ShelbyPacing wrote:
On the other hand, essentially a solo time trial 10K aiming at 30-flat is tough.
If she gets in a quality 10K can she take some time off that? No doubt. Can she get down towards AR territory? I don't think she would have called her shot if she didn't feel she had the fitness to give it a try.
I dunno about the doping, but it takes guts to go for a solo effort at the record.
To clarify a few things:
-Paced for 3K doesn't equal solo effort, it's pretty rare to be paced beyond 5K in an 10K. From there, you are at the mercy of the field having a fellow competitor(s) to help keep the pace going like the men's side, or your own fitness/frontrunning ability to carry through.
-Can she improve with those factors? Surely, but it probably won't be until next year unless she races a road 10K in Europe. Since she was struggling to stay with the pacers from the get-go, it seems pretty unlikely she was in better than 30:30 shape last night (she ran 15:15 for the first 5,000). She is also getting up there in age.
-Shelby calling her shot means really nothing. She called her shot a ton before returning from suspension, and she hasn't been remotely close to any records. She said she was going for the World Indoor mile record (4:13.31) after her return in indoors (4:20.4) . I don't think she really has a proper comprehension of records.
I wouldn't say guts as much as naivete when she talks a big game like this. It's not some horrible trait, but it's just something to reconcile if she says she's hunting a 5K American Record in Europe this summer. Maybe she really could do it, or more likely she had some good workouts and is in 14:30s shape.