Next BTC race tuesday night

Did you guys see Chris Derrick run the 4x400? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that Courtney Frerichs was latching on to Derrick in a 400m. That’s just flat out embarrassing. I’m sure Chris derrick is going to retire very soon considering his contract will expire soon and no one would be interested in giving him an extension.

birdbeard wrote:

three top guns wrote:

This year though, the BTC guys have shown they are superior to Hunter.

eh, I still disagree. hunter ran 3:57 (altitude-converted on the NCAA chart to 3:53.8) in a TT this summer coming off injury. the converted time would be about the 3:36 that fish/mcg ran. hunter is still right there with them, and has shown that he can compete a national championships.

Fake news. The altitude of Drew Hunter's time trial, 3000 feet, is not enough to affect running performance. His 3:57 is worth a 3:57.

Hunter's 5k PR was in a perfectly paced race at Stanford, essentially a time trial. In fact, most would prefer that to a time trial because you have spectators and fans cheering you on, more adrenaline.

wattha wrote:

Did you guys see Chris Derrick run the 4x400? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that Courtney Frerichs was latching on to Derrick in a 400m. That’s just flat out embarrassing. I’m sure Chris derrick is going to retire very soon considering his contract will expire soon and no one would be interested in giving him an extension.

Knowing he spent the last few years on the roads and probably took a solid break after the trials, he's just working his way back to track fitness and it seems logical.

It makes sense that he was more relaxed on the 5000m & 3000m a few weeks back (13'46 & 7'56 with too fast early paces compared to his current fitness in both cases, seems to be pretty OK to me, 4 months out of the trials knowing he's not in a rush to come back).

The 1500m last night must have felt like a sprint, especially paced @3:36 pace, so I can imagine he was just toasted for the 600m and even more for the 400m.

Good to see him get into the mix with the other ones while he knows he's not at the best fitness level. He could have just run the 3k & 5k and focus on mileage and tempos this summer.

Instead he's out there working on his weaknesses and putting himself out of his comfort zone, with a worldwide audience.... I respect that big time.

That could be great for him to have a good year and at least be in the mix for the Olympic Trials next year.

He probably also has contractual obligations to run a certain amount of races per year, but I agree with the above.

He never had great raw speed even when his focus was on the track.

I can't even imagine now after years on the roads and at the end of a big "workout" night!

You guys are being too kind. I think he ran 60s for the 400.

NJ fan wrote:

birdbeard wrote:

eh, I still disagree. hunter ran 3:57 (altitude-converted on the NCAA chart to 3:53.8) in a TT this summer coming off injury. the converted time would be about the 3:36 that fish/mcg ran. hunter is still right there with them, and has shown that he can compete a national championships.

Fake news. The altitude of Drew Hunter's time trial, 3000 feet, is not enough to affect running performance. His 3:57 is worth a 3:57.

NCAA conversions vs the internet’s NJ fan

birdbeard wrote:

You guys are being too kind. I think he ran 60s for the 400.

Sadly I agree. Just took some splits off the video with my Timex Ironman and got exactly 57.49 for both Derrick and Schweizer. He’s only 29 and hasn’t been the same athlete who ran 13:08 in ‘13 & ‘14 for some time now.

I agree he has some work to do and is far from favorite!

I still think he's capable of running around 28 for the 10000m, hopefully just under to get Olympic standard, assuming he is somewhat healthy all year.

I would be curious to see what some of the other marathon trials participants would do right now if they were to run a 1500 - 600 - 400 all out workout...

For comparison Fauble ran just under 14 a couple weeks ago when CD ran 13'46.

Ask and ye shall receive.

Suguru Osako/Team Julian just ran a 7:59/3k at last week's Bigger Friendly meet.

Two weeks earlier, he ran 3:50/1500 at the Big Friendly meet.

"Sugar" is the Japanese record holder in the 3k, 5k and marathon. He just ran 2:05 for 4th at the Tokyo marathon in March -- just a week after Derrick ran the Oly Trials marathon.

By this comparison, CD is doing just fine.

Probably worth discussing why Schumacher has such trouble developing male marathoners from his track stable. Bairu and Derrick both looked to be sure things in the marathon, but have severely underperformed.

Derrick has to be thinking what might have been watching Jake Riley - who was a notch below him in college, then hurt for three years - run 2:10 flat on a brutal course and make the team.

I, mean, he ran 27:30 eight years ago when he was in college. You have to think if he would've just run for Ray Treacy and not been hurt for eight years he would be running 2:06 at this point.

Hopefully he has some more left in the tank.

Isn't the Olympic 10k standard sub 27:30?

CD appears not to be a marathoner, for whatever reason.

He belongs back in the track 10k.

In 2012, fresh out of college, he was 4th at the Oly Trials 10k and had one of fastest final 800m finishes. And, he was running with a plantar fascia injury he incurred before NCAAs.

In 2016, he was 5th at the Oly Trials 10k -- again, coming off an injury and not fully fit.

Lopez Lomong was constantly injured for several years but since 2018 has figured out how to train healthy and is now one of the world's best 10k guys. Let's hope CD can follow suit.

wattha wrote:

Did you guys see Chris Derrick run the 4x400? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that Courtney Frerichs was latching on to Derrick in a 400m. That’s just flat out embarrassing. I’m sure Chris derrick is going to retire very soon considering his contract will expire soon and no one would be interested in giving him an extension.

The first 2 time trials were enough. Time for real racing Jerry.

bigfanofbtc wrote:

Why take a risk with another group that might not be as diligent with their precautions?

Exactly. I mean, several spectators had masks on -- which were protecting everyone else!

That Chris Derrick/Frerich run-off over 400 was surreal. Do you think he has the worst footspeed of any professional runner? I'm struggling to think of another who comes close.

donkey doug wrote:

That Chris Derrick/Frerich run-off over 400 was surreal. Do you think he has the worst footspeed of any professional runner? I'm struggling to think of another who comes close.

Yeah, it was hard to watch. The 1500 was very hard to watch, he was off the back after the first lap. There are probably 10 high schoolers right now who could have beaten him.

No. How many 14 time All Americans are there? Not Fisher. Not McDonald. He has a 3:59 mile and 13:08 5k. 13:08 is faster than Fisher or McGorty. Something is going on but he could have run 50.0 a few years ago.

ncaa go away wrote:

No. How many 14 time All Americans are there? Not Fisher. Not McDonald. He has a 3:59 mile and 13:08 5k. 13:08 is faster than Fisher or McGorty. Something is going on but he could have run 50.0 a few years ago.

Sure, though his shorter stuff has always trailed his longer stuff.

He did run 3:39 so no doubt he was faster at one point. In HS he ran 13:55 but his 1600 PR was 4:14.