How come her coach didn’t tell her about this? I just don’t understand
No one else understands that either. Her coach simply didn't adequately prepare her, even though she had a shot at a national championship. It's very surprising.
She had more issues with course awareness than just finding tangents. When she was going around that circle early in the race, she started to veer off in the wrong direction. There was not even a path in that direction -- she was heading toward a crowd of people. That was not a tangent issue.
She said that she thought there were 800 meters to the finish at the top of the hill instead of 200 meters. No way her coach didn't review that finish with her. Even a bad high school coach would have made a point of where the final hill was relative to the finish. And she undoubtedly ran that part of the course at least once. That was not a tangent issue.
It seems as if Valby can dial into what her body can do, but has trouble processing everything else. That's why running with a crowd bothers her -- it throws her off. Even her recollection of past races is off -- she said that she was tripped last year and fell to the ground and when she got up she had lost momentum. That never happened (she stumbled but never fell), but she probably thinks it did.
A coach can only do so much; the runner has to execute. Henes gave Touhy a plan for the race. But when Touhy heard -- from the crowd -- that Valby was getting more than 10 seconds ahead, she made a decision in the middle of the race to start the chase a little early. The runner has to execute during the race.
She said that she thought there were 800 meters to the finish at the top of the hill instead of 200 meters. No way her coach didn't review that finish with her.
Not only that, Solinsky is on video giving valby instructions right before Tuohy passes her in the final stretch. I find it hard to believe she didn't know the distance left.
And even if it was 800, what was her plan? Let Tuohy gap her and then make a comeback?
Did she say she ran without socks? How common is that in XC?
That's correct. Valby said she wasn't wearing socks during the race.
For some reason there are quite a few xc runners who don't wear socks. Seems uncomfortable to me but some people prefer it that way.
It was 26 degrees and Valby wasn't wearing socks so why was she surprised her feet got cold? That's just common sense.
It's very common for runners to not wear socks with spikes on (on both xc and track). I don't think I wore socks when I ran NCAA cross country (and it was cold in November in Terre Haute!). Some runners will do that for 10km on a track and your feet get destroyed by blisters....we actually used to wear pretty minimal track spikes even for xc (on "gravel path" courses like VCP).
I watched Valby's interview and when the question was asked about the tangents it seemed like *maybe* there was a chance she didn't understand the actual concept of what a "tangent" was. She said she was just "following the camera/ golf cart in front of her" or something? I think maybe a lot of Americans don't exactly know what it means in pure mathematical terms as I had an athlete ask me about it yesterday (in regards to running a faster marathon on a closed road course). Take for example a staggered lane "one turn, stay in your lane" 800m start. How many (even pro track runners) athletes will "cut straight for the rail" coming into the backstretch instead of doing a more gradual, straight line diagonal cut to hit the rail/lane 1 at the 200m mark instead? Now, they may do that (make a curved line, fast break for the rail at the start of the back-straight) because they are asserting pack positioning etc, but how many people actually see and note that that is running a longer distance in terms of geometry?
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line...not a curved line. I think every runner knows and would want to: "run the shortest distance possible", but they might not know that's what a "tangent" actually is.
Not only that, Solinsky is on video giving valby instructions right before Tuohy passes her in the final stretch. I find it hard to believe she didn't know the distance left.
And even if it was 800, what was her plan? Let Tuohy gap her and then make a comeback?
I thought that was a BS excuse as soon as I heard it. Not only are you getting splits the whole way so you have a general idea of how far into the race you are, but the crowd is probably/ literally screaming at you that there is only 200 left.
She raced like a middle schooler, got smoked in the final K, and needed the first excuse she could think of.
I've been to a ton of xc races over the years, and it's actually very rare for spectators to yell to a runner the exact number of meters they have left in the race.
Spectators will sometimes yell out how far ahead or behind someone is. That's fairly common. But telling a runner exactly how many meters are left to the finish? No, spectators don't usually yell that out.
