Official Mary Cain's returning to racing discussion thread - Her 3k is today (July 16th)

She must have done workouts that would have indicated 9:15 shape or she wouldn't have tried. Right? Does she have a coach? Is she still sponsored by Nike or just buying gear? Who got her into the meet? All around seems strange now that she went there but then pulls off the track after going through 1200 in 3:45.

At the other end of the results, a significant PB for Camille Buscomb. Her 8:45.97 makes her the #3 performer on NZL all-time list, behind Kim Smith (8:35.31) and Anne Audain (8:45.53).

As for Mary Cain, I wish her the best. As soon as this race started, she did not look like she belonged in it. I would be interested to know what kind of condition she/they thought she was in, coming in to this race. Perhaps she and whomever is coaching/advising her thought this race would be won closer to 9:15 than 8:45. It went faster than I expected, but the field was deep enough reasonably to expect a winning time around 8:50-8:55, at least.

This is a good event. Good competition. Not speedily fast, but good Irish vibe. Need to see more of these lower key races streamed live with no paywall. Thanks Flotrack for not hijacking the rights to this.

I support Free access T&F races online, especially during work hours. Hey, it's summer and a little slow in the coal mines.

M.A.G.A.

Oh I'm sorry I see now the way I wrote my OP was unclear. What I meant was she dropped with two laps to go, which would mean she covered roughly 2200 of the 3000m. Sorry for the confusion!

Cain's not alone. Kaylin Whitney ran a 11:57 today (not close to her PB of 11.01 at age 17). Alexa Efraimson has only managed to come close to her HS record in the 1500, without besting it. Elise Cranny has managed to better her high school times slightly in college. I give Cain credit for sticking with it (and Efraimson, Whitney and Cranny as well). It's really hard to progress from high school success story (phenom or not) to even a national level of elite performance, but if you don't risk failure you're never going to get there. I never saw Houlihan coming, but there she is, and she deserves every bit of credit for her hard work and belief in herself. Then there's superwoman Ajee Wilson - world junior champion to American record holder in a progression of steady incremental improvement.

Brianruns10 wrote:

j walter wrote:

I saw her in the background on a shot after 1200m. It was certainly more than just the two laps it took her to get dropped, but we are splitting hairs at this point.

Oh I'm sorry I see now the way I wrote my OP was unclear. What I meant was she dropped with two laps to go, which would mean she covered roughly 2200 of the 3000m. Sorry for the confusion!

Ahhhhhh.....got it!

Not a professional manager wrote:

Can you all think of an athlete that has had worse career advice/direction than Cain with such consistency?

1. Allowing Salazar to destroy her natural mechanics was disaster number 1

2. Going pro was disaster 2

3.

4.

50ish. Doing this race today.

I feel bad for her. If her parents had been better informed she would have been an NCAA star instead of just one more teen phenom burnout. Unless she can turn a major corner and have better “fork control” she’s done.

Don t look back. Look for the future and the opportunitys. Once a promising young star can find back to the shape again. But then she needs one of the best coaches. A coach that so far have improved all runners under his wings.

I don't think she will get close to her PRs. She was very thin when she hit the national scene but she has matured. It's not a fat or thin thing, just physical maturation. We will probably be interested in one more race but the posts will die down after that. Most people won't remember her in 2 years.

Marty Kane wrote:

I don't think she will get close to her PRs. She was very thin when she hit the national scene but she has matured. It's not a fat or thin thing, just physical maturation. We will probably be interested in one more race but the posts will die down after that. Most people won't remember her in 2 years.

Agree to disagree. If German Fernandez was signed up to race in Belgium next week there would be interest and people would take note. So it will be with Cain (though I fear this race may discourage her from racing more).

DevinChaulk wrote:

rojo wrote:

An astute observer could tell before the race started she wasn't in the same shape as the other women.

This. Big disappointment. I wasn’t expecting a miracle, but I thought she’d at least finish the race.

Wow. Saw the video. Just sluggish, and not in shape period for this caliber of a field. How did she even get into the same race with top runners like Sisson, Pagano etc ? After 2 years, she should have chosen a domestic race to test the waters. This can't be good for her head. I just don't see a comeback happening.

NEXT STOP 63.366737 North Latitude The Arctic Circle is 66.333333 NL

Trump2020OP-the real one... wrote:

Elinor Purrier had a fantastic race. Representing Vermont strong.

Apparently, Mary is not readay for Prime Time. If the previous poster is correct and Cain is a Hillary supporter then this would definitely explain her slump. Best get off that losing train Mary Cain, and get on the Trump victory express. The future is still bright, just leave your tired and slow Democrat mindset in the past.

M.A.G.A...

ROFL

I don't really understand why she participated in this race. And she has several other races planned all over Europe? Why not just do a time trial.

Marty Kane wrote:

I don't think she will get close to her PRs. She was very thin when she hit the national scene but she has matured. It's not a fat or thin thing, just physical maturation. We will probably be interested in one more race but the posts will die down after that. Most people won't remember her in 2 years.

Power to weight ratio, that is it. Sad but true, once these young girls become woman, very few retain that pre-puberty physique.

Snail's pace wrote:

DevinChaulk wrote:

This. Big disappointment. I wasn’t expecting a miracle, but I thought she’d at least finish the race.

Wow. Saw the video. Just sluggish, and not in shape period for this caliber of a field. How did she even get into the same race with top runners like Sisson, Pagano etc ? After 2 years, she should have chosen a domestic race to test the waters. This can't be good for her head. I just don't see a comeback happening.

Guys, she's probably in 9:20 shape or something. She was around 3:02 at the kilometer, and had already been dropped. She was less than a straight behind at the 1600, so 5:00-5:05 for the mile. Her team definitely misjudged this race, but racing always makes runners off the back look really bad. If I were Cain, 9:15-9:30 shape is what I'd want to be in right now, so I'd be satisfied with her shape, although not the race.

it is only one race.

cain probably ran a couple of repeat miles under 5 minutes per mile pace, but on the day it wasn't there.

with a lot of girls, they peak as athletes as teenagers, and it's over.

mary has to blow off the result, and go get them again.

it is what it is.

Christ.... she can't even run hard for 9 minutes anymore.

Her race illustrates the importance of VO2 max being key followed by velocity at max.

Her VO2 has probably dropped 10-15 % and her efficiency even more.

Not a professional manager wrote:

Can you all think of an athlete that has had worse career advice/direction than Cain with such consistency?

1. Allowing Salazar to destroy her natural mechanics was disaster number 1

2. Going pro was disaster 2

3.

4.

50ish. Doing this race today.

I feel bad for her. If her parents had been better informed she would have been an NCAA star instead of just one more teen phenom burnout. Unless she can turn a major corner and have better “fork control” she’s done.

I'd not worry too much about it. She's young, this is her first race in 2 years, and its likely gonna take some time to get her racing legs back. I do agree that she should do a number of lower key races as she progresses in her return to competition. Hopefully she remains injury free.

No. She was in the race a lot longer than that. You see her about to enter the straight at 1500, at ~4:40, so she probably hits halfway around 4:42-ish.

Rojo says she hit the K at ~3:01, so if that's true, her 500 splits must be something like 1:30/ 1:31/1:41.

Probably fair to infer that 9-minute pace was *way* too hot for her right now, and she was already starting to blow up after a K.

And, yeah, that sure makes you wonder why she's in this race, with the field going sub-8:50.