Salazar says Cain is too "Precious" to risk injuring her.

Why do all you morons say that there is no outdoor worlds this year? WORLD JUNIORS (her age group) IN EUGENE!!!! GET IT!!! When was the last time world outdoors seniors was in the US? - that's right never!!! This is a showcase for the IAAF to convince them that the US can host World Seniors. Having your highest profile Junior (Cain) on the start line and winning, in Tracktown no less, will go a long way towards getting sponsors (nike in particular) on board. She has (again) lots of of future opportunities to world seniors indoors, she has already done outdoors, so a been there, done that thing anyway. Would it be great if she competed in Sopot? Certainly, but not at the risk of an injury right now, for her anyway.

Post-race workouts. There is no free lunch. It is difficult to fathom how these Stepford NOP athletes put up with Salazar.

jackfrost wrote:

Like the Nats shutting down Strasburg before the playoffs.

That's a good analogy.

But Strasburg had serious surgery before the season and he was always scheduled to be shutdown in August.

They just happen to wind up with the best record in baseball and were knocked out in a winner moves on game 5 playoff game.

I think the Nationals should have just waited two months before playing him instead of playing in the opener and shutting him down two months early.

Cain had no surgery and no injury history.

She's 17. She'll bounce back quickly.

It isn't like she is being raced into the ground.

Strange decision.

runner who professes wrote:

Post-race workouts. There is no free lunch. It is difficult to fathom how these Stepford NOP athletes put up with Salazar.

Excellent point.

How could they possibly put up with Alberto when he coaches them to American Records, US Titles, and World and/or Olympic medals?

Conspiracy theories wrote:

That is like sitting your star qb in a playoff game.

It's nothing like that. Indoor track is not real track. Winning WCs Indoors is more like winning tickets to the red carpet premier of the new Robocop...you only won because not that many people showed up.

A calf injury is debilitating and very hard to rehab successfully so that it does not come back. I have had calf injuries repeatedly since 2007, and while I've figured out ways to rehab many different injuries during this time, I have never figured out the calf, nor has anyone I know. When you get this injury, you can usually start alternate jog-walking in three days after the pain is gone, maybe more in more serious cases, and then very gradually over a period of weeks get the pace back down to close to 6 minutes per mile, but it is very hard to trust the calf and quick recurrences happen frequently when you increase the pace further, kick in races, or do tempo runs. Most of my calf injuries have occurred during 4M+ races or tempos. Do you seriously want to see Mary Cain at 17 begin years of fruitless efforts to get over this injury by pushing it to the maximum within weeks of the precursor to a tear? You can run a marathon within seven weeks of a low grade tear, as I did a few years ago, and I could even pr close to 6 minute pace with only one workout below MP, but Cain runs 8/15/3k/5k and her 54-55 second speed is what elevates her above most in the world. Now you want to take that away for years? Insane.

mixed emotions here:

she is the best we've had in a looong while.

preserve her, she is young . . .

BUT the window opens for a short while, especially with girls/women. . . .

what the hell, run a 1500m with fresh legs, and medal . . .

shut her down and wait for summer. . .

same question arises: what the f was he thinking running her in post race workouts?

it really isn't the same as tripling in a h.s meet.

man, greatest gamble ever OR the throttle stuck open on sweeping great runners into the gutter. . .

i think the runner's greatness allows them to overcome alberto's overdoing it.

maybe thats how it all happens.

feel like abe simpson " i'm scared and i don't know why. . ."

I don't think this is that big of a deal. She has soreness, they don't want it to lead to an injury, and while she had a chance at getting her first world medal, she is only 17 and they expect her to be in the hunt for medals every year for the next 10-15 years. Also it is indoors, and indoors WC just aren't nearly as big as outdoors, so anything that is gonna risk injury to America's most talented female runner ever is a non-starter. Plus now all they do is move up their already scheduled 10 day break for her and she comes off the scheduled break hopefully 100% and she's good to go. Sometimes you run through pain, sometimes you don't. When you're 17 and one of the best in the world and have you entire career in front of you, there really isn't any reason to risk injury with something like this, even for an indoor WC.

