CJ Albertson 2:10:06 at CIM - what’s holding him back

so true, great post senpai, it's worthy of discussion why he's racing a marathon in the span of a month rather than thinking long term for training and the 2028 olympic trials

2:08:13 at Chicago, 2:10:57 at NYC, 2:10:03 at CIM in the span of less than 2 months. The Olympic standard window isn't open, so there's no need to chase a time. Maybe he prefers to race a lot and pick up paychecks.

What's keeping him from Mantz's and Young's level? You can't compare guys with potentially different talent levels. Mantz was a 2-time XC champion. I don't know that CJ even made XC nationals and he was only a 13:50 5k guy.

(1) He races too much

(2) His training is mostly long marathon-paced tempos with very little work at half-marathon/10k

Does that make him a bad runner? No, it's obvious that he is a physical and mental specimen and that he can run marathons faster than 99.9% of the population.

But he is a 2:09-2:10 runner in a 2:06-2:07 body. With better training, he could easily run 2:06-2:07.

He seems fairly independent and autonomous, and he wouldn't resist this. but it wouldn't take much. It would mean that he would include half-marathon/10k training or "CV" pace (so like 15k pace) every 10 days instead of once a month

He won't do it, though

oh I forgot about the 2:08:13

Yeah, he could run in the 2:05s by simply tweaking his training.

Will he? No, he will not

*would resist this

where is the 5 x (2k-1k) working his way down to 5:50-2:50.

Just adding workouts like that would help him so much instead of yet another 30 mile run at 5:08 pace on a treadmill or whatever

He also doesn’t live or train at altitude. And I have my doubts that the Brooks shoes are on the same level as Nike or ASICS.

You talk about him like you know him and have some inside info. This is some big talk from someone who almost certainly hasn't run a 2:08, nor has coached someone to a 2:08.

Not long ago, CJ was asked about legacy. He stated: "To be quite honest, realistically I don’t believe I’m going to leave much of a legacy. With access to so much information and the ability to watch anyone in the world almost at any time, very few people will be remembered in “legacy” terms. People just move on from things quickly. Ultimately, I just enjoy running and racing. Some people seem to enjoy watching me race or talking with me at an event, and we’re all a part of the current community of runners. For the most part, I don’t think it needs to be any more than that. Just enjoy it, connect with people, and make the most of the moments. The only realistic long-term legacy is a financial one for my children. Because I’m able to run and have two incomes, I can put money into my children’s accounts each month to help them out when they’re adults. So prize money, bonuses, etc. gives me extra motivation when I’m competing."

Some will argue his racing frequency results in poor times.

With the above statement, it sounds like he's well aware of that and is at peace with it. He loves to run, and he wants to ensure his children are taken care of.

But if senpai was that forward thinking he wouldn't have gone to Arizona State and instead gone to a top tier university via recruitment and got a much more lucrative job. In sports like football and basketball you see players good enough to play division 1 but no shot of going pro and they go to schools like kentucky, alabama, gonzaga, ohio state.

It's the ones who go to Ivy league tier universities like Duke and Stanford who are planning for their future because they can use that degree and pedigree to get lucrative jobs in finance, business or literally whatever. Take graham blanks coming out of Harvard from having done it right. If he turns out to be a bust his life is still set literally just from his harvard name

If senpai's children are as talented athletically as he is one can hope he teaches them not to make the same mistake he did

Maybe the cusp of Olympic trials but not enough is CJ's ceiling, he knows it, and would prefer to run races he enjoys and not worry so much about qualifying for a race he probably can't qualify for.

Some people can have rewarding running careers without chasing Olympic and World medals. Other than people like readers here and maybe (for a couple of moments) casuals watching the Olympics, who really cares anyway if he does or not?

I know his training, which is on Strava. It’s the training of someone who could be doing better

But he’s not a hobby jogger like us, he’s always going to be in the elite or sub elite group of marathons he runs but always chasing the winners and guys who are a notch above him, he’s a competitor who seems he’s always on the fringe but will never taste true glory, seems like a poor way to live and for your mental and should either improve or quit. There are tons of smaller marathons he could run instead too rather than biggest ones

I’d love to seem him tweak his training to target a max marathon effort without a hero training run in the previous few weeks.
The Brooks he is now using is 100% on par with other top end super shoes.

I don't know CJ personally, as others on this forum say they do, so correct me if wrong.

I am under the impression he wasn't a standout high school runner. Thus, it's unlikely he'd have been able to go to "a top tier university via recruitment."

he's 31. He'll be 34-35 by the 2028 Olympics. So he might already be too old to quality by then. But maybe not.

So I do see that he did a lot of "CV" effots before Chicago, which probably helped him run 2:08. But then little to none for the next two marathons, which is understandable because he needed to recover.

I understand and respect that he loves to race and be himself...but wouldn't he also love running 2:05-2:06? Wouldn't he love being on the next Olympic team? Or at least putting himself in the best position to try?

There seem to be a lot of people here that want to place their idea of good training and a good mental state onto CJ.

I think CJ is this country's Kawauchi.

It’s either his generic or it’s his training that are stopping him, with the new brooks peba shoes he is wearing it’s not equipment holding him back.

If I had to put money on it it’s training, when physical, mental or nutrition something there is not getting him to 100% of potentially

He often does big long run workouts. We've all seen him rip a 20 mile treadmill long run at like 5 flat pace. He might as well run a race and make money. He has said that he is consistent at that level because he does that type of training, he frequently runs 15-25 mile workouts around 5 flat pace (2:11:00 marathon) so when he goes to a race he can crank out a 2:10ish type of race. The question isn't is he racing too much, because if he wasn't racing he'd be doing those big workouts. The question is more, is that the best way to be training? You could argue it's a pretty good way to train, as he's run 2:08 and not many other people have. He wasn't a NCAA superstar in the 5k/10k, I think he's doing pretty well for himself.