Vanessa Fraser 2.0

queen_bee wrote:

birdbeard wrote:

Why would Sisson be the clear favorite? Cranny & Schweizer both have better 5000 PRs and 10000 PRs than her.

Sisson does not race track races regularly at all and also does not benefit from the excellent pacing that BTC athletes have access to in their all their time trials, etc. Her 10k PR is from like 2 years ago before all of her marathon training etc...

Sisson could very well win, but to call her a clear favorite is silly.

Schweizer is a 4:00/14:26/30:48 runner. Cranny is a 4:05/14:48/30:47 runner. Both have more speed than Sisson if it is at all tactical, and have better 5,000 and 10,000 PRs than her as well. I agree that Sisson might have the fitness to run 30:40 or so, but she's not a far and away favorite.

Also -- to whoever said Sara Hall was a lock, c'mon man. She has an outside shot. I wouldn't list her in the top five favorites for a podium spot, though.

Dude, really? Nikki was national class in high school (4:42) and Vanessa wasn't (4:54). Regardless of relative natural speed, I'll give you a hint: the 12-seconds-faster-over-1600 runner is going to win every time off any pace. Nikki is also now a world class 1500 meter runner (4:01). None of this tells us anything about whether Vanessa is better at the 10k than the 5k. That may be true, but we don't know that yet.

old guy 75 wrote:

I watched her run in high school. She always lacked a kick. Nikki Hiltz beat her in every race. There's a local six mile race in Santa Cruz, the Wharf to Wharf, and she always excelled at the longer distances. I think she'll eventually do great in the marathon. She should do the 10K this year. Her kick will betray her in the 5K.

uhh, ok. wrote:

Dude, really? Nikki was national class in high school (4:42) and Vanessa wasn't (4:54). Regardless of relative natural speed, I'll give you a hint: the 12-seconds-faster-over-1600 runner is going to win every time off any pace. Nikki is also now a world class 1500 meter runner (4:01). None of this tells us anything about whether Vanessa is better at the 10k than the 5k. That may be true, but we don't know that yet.

old guy 75 wrote:

I watched her run in high school. She always lacked a kick. Nikki Hiltz beat her in every race. There's a local six mile race in Santa Cruz, the Wharf to Wharf, and she always excelled at the longer distances. I think she'll eventually do great in the marathon. She should do the 10K this year. Her kick will betray her in the 5K.

I think it's a decent assumption. Go back and watch Fraser's races at NCAAs. Not much speed at the end of any of those races.

She's just looking for attention

birdbeard wrote:

uhh, ok. wrote:

Dude, really? Nikki was national class in high school (4:42) and Vanessa wasn't (4:54). Regardless of relative natural speed, I'll give you a hint: the 12-seconds-faster-over-1600 runner is going to win every time off any pace. Nikki is also now a world class 1500 meter runner (4:01). None of this tells us anything about whether Vanessa is better at the 10k than the 5k. That may be true, but we don't know that yet.

I think it's a decent assumption. Go back and watch Fraser's races at NCAAs. Not much speed at the end of any of those races.

To be fair she did kick a bit in her indoor 14:48 or whatever it was for the 5k. Jerry probably helped her a bit on that.

After listening to this week's LRC podcast where the guys made their Oly team predictions, am now quite convinced that both Houlihan & Purrier will choose the 1500.

Sisson will stick with the 10k as will Infeld & Marielle Hall as well as all the roadies/marathoners.

Jorgenson may run both the 5k and 10k but due to lack of raw track speed rather doubt she will be there at the end in either event.

Since the 5k comes before the 10k, anticipate Vanessa will be right in it with teammates Schweizer & Cranny along with Rowbury and Buchalski -- and possibly Jenny Simpson -- fighting over the last kilo for a spot on the team.

If she does not make it, Vanessa will double back in the 10k, healthy feet permitting.

Really hoping that Vanessa can make a huge jump in training over these next two+ months since she is now back doing hard track training in her racing spikes and believes her post-surgery woes are in the rear view mirror.

Does anyone know who her Phoenix Doctor was? I’m pretty darn sure I know the guy. As a premed student I spent a good amount of time in Phoenix shadowing someone, even watching a Tenex pro decide for Achilles tendinopathy.

Tenex is great, it’s actually not that risky, compared to what Galen Rupp had done it is super non-invasive.

I think Dr. Nasser was her doctor:

https://www.tenexresources.com/for-patients/doctors/azmi-nasser-do/

You could DM Vanessa to confirm . . . she's been quite public about her positive results . . .

Reviving a month-old thread - - -

Vanessa starting her "2.0" career in the 5k @ SoundRunning's Track Meet on 5/15:

https://www.soundrunning.run/trackmeet

Ironically, this race falls on the 1-year anniversary date of her bilateral Tenex procedures.