Being sore is not risking injury, it's call distance running. Is she expected to never have soreness anywhere? Go back to running 101 and get a clue.

Here, here, I agree. Too many back out of races because things aren't perfect. A sore calf, I've known many pros that have run with worse, way worse.

Butler did it wrote:

Being sore is not risking injury, it's call distance running. Is she expected to never have soreness anywhere? Go back to running 101 and get a clue.

Spot on!

Why do you people keep saying that indoors is not as important as the other championships? What are you basing this on? The athletes are there. The prize money is there. Medals are there. So exactly what is missing?

Salazar speaks:

“I don't run athletes with sorenesses and (I) teach them to let me know when they're sore. I didn't do that with myself and it ruined my career.”

NOPE, not even close to being spot on. THIS and come on son are the same poster, big surprise. Way to compliment yourself when no one else would.

Sorehead wrote:

Salazar speaks:

“I don't run athletes with sorenesses and (I) teach them to let me know when they're sore. I didn't do that with myself and it ruined my career.”

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/with-mary-cain-salazar-didnt-want-to-repeat-his-own-mistakes

BS, Alberto had problems with heat among other things that wrecked havoc on his system. Not running athletes with sorenesses is his choice, but obviously many disagree or why is it even being debated? Alberto has gone of cautioning too much on the side of error. Your opinion may vary.

Nickleback23 wrote:

Ah, risking injury because her calf is not 100%? Welcome to distance running pal as small aches are part of the program and don't mean that she's injured or will get a serious injury from it. Whoever called them pussies is right, what a bunch of saladbar wimps. If the same thing happens in the outdoor season, we'll just skip that too, right? I swear half you guys either don't run or have serious issues with the basics.

no the basics have simply changed (read: evolved) as coaching got better and runners got faster...

Can't you see? wrote:

It's obvious in the videos of Alberto encouraging her to purge.

I cannot believe AlSal encourages his athletes to purge. This is horrible thing for a coach to say.

Bank of Knowledge wrote:

Sorehead wrote:

Salazar speaks:

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/with-mary-cain-salazar-didnt-want-to-repeat-his-own-mistakes

BS, Alberto had problems with heat among other things that wrecked havoc on his system. Not running athletes with sorenesses is his choice, but obviously many disagree or why is it even being debated? Alberto has gone of cautioning too much on the side of error. Your opinion may vary.

Cain is a kid, albeit a very fast kid. Being careful is exactly the right approach. But I wonder -- we saw Rupp and Cain banging out these post-race workouts and such, and then a few weeks later some problem pops up -- this is a pattern recognizable to anyone who's been around the track more than a few times.

Chicken Little Soup wrote:

Here, here, I agree. Too many back out of races because things aren't perfect. A sore calf, I've known many pros that have run with worse, way worse.

Butler did it wrote:

Being sore is not risking injury, it's call distance running. Is she expected to never have soreness anywhere? Go back to running 101 and get a clue.

Yes, I've known plenty of people who have raced with way worse. And they weren't world-beating athletes.

This is called "listening to your body." It's a basic principle, but obviously a hard one to follow in practice. I just thought more people at LRC would understand it in theory at least.

There's a difference between "I'm sore as hell and worn down from my hard-ass training" and "Something's not right here." Most runners - myself included - refuse to acknowledge that difference and/or fail to register it until it's too late. That's how you get injured. That's how you lose weeks or months of training.

For everyone talking about how this is all about money, I'm a little confused. I thought the 70s were the heyday of running, with more people interested in the sport and thus more money involved. Yet apparently people were "more hardcore" back then (and then ended their careers at 24 years of age).

Also, look at your own experience. It's not about money. I try to back off when something's not right, because I care about races later this season and next season. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll win a $50 gift card at a race one day. It's about the love of running and racing and a hatred of the months you've spent getting back up to speed after an injury.