Why is everyone hyping up the paychecks senpai receives for running races, considering these arent major wins with massive prizes but much lower and when you factor in taxes, cost of traveling, hotels, training and time spent off from work is senpai actually running for a living ?
It's clear you disagree with his training and racing choices. Since you're still unsatisfied with the responses to questions you've posed here, why don't you just ask him directly on social media? He's very active on Strava and has stated he loves to "connect with people." You'll be able to offer your opinion on this actions and get answers straight from the source.
You don't know what talent is. Times and places from high school and college aren't indicative of talent. Those results could mean any number of things. It could mean he didn't take training seriously. Or he was overtrained. Or undertrained. Any number of things that having nothing to do with talent.
Here's what is indicative of talent: having essentially the same marathon PRs as Mantz and Clayton young despite doing so on training that is half as good. That is talent, the kind of talent that is very indicative of someone who absolutely can run 2:05-2:06 if he dialed in his training and didn't race as much
No you didn't.
He had 5-6 yaers ro be great in HS/College but wasn't. - that's a sign of talent. Supreme talent will run well even with sh*tyy coaching.
He's pretty darn good as a pro coaching himself. Everyone but me assumes to think he'd run better if he trained conventionally and raced less. I'm not convinced of that.
I'll bet anyone that wants to bet right now $1000 that Conner Mantz dies with a marathon pb at least a minute faster than CJ.
Here are there head to head matchups:
Conner Mantz USA CJ Albertson USA Marathon Boston MA 2023-04-17 2:10:25 (11) 2:10:33 (12) Marathon OT Orlando FL 2024-02-03 2:09:05 (1) 2:10:07 (5) Marathon New York NY 2024-11-03 2:09:00 (6) 2:10:57 (10)
He had 5-6 yaers ro be great in HS/College but wasn't. - that's a sign of talent. Supreme talent will run well even with sh*tyy coaching.
He's pretty darn good as a pro coaching himself. Everyone but me assumes to think he'd run better if he trained conventionally and raced less. I'm not convinced of that.
I'll bet anyone that wants to bet right now $1000 that Conner Mantz dies with a marathon pb at least a minute faster than CJ.
Here are there head to head matchups:
Conner Mantz USA CJ Albertson USA Marathon Boston MA 2023-04-17 2:10:25 (11) 2:10:33 (12) Marathon OT Orlando FL 2024-02-03 2:09:05 (1) 2:10:07 (5) Marathon New York NY 2024-11-03 2:09:00 (6) 2:10:57 (10)
You’re not very smart, are you?
No, he is not.
CJ just ran 2:08:13 at Chicago this year. That is essentially the same PR as Mantz (it's within a margin of error)
A month later CJ ran 2:10
A month later CJ ran 2:10
If CJ instead dialed in his training and raced an early spring europe marathon, he'd run 2:05-2:06
It could be that if Albertson dialed in his training and raced an early spring European marathon he'd run 2:05 or 2:06. It's not a given. But as this thread has rolled on it strikes me that no one has given a reason why this is something he should try to do if he really doesn't want to.
Idk, even if you take this approach you would have to argue that whatever you think his 5k PB should be is stronger than 2:08-low. Is he a 13:20 guy? That's what you're saying & then you reference Young @ 13:30. Maybe he's not a 13:50 guy but he's a strength based runner. Maybe he could get to 13:30-13:40 with specific training. He'd still be overperforming at the marathon until the point where he runs 13:20 or faster. I don't see that. & the point of referencing the college times is because that's when he was training hard for the distance. He got to race the distance plenty & 13:50 is where he got to.
Also, you're conveniently ignoring the bigger point. There are a lot of domestic based runners under 13:50 who can't touch 2:08 & here we have a thread saying the 2:08 guy is the one underperforming. The 2:08 guy put in a ton of work to hit the mark. You could argue too much racing & pick apart his training but he's holding something faster for the longer distances than his speed would indicate. Would rather some fast 20-somethings turn to the marathon earlier, train right for it, and run some sub-2:07s. Asking a 13:50 guy who trains his *** off to do it isn't it imo.
