I believe wholeheartedly that you plan further out based on how talented the athlete is. Sure I bet he wanted to make the Olympics this year, but realistically the goal is 2028, so I'm sure freshman year at Oregon is not a high priority for Schumacher compared to the long-term plan for him (the obvious example is Nico Youngs perfectly timed growth)
Still, you have to give the carrot to the donkey at some point. This isn't grant fisher entering BTC at age 23 where they raced twice a year as a pro. This is an 18 year old that needs to get his feet wet in the college racing scene before the pro plans. Let them have fun. Just my thoughts
Agreed. In a world of instant gratitude, aplying only what truths you pick for yourself and driven by a social media frenzy that has a millisecond attention span just doesnt allow a person to grow into their talent these days. Why does an 18 year old have to believe they are ready for world dominance? What adult thinks thats truly possible? Microwave mentality vs slow cooker.
For all the downvoters: if you arent training, you aren't getting better. I would bet the kid has overtrained for a few years and his luck ran out between hs graduation and now due to not having enough downtime. Some kids have it all figured out and dont listen to wisdom. Some coaches think they are better than everyone with their system. Bad combination.
I feel this guy's pain. I was one of the fastest returning high school guys in our area going into my senior year. I fractured my ankle playing basketball that December. My brain broke the moment I saw the swelling then could not walk and it wasn't my ankle. This guy has way more on the line than I did. I chose no-cast, put weight on the fracture, it didn't heal well, I chose to run with the discomfort because I was still faster than all but two guys on the team and we earned a CIF State plaque. I'd have done better to not have run at all than compete at no more than 90% if that. After focusing for years on getting there, I never foresaw competing at a state meet injured. A healthy me would have mauled the gimp me. This guy will be fine but tough year for him to be a spectator.
S.B. would be a NCAA stud if he was maintained the same level as last year. His 1500m P.R. set last year would've been a top 10 in the NCAA. He was on a good path to make the Olympic trials.
I didn't tell them that and we hardly EVER had a star injured. I had a long term plan for success and was very adamant about realistic mileage goals and taking easy days easy (not sure Jerry does this), running on soft surfaces.
But Ritz was constantly injured whether at CU, NOP, etc.
Some people have perfect biomechanics and foot strikes . Some dont.
I don't think Ritz was naturally inclined to injury. He ran big mileage combined with high quality throughout high school and stayed very healthy. Ritz only started getting injured when he went to CU and started getting in 100 mpw in singles. In high school he did doubles several days/week. I recall him saying that every day at CU he did a continuous run of at least 12 miles.
I thought Ritz got injured from collapsing to the ground after every race.
I believe wholeheartedly that you plan further out based on how talented the athlete is. Sure I bet he wanted to make the Olympics this year, but realistically the goal is 2028, so I'm sure freshman year at Oregon is not a high priority for Schumacher compared to the long-term plan for him (the obvious example is Nico Youngs perfectly timed growth)
Still, you have to give the carrot to the donkey at some point. This isn't grant fisher entering BTC at age 23 where they raced twice a year as a pro. This is an 18 year old that needs to get his feet wet in the college racing scene before the pro plans. Let them have fun. Just my thoughts
I can’t imagine any plan where getting injuried like this is a plus. Dude wasn’t going to make the team but the experience is worth something.
Now we have no clue where to place blame. Maybe he got hit with a 50% stress increase. Maybe we are talking a lot less. You sort of wish a guy like him could have kept last years program and just upped it 10%. But that isn’t how the US system works…
Tough news for him but he seems to be handling it pretty well. If anybody here knows him, perhaps ask him if he knows what his blood vitamin D level (serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D) is. Odds are very good that he does NOT know his vitamin D level because he has probably never even been tested (given his age). My general advice to any/all runners is to get your serum vitamin D checked and get your blood level between 50-100ng/ml. You can get tested without a doctor for about 69 bucks or so via various labs (QuestDirect and other services). Achieving optimal Vitamin D blood levels can usually be done with daily 5000iu/day (for MOST people, some young people wont need that much, more like 1000-3000 per day). It is super cheap to take this supplement, like 10-20 cents per day. Can't hurt, might help and has many other health-promoting benefits. I wish him the best.
This thread disgusts me. A college freshman gets a very common injury - stress fracture and all the armchair experts immediately blame the coach.
Also, saying a femur stress fracture is 'not really a big loss as he wasn't making the Olympic team this year' is wild rojo.
not to mention the lower quality of life that results from such an injury. I had a grade 3 femoral sfx last yr and it SUCKED: the constant pain when literally doing anything other than sitting still (putting on pants, getting out of the shower, turning over at night, taking 3x as long to walk anywhere... awful).
Birnbaum, Connor Burns, Larry Josh Edwards, and Rheinhardt Harrison are some of the MIA's under Schumacher. Harrison is in his second year and barely pops his head above ground. He ran sub-4 in high school; now he's subterranean. Oregon athletes are always sick, injured, or just coming off injury. 180 degrees from Washington, where the guys compete well and compete as a team.
We really have the most cursed sport due to the injury prevalence. Pessimistic view but more likely than not, the talented runners never get to realize their full potential.
Tough news for him but he seems to be handling it pretty well. If anybody here knows him, perhaps ask him if he knows what his blood vitamin D level (serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D) is. Odds are very good that he does NOT know his vitamin D level because he has probably never even been tested (given his age). My general advice to any/all runners is to get your serum vitamin D checked and get your blood level between 50-100ng/ml. You can get tested without a doctor for about 69 bucks or so via various labs (QuestDirect and other services). Achieving optimal Vitamin D blood levels can usually be done with daily 5000iu/day (for MOST people, some young people wont need that much, more like 1000-3000 per day). It is super cheap to take this supplement, like 10-20 cents per day. Can't hurt, might help and has many other health-promoting benefits. I wish him the best.
Birnbaum, Connor Burns, Larry Josh Edwards, and Rheinhardt Harrison are some of the MIA's under Schumacher. Harrison is in his second year and barely pops his head above ground. He ran sub-4 in high school; now he's subterranean. Oregon athletes are always sick, injured, or just coming off injury. 180 degrees from Washington, where the guys compete well and compete as a team.
Posts last year say Harrison was out with mono for a number or months during his track season, then came back in the summer to run a 3:38 1500m at the Portland track festival. He then had a reoccurrence of mono in the winter which took him out again. These setbacks had nothing to do with overtraining or coach Schumacher.
Yeah not trying to kill Birnbaum or say his ambitions are impossible. Just thinking a more grounded, day-by-day approach (I sound like Mike Smith) will be wiser here. He’s had serious injury issues, and if he starts chasing old fitness too hard in a Jerry system, it’s a scary prospect.