OAC is better than BTC, but NOBODY races enough. Beamish ran some random steeple this weekend. Why didn’t Olli, Yared and Mario also come to LA and hop in that 1500 with Teare? Only racing when you are at peak performance is definitely bad for the sport, but it’s bad for the athletes too. When you race a lot you perfect your tactics in all sorts of scenarios, you learn to deal with every situation, you learn how to perform well even when you are not 100%. Certainly the pros should get paid to race. Let their sponsors and WA set up the right sort of incentives, both in terms of $ and access to global championships to get them all out their more often.
I agree most pros should be racing more, but at the same time we cannot expect them to be setting an AR or WR every time they race. We have become accustomed to some record being in jeopardy in each of the handful of times the big names on the circuit race. Racing with those kind of expectations is not sustainable more than just a handful of times in a season. If you want them to race more, we need to accept slower, perhaps more tactical, races.
Absolutely right. The BIG races will still be the BIG races, but in general race more, but don’t sweat winning or losing, fast or slow times quite as much, develop rivalries and personalities. Teare ran 3:35, who cares? It was still an entertaining race. It would have been great to see Nuguse (or insert other equivalent names) in that race. Any good reason he couldn’t show up and run? What’s the big deal?
Absolutely right. The BIG races will still be the BIG races, but in general race more, but don’t sweat winning or losing, fast or slow times quite as much, develop rivalries and personalities. Teare ran 3:35, who cares? It was still an entertaining race. It would have been great to see Nuguse (or insert other equivalent names) in that race. Any good reason he couldn’t show up and run? What’s the big deal?
There's no one-size-fits-all approach to training. Some athletes may choose not to race often for a variety of reasons, and that is perfectly okay. As long as an athlete is still putting in the hard work and making progress towards their goals, it really doesn't make any difference to the price of milk how often they (do or don't) race.
Are Teare and Neguse different people? Indeed. As such, different athletes have different goals and motivations. Given that, they may need to train differently in order to achieve their goals.
As far as making running more popular, I think, at least road racing needs to somehow take better advantage of something no other sport has; that fans actually run in the same race and compete directly against, the pros.
The Boston marathon this year started the elite men before the rest of the field. Exactly the wrong way to go in my view. Instead, the elite men should be starting in wave 2. It would demonstrate just how fast they are as they blow by very fast, by normal standards, runners, and if I was fast enough to be in wave 1, I would pay an extra fee to be in the group that starts first and trys and hang as long as possible and then get blown past by Kipchoge and co.
Why can't the BTC 'tour' (maybe matched up with other training groups each time) and run some local 5k's as workout/races? Good publicity. Can be as race like as you want, and it is not on the track so you wouldn't worry about putting a bad time up on the board so to speak.
I'm hoping that OAC is proving you can race more often and still get world class results, but I can't fault Jerry for focusing on peaking for championships. It's not his fault those are the only meets that actually matter. Instead of being upset with BTC for never racing, we should get upset with World Athletics for creating an incentive for athletes to only focus on a few meets in the summer, and change it so that it's best for athletes to race more.
"Peaking" is an antiquated concept. Who do you think of when you think of peaking? Lydiard? Viren? Other people from 50 years ago? This anti-racing issue is a great example of how a) Schumacher's dominant characteristic is that he's a control freak with a mild to moderate personality disorder; and b) Schumacher's coaching methodology hasn't really moved on from what Martin Smith was doing in the late 80s-early 90s at Wisconsin. Neither of these points reflect well on him. He's really just Martin Smith with slightly better people skills. One wonders how successful he'd be if he didn't get an endless supply of talent at Wisconsin, BTC, and now Oregon.
If you train intelligently with modern methods, you can run well pretty much all year. Do you need to go away for 6-8 weeks at a time and put some hay back in the barn? Yes, that's what the best guys in the country and the world are doing now. But this idea of not racing for months at a time and only having a couple weeks in the summer around major championships where you're any good is half a century old.
Perhaps not racing is actually the best way to go, but we won't have a sport if our athletes don't race each other. Why would ESPN, NBC and various broadcast media be interested in our sport if we are not interested enough to race each other.
Perhaps not racing is actually the best way to go, but we won't have a sport if our athletes don't race each other. Why would ESPN, NBC and various broadcast media be interested in our sport if we are not interested enough to race each other.