I watched Valby's interview and when the question was asked about the tangents it seemed like *maybe* there was a chance she didn't understand the actual concept of what a "tangent" was.
That's incorrect. Valby made it clear that she understood the concept of a tangent in theory and running the shortest distance in theory, but she said that when it came to actually doing it in a race, she wasn't sure how to do it in reality.
This issue has gotten enough publicity that it's hard to imagine her coach won't work with her on this. Because if she makes the same mistake next xc season, the first question to her coach will be "How come you didn't teach Valby how to run the shortest distance?"
I thought that was a BS excuse as soon as I heard it. Not only are you getting splits the whole way so you have a general idea of how far into the race you are, but the crowd is probably/ literally screaming at you that there is only 200 left.
She raced like a middle schooler, got smoked in the final K, and needed the first excuse she could think of.
I've been to a ton of xc races over the years, and it's actually very rare for spectators to yell to a runner the exact number of meters they have left in the race.
Spectators will sometimes yell out how far ahead or behind someone is. That's fairly common. But telling a runner exactly how many meters are left to the finish? No, spectators don't usually yell that out.
Probably shouldn’t have used the term “literally.” I’ve run many-a-xc race and know you are correct if looking at what I said literally. But there were bound to be some “almost there” “KICK” “unhitch the trailer” “time to leave it all out there” “it’s now or never” “finish strong” etc. I think my point’s still valid.
So many posters still don't understand what Valby said in the interview and why she ran as she did. It was already pointed out after the SEC race by me and others that she had trouble running the curves due to her long legs, momentum, running style, whatever. Therefore it is easier for her to not try to cut the corners as sharp as possible.
She's used to running in a conservative manner around turns in order to maintain her momentum and especially to not get injured. That some of the curves are wider makes no difference. Maybe with practice she'll eventually be able to temporarily change her rhythm and style for the curves, maybe not. Some people are just better at them.
Many runners even professionals have issues with the curves. For example look at any professional indoor race and the runners vary considerable with how well they're able to run around the curves of an indoor track that is banked and has very good footing. People like Eamonn Coghlan are great on indoor track curves, others not so much, and indoor footing is great compared to cross country courses.
So many posters still don't understand what Valby said in the interview and why she ran as she did. It was already pointed out after the SEC race by me and others that she had trouble running the curves due to her long legs, momentum, running style, whatever. Therefore it is easier for her to not try to cut the corners as sharp as possible.
She's used to running in a conservative manner around turns in order to maintain her momentum and especially to not get injured. That some of the curves are wider makes no difference. Maybe with practice she'll eventually be able to temporarily change her rhythm and style for the curves, maybe not. Some people are just better at them.
Many runners even professionals have issues with the curves. For example look at any professional indoor race and the runners vary considerable with how well they're able to run around the curves of an indoor track that is banked and has very good footing. People like Eamonn Coghlan are great on indoor track curves, others not so much, and indoor footing is great compared to cross country courses.
There was maybe 1 turn on that entire course where a leggy person might say it was “tight”. And if you know how to take tight hairpin turns (wide/apex/wide) leg length is hardly ever a factor. I am 6’2” and ran many tight turn courses in HS, never ever felt like I was at a disadvantage or had to run the course differently than someone shorter.
I've been to a ton of xc races over the years, and it's actually very rare for spectators to yell to a runner the exact number of meters they have left in the race.
Spectators will sometimes yell out how far ahead or behind someone is. That's fairly common. But telling a runner exactly how many meters are left to the finish? No, spectators don't usually yell that out.
Probably shouldn’t have used the term “literally.” I’ve run many-a-xc race and know you are correct if looking at what I said literally. But there were bound to be some “almost there” “KICK” “unhitch the trailer” “time to leave it all out there” “it’s now or never” “finish strong” etc. I think my point’s still valid.
Your point isn't valid at all. A spectator yelling out "finish strong" is not at all the same as yelling "you have 200 meters left."
You specifically said that you didn't believe that Valby didn't know there was 200 meters left. You said that you thought Valby was lying in her interview when she said she thought there was 800 meters left, because you claimed that spectators would have told her that there was 200 meters left.
