I dont know if this has been posted yet, but that is pretty strange to see college athletes running marathons. I dont understand the logic. They are terrible at cross and dont look to be that hot at track, so he has them running 26.2 mile races????
They seemed to run pretty well for sophomores in college. Might have a decent future in it; however, they can kiss this track season goodbye.
they probably werent going to set the track on fire anyways. seems odd to me as well but they are probably very fit after the xc season and will have a good amount of time to recover and train for the track. They can have a good season on the oval as long as they dont come back to fast and arent fried.
It just seems like Chapman has other aspirations for his runners other than NCAA competition. With the Jeffersons and Haas he didnt race them a lot and they just didnt do a lot of the same races that most of the elite college guys did.
The point of all this running (generally) is to make the Olympics. Why not go after your strongest events? I know all of you will say these guys have no chance, but they have dreams, just like we do. For these two they probably feel like 222 is much more likely than 1345. I think American distance running would benefit if more college xc guys attacked the marathon.
I believe that Fruin and McLeod both went to IU with the mutual understanding being that they would be groomed to ultimately run the marathon. Say what you will about Chapman, but he definitely cares deeply about his athletes as individuals, and wants them to be as sucessful as possible even AFTER they're done competing for him.
TOH wrote:
I believe that Fruin and McLeod both went to IU with the mutual understanding being that they would be groomed to ultimately run the marathon. Say what you will about Chapman, but he definitely cares deeply about his athletes as individuals, and wants them to be as sucessful as possible even AFTER they're done competing for him.
nice point. And the marathon could, yes, believe it no matter what you've read, been fed or been told, help them while they are still at IU.
I'll bet the two guys--if not injured--are excited as can be about their performance and eager to build on it. If they had actually made the OT standard, it really would have been a coup for all concerned. But why didn't Jordan Kyle run?--it will be interesting to see what Coach Chapman has in mind for him.
Great news. This is the right stuff.
Tom
Good Job!!! I hope to see more athletes such as these try the marathon when fit instead of waiting until they get older and do not have much time. Keep it up;this should be a lifelong sport and if these young men are as serious about running as they appear to be,maybe other young runners will follow suit
Scientologist wrote:
They seemed to run pretty well for sophomores in college. Might have a decent future in it; however, they can kiss this track season goodbye.
yeah, no way they could recover in time. most people usually need in excess of 6 months to recover from marathons - the first two months being bed rest, of course. heck, they can probably forget about next xc, as well.
6 months, that seems a bit much. have you seen cabada and bizunah racing lately. marathons, half marathon, 8ks, every weekend it seems. fruin and mcleod run alot of miles so I'm sure they can handle it.
lost wrote:
6 months, that seems a bit much. have you seen cabada and bizunah racing lately. marathons, half marathon, 8ks, every weekend it seems. fruin and mcleod run alot of miles so I'm sure they can handle it.
Recalibrate for sarcasm and read chuck d's post again...
i'm surprised you didn't jump on my bed rest comment. some say two months is too much but i say better safe than sorry.
Why did Chapman ship the Jeffersons out to Gags? Why would they leave Chapman if they were so happy and successful (though perhaps the most inconsistent top level colleg guys) there?
And he didnt do much for their futures by never racing them. They basically are getting no money and were always hurt.
I thought it was interesting that the two former hossiers qualified for the OT by a combined margin of 13 seconds.
Mike Sayenko of Washington qualified by running 2:19 at CIM a week after finishing 65th at NCAAs. It will be interesting to see how he does this spring. He might be set up to run a good 10000.
If you can't run under 51.0 for the 400 you better start focusing on the marathon by your junior year in college.
The sooner the better. Our marathoners sucked from 95-2000. They were the generation of low mileage hs programs.
I don't care if you are a 13:30 5000 runner in college, if you can't break 51 you are a marathoner and don't let your best opportunity in this sport pass you by.
Money? Surprisingly the majority of athletes fresh out of college aren't rolling in it, so maybe the Jeffersons had to relocate to stay afloat?
ya i mean since Shaheen can't break 50, he better move up to the half marathon at least. Forget all this steeple and 5k crap he's doing. A 50sec 400! that's rubbish.
Guys who run 52sec should move up to the ultramarathon! If you can't break 55, better get used to running 7 day races!