Can someone explain to me how Tuohy would even be in the 5k? She scratched at ACC so I must not understand the rules for qualifying.
Sorry if my response above came off as snotty. I meant to say that if you don't understand the rules, that's because they are confusing, and have changed from what they used to be.
If you want more details, you can check out the thread from a few weeks ago on "How to qualify for First Rounds/Region Prelims."
If she even makes it to nationals, she needs to heal her leg!
You’re cracked. Valby won the SEC against arguably the strongest competition in the NCAA - the Alabama women.
Tuohy won a 10K in a time that is slower than some people can walk a 10K 😂
You mean these SEC championships. What a convincing/dominating win ;) 1. Parker Valby 15:25.03 2. Mercy Chelangat 15:25.07
Your last joke about Tuohy's sub 33 10k would have been funny if the world record in the mens 10k race walk was faster, but it is only 37:25.21, which isn't even close.
Re discussions of "talent": As has already been mentioned on this thread, the ability to absorb training without becoming injured is a talent. Some athletes are born with/grow into a structure that resists injury; others are not so fortunate.
I agree with exactly 50% of this. Touhy is miles ahead of Valby “time” wise. Valby is obviously the more talented kid. what she’s doing on such minimal and inconsistent training is crazy. If she were able to execute consistent, injury free training, she’d be smashing the collegiate 5000 record.
The ability to train and race hard AND stay healthy is a real factor and a huge asset, that she appears to be lacking, but her endurance physiology is off the charts compared to Touhy.
I admire both of these athletes. Touhy is a slow twitcher who’ll need to move up in distance post-collegiality to be competitive on the world scene. Valby, if she can even make it to a post collegiate career—and stay healthy, could be a world class 5000 runner.
“Talent” encompasses a lot more than the VO2 max you mention in a later post. Certainly the ability to stay healthy and handle a full training load is a talent needed to be a world class runner. While I understand and somewhat agree with your point, I think it unfair to say Valby is “obviously more talented”. Both are extremely talented, just in different ways.
I’m not sure staying healthy is a talent, but it is one of the indispensable factors. Touhy has more of it than Valby.
Parker’s epic cross training regimen certainly doesn’t make up for a lack of running, but it shows an extreme commitment to success and a willingness to sacrifice to compete.
Anybody who’s ever been on the 2 hour per day cross training routine while the rest of the team is out running knows how much this sucks. Doing it season after season is beyond depressing. That grit is evident in Valby’s racing.
“Talent” encompasses a lot more than the VO2 max you mention in a later post. Certainly the ability to stay healthy and handle a full training load is a talent needed to be a world class runner. While I understand and somewhat agree with your point, I think it unfair to say Valby is “obviously more talented”. Both are extremely talented, just in different ways.
I’m not sure staying healthy is a talent, but it is one of the indispensable factors. Touhy has more of it than Valby.
Parker’s epic cross training regimen certainly doesn’t make up for a lack of running, but it shows an extreme commitment to success and a willingness to sacrifice to compete.
Anybody who’s ever been on the 2 hour per day cross training routine while the rest of the team is out running knows how much this sucks. Doing it season after season is beyond depressing. That grit is evident in Valby’s racing.
Besides this, there are a couple of other things about Parker Valby that I am struck by. It has been said many times that she has talent, but I heard her on a pod cast say that she has terrible upper body strength. She struggles to do push ups! She is already in Katelyn Touhy's league, and she has several holes that she has not addressed. KT is awesome, but she is already doing pretty much everything she can to be where she is at. Training at altitude is about all she has left to take charge of. Valby is also not at altitude, has only started to think about racing tactics, and has not yet built upper body strength (which might take some of the strain off of her legs and help her stay healthy). Can you imagine Parker Valby with KT's level of upper body strength running the tangents next year at XC nationals? I am a huge fan of Touhy, but I don't think she could beat a Parker Valby who was taking full advantage of all of the components of being a competitive runner. There is still so much left on the table with her. If she ever puts it all together, Touhy better look out.
Parker Valby looked dominant in her 5000. I love her competitive spirit because she knows her competitors in the race but wants to dominate them from the start. After watching her race i still see that regardless of being lapped. The women still won't give courtesy and will make Valby or any other leader spend energy and time going around them. I wonder what Valby's time would have been lowered too if she didn't have waste time going around runners.
I wonder what Valby's time would have been lowered too if she didn't have waste time going around runners.
The rules generally favor lapped runners' staying on the pole, and I think it's actually best for safety and a fair race.
As a matter of courtesy (and, again, safety), I think runners who know they're going to be lapped should not run side-by-side; but otherwise, best that they hug the inside.
Obviously 15:30 is a good time, but it's nothing special even without many workouts. I know someone who was often injured, did literally 2 workouts in the 2 weeks before a race (a slow tempo (MP effort) and a light VO2 workout) and ended up running in the very low 14:0x range due to talent and residual fitness.
