Gwen Jorgensen Quitting Tri, Going Full Time Marathon.

Forgot about Thweatt. Huddle has so much talent that she still has a great chance of making the 2020 team in the marathon. Heck, she still might be able to make the 10,000 for that Olympics. And Emily Sisson is looking like another great marathon talent.

US women are as deep as they have even been at the marathon distance. Great runners at the top right now and many young runners that show plenty of potential. Putting the US male marathoners to shame...

Humble, my ass. What arrogance. Triathletes have always been an arrogant bunch. She is an excellent triathlete but olympic gold in the marathon? How disrespectful to those who have run 20+min faster than her.

LM wrote:

Is she that bad on the bike?

She's gotten better, but sometimes it seemed that the only uncertainty about the eventual winner was whether Gwen Jorgensen would crash on the bike.

She got phenomenally better on the bike to where it no longer was true weakness. Sure there were others better and stronger on the bike, but her relative strength on the bike is why no one made a break at the Olympics.

Tall Runner Here wrote:

Frankly I've always thought a tall distance runner, with perfectly efficient stride, beats a short distance runner every day of the week.

Is that why Geb and Bekele lost so much on the track? Too short?

dsfsdhfsddhsk wrote:

Humble, my ass. What arrogance. Triathletes have always been an arrogant bunch. She is an excellent triathlete but olympic gold in the marathon? How disrespectful to those who have run 20+min faster than her.

She said that was her goal, not a guarantee. Only an a$shole would find this offensive. Every athlete alive talks like this. "One day I hope to win Wimbledon", says newcomer. Is that offensive to Roger Federer? Of course not.

She's a winner and knows how to work hard, probably harder than any runner out there. She may or may not have the talent, but I would not count her out.

Yes. She reminds me of you too, other than being an Olympic champion. She has a monster cardio system and not many miles on the legs. Plus, she can't seriously train for a tri while carrying forva one year old . Training for a marathon is easier. And realistically, if you are an Olympic champion, can you gave any goal other than being an Olympic champion again.

Welcome to our sport, Gwen. I'm sure you will do great and win the gold in Tokyo 2020. After that, you can go after that most elusive goal in all of sport: my New York City Marathon American Course Record! Shalane made a good effort.... there is no shame in coming up short. Good luck!

John Utah wrote:

dsfsdhfsddhsk wrote:

Humble, my ass. What arrogance. Triathletes have always been an arrogant bunch. She is an excellent triathlete but olympic gold in the marathon? How disrespectful to those who have run 20+min faster than her.

She said that was her goal, not a guarantee. Only an a$shole would find this offensive. Every athlete alive talks like this. "One day I hope to win Wimbledon", says newcomer. Is that offensive to Roger Federer? Of course not.

She's a winner and knows how to work hard, probably harder than any runner out there. She may or may not have the talent, but I would not count her out.

By listing that she is 3 for 3 in her lifetime goals, and now there is only #4 left, she is making it seem like she thinks it is likely that she can achieve this goal and for 4 for 4. Yes, not a guarantee, but more than a "of course everyone shoots to be the best in the world " type of statement. She is acting like she feels confident she will achieve it.

Yes, it's a bit arrogant. Just like Connor McGregor saying he was going take over Boxing and beat all the best (starting with Mayweather) in that sport. But McGregor knows how to sell tickets, and that's a large part of the reason he says such things. No one is going to buy a PPV to watch Gwen run because she is talking big. No, she's just talking big.

It's an unrealistic goal. She has every right to state her confidence in achieving it. And we have every right to chuckle at the unlikeliness of her crossing that off her list.

Reminds me of Jackie Gallagher, World Champion in triathlon and duathlon in 1996. Switched to marathon, ended up with a PB 2:32.

Raysism wrote:

Hardloper wrote:

Not to mention in triathlon you have to fly around the world to win enough points to qualify

I'm sure the logistics of training for a marathon are easier than training for a tri, but the notion that marathoners are only spending 12 to 14 hours a week (or just one-third of the time of a triathlete, as mentioned in the post above) working on their craft is ridiculous. Let's see how much time she has to spend sleeping and working on core, physio, etc., when she's running 120 miles/week.

So what you are saying is that a person running 2 hours/day needs more sleep than a person a person running, biking, and swimming for 4+ hours/day? And that a person doing 3 sports didn't need physio or do core work?:) I am a bit suspect of the idea that an elite marathoner is really doing more of that stuff than an elite endurance athlete in any other sport.

Right now she isn't close to being competive. The question is if going to pure running (say 60mpw to 100mpw) drops 2 mins off her 10k time or not. I would guess the answer is no and she ends up more like a 2:30 runner (i.e. really, reallly good but not winning an olympic gold).

This is like Allen Webb training for the triathalon. There was a chance but it was never a big one.

Tall Runner Here wrote:

While it is true that there aren't many tall female marathon runners (except the obvious WR holder who is 5'8) I don't see the correlation with heat. I'm almost exactly Gwen's build and love warm running temperatures. But I'm an efficient sweater which is a huge part of running in the heat. A lean body composition = high metabolism which = better body temp regulation and more efficient sweating. Having an extra 10-15 pounds over the 5'5 runner is meaningless because their body composition is basically the same.

Frankly I've always thought a tall distance runner, with perfectly efficient stride, beats a short distance runner every day of the week.

No offense, but what you enjoy doesn't really matter, and all of this is totally wrong from a physiological perspective. I'm 6'1" and also run well in the heat because I live in Central Florida... but my 2:58 marathon isn't going to get me into the Olympics. Smaller, shorter runners have a huge advantage, and when you've never seen a woman that tall succeed before at the elite level, it really calls into question her ceiling.

I kinda like the reasoning she's using here:

I was a solid college runner.

I became an Olympic Gold Medal triathlete.

Therefore, I can become an Olympic Gold Medal runner.

Maybe she's kidding about winning the Oly Marathon. Who knows? Before she ran NYCM last year, she said she was only doing it as a bucket list item, and suddenly she thinks a 2:41 after 6 or 7 years as a pro endurance athlete gives her a real shot?

She ran 15:52 and 33:30ish in college. Means she can probably get near 2:30 for the marathon with dedicated training. But that's 5 minutes from what it'll take to even make the team, much less win gold in Tokyo.

Except that both of you are ignoring how the person in question responds to heat, which is very well. The Rio test event was hot and humid and she did well. The Olympics weren't hot but she historically has had issues with cold water and cold conditions due to getting cold but has has very little difficulty handling heat (as opposed to the Brownlee brothers, who both thrive in cooler temperatures but have had issues on hot courses).

It's a smart move. Triathlon is on the decline. 50% of race time allocated to cycling. Whatever. It's like Eddy Merckx chose the distribution.

The triathlon and marathon events are way too different to say she will do well. I am skeptical, but she does have a chance.

Raysism wrote:

I always thought Paula Radcliffe was a really tall marathoner, and Gwen has two inches on her. Any precedent for a 5'10" woman marathoner breaking 2:25? She seems like a really great athlete, but doesn't strike me as the next great marathoner...

Lisa Rainsberger is 5'10"" or thereabouts. I think she ran 2:28.

She has an Olympic gold medal . Do any of her competitors ??

OH Shut up. I stopped reading after the second line.... VOMIT. Run along to Runners World!