Cole Hocker going to Park City... Does Grant Fisher have a new training partner?

Back a while ago when there was a thread about Grant looking for a training partner who didn't need mentoring, I mentioned Cole and Cooper as being the most logical candidates and got downvoted and flamed into oblivion.

I will say it again: it's a win-win-win for all three involved. No other matchup makes more sense.

Cole - needs someone who can push him in 5000m training.

Cooper - needs to break through in the 5000m to the low 1240s

Grant - needs to refine his closing speed while having guys who are fast enough that they aren't wasting his time when it comes to 5000m training.

They can all benefit from this setup and they will all improve significantly if they can work together.

Fisher seems very happy with his current coaching situation and hocker and teare with theirs. Maybe they could do some threshold stuff together, but I don’t see either wanting to switch up their programs, which are very different. Hocker and teare already have each other anyway so it wouldn’t benefit them as much.

All of above may sound logical . . . but it won't happen unless H&T uproot from Blacksburg and move to Park City full-time . . . which is one of Grant/Mike's requirements . . . which won't happen.

Sam Gilman/New Balance was Grant's recent temporary training partner; he was willing to do Grant's workouts and was in Flagstaff at the time. But Sam's full-time Air Force for another 3+ years so was just a temp -- essentially replacing Centro for awhile.

Furthermore, Grant is on a 2-week break now and won't even be back to Park City until sometime in March when he resumes his spring training for GST.

So, no to H&T being Grant's permanent training partners and no to them even working out together over the next few weeks.

Finally, does Grant really need a training partner "to refine his closing speed?"

After his fastest-in-field final 400 in the Paris Oly 5000 then outkicking Hocker in the Millrose 3000?

Rid your mind of this "Grant needs a better kick" nonsense. He's developed the best kick in the world for a distance runner not named Jakob I.

Grant's doing just fine as is.

Maybe. Scannell and Thomas both seem to be pretty scientific about their training. Teare called Thomas a "mad scientist" today, and Scannell has been using lactate testing on his HS athletes for 20 years. It sounds like some stuff is pretty different, but I'm sure they both have at least 1 hard workout to tune up for GST that they could do together. If for no other reason than they're 2 of the top 5 runners in the world, and they'll be right next door to each other while they're gearing up for the same race.

Like Hobbs Kessler and Bryce Hoppel probably have some substantial differences in training, but they still push each other in training sometimes. I think Kessler said even just having someone that flies away from him while they do strides has helped with his acceleration. Fisher and Hocker are the same, but 5k/10k and 1500, vs 15/3k and 800.

You're probably right, but like ffdgflkjh said, Fisher said he wanted a new training partner, and Swoosh TC just got announced. It's the coolest, most obvious thing just waiting to happen. Kinda like how Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky, Freud, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand were all living in Vienna in the summer of 1913.

This is what everyone was saying before.

And what I said before was, there is no need for them to change up their programs, they just need to get together on the days where their programs overlap and work together to accomplish whatever that particular workout goal is.

If they only work out together one day a week it could make a big difference in the effectiveness of that one workout. Compound that over a couple of months and it can result in some magic.

As an example, my daughter trained alone all winter with a focus on longer endurance, the grinding type pace for the 3200m, mostly tempo/threshold. Her teammate/best friend worked with a club coach who has a more 800m style program, lots of V02 max type stuff, drills, etc. These two were within seconds of each other all XC season, perfectly matched training partners. I tried to get them together for some common workouts but was unable to. So my daughter would do 3 x 1600m alone and the next day her teammate would do 3 x 1600m alone (she's the only girl in the club). And they both wish they had someone to train with. They could easily have just paired up for that workout (without altering their very different training programs) and accomplished more.

I'm sure these kind of commonalities exist within Fisher/Hocker/Teare's training programs, and Grant has even identified that he needs an experienced training partner to get to the next level.

I don't disagree with anything you said.

Unless Thomas decides to move to PC, they'll only ever be temporary workout partners. But there's still a lot to be gained from this.

Grant's kick is great now, but it never hurts to make it even better.

Also, I wonder if the calculus has changed since this topic came up a couple months ago. In the past 2-3 weeks we've discovered that 1) Grant is on another level, 2) Grant has an even better kick than in 2024, 3) Hocker is on another level at 3000/5000. Maybe these guys don't need each other as much as they seemed to a little while back.

I think Fisher is REP, not Swoosh TC. Same goes for Mantz and Young. I doubt he gets heavily involved with Diljeet's group.

Also are we sure Fisher isn't going to race the TEN the week before the 1st GST meet? Seems like a lot of racing but he does need that standard.

Fisher got the standard at the Olympics along with 7 or 8 others in that race

My bad, I think it's just all Nike athletes can take advantage of Swoosh facilities/coaches and stuff, not all of them being a part of it.

iirc Fisher said in an interview he didn't need the 10k standard, and GST would be his next race. I think the 10k window is 2 years, so since he got it last year it still counts. Could use a fact check on that though.

Sam Gilman is his new training partner but I can see your point.

SOVA may want to look at a US topo map, a calendar, and the On The Snow app before heading to PC.

And where exactly are those Swoosh TC facilities?

The NAU track, which is in desperate need of a resurfacing, for one

My general hunch is the SOVA boys are more likely to join Conner Mantz/Kenneth Rooks for some work than Grant.

Struggling to see how Hocker could aid Mantz in training.

Mantz races 28 times the distance Hocker races.

Teare and Rooks could make sense, and even Hocker and Rooks, but I doubt they could all workout together.

BYU

nah bro Mantz needs someone to push him on the faster stuff, just wait he's gonna be finishing marathons with a devastating 26s last 200

Both sides do threshold workouts, and Mantz also runs fast 800s late in marathon builds.

Hocker is an Olympic 1500m champion. It’s very likely he’ll be doubling at WC but the 1500m will be his focus and the 5000m will take care of itself. He’s a big boy, he doesn’t need anyone to push him and shouldn’t be running workouts all out.

I don’t see Cooper running in the low 12:40s. Actually, a lot of posters think he sucks at 1500/5000m and should move over to the Steeple.

Fisher kicked to two Olympic medals so I don’t think he needs to refine his finishing speed, whatever that means. Grant is a 5/10 runner so I don’t think there’s much overlap in his training, and what Cooper and Hocker do.