Cj albertson

he finished 5th in the olympic trials, 3 sports behind the guys who finished top 10 in the world at the olympics. His PR is way slower than those dudes, why would you think he is the best american marathoner?

Well, I said help me out. He just ran 22 miles at essentially his marathon PR pace in the middle of a heavy training load. I am not anywhere near elite but I could not do that and would think that means he’s improved a notch or two.

You don’t know CJ then. He’s always been a workout warrior and runs like this aren’t unusual for him.

Workout king but never seems to go faster in races. Bet he could set a record for best average solo marathon times over 4 consecutive Sundays.

4mile warm up

13 mile run with first 10 miles at 4:50 pace and the last 3 at 4:40 pace

4mile cool down

Solid workout

test

He could be if he had an option running in different shoes...

Ideally guy like him should be sponsored by Running Warehouse, a treadmill company, infrared sauna and the feed.

CJ runs with courage but he will never be a sub 2:08 guy until he breaks 62 minutes for a HM or 28:15 for 10k. He has currently maximized himself in the marathon.

He once ran a 2:11 marathon workout in preparation for his goal race where he ran a 2:11 marathon race. So him running a 22 miler at 5 flat pace tells me he is ready to run at least 22 miles at 5 flat pace in a race.

He seems to be experimental with his workouts/races to the extent that we will probably never know his true potential. Two good marathons on consecutive weekends has got to count for something, but will he actually set himself up to put all that potential in one important race? It's cool that he is willing to try non-standard approaches to training and racing but it seems like they have been a little too non-standard.

These workouts used to be interesting, now they are getting old

Agreed. It's awesome to see and CJ is an absolute BEAST. But at some point it's like 'meh' just go out and run 2:07 already in a race already.

That's just CJ, man. In December, CJ ran 2:11:09 at CIM, and the very next weekend he ran 2:11:08 at the Baja California Marathon.

It's certainly non-standard, but doesn't really qualify as "experimental". Actual experimental training would involve some attempt to control all the variables outside the crazy thing being attempted and then take some learning from the outcome of said crazy thing and then refine the approach for the next crazy thing. From an outside observer's perspective the learning and refinement seems to be pretty slow.

Non financial issues aside (I realise by necessity they must earn a living in a short window) I would really like to see some on the top USA marathon runners go for a fast time on a known fast course - Valencia/Berlin come to mind. Mantz/Young/Albertson/Panning would be in that mix. Mantz has alluded to Tokyo and his reasoning seems sound.

His power of recovery is off the charts. I hope JP is clean, because back to back quality marathons and workouts of that caliber are nowhere near the norm, infrared saunas or not.

CJ not JP

They don't even have to go that far. Chicago would take them without a second thought. It wouldn't be hard to time trial a PB and take shots at the national or area record. Nothing is stopping them from going for it.