Mary Cain and Salazar

I meant to include Francie Larrieu-Smith too.

MC is not allowed to train with the boys squad.... For whatever reason....

There are other problems about to surface

Did she cut inside a cone?!?

Abel wrote:

MC is not allowed to train with the boys squad.... For whatever reason....

There are other problems about to surface

Like what?

Her father is a doctor, I wonder how what his thoughts are on microdosing.

I think Mary should talk to Steve Magness, Kara Goucher, Josh Rohatinsky a little bit before seeking this "coach's" advice. Or just talk to any one of Jerry's athletes.

Mary will have a thyroid deficiency and allergies right?

If she does go there, she will run well as long as she buys in to the entire system and no one is on a hunt for ASal like federations were for Lance, so who cares.

Cain and Wilson will not run in the ncaa.

Both of them will go pro.

Why would that interfere with what coaches think? She ran one of the top 5 times ever on the course, winning handily, and running 28 seconds faster than last year. She also always comes on late in XC, and is definitely more of an 800/1500 runner. Her improvements in XC testify to her improving strength, which will only translate to faster track times.

True, but she's not a 5k runner

whirledpeas wrote:

i don't get it; she runs a 4:30 mile, just like hundreds, if not thousands, of other teenagers.

Or she could train with any of thousands of LR posters all of whom run 4:30 pace for 5K.

whirledpeas wrote:

i don't get it; she runs a 4:30 mile, just like hundreds, if not thousands, of other teenagers.

you are beyond stupid. Are you unable to differentiate the genders?

Where can we find the video interview?

There is no cosmic "best practices" in training athletes. So often it comes down to the whims of a coach. Sarah Baxter has been running with boys since her youth days with Rebels. Coach doesn't have an issue with it. Catrina McAllister (Arcadia, Univ. of Colorado) tried the same thing and her coach said no. She transferred to San Clemente, trained under a great coach, and just ran the college invites. Why two completely different outcomes? Coaching whimsy.

Curious what the issue is with Cain, and whether it was a coaching problem. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. It's fluid. A coach can sometimes take the athlete only so far and then they need to move on.

Just hoping Salazar can work magic with her.

I suppose part of the problem with MC runnin with the boys is peaking - assuming the boys on the team are average, they will want to peak in May for conference champs or the equivalent, while MC will want to peak later for whatever - USAs? World Juniors?

true about no single best practices - I am always amazed by the many different ways great runners train.

agip wrote:

I suppose part of the problem with MC runnin with the boys is peaking - assuming the boys on the team are average, they will want to peak in May for conference champs or the equivalent, while MC will want to peak later for whatever - USAs? World Juniors?

true about no single best practices - I am always amazed by the many different ways great runners train.

'

Dude, great runners run fast because they are great, not because of who coaches them.

Mary doesn't run for Bronxville because her parents didn't want the team to get in the way of Mary being a star. They don't want her to have to run relays and stuff like normal kids do, then she has to share the glory. They want her to run for Mary so they can live vicariously through her and they can share the glory.

Her HS coach brought out her ability and then they dumped him for selfish reasons. It just wouldn't be right for her to run 2:03 as a frosh under him and have friends and be part of a team when she could grab all the glory herself. Why wait til after HS, go for it now.

The ultimate problem for MC in this decision is the following:

1. No matter what she accomplishes, she will be suspect. Let's say she wins the olympics in 8 years. She will never be America's "golden girl" or what have you in the track/running community. Because, rightfully or wrongfully, of her association with Alberto. You see it with Rupp. Yes, he's a bigger name, but still the reception was rather muted for our first silver medal from an american born runner in a distance event in a long time.

2. If it fails, which if history is our guide, there is a high likelihood, then she's left with either no college or a partially completed degree in something from portland state or at best Oregon, most likely.

3. If stuff hits the fan, and it turns out that there is a drug program like letsrun message boarders think, then she goes down the tubes quickly and she's got in an Armstrong esque mess.

Counting the days until Mary's asthma and hypothyroidism diagnosis.

___

Counting the days until Mary's asthma and hypothyroidism diagnosis.

__________

oh lrc. you can be such an a$%^&*O%.

This is why the parents, who have some smarts, will never send her away with Salazar. Of the two most likely college options, Stanford and Princeton, if she has the brains to get into this level school, she will likely choose Princeton. Both are great schools for scholar athletes. However, she would ultimately choose Princeton because:

1) It has a higher academic rating than Stanford and is Ivy League.

2) It is closer to home than Stanford.

3) At Stanford, she would be in the shadow of the other great female distance runner of our era, Aisling Cuffe. Why would she want to be overshadowed when she can have a program all to her self (much like D'Agostino at Dartmouth).

She wouldn't be in Aisling Cuffe's shadow. She beat Cuffe as a freshman and is already much, much faster. Soon she'll even be better at 5k/6k. If she improves and comes into college in the 4:00-4:05 range, she won't be in anyone's shadow.

Speaking of D'Agostino, I've heard Mary is also in interested in Coach Coogan and Dartmouth. They have a great program building up there and it's another top tier school not far from her home.