LateRunnerPhil wrote:
1) Tuohy had a reoccurring knee injury since 2018. She had to miss races in late 2018, and then miss an entire summer of training in 2019. That's also why NXN was very hard to win for her last year, despite being the highest talent by far.
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People seem to have a hard time accepting the fact that Tuohy just had a bad day at NXN due to nerves (which she admitted to, and possibly her reaction to the the poor conditions (she said her legs and feet were numb from 3K on).
She ran 17:03 and 17:07 at Bowdoin Park to easily win the Federation and NXR races, neither of which were an all out effort. Claire Walters ran 17:28 at NXR which is a great time, but she was pretty tired at the finish. At NXN, giving everything she had that day Tuohy was only 10 seconds ahead of Walters - who looked better at the finish than Tuohy did.
Not to take anything away from Ewert and Thorvaldson (among others) who ran great at NXN, but that was an "off" Tuohy that day.
I think the knee issue affected her fitness for the early part of the XC season - and you can see that in her race results - but by year end she was pretty close to where she was the prior years,perhaps 10-15 seconds slower. By the end of indoor season she looked really fit for a fast mile time after running 4:21 for 1500 at the NY State meet with a big negative split, and making it look effortless.
But that is just my read on her.