Why can Deena Run 2:19 but Shalane can't????

Who says Shalane can't run a 2:19?

I wasn't aware that "half" referred to anything other than half marathon. No, it's not too far. She's been slowly increasing in race distance for 3 years. No, she's never been injured (slow increase in mileage). Yes, it's her idea to run. She met Shalane Flanagan when she was four and she's been motivated ever since. She woke us all up very early so we could watch Shalane run in the Olympics live. She cried because I didn't wake her up to watch the Berlin Marathon at 3am. She watched the whole race (Berlin) in German after church that Sunday, so yes, she can sit still for 2:29 to watch other people race. Her idea of fun is training other kids in the neighborhood to run, which she does, and going to middle school and high school xc meets to cheer on her friends. Yes, she is friends with hundreds of different runners from different middle schools, high schools, and colleges in the state. Her favorite race distances are the 10k (46:04) and the half (1:45:11, she's done 3). Her goal is the Olympics. She's on a USATF xc team and a track team. My original question was: Is the fat burning thing genetic, or does the body adapt to the diet it's fed early in life, like a conditioned response?

She eats very little, where is she getting the energy? She finishes stronger than any runner I know and isn't spent after a race or workout. She'll let her older brothers and sister hang around for the first 10 miles, then says "See Ya!" If her last mile isn't the fastest of a race, it's the 2nd fastest. She hates bananas, but drinks them when I make chocolate strawberry banana smoothies. She is taller than every kid in her class and has a very healthy glow and wants to run EVERY day.

Wow! Beating you since she was 4? Let's say you are 30-40? When she was 4 she ran what a 20 min mile. Please! At 7 what does she now run a mile in? 10.? I bet your 5'10 and #80.

XCMom, does she have a facebook account? If so i suggest she friend Derek Rubis.

Like most posting here, I do not know why Shalane "can't" run 2:19. Also, like most, I know little about her training & physiology. So, sticking with what's obvious: whether or not she can or cannot run 2:19, I know she has not (yet) run 2:19, and I think one -- obvious -- contributing factor (as noted somewhere above) is pacing. Seems to be widely accepted now that the best way to run a best marathon time is to run as even as possible or slightly negative splits.

In Boston, Flanagan (and the eventual top 5 finishers) all went out at 1:09:28 (Flanagan's halfway split was 1:09:27). If one were really hoping for even splits or slightly negative splits, that suggested that Flanagan & the others were thinking they could run just under 2:19 on that day. Estimating one's preparation in relation to the course, the day, etc. is not easy, but it's better to be a bit conservative than to go in over one's head. Turns out that among the top finishers Jeptoo was the only one who got that estimation correct on that day. Flanagan paid for the misestimation the most (among that top group), running 3+ minutes slower in the second half. I will speculate that had she gone out with Duliba (1:10:15), she may well have finished quite a bit stronger. Perhaps she would not have run sub-2:20 in Boston, but I think it is likely, had she gone out a bit more conservatively, she would have run 2:20:xx that day, and would have finished higher in the final standings, perhaps as high as 3rd.

Likewise for Berlin. Flanagan went out in 1:09:30-something (:36 or :38, iirc). Again, if one were estimating performance with an expectation of even splits or slightly negative splits, that suggests an expectation of 2:19-low, perhaps even sub-2:19. I think if she had gone out in 1:10:15 to 1:10:30 (or around wherever those eventual top finishers ran for the first half), she would likely have finished stronger, and would have a 2:20:xx in Berlin, which isn't the record she sought, but would have been nonetheless faster that what she got. Maybe she still would have finished where she did in the final standings, but I think she would have been closer to 1-2, and might even have finished higher, certainly with a faster PB.

As it is, she has two PBs this year, which is great. Nevertheless, athletic performances are always open to critical analysis. I don't know that either of those marathons could have been faster than Kastor's PB, or even sub-2:20, but I cannot help but think that better pacing would have produced 2 @ 2:20:xx this year.

Looking ahead, whether 33yo is "only" 33 or is seen as older in athletics terms, I think she does not have many opportunities left to run 2:20 or faster. Even if she stays healthy, 2016 (35yo) as an OT/OG year would seem not to be a year to go for a record-quality marathon. Perhaps in 2015 (34 yo) or 2017 (36 yo), but that too would depend on her commitment to running in championship competitions. In 2018, she will be 37 yo, and will have had a very long (and successful) career, with toll that takes on the body. Her window of improvement is still open (at least in this event), but not as much as might seem.

Don't sweat the comments. She's living the Kenyan lifestyle.

Psycho helicopter parent alert.

Who says Deena can run 2:19?

straw man

Nowhere in my post did I say this.

I'll try to make this more clear for you. I don't need to conduct a physics experiment to know that gravity is roughly 9.81 m/s²

Understand now?

For me to still be holding onto said belief implies that I once held such a belief to begin with.

This is not the case, and there is no way for you to reasonably conclude such a thing even if it were true.

The irony