Barringer: "The race isn't going to matter in the long run."

Here's an excellent explanation of what happened with Jenny Barringer on Monday.

http://running.competitor.com/2009/11/features/why-jenny-failed_6973

If she would have won - would she still claims that this race doesn't matter? no.

Would it be odd if she would have said before the race that it doesn't matter? yes. (infact, she's stated that NCAA I XC title is important to her)

It's really annoying when people's story changes after a poor performance --- "I really HAVE been feeling sick" "I probably have been overtraining" "This is just a tune up race for something else" When the exact opposite has been said all along before the race. This is exactly the case w/ JB.

The two things that bother me most about a lot of people's posts (MSCoach's included) are that they have, since the race, assumed that Barringer's collapse was definitively and entirely mental and not physical, and that (as a corollary to that) she wasn't trying hard enough or wasn't focused enough. That in and of itself is problematic, as, as some posters have said, we just didn't know enough at the time to make the conclusion that it was a mental problem. And even if it were a mental problem, that doesn't mean it didn't have physical repercussions that no amount of effort or focus could overcome.

It's also worrisome that these same posters use Jenny's interview as evidence to confirm their theory (that it was a mental collapse and thus she wasn't trying enough); this shows a near complete understanding of the nature of panic attacks (which certainly cannot be ruled out as--and is in fact, in my admittedly un-expert opinion, based on watching the race and listening to her interview quite likely [but not certainly]--what happened to Jenny).

It's worth noting, though, that we don't know enough to definitively conclude that Barringer's lapse wasn't a mental one, but based on her fully body of work I do think it seems highly unlikely that whether her lapse was mental or physical it is indicative of a lack of effort, as some seem altogether too eager to assume.

People drawing definitive conclusions on the nature of Jenny's collapse (be they concluding that Jenny's collapse was due to mental or physical reasons), and certainly those that speculate on her effort, focus, and (most of all) character, based on those specious conclusions, need to just chill out.

What he said [?, not the MSCoach guy who is wrong in my opinion]. As an added comment, Barringer owes the team her hard effort. She made a hard effort, probably too hard for what her body could do and it shut down to protect itself -- once she stabilized she could go again but it took a number of minutes to get fully stabilized. I think that she earned more points for her team in track than any one else and got them qualified more easily and was probably partly responsible for getting her teammates to the level that they were at.

Yep, good explanation. Expect all your races to be hard and that'll make it easier to deal w/the difficulty ahead.

I had a mental breakdown in a 10 mile race a few weeks ago. It was unusually hot and humid, and I refused to acknowledge that this would negatively affect my performance. I tried to run my splits as though it was a perfect day. I tried to run the race of my life. When I got to 5 miles feeling how I expected to feel, yet was WAY off pace, I freaked and physically lost it. I knew at that point that there was no way I could negative split fast enough to get anywhere near my goal time, and it quickly became impossible to continue at full effort. It really shook me, but now I have a better understanding of what happened.

The reality of da situashun wrote:

it means that a guy like malmo would sh1t the bed as well, after working for an entire season/career - then would tell you that it didn't matter, that's what it means.

That's exactly right, tough guy. Everyone has bad days. This is not the first bad day for Barringer and it won't be the last.

Her American record won't be her last either.

BUT... when you have a bad day you owe it to your competition to still honour their performance.... not go ON AND ON about the reasons you ran below expectations.

Bizzari ran faster than Barringer did at Pre Nats and deserves credit for surviving that fast pace best, Barringer just needs to shut up and go away and direct the attention to Bizzari, this stopped being all about her when she finished 163rd... the thing is she still hasn't realised it.

I have no doubt her reasons for under performing were genuine and she did her best on the day. As did everyone else, her best on the day wasn't good enough and she NEEDS TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT!

sheister wrote:

BUT... when you have a bad day you owe it to your competition to still honour their performance.... not go ON AND ON about the reasons you ran below expectations.

You're blaming Barringer for the length of the interview? A lot of people would have refused to do the interview in the first place.

And it's more than a little hypocritical of you to try to act all tough by calling her out for being a coward while hiding behind the mask of anonymity yourself.