Track and field has many aspects that make it an attractive sport to cover for those broadcasting companies and other media. From world records and celebrity appeal to the variety of events and inspiring athletes, there are many ways to make track and field sport interesting and engaging for viewers, most of whom are not home waiting for Teare and Nuguse to lock horns.
BTC is a team that is focused on winning championships. They have a very specific training plan that is designed to help them achieve their goals. This training plan may not include racing as frequently as other teams, as they may believe that it is more important to focus on quality over quantity.
BTC is a US-based team. This means that they have to travel to Europe to race in most of the Diamond League events. This can be a costly dip into their sponsorship, grant and donation money and is also a very time-consuming endeavor. It simply may not be worth it for BTC to race in every competition you hope they would, not even around the US, and I'll share why.
What works for one athlete may not work for another. BTC is a team that has found what works for them, and they are not going to change their approach just because some random people on a message board are criticizing them.
Absolutely, Fisher and Cranny racing in Europe last year after Worlds was a welcome change, and I also think it's something that BTC should continue to do. However, it is important to remember that BTC is a team that is focused on winning championships. They will not sacrifice their goals in order to race more frequently.
Every team is focused on winning championships. It’s no excuse for not racing, and random fans on the internet like myself aren’t the only people who are tired of it. Even athletes on the team want to race more. Fisher and Cranny have said as much, as have former members like Kincaid and GDS.
I’m so tired of the notion that one must choose between racing with any sort of regularity and being successful in championships. It’s actually possible to do both, but I guess we’re not allowed to question the way Schumacher runs his program because clearly he knows best.
BTC is a team that is focused on winning championships. They have a very specific training plan that is designed to help them achieve their goals. This training plan may not include racing as frequently as other teams, as they may believe that it is more important to focus on quality over quantity.
BTC is a US-based team. This means that they have to travel to Europe to race in most of the Diamond League events. This can be a costly dip into their sponsorship, grant and donation money and is also a very time-consuming endeavor. It simply may not be worth it for BTC to race in every competition you hope they would, not even around the US, and I'll share why.
What works for one athlete may not work for another. BTC is a team that has found what works for them, and they are not going to change their approach just because some random people on a message board are criticizing them.
Absolutely, Fisher and Cranny racing in Europe last year after Worlds was a welcome change, and I also think it's something that BTC should continue to do. However, it is important to remember that BTC is a team that is focused on winning championships. They will not sacrifice their goals in order to race more frequently.
I 100% Agree.
That is why the sport needs to change to force them to race more.
Lebron and his team have to have a good record over 82 games to make the playoffs.
If qualifying for championships was based on the results of racing 5-10+ times the sport changes. Not one race.
NASCAR has 32 races and the final race is the championship. But to qualify for a shot at that championship you need to build up the points and beat people head to head during the first 31 races. You still have your championship race, but also entertain fans 31 more times in that year to get there.
Again this would take a massive mindset shift and one I don't see happening.
The only way I see this happening is with a unified league that can promise income for it's athletes. The Diamond league is close, but paying only $10k to the winner means nothing changes.
Somehow the milers of the 80s (Walker. Scott. Coe, Cram, Boit, etc.) Raced A LOT and fast. Yet even with better tracks, super shoes, etc. they are still way up on the all time lists. They must have raced a lot because it paid.
The dynamic has changed so that only the very top runners make real money and from a smaller list of races. 2nd and 3rd tier runners barely make a living.
Consider how it was possible back then and what has changed.
I prefer European, Aussie, just about any foreign racing more than American racing. They seem unafraid to race a competitive schedule. A guy like Stewie McSweyn rarely wins a DL race, but he sticks his nose in there and often will push the pace or at least be near the front.
Do you remember the old days? Steve Scott broke 4 in the mile 137 times, 19 times in a sanctioned mile races in one season! Bill Rodgers was out running a road 10K like every week. The best runners raced ALL the time.
Plus El G, the greatest 1500m runner of all time, and Carlos Lopes who raced every weekend in 1984 leading up to his world cross country victory and then Olympic Championship in the marathon.
Somehow the milers of the 80s (Walker. Scott. Coe, Cram, Boit, etc.) Raced A LOT and fast. Yet even with better tracks, super shoes, etc. they are still way up on the all time lists. They must have raced a lot because it paid.
The dynamic has changed so that only the very top runners make real money and from a smaller list of races. 2nd and 3rd tier runners barely make a living.
Consider how it was possible back then and what has changed.
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