Curious that she/Jerry chose the 5k vs 10k for this meet as Vanessa does not have the Oly 10k standard. Same for Gwen who is also entered in the 5k.

Could be, there is another high-quality 10k in the works -- possibly the Portland meet at the end of the month.

In any case, Vanessa will have had 6 consecutive weeks of (hopefully) uninterrupted training/living at 8200' elevation above Park City leading into this race, so her fitness for another sub-15 should be there. Also, now that she has finally begun wearing her racing spikes for hard track sessions, her ability to kick at the end -- always the weak link during her "1.0" career -- should be much improved.

Vanessa acknowledging Saturday evening's 5k race falls on the 1-year anniversary of her Tenex surgeries:

https://www.instagram.com/p/COyxtVBHZXb/

Also notes this will be her first race in spikes since her 14:48/5k at the Boston U Last Chance indoor meet back in Feb 2020.

Her 32:09/10k race at SoundRunning's "The Track Meet" from Dec 2020 was run in Vaporflys to protect her achilles from further damage.

A year later, looks like everything has worked out.

This thread continues to be very weird. People need to chill and stop fixating on women half their age.

free shipping with purchases wrote:

This thread continues to be very weird. People need to chill and stop fixating on women half their age.

lol well, I can speak for myself here that I find a case like this really interesting. If she is in good shape then she will be a contender for the US team and coming off of a major surgery a year ago that's quite an accomplishment. There's a big difference between discussing and fixating. If you don't like discussions .. which this seems to be ... then I am sorry to tell you that you're in the wrong place because you are, in fact, on a discussion board.

free shipping with purchases wrote:

This thread continues to be very weird. People need to chill and stop fixating on women half their age.

__________________________________________________________________________________

What are you talking about? No one is fixating, except maybe you. Your therapist might tell you your twisted observations are called projection.

The Bowerman "B" team at the moment-- Fraser, Hall, Infeld, Jorgensen are all in this race. Still no signs of the "A" team in Schweizer, Houlihan and Cranny.

It's been interesting to me that GDS and Sinclaire Johnson have been racing a lot more than the rest of Jerry's athletes lately. I wonder why the different approaches....

I predict Infeld and Fraser will run sub- 15:08 in this race, Jorgensen will struggle, and Hall is a wild card. With Sifan Hassan in the race I wonder what the rabbit pace will be as well.

seattle track club wrote:

The Bowerman "B" team at the moment-- Fraser, Hall, Infeld, Jorgensen are all in this race. Still no signs of the "A" team in Schweizer, Houlihan and Cranny.

It's been interesting to me that GDS and Sinclaire Johnson have been racing a lot more than the rest of Jerry's athletes lately. I wonder why the different approaches....

I predict Infeld and Fraser will run sub- 15:08 in this race, Jorgensen will struggle, and Hall is a wild card. With Sifan Hassan in the race I wonder what the rabbit pace will be as well.

Cranny still had a few races in Feb/March - a 3k, 1500, and the 10,000m. The field at Mt Sac for the 5000m was definitely on the weak side so Jerry may have wanted to save for a better race (Portland track festival?) while using Sound Running as a chance to give "Bowerman B" as you say, the focus. Maybe?

Schweizer it's also been documented on here seemed to have a slight interruption due to injury in the spring so she also may be prioritizing fitness.

GDS and Johnson make sense to me. Stafford switched groups and got sick in 2020. Can't remember the podcast (Ali on the Run maybe?) but she said in one that her HR would get over 200 on easy runs. She also got smoked by her younger sister by 5s in a 1000m in 2020 during this. Makes sense that someone who has had to rebuild themselves in training in more ways than one would need some more races to get used to the body, rebuild confidence, make sure new program is working etc. Likewise thanks to covid, this is a de facto first year of pro for Johnson so getting more experience against high calibre opposition is very important for her.

So both have things to gain from racing a bunch in ways that Houlihan - coming off 14:23 and having dominated the US scene for three years, might not.

Considering Hall, Infeld, and Fraser have been at altitude I would think they'll do better than Jorgensen (depending on how their body handles it). From what I can tell though, Jorgensen is the only one who struggles with altitude not agreeing with her to the point that she performs terribly.

I think that Natosha Rogers belongs on that list.

tenex. wrote:

Does anyone know who her Phoenix Doctor was? I’m pretty darn sure I know the guy. As a premed student I spent a good amount of time in Phoenix shadowing someone, even watching a Tenex pro decide for Achilles tendinopathy.

Tenex is great, it’s actually not that risky, compared to what Galen Rupp had done it is super non-invasionger ve.

Reviving a thread from this spring.

Looks like it will take a bit longer to see a new/improved VF.

However, re: her Tenex doctor, she confirms she saw Dr. Lewis Freed of Tenex Health: