This is still needs time to process. This was Mary Cain stuff, without the buildup that Cain had when she set that record in a race running with pros at the time. Cain had already been a known outstanding talent. Few here had even heard of this current gal a month ago. wowsers
Mary Cain had Tirunesh Dibaba in her record setting race.
It’s kind of amazing that two years in a row a runner comes out of nowhere to separate from the pack and set records. People forget that Jane really didn’t make a name for herself before NXR and NXN. I remember the previous spring she tried to challenge Sadie at Arcadia and got dusted. Then Katy comes out of nowhere to do this.
They are both two of the nicest people you can ever meet but are as polar opposite personality wise as you can be.
One thing that was interesting is it looked like Katy was recording her splits on her watch each lap. Showing how she really wasn’t pushed.
I figure after what she did a week ago, running a 9:42 3200m on a flat 300m indoor track, New Balance jumped at the opportunity to deck her out for this meet:
Milesplit says she went out in a 4:45 mile in that race last week. Yesterday, she was four seconds faster at the mile on the New Balance banked track in those new spikes.
She says she ran by feel, not by time, wanting to make sure she was more exhausted after this race than last week.
I think the debut on that banked track, those plated shoes, and her efficient mechanics just all came together. She was efficiently running around that track.
It’s kind of amazing that two years in a row a runner comes out of nowhere to separate from the pack and set records. People forget that Jane really didn’t make a name for herself before NXR and NXN. I remember the previous spring she tried to challenge Sadie at Arcadia and got dusted. Then Katy comes out of nowhere to do this.
They are both two of the nicest people you can ever meet but are as polar opposite personality wise as you can be.
One thing that was interesting is it looked like Katy was recording her splits on her watch each lap. Showing how she really wasn’t pushed.
Not quite true.
Those in the know were aware of Jane early on. Given her early win at Woodbridge her junior year (against a notable field) many were expecting her to challenge for the win at NXN. But injuries/illness hampered her.
She def didn’t ’come out of nowhere’ in the same way Katy did. This is absolutely insane.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
I think the debut on that banked track, those plated shoes, and her efficient mechanics just all came together. She was efficiently running around that track.
I can’t tell what brand of spikes she was in last week. Is that the Puma logo on them?
I’d have to go back and review, but Katy seems to look way more efficient than Valby, particularly in Katy’s reduced but efficient arm motion. Below the trunk is highly synchronized with the upper body, propelling her forward with each rolling stride.
She ran 10:30s in the 3200 last year off very few miles per week and prior months of injuries. So she clearly is already that fast without even near maximizing her ability. 10:17 makes sense, an 18 second drop since last outdoor season and without injury in recent months.
But 10:17 to 9:42... crazy. A bit back on her TikTok she indicates that she's been eating more and trying to recover her period. Maybe more proper fueling?
She seems to cross train a lot. Talks enthusiastically about how much she likes cross training and how she recommends it to all struggling runners. Seems like she gets in great efforts on there; she posted a 60 minute session at 172 bpm. Interested in more of what she does in cross training.
172bmp for an hour?? On what apparatus? If her MaxHr is ~202bpm, that’s a solid threshold 85%MaxHR effort!
Am I that out of the loop? wtf is a "speed rating"? is it like "aura"?
some bs made up stat brought forth a few years ago and sworn upon by naive youngsters
Bill Meylan has been doing speed ratings for 25 years lol. People read way more into it than what was intended. It's useful tool to compare tiers of runners who have never raced each other if you know how to think about it and adjust for things like altitude.
It’s kind of amazing that two years in a row a runner comes out of nowhere to separate from the pack and set records.
People forget that Jane really didn’t make a name for herself before NXR and NXN.
That's not even close to being true. Jane Hedengren didn't "come out of nowhere" her senior year like Katy Zang did. You just have a bad memory.
Jane Hedengren won the mile at Brooks PR her sophomore year, running 4:35 which broke the meet record and also made her top 10 all-time.
Then right after that Hedengren won the Nike Outdoor National Championships in the 2 mile.
Then in the fall of Hedengren's junior year at Woodbridge XC she beat Elizabeth Leachman, a girl who went on to set the national 5k record just a few months later.
And even though Jane missed the rest of her junior xc season with injuries, that same junior year, while still not back to full strength, she managed to run a indoor 2 mile in 9:49, which made her top 10 all-time in the 2 mile.
So by halfway through her junior year, Hedengren had won 2 national championships, and was already top 10 all-time in both the mile and the 2 mile.
So stop already with this nonsense that Jane Hedengren "came out of nowhere" and "really didn't make a name for herself" until the fall of her senior year, because that's false.
It’s kind of amazing that two years in a row a runner comes out of nowhere to separate from the pack and set records.
People forget that Jane really didn’t make a name for herself before NXR and NXN.
That's not even close to being true. Jane Hedengren didn't "come out of nowhere" her senior year like Katy Zang did. You just have a bad memory.
Jane Hedengren won the mile at Brooks PR her sophomore year, running 4:35 which broke the meet record and also made her top 10 all-time.
Then right after that Hedengren won the Nike Outdoor National Championships in the 2 mile.
Then in the fall of Hedengren's junior year at Woodbridge XC she beat Elizabeth Leachman, a girl who went on to set the national 5k record just a few months later.
And even though Jane missed the rest of her junior xc season with injuries, that same junior year, while still not back to full strength, she managed to run a indoor 2 mile in 9:49, which made her top 10 all-time in the 2 mile.
So by halfway through her junior year, Hedengren had won 2 national championships, and was already top 10 all-time in both the mile and the 2 mile.
So stop already with this nonsense that Jane Hedengren "came out of nowhere" and "really didn't make a name for herself" until the fall of her senior year, because that's false.
some bs made up stat brought forth a few years ago and sworn upon by naive youngsters
Bill Meylan has been doing speed ratings for 25 years lol. People read way more into it than what was intended. It's useful tool to compare tiers of runners who have never raced each other if you know how to think about it and adjust for things like altitude.
Speed ratings are as useful as passer ratings were to Bill Belichick when he coached for NE and won 6 Superbowls. Who cares?