It's perfectly clear who the real coward is.

"Why don't we stay on the real topic? Instead of attacking other posters for contributing to the discussion"

That's right. You tell em, coach. Stop attacking you and get back to the subject at hand: attacking Jenny B.

After all, we know exactly what happened to her.

When an Olympic athlete has a mid-competition meltdown this dramatic it's going to get all kinds of comments. Taking into account the interview doesn't mention any kind of follow-up medical tests as if anything physical is being looked into, to think everyone should blow smoke up an athlete's ass after the fact is just not going to happen.

No one is arguing that everyone doesn't have bad days - but to have a bad day and then say that it doesn't matter is B.S. You know it, I know it. This is no different than her not dropping, but throwing down a baton mid relay and saying "in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter".

malmo wrote:

The reality of da situashun wrote:

it means that a guy like malmo would sh1t the bed as well, after working for an entire season/career - then would tell you that it didn't matter, that's what it means.

That's exactly right, tough guy. Everyone has bad days. This is not the first bad day for Barringer and it won't be the last.

Her American record won't be her last either.

Your mothers hairy nipple wrote:

This is no different than her not dropping, but throwing down a baton mid relay and saying "in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter".

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Your mothers hairy nipple wrote:

No one is arguing that everyone doesn't have bad days - but to have a bad day and then say that it doesn't matter is B.S. You know it, I know it.

You're wrong. Flat out wrong.

Its simply rationalization, or damage control, or whatever you want to call it on Barringer's part - exactly what every elite athlete has done many times to some degree or another and exactly what they should do. Essentially she is convincing herself that it does not matter to minimize the chances of the same thing coming up and biting her on the butt the next time she races.

Every race is a fine line between putting enough pressure on yourself to help get the adrenalin going and too much pressure that adversely effects the race because of too much stress. Sometimes, as in Monday's case, if you step over that line it can spiral out of control. If that happens an athlete must do whatever mental damage control they can - otherwise the residual effects can be career threatening - (see the "yips" in golf or baseball).

I once read a story about Jack Nicholas (a Rick Reilly book I believe), that when asked about a certain 3 putt in a major, he replied that he had never 3 putted in his career (despite this not being true). That is because to be as mentally sharp as he was, he had to forget all of the negative outcomes while remembering things that would contribute to a positive outcome the next time (i.e. he may have forgotten the 3 putt but I will bet if you put him on the green again he would remember not to use that same line). This is an incredibly hard thing to do and most, if not nearly all, athletes slip up.

The point being, athletes lie all the time to themselves ("it doesn't matter", "my hamstring/cold/foot won't bother me", etc etc) and that is because they have too. You lie to yourself while at the same time taking steps to make sure what happened does not happen again. Anybody who hangs her for what she said shows little understanding of how the athletic mind works.

"No one is arguing that everyone doesn't have bad days - but to have a bad day and then say that it doesn't matter is B.S. You know it, I know it."

If a butterfly in China can affect the weather in New York, who knows what this could cause. I'm going to be very, very careful for a while. The world could be coming to an end.

How could you do this to us, Jenny B?

"Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?"

You're taking this waaaaay too serious.

It's a sport. A damn silly sport where people put on shorts and see who can run the fastest that day.

Sure, it's fun to follow. It's fun to participate. Some people can even make a living doing it, but it's just a damned silly sport.

There is a difference between saying "this race isn't going to matter in the long run" and "this race doesn't matter."

The first statement--a direct quote--as worded, acknowledges that it does matter a lot at the moment. But as time passes, it's importance will fade. The second statement--not a direct quote--is some anonymous moron's mangled misinterpretation of the first statement.

Jenny-b-good wrote:

You're taking this waaaaay too serious.

It's a sport. A damn silly sport where people put on shorts and see who can run the fastest that day.

Sure, it's fun to follow. It's fun to participate. Some people can even make a living doing it, but it's just a damned silly sport.

Can't tell if you completly missed my point or the sarcasm of the poster after me - well, I guess it doesn't matter.