Valby lost b/c she was horrible with the tangents

Valby is great. And the fact that she is so good off so little training is impressive. I'm a fan.

But, she lost today because Tuohy is better.

Tuohy spotted her a gap to run with her team and then caught her. Imagine if KT didn't run for her team in the first half.

First it was hills. Now it is tangents.

Where is Valbymania?

Yes. Tuohy used a lot of energy running her down over those hills. If Tuohy hadn't pack run she probably could have won by more. Great race all around.

Her tangents certainly didn't help. She was all over the place trying to follow the lead cart.

I think it was the weather. Cold weather like this is no time to be brave and go out to the front to run alone. Tuohy is used to this kind of weather. She is from upstate NY.

Agreed. There were at least 2 instances I saw where she made bad moves on the curves.

In one she went completely off and in the second one you can see Touhy cut a much better tangent than Valby and make up ground.

Imho the lead vehicle should be driving the tangents (except maybe the first 1000m) and Parker or whoever is leading should be able to rely on it....also would get those rude dumb fans to move a little more back.

Obviously it should be far enough ahead to not gas the runners' air...

Actually Valby ran wide on many turns, not just two.

Tuohy even passed Valby on the INSIDE of a turn.

Valby has been running wide on the turns all year. Why didn't her coach educate her not to do that? Big failure on the part of her coach.

She needs to take a few geometry classes.

Actually, in a post-race interview, she said he coach has tried to help her, but that when she's in a race, she just doesn't know what they are (not the definition or idea, but what the actual tangent in front of her is), so she follows the cart. I think she has a lack of spatial-awareness (the opposite of like how some baskatball players just always know where they are on the court without looking around). On a regular run, I bet Valby frequently bumps into or unintentionally cuts-off whoever is next to her. I think she's great, but some runners just don't have this type of course-awareness. She did give away a bit of time today.

*basketball

She lost because she wasn’t the best, it’s as simple as that. No need for lame excuses

not running the tangents well didnt impact her place, only her time. if she had run the tangents perfectly Tuohy would have just gone after her a little sooner. Tuohy had her measured and went after her when she got a certain distance away which was exactly the plan. she even said so in the interview after. had nothing to do with tangents or hills or weather or anything else. its not like she passed her in the last 5 meters. Valby didnt fumble this race. Tuohy just executed what she needed to to win.

It's not just tangents that Valby does poorly on. She doesn't even run right next to the inside of a turn which isn't about tangents, it's just common sense.

Her coach isn't doing a good job explaining this to her.

This is pretty much it. Tuohy executed well on the plan she had, and could have likely moved earlier if she needed to.

I agree and believe that Touhy had Valby dialed in, but you never know where someone's breaking point is. Needless to say, running a "shorter" course is preferable.

That said, I wouldn't exactly put this on the coach. Oftentimes, a runner's greatest strength has a notable weakness on the "other side of the knife". Undoubtedly, Valby can just go, fearlessly, with a huge amount of moxie. On the flip side, she may not be as strong on the particulars (like race strategy, running tangents, etc). All that is just extra stuff that may involve too much thinking from her point of view (Obviously, I am not saying she isn't smart.). We all have seen runners who should think less and just run. That's Valby to the max. She should improve on this aspect, and I think she will, and I am sure her coach is working on it, but she (and the coach) must keep her main strength (which may be at odds with this).

I mostly agree, but there are times when not running the tangents isn't because of a lack of common sense. I had a dual meet at a confusing course where I ran the long way to get to a turning point, but I wasn't running to win (we had raced 3 days prior and we were outclassed by the other team's depth). I just was thinking about maintaining a moderate effort and my mind began wandering.

For a race like NCAAs though, they should have given Valby something like Adderall to keep her focused

It requires "too much thinking" to run on the inside of a turn?

I hope that doesn't turn out to be the case with Valby because that would be sad.

IT'S STILL VALBYMANIA BABY!!!