Meb 63:11, Hall 65:39, Smith 68:37

naia champ wrote:

Hell, maybe NIKE can buy Hall's spot for him.

...the only way a Salazar-coached marathoner is getting into the Olympic marathon.

Hall has hamstring and plantarfasciitis problem

tvtoni report includes this Hallism

“I’m not going to lie. When I was first looking at doing this race, right after starting back training after the trials, I was thinking about trying to come here and run 61 minutes. But my body hasn’t come around. I’ve been battling plantar fasciitis, and I ‘ve got to get rid of that. I’ve run 65 minutes the month before a marathon before (Boston in 2011 after the NY Half), so I know have to get back to training.”

However, it’s one thing to be flat due to high mileage a month out from a major marathon, and quite another to deal with a nagging injury that won’t go away with one of the two or three biggest races of your life coming on fast.

“It (plantar problem) cropped up in November,” explained the tousled-haired bleach blond with the boy-next-door demeanor. “I took three weeks off, but it’s worse than before. Now my right hamstring is bothering me. But I have great people around me, and I believe it’s going to get better.”

ultrasound, cortisone shots, hydrotherapy, orthodics, hmmm 6 months and still nagging....what great people does he have around him? Aren't we talking about a guy that is to represent the US in the Olympics and he can't get this injury taken care of...what is wrong with our system? This appearance paid "tempo run" probably didn't help much if it is still bothering him. He won't give the spot up to Ritz, because it isn't about being on a team or scoring, Olympics are individuals. Hell, look at the top 100 marathon times of 2012 and see where any American is....Meb=91st!

OK can someone fill me in why it is ok for Kim Smith to go all out while Meb and Hall don't?

the lead pack of about 10 runners in the marathon hit the halfway mark in 1:04.43, american jeff eggleston was 1:05.21 at the half 18 seconds ahead of hall, eggleston finished 8th in 2:13.13

Problem is how you interpret what a tempo run is. The classic 20 minute at hour race pace or the general “hard but nowhere near race effort”. If you pull in Daniel’s “Adjusted threshold chart” that takes the concept of the 20 minute tempo and prorates it out for up to an hour of time, and still calling it a tempo run. You see that for Hall (VDot 80ish) is 4:57 pace. For Hall an hour tempo is anywhere from 5:10 to 4:50 pace depending on what his current fitness is at. He wanted to be closer to the 4:50 side of things but injury didn’t have him there. Nothing said in the interviews indicate anything different. For the life of me i don't get the listening ability here as posted on the front page it's saying hall was going into this wanting a 61. Sure, that's what he wanted....back in January. He clearly stated that the goal for that race, was to run 63:xx and call it a great workout. Again...the plan was 63:xx NOT 61 minutes.

When you lace up the racing flats , back off a couple of days before and run with the leaders you are racing , call it whatever you want Hall was there to best effort with whatever the day would allow. The day allowed a tough 1:05.

What we really dont know and he wont say , was this a red line for him ?

It would be a shame if he goes to London injured and leaves healthy athletes home.

Who cares? Even if a healthy athlete were to go it wouldn't matter since no-one on the US team will come close to the Ethiopians and Kenyans.

He looked very very comfortable (as did Meb). Meb actually slowed down at the finish to give high 5's. That course is fast, but hard on the body.... It has a lot of downhill and sideways running.

Smith was up running with the top marathon men early in the race, looked really strong.

who cares. he ran terribly in his half marathon before Boston and ran the fastest ever by an american. 65 isn't fast, but 63 isn't either. he'll be ready

factual trolling;required here wrote:

“It (plantar problem) cropped up in November,” explained the tousled-haired bleach blond with the boy-next-door demeanor. “I took three weeks off, but it’s worse than before. Now my right hamstring is bothering me. But I have great people around me, and I believe it’s going to get better.”

Where's his god in all this?

Nutella1 wrote:

OK can someone fill me in why it is ok for Kim Smith to go all out while Meb and Hall don't?

Americans can only run one hard race per year, or they will peak too early and turn into pumpkins. It is part of the American-Born Distance Runner Syndrome, as defined by eatrunswag. Google it.

Hey, very well put. I can't argue with your points about tempos.

Still very concerned for Hall, if only that he has such bad judgment as to travel around for glorified workouts in an Olympic year.

The further removed you are from your fastest track times, the slower your marathon times will be.

That's held true for just about all the fastest marathoners since Shorter. Rodgers, Seko, Salazar, Steve Jones, Geb, Sammy -- all ran their best marathons within a year or two of their best 10,000.

It's hard to know what people like Khalid or Makau could have run for 10,000 when they were in peak marathon form because they rarely ran on the track.

Hall would probably struggle to break 29:00 right now. He's not even world-class at 10,000. Unless he can approach his 5,000 or 10,000 PRs, it's highly unlikely he'll ever get close to his best marathon times again. He's neglected his track racing for far too long.

Bob Dobbs wrote:

Hall would probably struggle to break 29:00 right now. He's not even world-class at 10,000. Unless he can approach his 5,000 or 10,000 PRs, it's highly unlikely he'll ever get close to his best marathon times again. He's neglected his track racing for far too long.

His 5/10 PRs aren't anything to write home about. Anyway, I won't disagree with you. 5k PR in Summer 2007, 10k PR in March 2008 and *BANG* 2:06 PR one month later in London.

You're analysis is ridiculously naive.

Bob Dobbs wrote:

The further removed you are from your fastest track times, the slower your marathon times will be.

That's held true for just about all the fastest marathoners since Shorter. Rodgers, Seko, Salazar, Steve Jones, Geb, Sammy -- all ran their best marathons within a year or two of their best 10,000.

It's hard to know what people like Khalid or Makau could have run for 10,000 when they were in peak marathon form because they rarely ran on the track.

Hall would probably struggle to break 29:00 right now. He's not even world-class at 10,000. Unless he can approach his 5,000 or 10,000 PRs, it's highly unlikely he'll ever get close to his best marathon times again. He's neglected his track racing for far too long.

I saw Hall speak at the Expo. The moderator asked him about the possibility of running 59 minutes and Hall talked about how half marathon training is different from marathon training and that marathon training doesn't necessarily translate to a fast half.

It was at that point that I leaned over to my friend and said, "That's code for he's going to run slow tomorrow."

He knew it. Why LetsRun always gets hysterical about Ryan Hall's poor halves is just funny to watch. When he ran 59 he had just come off of track work, not marathon training.

Aghast wrote:

You're analysis is ridiculously naive.

YOUR command of the english language is reminiscent of a toddler.

How much does Hall make in a year? It's got to be well into six figures, no? So why does he embarrass himself in San Diego for 10,000?