If they ran 14:30 in a 14:10 race that would make you feel better?
If they ran 14:30 in a 14:10 race that would make you feel better?
I couldn't imagine the likes of Jim Ryun or Pre setting a standard for themselves to "be the top American." Look at their era of distance running and how mainstream they were.
It's surreal that in the most prosperous and free country on earth American distance running fans are left to settle with such mediocre standards for accomplishment.
"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
I refuse to believe we're sending our best, do better USA!
joed|rt wrote:
I think they ran about what they were capable of given the conditions. It is an unfortunate reality that US runners are not on a par with African runners in the longer distance events (especially in hot weather). Would be interesting to see what the race results would look like running in Oregon outdoors in January.
https://news.stanford.edu/2012/08/29/cooling-glove-research-082912/
They would be the same. If you can excel in heat and humidity, you will perform even better in the 60's. Hilarious how the American 5K women all think they're hot stuff winning piddly races on the West Coast on high school tracks that are basically time trials with no real competition and then bomb in the international arena. The result would be the same in Tokyo if it was cool and dry.
Well, well, well...this is an interesting thread.
The mantra after the trials was "The Olympics aren't Diamond League time trials, wait'll we get there and show them how to race".
So it turns out so far that these DL guys can not only run fast in "time trials", they can also run just about any type of race they want because they're faster and they control the race while Americans run from behind and get flattened in the latter stages.
Continue please, tell me more.
MAGAtothebitterend wrote:
I couldn't imagine the likes of Jim Ryun or Pre setting a standard for themselves to "be the top American." Look at their era of distance running and how mainstream they were.
It's surreal that in the most prosperous and free country on earth American distance running fans are left to settle with such mediocre standards for accomplishment.
"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
I refuse to believe we're sending our best, do better USA!
You have zero understanding of the sport or its history. That and the best is yet to come for these Olympics. The US has done fairly well on the Olympic stage, 2004-16. They should bring home some medals and you'll still be the class clown.
Lorraine Moller, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics women's marathon bronze medalist from New Zealand but training out of Boulder at the time, having finished off the medal stand at the prior two Olympics, started prepping for her race a year out by traveling to Barcelona, reviewing the course, and then returning to Boulder (and maybe elsewhere) and doing a lot of heat and hill training. She arrived at the starting line feeling confident in knowing she had done everything she could be to turn a weakness into a strength and at the age of 37 won the Bronze. Hindsight is 20/20 for some of the athletes now but it makes you wonder if they would have had more confidence had they started adapting for the conditions in Tokyo much earlier rather than what appeared to be after the trials.
Fredricoland wrote:
MAGAtothebitterend wrote:
So when we get 0 medals in these games in any distance events are the fans just supposed to congratulate them on "a good effort" and leave it at that? This is a great example of why T&F cannot breakthrough in the mainstream here in USA... We're just supposed to be satisfied with mediocre results on the worlds biggest stage and continue supporting and lifting them up in the media when all these distance runners get their asses handed to them.
They shouldn't even expect a contract without a medal at world championships or olympics, that's how it is for East Africans and makes them the best!
Idiot. Do you remember Rio? SEVEN Olympic distance medals for the US.
Do I need to remind you of them or were you still in middle school then.
But how many at Doha? That should've been a red flag.
[quote]joed|rt wrote:
I think they ran about what they were capable of given the conditions. It is an unfortunate reality that US runners are not on a par with African runners in the longer distance events (especially in hot weather). Would be interesting to see what the race results would look like running in Oregon outdoors in January.
Except there were 4 other non-Africans that whipped their butt too.
MAGAtothebitterend wrote:
I couldn't imagine the likes of Jim Ryun or Pre setting a standard for themselves to "be the top American." Look at their era of distance running and how mainstream they were.
It's surreal that in the most prosperous and free country on earth American distance running fans are left to settle with such mediocre standards for accomplishment.
"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
I refuse to believe we're sending our best, do better USA!
