So the NCAA D3 runnerup in xc just ran 2:12 in the marathon, why can't the D1 guys break 2:10?

I think guys born in America try to get too cute with their training and don't stack huge weeks as much as they should.

If you are actually a former d1 coach you should have some grasp of history and know that we have had our fair share of marathoners over the last 45 years, but not the depth you would expect.

Great effort for Mo, he puts in the work on the roads, at work and at school.

If you look at his Strava, you’ll see why — he was doing 150 mpw with 20 mile hard runs at some point

Bati is an interesting case. The dude is made of iron and never stops running. Seriously, he is always on the roads somewhere in Minneapolis - day or night. That translates to a massive engine that is well suited to XC or to longer road races but I’m not sure his training approaches are the most conducive to fast times on the track. Probably more in line with classic Japanese training than modern American.

Although he had a much higher anaerobic ceiling, Cam Levins had similar training and it worked for him for a while. In general though, running 150miles per week for sustained periods while you are younger/before your body has fully adapted to bigger training blocks isn't necessarily the greatest for long-term development.

I ran in the 80s and local hs kids often ran a Nov/Dec marathon just off of hs xc training, and then a few weeks of easy distance with nothing longer than 15 miles before the race.

We had no indoor season, and no one told us it should not be done.

Here this guy (with pretty high mileage) goes and runs a marathon in college off his xc season.

I think sometimes the modern coaching can overthink and complicate things.

I was one of those guys. Ran 3 marathons in high school. The coach of our cross-town rival would take 4-5 guys from his team to run the Baltimore marathon each year after XC.

a. Survive the D1 meat grinder of three seasons a year interspersed with two stress fractures along the way.

b. Try to go "pro" with a paltry equipment only deal while switching coaches on the regular. Compete at domestic track events that don't offer great competition depth and remain a 13:40 / 28:10 guy for 4-5 years.

c. Take the marathon plunge and put up a 2:15-2:21 performance without optimized training in your sole attempt. Maybe you run the Olympic Trials and finish somewhere in the 30th - 80th place zone. Realize that there is no money for running that level of performance. Quit and start looking for steady work before your degree skills expire.

Mo is an animal and one of the purest people in the sport. He has a helluva story.
He has a great opportunity to get a degree and create a better scenario for his family at Augsuburg.

His coach wisely lets him train with the Minnesota Distance Elite guys and his future is clearly on the roads. We're all really hopeful he can get a small sponsorship and focus on running full time.

The MDE crew is absolutely crushing it right now. They may be the most underrated team in the country.

who says they can't. Just because they haven't. Maybe most are racing the marathon at this time.

also - just the fact that the dude is D3 doesn't mean he can't run fast.

you could rephase the premise and ask they same thing of why the D3 champ can't run 2:12 since the D3 runner up just did.

bad premise

ultimately the simple answer is - because they are different people doing different training. Some runners are better at CC than track; some are better at longer distances on the roads than other. no big surprise here. as a former D1 coach i would think you would have figured this out by now.

This is awesome! Honestly I think a lot of guys could get close IF they were training for it. All the top DIs are in crazy 5k shape right now. It was cool to see Rocky H at USA champs for XC.

It isn’t rocket science but we don’t have enough young guys going for it in the marathon. Go look at CIM, we have old dudes with 14:00 5ks from 10 years ago running 2:12 working full time

Some D1 guys would be there if they ran CIM instead of an indoor meet in December.

In the long MIAC thread of D3 thread someone posted a good article saying he works over nights and barely sleeps

Many of these 2:12 guys would be like 2:15 guys without the new shoes.

https://archive.ph/20251108114145/https://www.startribune.com/mohammed-bati-augsburg-distance-runner-miac-ethiopia-st-paul-highland-park-high-school/601515947 hard to imagine he won't get a NIL deal after CIM - should allow him to get proper sleep and recovery

Just another motivated and hard working immigrant making the exceptional white American look bad.

Matt McDonald had a 14:11 5k PR but managed to run several marathons right around 2:10, including at Boston. And I've seen plenty of other guys with unimpressive track PR's who managed to run 2:10-2:15.

The real question is why don't any of these great D1 runners take marathoning seriously after college. We absolutely crush Japan on the track, yet they have scores of guys running 2:05 to 2:10 while we have just a handful.

Ton of 2:12 post-collegiates not getting paid, why would he get an NIL?

Oh boy, this genius would have been better off at one of those academic "D3 schools" to answer that question. I guess Nick Symmonds shouldn't have won those seven national titles as he went to one of "those D3 schools."

This is the only explaination needed here. 8 weeks straight at 150 miles this Fall. Plenty of hard miles in there as well. Anyone else in the elite field run that kind of mileage?