No, I’m sure a lot of people thought Blade could run faster than what Leachman ran, after Blade’s incredible fall campaign.
Clearly your post is incorrect. Blade ran the same 16:31 that Claudia Lane ran at Woodward Park, and Claudia Lane never ran faster than 9:57 in the 3200, while Blade's 3200 split yesterday was 9:50.
To put it another way, Blade's best speed rating this fall was only 159 while Hedengren's best speed rating was 172. That's a massive difference. No one expected them to be neck and neck in yesterday's 5k.
“Speed rating”??? You gotta be kidding me with that stupid meaningless speed rating. Look at Blade’s other races last fall besides the incredible Woodbridge and Woodward Park.
So why didn’t Lane run faster? Maybe Lane was injured?!?
Lane is irrelevant to all of the times Blade posted this fall. Her NXN was subpar after the grueling California state championships, and she may not be the best mudder. But she already demonstrated, after her season opener course record, and then another course record at Woodbridge, that she was on a whole other level from last year.
Hedengren was dealing with a serious health issue when she ran Woodbridge. That's why she lost that race. Even her teammate Lily Alder beat Hedengren at Woodbridge and Alder is not even close to being as good as Hedengren.
So yes, the poster you responded to was correct. It would have been very difficult for anyone to predict that Blade would run 15:16. In fact, while many people here predicted Hedengren would break the 5k record, not even one person predicted that Blade would. During the 5k Blade broke her 3200 PR by 12 seconds and then picked up the pace. That's unprecedented!
The YouTube of the race was great. The announcer on the track mic did a really good job of calling out what was going down, and when he reminded them, with about 800m to go, that “they have done these intervals before” (not verbatim), Rylee may have gotten a bit excited smelling the finish line and boldly went out ahead, albeit briefly, of Jane. It was a great race and a great call.
They had run an 800m off of HS 5000m record pace, during track workouts?
The YouTube of the race was great. The announcer on the track mic did a really good job of calling out what was going down, and when he reminded them, with about 800m to go, that “they have done these intervals before” (not verbatim), Rylee may have gotten a bit excited smelling the finish line and boldly went out ahead, albeit briefly, of Jane. It was a great race and a great call.
They had run an 800m off of HS 5000m record pace, during track workouts?
Yes, you win the obtuse comment section of the day. The advice suggestion is to go watch the race and hear the call for yourself.
No, I’m sure a lot of people thought Blade could run faster than what Leachman ran, after Blade’s incredible fall campaign.
Clearly your post is incorrect. Blade ran the same 16:31 that Claudia Lane ran at Woodward Park, and Claudia Lane never ran faster than 9:57 in the 3200, while Blade's 3200 split yesterday was 9:50.
To put it another way, Blade's best speed rating this fall was only 159 while Hedengren's best speed rating was 172. That's a massive difference. No one expected them to be neck and neck in yesterday's 5k.
Clearly some people thought she could smash the 5k record based off her Woodbridge performance (which apparently is a decent indicator), although I can’t vouch for anyone who thought yesterday that they’d be neck and neck.
Clearly your post is incorrect. Blade ran the same 16:31 that Claudia Lane ran at Woodward Park, and Claudia Lane never ran faster than 9:57 in the 3200, while Blade's 3200 split yesterday was 9:50.
To put it another way, Blade's best speed rating this fall was only 159 while Hedengren's best speed rating was 172. That's a massive difference. No one expected them to be neck and neck in yesterday's 5k.
FWIW I went back to see what people thought after Woodbridge and right now this post saying Blade could run sub 15:15 has 5 upvotes to 1 downvote
Clearly some people thought she could smash the 5k record based off her Woodbridge performance (which apparently is a decent indicator), although I can’t vouch for anyone who thought yesterday that they’d be neck and neck.
That was several months ago, but I’m pretty sure that was my post. Nice grab, thanks.
But she already demonstrated, after her season opener course record, and then another course record at Woodbridge, that she was on a whole other level from last year.
Blade didn't get the course record at Woodward Park. And the Woodbridge course was new this year so anyone who won was automatically going to get the course record.
Blade also ended her xc season on a down note. She lost her CIF SS meet by 10 seconds, finishing in third place. Her time at state was 15 seconds slower than what she had run on the same course earlier that year. And she lost by 1 minute 22 seconds at NXN, finishing in 28th place. Hardly the end to a cross country season that would lead someone to predict that she would run 15:16 yesterday.
