lets talk Ryan Hall, Alan Webb, Dathan Ritzenhein, & World X-Country Championships

how would the race have panned out with hall, webb, mcd, abdi, broe, goucher, and ritz all heathy? think about the team we could have sent.

I think the best 12k team would be

Ritzenhein

Hall

Dobson

McDougal

Abdirahman

Webb

Dobson is actually a pretty decent 10k runner, having run the 10k once last year in a pr and Stanford record of 27:59.

irun wrote:

As far as what Hall should do, I think he should run the 12k. I think it would be good preparation for him for the future, seeing how there will be no more 4k races at worlds,.

And because there is no longer going to be a 4k race is why I think they; i.e., HALL, & TORRES should focus on the 4K...and bust their butts off and try and show that the US can be competitive in XC at the shorter distances. Because no 4K in the future this would be our last chance to prove it. And individually, this will be their last chance to do anything personally at this years event.

Early talk is that Torres has already made a statement that he will be running the 12K to a Colorado newspaper.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, is that all we as Americans think? Do you think that every county sends all their runners to a race 100% healthy? Some yes, do pick their team and it seems to work for them...I am not saying that a run off is the best way, just that why do we whine about the results like this every year after every trial qualifing race?

irun wrote:

Hall should work on his mile speed. If he can get down to a 3:38/3:39 this year, I could see him going 13:04-13:06 this year,

if hall can run 3.38-3.39 for the mile this year, I think he should stick with it, some people may disagree, but I think it would be worth his while in the short term anyay...

hurtmegoods wrote:

if hall can run 3.38-3.39 for the mile this year, I think he should stick with it, some people may disagree, but I think it would be worth his while in the short term anyay...

Hall doesn't have the kick for the 1500m to be his main event. It's even questionable if he has a 5000m kick to make a world final in a 13:45 type race. But he should run some 1500m because it'd probably help him alot.

I wasn't saying that Hall has the kick for the 1500m to be his main nor one of his main events. It's deffinately not his event(at least for now). I'm just saying the obvious, which is he's going to need more leg speed if he wants to specialize in the 5000. I don't think there are any 13:00 5000m runners whose best 1500m is a 3:41. For a 5000, you still have to have some get-up-and-go, you know what I mean? The top 5000m runners have excellent leg speed(Bekele(12:37) ran a 52 sec last lap for his 10,000m WR, Songok(12:50) has run 3:32 or better, Mottram(12:56) ran 3:49 for the mile, Kennedy(12:58) ran 3:35 for the 1500m, etc). So you see the progression of 1500m/mile ratio to 5000m times. There's deffinately no specific constant of proportionality, but you get the idea.

ttc wrote:

hurtmegoods wrote:

if hall can run 3.38-3.39 for the mile this year, I think he should stick with it, some people may disagree, but I think it would be worth his while in the short term anyay...

Hall doesn't have the kick for the 1500m to be his main event. It's even questionable if he has a 5000m kick to make a world final in a 13:45 type race. But he should run some 1500m because it'd probably help him alot.

I think what he's getting at is, as irun stated if hall ran a 3.38-3.39 mile (not 1500m) he would be world record holder. A joke. Who needs a kick if you can run 3.38 miles....