Based on your username, the irony here is stunning.
Distance runners have won literally 1 gold medal in that time, Centro whose coach is banned for life...
Sorry but that is not doing "fairly-well."
I hope Emma will surprise us all with a gold but even that would make 1 Olympic gold medal in women's distance running in the last 20+ years.
When are we going to have someone come and dominate like Kipchoge, Hassan, Bekele, etc. and finally make distance running in USA great again?
Jack2651 wrote:
After Park City they trained in Hawaii.
Hawaii is one of the States that have wild Boars .🐷
MAGAtothebitterend wrote:
I couldn't imagine the likes of Jim Ryun or Pre setting a standard for themselves to "be the top American." Look at their era of distance running and how mainstream they were.
It's surreal that in the most prosperous and free country on earth American distance running fans are left to settle with such mediocre standards for accomplishment.
"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
I refuse to believe we're sending our best, do better USA!
How many gold medals did Pre and Ryun win? Pre largely sucked and neither of them had to run against the entire continent of Africa.
A) Your guy can't win without cheating and lying--he still lost and you troll from mom's basement, devastated.
B) Going to be a long and miserable existence for you, US has one what 7 or 8 gold medals (800 and up) in the past 60 years and no more than that in the 60 prior years. So be realistic.
They both missed their pre race burrito. Can't race well on an empty stomach.
Rupp never gave up! The most disappointing thing was they’re lack of moves. The were flat. One move, Cranny moving around a slowing teammate to connect as the pack was bringing the pace down, If they were where the Italian or Israeli runner were, it world be less disappointing. Ultimately, does BTC control factors too much to create ideal conditions and chase times but not get in tough racing in less than ideal conditions? The heat of the Trials is not enough because they know they dominate their US peers.
Think everyone needs to be a bit more broad-minded. Clearly Centro did not collapse in the most important race of his career in Rio. There are so many factors that go into every high level race, particularly the Olympics and particularly these Olympics. I honestly believe both Cranny and Schweitzer ran the best they could on this given day (as did Woody Kinkaid), and that is all one can ask from any runner.
Manbearpig15 wrote:
It's the heat and humidity. If you're not ready for it, it will totally compromise a race.
My kids just ran at the junior olympics in Florida and they struggled in their 3000m races. I didn't have them run in any overly hot and humidity conditions leading up to this meet.
It looks like the American pros probably spent too much time at altitude or running in cooler weather when they should have been in Florida or Texas getting some heat specific training in.
I think some on this thread are not taking into consideration how brutal the conditions were. I checked various weather sites while the race was happening and saw dewpoints between 77 and 78. I don't think a 14:55 in these conditions is far off from Karissa's PB effort.
Also, I believe some humans are just biologically better equipped to handle the conditions. Heat training makes a difference, but not everyone will be able to handle it the same.
Everyone is competing in the same conditions. If they aren't ready for heat and humidity at this point, they never will be. They could train in Addis Ababa year-round and they would still lose. No one is forcing them to train in Oregon. Train in the worst conditions.
afdfadsf wrote:
I think Schweizer will be the top American in the 10000 and will place higher than she did here; I'm guessing 5th to 8th is where she'll finish.
Remember when Sisson won the Trials by like 100 meters?
nhlgoalie wrote:
Everyone is competing in the same conditions. If they aren't ready for heat and humidity at this point, they never will be. They could train in Addis Ababa year-round and they would still lose. No one is forcing them to train in Oregon. Train in the worst conditions.
But heat and humidity only affects Americans, don't you know that?
Americans are great at excuse making. Just a week ago there were all sorts of predictions of US success on here, even though the trials were also run in hot and humid weather...now suddenly it's affecting them more than other runners?
Still a lot of races to go, but I'm expecting the same type of results; hanging on to a slow pace, then getting blasted over the latter stages and finishing in the lower half of the field. I really think the one with the best chance to medal is Sisson, she had no fear of the heat.
Prove us wrong, you American mzungos.