Athing Mu - I think I know what is happening

I wouldn't call what they are doing low stress races. For her level it's like an easy run with the local running club.

No anxiety cashing those paychecks.

Basically if you have such anxiety and issue with running then don't do it. Why waste sponsor and team money. It's obvious she wants the fame and money but doesn't wanted to work for it. In the ordinary world, she would BE FIRED

I somewhat understood the 5k and basically forcing her to run in a pack for a bit.

This meet was too low key to have any pysch benefits unless Mu is fundamentally a broken person at this point. It's literally that she gets freaked out by the word "meet" and/or "race". A d2 last chance meet with a minimal crowd and literally no competition can't actually be triggering performance anxiety for a former Olympian.

Expert here. Could be one of those secret bans.

She has been winning age group titles long before she got to High School, Likely running/competing since age 8-10, Why would Anxiety with racing just suddenly appear?

It seems like this all started with her current coach. Before that it didn't seem like an issue for her.

She had a very good youth club coach and obviously the coaches at Texas A&M were very good for her. They prepared her well in training and also set her competition schedule.

Now she has that nut job Kersee and she follows his lead.

It apparently became more of an issue after she won Olympic gold. She has talked about feeling increased pressure and the weight of expectations since then. Remember, she was only 19 when she became Olympic Champion. I don't think she was mentally prepared for all that comes with that title. It was probably too much, too soon.

She's been working on getting back to racing feeling fun again. She talked about that after she won at the Prefontaine meet in 2023, following her disappointment in Budapest. She also talked about having fun this year following her appearance at Mt. SAC.

Name a more iconic duo than 'letsrunners' and 'not understanding severe anxiety'

I don't think any of her competitors are going to miss her if she stays away from big races.

2021 Olympic Trials

2023 World Championships

2024 Olympic Trials

My local Parkrun would have offered far more competition, and that isn't even close to a kidding.

She has fragile ego. A couple losses really got to her.

Just my amateur opinion but if I was trying to get an athlete over racing anxiety, especially involving tripping and collisions, I'd have her do a season of the 400m. Nothing can go wrong other than being slow. Nobody is going to trip you or elbow you.

So it's just about fitness and the only thing you have to worry about is your own mental preparation. You can control all of that. You don't have variables like people cutting in too soon or running up on you.

But Kersee won't let her run the 400m and for some reason he has mind control over his athletes. She needs to escape the cult.

Not everyone has experienced severe anxiety. It can be pretty rough. I also competed when younger (HS and College) where I never experienced a ton of issues. It wasn't until later where it just sort of developed. The issue for me was knowing I was about to experience a lot of pain in the distance races (and whether I could handle it). It was fear of failing and racing bad as well. But the pain aspect was the biggest piece. It sounds like a huge wuss attitude, but some times you can't control that.

And someone mentioning the 400 or other events...these races she has done are not painful races. She is trying to get back to enjoying racing without the fear of pain at the moment. Obviously, that part has to come very soon, but sometimes it helps to do baby steps. I could totally be wrong on this, but this is exactly what I would have done thinking back.

People have gone to war for all of human history and this girl is not able to run in an oval.

This race this weekend isn’t even close to low key.

It’s like me racing my 5 yr old daughter .

really don’t understand it unless she has contractual minimums and it’s some negotiating tactic

We don’t know if anxiety is the reason, we’re all just speculating.

Was thinking exact same thing.

Why not just let her burn off some 400s?