What was the purpose of Tuohys ncaa racing tactic

It takes less energy to run in a pack. She stayed with them absolutely as long as possible. Had she moved earlier, she would have lost. I had her negative split at 5 seconds.

Tuohy did not go shoulder to shoulder with Valby because of Kelsey Chmiel.

K T said in press conference her slightly damaged hamstring was 100%. No. Her hamstring couldn't have been 100%. Racing at 5:15 or so or faster pace per mile on a slightly damaged hamstring, wiser to be cautious, especially in cold weather.

Not sure how you got that 5 seconds figure but here’s the pace at various points in the race according to the splits

3:06.84 pace through 1.11k
3:20.4 pace from 1.11k to 2.05k
3:28.3 pace from 2.05k to 2.83k
3:14.1 pace from 2.83k to 4k
3:09.5 pace from 4k to 4.93k
3:09.1 pace from 4.93k to 6k

Remember Daniel do Nascimento at New York two weeks ago? If someone is going too fast, let her go and reel her in like Evans Chebet did. Tuohy did the same thing - stayed with the pack and made her move when the time was right.

Valby was not part of the team scoring. Touhy only needed to beat the rest of the field to secure her 1 point for her team. If she catches Valby and wins individually, that is great but she cared most about winning as a team.

Sorry I slightly messed up one of the splits. Here’s the update and compare against valby. Based on splits alone (which of course I don’t know how this compares against where the hills are), it was not valby that went out too fast as much as it was tuohy who picked it up tremendously on the back half.

Tuohy
3:06.8 pace through 1.11k
3:24.9 pace from 1.11k to 2.05k
3:28.3 pace from 2.05k to 2.83k
3:14.1 pace from 2.83k to 4k
3:09.5 pace from 4k to 4.93k
3:09.1 pace from 4.93k to 6k
Valby
3:06.7 pace through 1.11k
3:22.1 pace from 1.11k to 2.05k
3:25.0 pace from 2.05k to 2.83k
3:11.3 pace from 2.83k to 4k
3:16.3 pace from 4k to 4.93k
3:15.8 pace from 4.93k to 6k

Running is not cycling, where tucking into a pack (peloton) saves energy. Running WRs are typically set by a lone runner at the front.

Exactly this. And even more than that, Tuohy takes certain negative outcomes off the table with a more conservative start. It's more risk-averse, thus "stabilizing" the team score. Once she was past a certain point in the race, she could afford to risk a bigger move and go for the win as even a failure to complete the task would have left her in a great position for NC State.

It was honestly brilliant. Team first, and then took her shot. And she didn't miss. Perfectly-executed tactics to serve both team and individual goals. Tuohy's race is one that lots of people could learn from when trying to strike that balance.

Instead of asking why Tuohy ran with the pack, you should probably ask why Valby ran the race she did. Valby made her break with 5k left to run. She ran the first 3k in 9:13, which is very fast -- too fast it turned out. Had she waited another k before surging she might have won the race.

Uh have you ever run a cross country race? Moran.

None of you have ever run sub-5:15 per mile pace on a bad hamstring in below 30F weather. Just say that.

It don't matter if you win by an inch or by a mile. Winning is winning.

Tuohy went for a 4500m warmup and then raced for 1500m. When you're the best athlete in the field, everyone else has to run your race.

they say it takes guts to do what valby did, but thats how she has been running all season, it was her normal race ..what took guts was for katelyn to just let valby get away and have the confidence that she could close the gap, pass her and win the whole thing, that was pure guts and balls and grit

best cross country race i have ever seen! sadly its not the full race

anyone got link to the full>??

If you know your capabilities well, the best strategy is to run the race that will get you to the finish line fastest. This is especially relevant in Tuohy's case yesterday, given that she had been very clear that she thought that there were more than two women capable of winning the race.

Exactly. By not chasing Valby early Tuohy helped keep the pack together and prevented the race from blowing up. That was important for the team race. Tuohy was balancing two difficult tasks, running the best race to help NCSt repeat and trying to defeat a really strong opponent. She pulled it off. When she surged the difference in speed between her and Valby was noticeable. Tuohy spotted Valby an 11 second lead then ran her down.

How exactly did Tuohy impede other women (like Cook or Chelangat etc.) by staying with the pack so long? I admit that I don't know about the psychological aspect of team running. She might have boosted her team's confidence by not following Valby right away. From the standpoint of a single/professional race it was quite risky. Even if she knew what she herself could do, she could not be exactly certain of Valby's abilities. 11 sec. is a lot in a 19-20 race. It's not a case like the superior finisher being reasonably confident to make up a few seconds in the lats 2 laps of a track 5k or so.

Did Valby do anything to conceal her capabilities? She ran three races hell bent for leather. I think Tuohy had a good sense of what Valby's limits were and their relative strengths. In retrospect Tuohy knew coming in that she could handle Valby. You can see it at the prerace press conference. Again, she spotted Valby 11 seconds then ran her down in a kilometer, catching her well before the final turn.

Was it the best strategy if going for the win? No. She took a big risk letting someone like Valby get that far ahead in a 6K race. She was betting on her kick and on Valby not being able to hang on but the team race justified that risk.