Jane Hedengren far superior to Park Valby smashes collegiate record

Mary says hi wrote:

dhfgd wrote:

Just my opinion here but I think what is happening on the women's side is just a delayed version of what happened on the men's side regarding western runners vs africans. If you ran back in my day (the 90s) word on the street was anything over 70mpw would get you injured (we did about 50mpw at my school which was a perennial top 20 D1 NCAA XC team) and africans had an unstoppable genetic advantage.

At some point, approximately coinciding with Rupp's rise, that loser mentality finally got thrown out and people started training correctly. Seeing Rupp and others credibly contend for medals broke the idea that western runners can't compete with africans and at the same time, the training methods that worked for the africans (and were disregarded by the west because we thought we were smarter) started being adopted by westerners, and now a decade later, western runners are dominating everything except the marathon.

Just to give you an idea of how far behind we were in training methodology, my teammate (NCAA XC champion Kenyan guy) ran about 70mpw (he was self coached, didn't do our weaksauce 50mpw high intensity interval workouts) and had two staple workouts he did every week: 8-10 repeat 1000s with 1:00 rest, and 16 x 400 with 0:30 rest. Basically the same format as the now-popular Norwegian Singles thread.

On the womens side, there is still a massive gap between the top africans (high 13s) and the top Americans (mid 14s), and I attribute this to a delay in when western female runners decided to throw out the old rulebook and start logging higher mileage or adding cross training like the men did. Western runners are rapidly closing the gap and within a few years will start mixing it up with the africans (Batocletti already doing so). If Josette Andrews is running 14:20s, it will not surprise me at all to see Jane progress to medal threat status down the road.

Lastly, I feel that Jane is just way ahead of her time. Put it into perspective: a sub 10:00 3200m is still a very rare time for high school girls and Jane ran 9:14. Nobody is that much of an outlier. Expect to be seeing a lot more girls run low 9:30s within a few years.

Nobody is that much of an outlier? I think Mary Decker would like a word…they do come along once in a very blue moon.

NMRuns wrote:

Negative comments don't make you smart. They're an ineffective strategy to try to feel important. Before blabbing your (undoubtedly most superb and most excellent) opinion, you should research. In this instance (because Jane H is being discussed) you should research what the Utah running culture is producing. (See also, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, California, etc. ) Sections of the US are creating running cultures of high level. Look no farther than the Alder and Hedengren families. HS senior Lily Alder may not be as fast as Jane (former Timpview HS teammates), but Lily won NXR SW in 2025 and is faster than her two older sisters (when they were her age) who run for BYU. The littlest Alder (Angie) and Hedengren (Susan) are breaking their older sisters' records. Here in New Mexico, Gianna Rahmer competes nationally, but her little sister (Isla) is faster for her age. NM local Dorsey-Spitz broke Rahmer's time records for NM. I suspect Dad Hedengren and Momma Alder could kick both your and Astro's asses in a 5k today - even if you doped.

NMRuns wrote:

Armstronglivs wrote:

So talent never dopes? You don't really follow the sport if you think that. It's all through the sport now. We are watching the running equivalent of body-building.

Negative comments don't make you smart. They're an ineffective strategy to try to feel important. Before blabbing your (undoubtedly most superb and most excellent) opinion, you should research. In this instance (because Jane H is being discussed) you should research what the Utah running culture is producing. (See also, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, California, etc. ) Sections of the US are creating running cultures of high level. Look no farther than the Alder and Hedengren families. HS senior Lily Alder may not be as fast as Jane (former Timpview HS teammates), but Lily won NXR SW in 2025 and is faster than her two older sisters (when they were her age) who run for BYU. The littlest Alder (Angie) and Hedengren (Susan) are breaking their older sisters' records. Here in New Mexico, Gianna Rahmer competes nationally, but her little sister (Isla) is faster for her age. NM local Dorsey-Spitz broke Rahmer's time records for NM. I suspect Dad Hedengren and Momma Alder could kick both your and Astro's asses in a 5k today - even if you doped.