s, "and maybe a 10,000 at the end of the year." Thus, it looks like Grant will run the 5000 -- maybe even the 1500 if he qualifies -- at USAs in late July.
So, there's the mind of Mike Scannell, hours before race time.
Insane take. If you are 2 spots away from gold in 2 track events, you cannot say his best chance of gold is in a road event he has never competed in. He might be horrible at the marathon and struggle to break 2:08. We just don't know.
Yes
The HM is probably ok to excel at with his backround, but the marathon is 'over that hump', into the unknown. My personal opinion is that he won't be one of those 'good converters' of shorter times to marathon. Have my reasons.
Three downvotes, not sure what the thoughts are after his debut HM, but his result reinforces my opinion that is based on actual physical (physics actually) reasons