Mark Wetmore is OBSESSED with weight.

You realize those comments were made in 1998. He may have changed his views just a little. Stop trying to stir up crap that's not there. Alberto got in trouble for a lot more then "weight comments" and his were a hell of a lot more recent. Alberto is also a lot more higher profile then Wetmore. Get a life.

How did I know that this thread was going to perpetuate the false narrative that Al Sal was banned for merely suggesting Mary Cain lose weight.

Mark has a dark sense of humor that is lost on you. He also said take a grape peel the skin off of it, throw away the middle and eat the skin. IT. WAS. A. JOKE. Calm your tits, he's a Jersey boy after all.

Weight is extremely important for elite distance runners. Actually low body fat percentage and muscle volume is a more accurate way to look at it. Solinsky and Webb are examples of “heavier” guys but also low fat.

5 pounds can be the difference between first and fourth for an elite. For hobby joggers it really doesn’t matter if you run your 5k in 18:10 or 18:30. But for elites running 13:10 is very different then 13:30.

Coaches should be able to take about weight. But they shouldn’t be shaming their athletes and basically calling them fat. That’s where Al Sal crossed the line.

At the Naval Academy that’s all the coach talked about

Calm breasts wrote:

Mark has a dark sense of humor that is lost on you. He also said take a grape peel the skin off of it, throw away the middle and eat the skin. IT. WAS. A. JOKE. Calm your tits, he's a Jersey boy after all.

I read that book plenty of times and it was definitely not a joke. There were multiple instances where Wetmore mentioned that being underweight was underrated.

I felt uneasy with the weight passages in RWTB, I recall a bit where he was holding Adam G up as an example for been so skinny and only having a granola bar for lunch.

I could see a case that if Wetmore and Al Salz attitude and approach was the same, Wetmore is worse as he was working with unpaid 18-22 year olds. Salazar's athletes were well paid and had olympic titles to gain, not that his approach was forgivable. (this is ignoring the doping too)

Ceiling Fans wrote:

Weight is extremely important for elite distance runners. Actually low body fat percentage and muscle volume is a more accurate way to look at it. Solinsky and Webb are examples of “heavier” guys but also low fat.

5 pounds can be the difference between first and fourth for an elite. For hobby joggers it really doesn’t matter if you run your 5k in 18:10 or 18:30. But for elites running 13:10 is very different then 13:30.

Coaches should be able to take about weight. But they shouldn’t be shaming their athletes and basically calling them fat. That’s where Al Sal crossed the line.

Mark did call his athletes "fat" a few times in the book...

Is it a coincidence that Wetmore has also produced more successful pro runners than any other school? Goucher, Klecker, Coburn, Simpson, Constien, and many more.

Maybe weight is actually important.

Win at All Costs wrote:

Reading "Running with the Buffaloes" currently. Mark is clearly obsessed with his runners weight. To sum it up, he says on page 200, "You should look like a skelton with a condom pulled over your skull."

This is just one of the many many times Mark brings up weight to his runners.

I'm not saying we cancel Mark, but c'mon people, give Al Sal a pass if you're gonna give Mark one. If Alberto said the qoute that I just pasted, the New York times wouldn't stop talking about it for months. Weight is important, but Mark and Alberto definitely believe it's more important than it actually is.

Yes in like 1998 he was "obsessed with weight" because he made a comment to a male on the team who wasn't offended.

thoughtsfailure wrote:

Is it a coincidence that Wetmore has also produced more successful pro runners than any other school? Goucher, Klecker, Coburn, Simpson, Constien, and many more.

Maybe weight is actually important.

What about this guy? I think he's a lot skinnier now.

This book hasn't aged well. Gouch hurt his back busting up rocks on Wetmore's farm and was never the same. Ponce turned into a pedophile. Wetmore married one of his runners. Just a real creepshow that book is. Yuck.

People are just soft nowadays. Here’s a passage from John McDonnell’s book, one of the greatest coaches of all time.

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https://pasteboard.co/KhAcmR2.jpg

Creepy old man wrote:

This book hasn't aged well. Gouch hurt his back busting up rocks on Wetmore's farm and was never the same. Ponce turned into a pedophile. Wetmore married one of his runners. Just a real creepshow that book is. Yuck.

Yeah, the dark side of track & field that nobody talks about is just how many (male) coaches get involved with their (female) athletes. In many cases, marrying them. If you were a college professor getting involved with one of your students you would be canned immediately.

[quote]yeah dbb G h wrote:

People are just soft nowadays.

Generally agree with this statement. People are afraid to be motivated by others, there are no more great leaders because the people do not want to be lead, and any criticism or disagreement is taken as insult or disrespec

Win at All Costs wrote:

Reading "Running with the Buffaloes" currently. Mark is clearly obsessed with his runners weight. To sum it up, he says on page 200, "You should look like a skelton with a condom pulled over your skull."

Been quite a while since I read RWTB but IIRC his remarks about weight (that were reported in the book) were shared only with male runners.

That probably makes a difference, though whether it *should* make a difference is a separate and interesting question.