Maggie Vessey???

localyocal wrote:

0 humidity. Never cold. You are 5 feet above sea level. If you train here, you have a great climate, but you race elsewhere and it can put you at disadvantage. Its a really nice area. Also extremely full of itself.

Ahem... humidity is actually quite high, like when it is foggy. The higher the humidity, the cooler it is due to said fog. I recall the Kenyans at W2W commenting on this issue as being something they were not used to. When it is hot (like 85) it is dry. The fact you can generally go out on a nice run in the middle of a summer day is one of the biggest advantages and may offset any advantage of altitude from a year round perspective. Do MDs runners such as Maggie really need altitude?

Seascape wrote:

No problem. I am a local who made some money in a start up technology company in Silicon Valley back in the boom and then got out.

I am a writer and runner these days.

I didn't mean to come off defensive.

Your points are well taken.

Hey Seascape - It's funny, I am getting e-mails from folks who think I am you. I live in Seascape, run for SCTC, and sell Real Estate in the area.

This has been a great post.

I know both Maggie and her coach - (actually he is my coach too). They are both wonderful people. I believe they are focusing more for the next two years.

As for the area -I have to say I agree with everything that has been written, both the pro's and con's.

Greg H.

yeah,yeah,yeah. i meant heat w/humidity. just laying down some pros and cons of training here.

I'm pretty sure the Brad she refers to is Brad Yewer, her agent, Ray Flynn's assistant.

Greg is right. He is working on her for a long term development. He could be coaching her like some "elite" coaches, but he would rather get a gradual improvement without the risk of injury. Great coach and mentor.

I know she got injured when she was running 2 times a day once, but i would really like to see what she could do on 45-65 MPW. I blame coaching, she needs someone who has killer instinct to help her out. Although i still give her one more year to see if she can run 1:57 again. I think its still in the cards for me

I love women's times, they make me feel good about myself.

I don't think throwing mileage at a runner is always the answer, but this is from an old Letsrun front page:

'Mileage Isn't Always The Answer

"I don't know if she ever really goes more than 25 miles in a week and I know that sounds really low to some people but if you add in that she does 3 sessions a week of 48 minutes of cross training, she's getting well over of 2 hours of cross training time, and when she does that, her heart race is right at the 85% level. So it's really a high level - right at the upper end of the cardio zone. And I really think that makes a big difference for her is she can do that without impact."'

25 miles a week! As for being a 400/800m type don't you need to work on your weaknesses? Maybe she has some serious injury issues? She needs to run some 1500m races & do more running and a couple of 400's would do no harm if she is supposed to be a 4/8 type? Then look at tactics - trailing round at the back behind slower runners is not good tactics

Greg Brock is her coach. He is a fine person. If I were coachable, he's the guy I would choose. He is not a turn-key coach. When he coaches he designs programs based on the individual.

By the way, I love going over to the little shopping center across the tracks from Seascape all the time to get coffee and whatever.

Aptos is one of the most beautiful areas that I know of.

She got an asics contract out of college a few years back and trained with the Santa Monica track club. There she was hitting the range you gave (higher too I think) and had injury problems, eventually had to leave the club. Then she made her comeback later on.

This year doesn't matter in track there is no Worlds or Olympics, its just a training year for next year.

She's taking a couple of no risk years of financial gain after a risky year last year.

She can still earn cash on the circuit given her last years times even though she's not even close to hitting those marks.

It's often the American way. We won't see her at the top again.

I think it's funny no one was complaining about Maggie's low mileage training last year when she was tearing it up... Jumping to 60 or even 40 miles would be suicide for someone used to running 25 a week. In my opinion it's better to be running consistently around 2 minutes off of 25 miles a week than to be stuck not running at all due to a stress fracture. Greg is an amazing coach who is willing to be patient and wait for gradual improvement over time instead of trying to force the issue with heavy training and end up hurting Maggie. In this case patience is better than a "killer instinct".

Last year was huge for Maggie and exciting for her fans. I don't think we can judge from this season (she dipped under 2 twice) how she will perform next year. I'm happy to wait and see. I think she's got the goods and look forward to watching her race in 2011.

Vessey is not always the most focused runner in the world, that is for sure.

I lived in So Cal for 1.5 years....the good weather makes things too easy......you get weak and lazy..........

Oh yeah! wrote:

Santa Cruz Track Club, Fleet Feet Training Programs, Wharf to Wharf Race, 1K's, 3K's, 5K's and 10K's for all ages and ability, triathalons, marathons, half marathons, redwood trails, beaches, huge support for high school track & field, sports medicine...we have it all here and it's beautiful!

doesnottan wrote:

I lived in So Cal for 1.5 years....the good weather makes things too easy......you get weak and lazy..........

That happens when you smoke too much pot, no matter where you are. Make a note to yourself about that.

Santa Cruz is in Norcal

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