my choice wrote:
What in the hell is McMillan thinking?
This was the same mistake that he made with Paige Higgins. Marathon after marathon until she was done. This was the same routine that he did with Fasil after Chicago. How did that Fukoka race go? This is flat out stupid coaching.
Another quality athlete ruined by poor coaching.
Running Houston and Boston the same year worked out ok for Deriba Merga.
I assume he is running another marathon soon to reassert himself as a top contender, make up for the poor performance, and pick up some appearance $$$ along the way.His PR is 2:10 from last year isn't it? Much faster than the women's WR.
Sydney Strothers wrote:
A lot of attention for a guy coming off of a 2:19 marathon who's average over marathon time is slower than the womens WR.
What the heck wrote:
One word - Aint Rupp
"Aint Rupp" is two words.
elton wrote:
Arciniaga had a bad race at Chicago, like the whole McMillan crew, but ran a 2:11 PB at Houston.
Great point. Now Greg needs to follow the same plan with Brett. That means allow him to go train on his own and not follow any of Greg's workout plans and then tell him to lead for 25k and give him the ability to DNF if he chooses. Afterall, Greg's lack of a plan for Nick worked extremely well.
Catherine Ndereba Kenya 2:18:47 (Chicago, 2001) NR
she is Back this year?? amazing. I think she can win again although most americans will certainly be pulling for Kara.
or Desi
The men’s elite field features Kenya’s Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, who won last year in a course-record 2:05.32. Also running are Geoffrey Mutai, Gilbert Yegon, Tadese Tola and Evans Cheruiyot
Good luck to Gotcher. I'm sure his asking price was a fraction of Mebs. I wonder where his goal is in this race. Top 5 ?
Would a big Boston finish be greater than an Olympic berth?
my choice wrote:
This was the same routine that he did with Fasil after Chicago..
When was the last time Fasil did anything relevant? He hasn't even been under McMillan for a year. This is an example of when you point your finger at the athlete.
Exactly true.The only way any white American could win is with out Africans.But Meb's sidelining (clear modern racism) by BAA will be the most un forgetable mistake.Given the odds of any American to win other than Meb is a day dream.Good job BAA asses.
bobby e wrote:
Great point. Now Greg needs to follow the same plan with Brett. That means allow him to go train on his own and not follow any of Greg's workout plans and then tell him to lead for 25k and give him the ability to DNF if he chooses. Afterall, Greg's lack of a plan for Nick worked extremely well.
Why would you think that McMillan told one of his athletes "Oh, just go train on your own for a few months, and get back to me in February"? Why do you keep making this assertion?
...with 19 athletes on the team and Nick not having a "big race" coming up on his schedule, that may have been the case. He said himself in the interview he wasn't doing Greg's Marathon program.
Some quotes:
"My buildup for Houston was actually pretty similar to San Diego last June. I’m not saying it was identical, but it was pretty similar to how I built my weekly training regimen."
"About a month later [after Chicago] I mentioned to Greg (McMillan) about pacing Brett in Houston—so this was November that I mentioned pacing. ... It wasn’t until a couple more weeks later that I asked Greg again if I could finish it. So it was more of a process warming him up to it. I didn’t want to seem too aggressive or too crazy."
If you go by this timeline - I see no reason to think he would lie about it - by Thanksgiving the plan was already to finish the marathon, assuming Nick felt like he was having a good day. That's nearly 10 weeks until race day. There are plenty of top marathoners whose specific phase is 10 weeks or less.
Read the first part of the answer, Greg's training for the marathon is based off of high miles and long tempos. Nick did none of that...
How was your training leading up to Houston different from your Chicago marathon build-up?
NA: The main thing was the mileage. I wasn’t doing the long-long runs, I wasn’t doing the long tempos. I probably was hitting between 100 and 110 [miles] a week leading up to Houston. The goal was to go in there and pace Brett (Gotcher) and be ready to run a fast half-marathon and be able to do that comfortably with him. Going into Chicago, we had the idea where we’re just going to run a fast marathon, so heavy mileage of 130 to 150 per week easily, and hitting a lot of 15- to 18-mile tempo runs and longer threshold-type workouts. Those were the main differences.
Other than that, I was doing the shorter tempo runs and shorter track turnover-type workouts before to get myself sharp and ready to make a 1:04 half-marathon feel a little more comfortable
I agree that he clearly didn't try to replicate the training he (and Carney and Bizuneh) did before Chicago. Chicago was, after all, a bust for the McMillan athletes.
But even if he went back to his training before San Diego in June - he was coached by McMillan then, too. Just because they tried a different approach leading up to Houston, doesn't mean he was "doing his own thing."
Another way of looking at it: if your coach is named Coach D, and 10 weeks out you both agree on a plan to run aggressively through the half, and finish the race if you're feeling good - do those 10 weeks not count as "Coach D marathon training"? I don't see why not.
too many athletes wrote:
Read the first part of the answer, Greg's training for the marathon is based off of high miles and long tempos. Nick did none of that...
How was your training leading up to Houston different from your Chicago marathon build-up?
NA: The main thing was the mileage. I wasn’t doing the long-long runs, I wasn’t doing the long tempos. I probably was hitting between 100 and 110 [miles] a week leading up to Houston. The goal was to go in there and pace Brett (Gotcher) and be ready to run a fast half-marathon and be able to do that comfortably with him. Going into Chicago, we had the idea where we’re just going to run a fast marathon, so heavy mileage of 130 to 150 per week easily, and hitting a lot of 15- to 18-mile tempo runs and longer threshold-type workouts. Those were the main differences.
Other than that, I was doing the shorter tempo runs and shorter track turnover-type workouts before to get myself sharp and ready to make a 1:04 half-marathon feel a little more comfortable
You're making it sound like the benefits of training he does in one build-up end as soon as that goal event occurs, and then he starts from scratch the day after that goal event. That's not how it works.
What is this promising young talent about? Are there more slots to be opened for the Boston Marathon? Alot of promising young talent is going to Rebel Race in June.
smd wrote:
You're making it sound like the benefits of training he does in one build-up end as soon as that goal event occurs, and then he starts from scratch the day after that goal event.
That's not how it works.
A very good point. LetsRun seemed to understand this back in '09 after Ritz ran 27:22 and 12:56 - it was the only time that Brad Hudson received more praise than blame for his coaching of Ritz, because it was clear that Ritz's breakout runs were the product of more than just a couple months under Salazar's regimen.
Perhaps it will be Jason Rexing. In his trainers. Or maybe Flagpole Willy. His Oak Harbor Invitational story would KILL at the pre-race expo.
Revenge of Tim Culpepper wrote:Perhaps it will be Jason Rexing. In his trainers.Whatever happened to Rexing? Got too close to the sun and burned out before his star could shine brightly?
That is not what I'm trying to say. Nick was probably in the shape of his life for Chicago, but if you've trained so hard that by the time you get to the race you can't perform, something needs to change. I don't know the week to week plan that McMillan does for his athletes, but there seems to be a component missing in terms of benefiting from all their hard efforts ie not enough of a taper or rest. I agree that Nick benefited from the work he did last fall, but he obviously wasn't looking to run like crap at Chicago so he could potentially run awesome later on when he was only expected to pace Brett through half way.