Is Chris Solinsky finished?

In the past 6 years he had one 4 month span in 2010 where he got within 2.5% of WR times and was a legit international threat.

The other 68 months of that period he was and has continued to be very consistently at 4.5%+ of WR times.

He's heavier than Jeremy Wariner at the same height. It's pretty damn simple, he needs to lose muscle mass.

What is Chris's best ROAD performance? Quit acting like anything he has done on the track is a predictor for what he is capable of on the roads. He has at least a dozen road performances. What is his best?

Pretty harsh assessments here. For a brief period, the guy was the fastest athlete on the track the U.S. has ever known. Add in his career as a prep and collegiate and the guy's career ought to elicit a little respect, even here in troll-ville.

trials of miles_ wrote:

Pretty harsh assessments here. For a brief period, the guy was the fastest athlete on the track the U.S. has ever known. Add in his career as a prep and collegiate and the guy's career ought to elicit a little respect, even here in troll-ville.

Chris has been extremely consistent at a very high level, which is no easy task, obviously.

If he wants to revisit that flash of brilliance in 2010, he needs to take a risk and lose the weight. Maybe it will work, maybe not, but at this point he has nothing to lose...but muscle.

webbfan#6million wrote:

Chris has been extremely consistent at a very high level, which is no easy task, obviously.

If he wants to revisit that flash of brilliance in 2010, he needs to take a risk and lose the weight. Maybe it will work, maybe not, but at this point he has nothing to lose...but muscle.

The fact that you are probably serious in your oh-so-brilliant assessment of what Solinsky needs to do I find truly hilarious.

Chris will be fine. Once he trains uninterrupted for some time and hits the roads, he can run 28/61/207.

webbfan#6million wrote:

Chris has been extremely consistent at a very high level, which is no easy task, obviously.

If he wants to revisit that flash of brilliance in 2010, he needs to take a risk and lose the weight. Maybe it will work, maybe not, but at this point he has nothing to lose...but muscle.

More Realistic wrote:

The fact that you are probably serious in your oh-so-brilliant assessment of what Solinsky needs to do I find truly hilarious.

THIS. Haha. Chris looks leaner than he did in 2010, and in fact, it could be part of the problem. Losing functional muscle mass is a no-go. He's a big dude, that's just the way it is.

his "bmi" was like 21 in 2010...it's not like he weighed 250 pounds. 160 pounds at 6 foot 1 is NOT big. I think part of the reason Americans fail to do well internationally is we try to look like Africans. Genetically, we are not the same.

it is correct that Americans are not the same. That is why Caucasians always will behind Africans.

CS was outstanding!

Looky Here wrote:

THIS. Haha. Chris looks leaner than he did in 2010, and in fact, it could be part of the problem. Losing functional muscle mass is a no-go. He's a big dude, that's just the way it is.

Losing functional muscle mass is a no-go, yes, but it's also a no-go to look like you are as serious about Crossfit as you are about running if you want to be world class.

Chris is an 800/1500 guy, as are practically all white guys for that matter.

just free sneakers man

Hardloper wrote:

sad but true. wrote:

Why would you peak in may and time trial for three months? Why would someone kill themselves in a non-championship year? You don't need hindsight to see that's stupid.

Unless you can link back to where you said this in 2010, you did, in fact, only see this in hindsight.

Nope. This is common sense stuff coaches have been saying for years before Solinsky. His 2010 season was stupid. You don't need hindsight to see that. Anyone with common sense could see he was putting himself at a high risk of injury.

over the hills and through wrote:

his "bmi" was like 21 in 2010...it's not like he weighed 250 pounds. 160 pounds at 6 foot 1 is NOT big. I think part of the reason Americans fail to do well internationally is we try to look like Africans. Genetically, we are not the same.

Solinsky is just about the same height and weight as Buster Mottram. Solinsky had about three good years as a pro. Buster had about eight good years. No evidence that being bigger will shorten the career of a distance runner. Solinsky had a bad break with an accidental injury. Absent that big injury, he would probably be an Olympian and top US distance runner. But they had to reattach his hamstring. That is a big injury that possibly has long term implications. I think that Solinsky is just not where he wants to be physically and expected to be back to his old self at this point. Getting beat badly by guys who you wouldn't even bother racing a few years ago is a bitter pill to swallow and is probably why he is tanking and DNFing in races. Why put yourself through the pain if you are just going to end up out of the money and finishing just behind some guy who is lucky to get free gear from his local running store? Solinsky needs to decide whether he wants to use these races as stepping stones and just go with the flow when he isn't competitive or whether these races just get him down. If the latter, he needs to just stay in training until he is really ready to compete on the level he wants to be on.

webbfan#6million wrote:

If he wants to revisit that flash of brilliance in 2010, he needs to take a risk and lose the weight. Maybe it will work, maybe not, but at this point he has nothing to lose...but muscle.

He did lose weight in 2011. He looked way skinnier and leaner.

sad but true. wrote:

Nope. This is common sense stuff coaches have been saying for years before Solinsky. His 2010 season was stupid. You don't need hindsight to see that. Anyone with common sense could see he was putting himself at a high risk of injury.

Please link to where you, or ANYONE said this in 2010 then. No one did.

Injuries happen.

like when I used to break 20 for 5k

those glory days are gone

his 10k is the mens national race average for 5k

Invisible Walrus wrote:

Yes, Chris isn't to blame for his recent struggles. His pooch was the culprit: he tripped over the dog when walking down the stairs and destroyed his leg.

Crucify the pup.

this thread makes me think of sprintgeezer

love him or hate him, sprintgeezer said as early as 2011 that solinsky was finished, even before he decided not to go to worlds, and that he would never again do anything significant

so far he has been right on

if he is right about the jamaican stuff which it looks like he will be, i might kill myself. i remember his insane rants back in the day, whatever happened to that guy?