No, spectators didn't tell her that, and Valby was actually confused, not lying.
Your problem is that you are having difficulty wrapping your head around the idea that a top runner could be so confused and unprepared in a national championship race. But that is exactly what happened. Hopefully she is better prepared next year.
Your point isn't valid at all. A spectator yelling out "finish strong" is not at all the same as yelling "you have 200 meters left."
You specifically said that you didn't believe that Valby didn't know there was 200 meters left. You said that you thought Valby was lying in her interview when she said she thought there was 800 meters left, because you claimed that spectators would have told her that there was 200 meters left.
No, spectators didn't tell her that, and Valby was actually confused, not lying.
Your problem is that you are having difficulty wrapping your head around the idea that a top runner could be so confused and unprepared in a national championship race. But that is exactly what happened. Hopefully she is better prepared next year.
Haha I’ve been scratching my head for days over her race craft, no doubt. Focus less on my point about the crowd, and more about the fact that there are endless context clues in a race that level to tell you when you’re nearing the finish. Even if the crowd were silent, pretty easy to tell when you’re in the finish straight vs some random spot on the course.
I watched Valby's interview and when the question was asked about the tangents it seemed like *maybe* there was a chance she didn't understand the actual concept of what a "tangent" was.
That's incorrect. Valby made it clear that she understood the concept of a tangent in theory and running the shortest distance in theory, but she said that when it came to actually doing it in a race, she wasn't sure how to do it in reality.
This issue has gotten enough publicity that it's hard to imagine her coach won't work with her on this. Because if she makes the same mistake next xc season, the first question to her coach will be "How come you didn't teach Valby how to run the shortest distance?"
If [as your write]: "she wasn't sure how to do it in reality" then she probably didn't fully understand the actual concept of the word "tangent."
This isn't some theoretical rocket science concept that is hard to apply in real life scenarios....it's simply telling the athlete: "run in straight lines as much as possible and stick to the inside rail on all the turns.... maybe don't always follow the path of the golf cart..." etc.
And I didn't say that that was a true fact (I don't know what she knows exactly or not). I simply wrote: "it seemed like maybe there was a chance..." based on my subjective perception and opinion of her initial reaction to the interview question and the word "tangent."
In her defense I'm sure it there was a lot of pressure (to win) and running alone upfront in such a high powered race would be very challenging. For others talking about whether or not she knew/thought she had 200m or 800m left: It's hard to think straight at the end of the race when you're very fatigued and oxygen isn't going to the brain as much.
In any case, I don't think the tangents really mattered that much anyway as Tuohy appeared to be the stronger runner on that course on that day. Tuohy was going to win no matter what.
No, spectators didn't tell her that, and Valby was actually confused, not lying.
Your problem is that you are having difficulty wrapping your head around the idea that a top runner could be so confused and unprepared in a national championship race. But that is exactly what happened. Hopefully she is better prepared next year.
For the 1000th time... Chris Solinsky is on the video, stepping directly on the course giving Valby instructions before the final turn with a couple hundred meters to go, right as she is about to get passed by Tuohy.
What do you think he was telling her?
A) don't worry, it is only 800 meters to go
B) Tuohy is about to pass you, start your kick its 200 left
Why all the criticism? I think her post is hilarious and shows a great attitude...and TBH, I could not give you the equation for a tangent, nor solve it. Not a 'fan' of either KT or PV, but respect the heck out of both. Tangents were an error, but not the reason she lost. Gotta respect Valby for taking it out hard, keeping it honest...not just tactical, and for having the courage to go for it and lay it all on the line. Gotta respect Tuohy for being a serious grinder, tough as nails and a mental toughness bad-a**. Both ladies are beasts and both will be adding national championships to their respective resumes. Looking forward to a few more years of great rivalries between these 2!
Many people are just too stupid to realize that there's a great variation between individuals and their various capabilities, including having had to overcome injuries and be cautious.