That must have been Sifan Hassan or else Letesenet Gidey but they haven't been injured that much.
“Talent” encompasses a lot more than the VO2 max you mention in a later post. Certainly the ability to stay healthy and handle a full training load is a talent needed to be a world class runner. While I understand and somewhat agree with your point, I think it unfair to say Valby is “obviously more talented”. Both are extremely talented, just in different ways.
I’m not sure staying healthy is a talent, but it is one of the indispensable factors. Touhy has more of it than Valby.
Parker’s epic cross training regimen certainly doesn’t make up for a lack of running, but it shows an extreme commitment to success and a willingness to sacrifice to compete.
Anybody who’s ever been on the 2 hour per day cross training routine while the rest of the team is out running knows how much this sucks. Doing it season after season is beyond depressing. That grit is evident in Valby’s racing.
Just about anyone else with her level of talent would do the same training she does and finishing 2nd in the NCAA XC championships isn’t depressing at all.
She's talented but it's not true that she doesn't train. Have you seen any of the interviews about her routine? Her 'easy days' are 2 hours a day, 70-80 minutes on the elliptical and double with a 40 minute swim.
My experience is that bike riding tightens my calves and can cause them to cramp. Also it affects my legs differently and in opposition to running, which is why I got an elliptical and stopped using the bike.
When I saw the calf wrap yesterday and the jerkiness in Valby's stride, my immediate though was that she'd been riding a bike.
Now according to that video you posted, that's exactly what she's been doing. Thus I feel that's a source of the problems she's been having and that she needs to stop using the bike for her training. Granted some people think it's okay, but it wasn't okay for me and it isn't doing her any good either.
The ellitical and arc trainer are fine, but the bike is a no-no.
I wonder what Valby's time would have been lowered too if she didn't have waste time going around runners.
The rules generally favor lapped runners' staying on the pole, and I think it's actually best for safety and a fair race.
As a matter of courtesy (and, again, safety), I think runners who know they're going to be lapped should not run side-by-side; but otherwise, best that they hug the inside.
The way this worked “in the old days,” meaning pre-1992ish is that you got pulled from the track prior to being lapped.
I’ll never forget, as a Frosh in a conference with the eventual indoor 5k champ and outdoor 10k champ, feeling like I’d won because I avoided getting the hook.
There’s no point in lapped runners with no chance to score being allowed to stay in. It’s dangerous and humiliating while serving as an impediment to the top athletes.
Am I the only one who thinks that the owners have to be loving the "engagement" that comes from Tuohy/Valby mania? Or that maybe BroJos aren't above giving the T/V stans a nudge every now and then? I mean seriously, some of those stans can't be real people, can they?
I made a similar comment to yours further up the page but my comment was removed. This whole thing is obviously Clickbait. At NCAA cross country Tuohy commented that the hills pays the bills. Tuohy pays the LRC bills.
I’m not sure staying healthy is a talent, but it is one of the indispensable factors. Touhy has more of it than Valby.
Parker’s epic cross training regimen certainly doesn’t make up for a lack of running, but it shows an extreme commitment to success and a willingness to sacrifice to compete.
Anybody who’s ever been on the 2 hour per day cross training routine while the rest of the team is out running knows how much this sucks. Doing it season after season is beyond depressing. That grit is evident in Valby’s racing.
Just about anyone else with her level of talent would do the same training she does and finishing 2nd in the NCAA XC championships isn’t depressing at all.
There simply isn’t anybody currently doing what Valby is doing. As noted by a previous poster. German Fernandez kinda did what Valby is doing but it beat him down so much he hung it up.
I can’t imagine Valby continuing this injury/cross trading cycle for much longer before she, too, hangs it up. Supplementing with cross training is one thing. Just cross training becomes intolerable for runners.
Valby is not going to hang up her spikes because she has to cross train. Her first love is the Arc Trainer. Running is what she does when she wants to race.
Just about anyone else with her level of talent would do the same training she does and finishing 2nd in the NCAA XC championships isn’t depressing at all.
There simply isn’t anybody currently doing what Valby is doing. As noted by a previous poster. German Fernandez kinda did what Valby is doing but it beat him down so much he hung it up.
I can’t imagine Valby continuing this injury/cross trading cycle for much longer before she, too, hangs it up. Supplementing with cross training is one thing. Just cross training becomes intolerable for runners.
People would rather run, but cross training would be a small price to pay to be as good as she is. Do you believe training for swimming or cycling is pleasant? Would you pass on a chance to compete in the Olympics because cross training is boring?
I can’t imagine Valby continuing this injury/cross trading cycle for much longer before she, too, hangs it up. Supplementing with cross training is one thing. Just cross training becomes intolerable for runners.
There is no evidence she is just cross training. In fact, she is posting on tiktok about 13 mile runs. She does both. So did Eilish McColgan.
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