Hedengren breaking the 5k national record was predictable. Blade breaking it wasn't predictable. You posters who are claiming that you predicted Blade would break the 5k national record yesterday are just making that up.
Yes, you win the obtuse comment section of the day. The advice suggestion is to go watch the race and hear the call for yourself.
“…they have done these intervals before.”
I believe you heard it correctly. What does it mean?
I think the dude was speaking to both the crowd, and the runners directly, psychologically addressing them in their dire moment. He probably was/is a pretty good distance runner himself, and knows what it’s about.
Amazing that high school girls are running as fast as Tuohy is as a pro. Imagine if I predicted that 6 or 7 years ago. There would have been pages of insults. Yet, it is the truth. Hedegren will be 14:45 as a college freshman. The future of American distance is bright.
The unnecessary dig at Tuohy aside, I agree with you about Hedengren’s potential. Wouldn’t at all be surprised in seeing her run sub-14:50 as a true college freshman.
Blade was like within one second of Claudia Lane’s record at Woodward Park, but you probably already knew that.🙄 That course record time was a huge one, with thousands of runners running Woodward Park over the years.
And in her season opener, Blade shattered her course record she set last year.
Blade is two-time Division I State Champion out of the big state of California! When was the last time that happened??
I knew a USATF certified coach that said one gets seven years of progression before topping out. One of the reasons Tuohy was better than her peers in high school was because of her high volume of training. (There is another potential reason I won’t mention unless astro keeps popping off.) So consequently, Tuohy may simply be topping out.
More and more high school girls are also now putting in higher volumes of training, and the records are falling.
I don't buy that. If you suppose the average very high level girl starts to seriously train between their junior year of HS and freshman year of college, that would call for a peak between 23 and 25 for women. There are A LOT of women who peak later than that.
Though maybe you need to go to drugs for that to happen.
Hiltz, Houlihan, ESP; all running their best times ever between late 20s and 30.
most of them don’t start training seriously til college or after. Take St Pierre. As a freshman in college she was doing 30mpw. That isn’t serious training. Those first 6 years are often spent training so they can actually train.
We have tons of people (both men and woman) who go missing in the transition to college. Sumner had 1 good season (and this year is looking good). Flatt has been trash. Go down the list of sub 4 milers or sub 8:45 dudes and it is the same hit and miss where people struggle to match HS times. And the woman are even worse.
But man enjoy the moment. These 5k times are nuts. We are talking about time that will probably score in the 5k today at ncaas
Blade was like within one second of Claudia Lane’s record at Woodward Park, but you probably already knew that.🙄 That course record time was a huge one, with thousands of runners running Woodward Park over the years.
And in her season opener, Blade shattered her course record she set last year.
Blade is two-time Division I State Champion out of the big state of California! When was the last time that happened??
How many kids do a 5000 on the track during their HS season?
The best ones do, it's a new generation of runners.
Rylee Blade, 15:20 at Woodbridge, 15:16 indoors
Jane Hedengren, 15:32 at Woodbridge, 15:13 indoors
Elizabeth Leachman, 15:32 at Woodbridge, 15:25 outdoors
Natalie Cook, 15:56 at Woodbridge, 15:25 outdoors
Yep we have 5 to make a formula from from Woodbridge and a track 5000 and two of them aren't close. Not sure the formula of Woodbridge to Track 5000 is working out. I will answer it, a very small number of HS athletes do a Track 5000, it's not a normal event.
The best ones do, it's a new generation of runners.
Rylee Blade, 15:20 at Woodbridge, 15:16 indoors
Jane Hedengren, 15:32 at Woodbridge, 15:13 indoors
Elizabeth Leachman, 15:32 at Woodbridge, 15:25 outdoors
Natalie Cook, 15:56 at Woodbridge, 15:25 outdoors
Yep we have 5 to make a formula from from Woodbridge and a track 5000 and two of them aren't close. Not sure the formula of Woodbridge to Track 5000 is working out. I will answer it, a very small number of HS athletes do a Track 5000, it's not a normal event.
Those Woodbridge to track 5k times are all totally different situations, so no pattern can be determined based on those 4 races.
Natalie Cook ran the Woodbridge race when it was at a completely different park.
Elizabeth Leachman ran Woodbridge at the same park, but it was a different and longer course.
Hedengren was sick when she ran Woodbridge in the fall of 2024.