Hang the banner -- I actually think I'm in agreement with Rojo on this one. CJ is an example of moderate talent + all hard work = good but not top level results. Some people win foot locker & others are 36/40. The 36/40 can have a better career than most of those guys if they're going to outwork them & put in the miles. But it's not like he can just wake up with increased speed & have a different marathon potential tomorrow. He's pretty close to it now. What I'd do if I were him is try to make the 2028 Olympics the same way Meb did -- as a racer. Dial in nutrition, pacing, cooling techniques, do heat prep, etc. Race smarter than everyone else & see if you can do 2 spots better. Don't feel the need to be in the lead pack in the next Olympic Trials if it doesn't serve those goals. Run your race & continue to outperform other runners.
This post was edited 5 minutes after it was posted.
are you smoking crack? What is holding him back? Why do letsrun posters ask the dumbest questions when a runner who competed at the highest of levels in 5 different marathons in 2024 including CIM, has NOTHING holding him back. When you can drop a 2:10.06 in your 5th marathon in a year you are truly world-class. Letsrun posters...stop being idiots. Go out and run a 2:10.06 ONCE then come back and and allow someone else to write about you being "held back" and not matching up with America's best. SMH.
Agree. Just want to also point out that 2:10:06 was under a course record that had stood for 30+ years. I think that's getting kind of lost because the winner ran 2:07. I don't know if CIM paid him an appearance fee or not, but they might've has he was the defending champion. Even for second place, he earned $10k in prize money for what amounts to a local race for him. If you're going to do a 25 mile long run anyway, might as well race and pick up $10k.
I'm not making excuses for him. I'm just reporting that I read on another post either on LetsRun or Facebook and again onReddit that some runners had problems with smoke. Someone reported an Air Quality Index of 120.
Again, I have no first hand information and this is just from memory. I do know that poor air quality affects some runners more than others.
Was anyone here at CIM? Was there problems with the air quality?
Air quality wasn't great but it wasn't really that noticable during the race. But that could be because it was pretty foggy up in Folsom. It was clear, if slightly hazy in Sacramento. I did notice that my abs and chest were more sore than they've ever been after a marathon the next day.
I'm not making excuses for him. I'm just reporting that I read on another post either on LetsRun or Facebook and again onReddit that some runners had problems with smoke. Someone reported an Air Quality Index of 120.
Again, I have no first hand information and this is just from memory. I do know that poor air quality affects some runners more than others.
Was anyone here at CIM? Was there problems with the air quality?
Yeah the air quality was 120 at least for the three days I was in Sacramento, including race day. But only once did I actually smell smoke during the race, and it only lasted a quarter mile or so. I didn’t think anything of this, but my heart was higher at marathon pace during the race, even early on, compared to MP work in my long runs during training. Was frustrated by this, maybe bad air quality was part of the reason? meh probably just an excuse .
I'm not making excuses for him. I'm just reporting that I read on another post either on LetsRun or Facebook and again onReddit that some runners had problems with smoke. Someone reported an Air Quality Index of 120.
Again, I have no first hand information and this is just from memory. I do know that poor air quality affects some runners more than others.
Was anyone here at CIM? Was there problems with the air quality?
Yeah the air quality was 120 at least for the three days I was in Sacramento, including race day. But only once did I actually smell smoke during the race, and it only lasted a quarter mile or so. I didn’t think anything of this, but my heart was higher at marathon pace during the race, even early on, compared to MP work in my long runs during training. Was frustrated by this, maybe bad air quality was part of the reason? meh probably just an excuse .
I didn't run CIM but I live 100 miles south of Sacramento where the air quality usually is, and was, a little worse. I ran 10 miles at about the time the race was running and didn't notice anything. Possibly I would have if I'd been running a race effort, but I don't think air quality was a real factor.
CJ ran an excellent race, and as has been noted it would have been a course record had the winner not run 2:07.
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