10K at USAs????

I'd love to know how Hall would've done with his Houston fitness. He ran a faster pace there, vs. USATF's. He also ran about the same pace in his Stanford 10K. I'd have to think that he's either not recovered, or is too early from his time off. 4:40 pace for a 10K, while fading... he has to be "not physically correct" right now.

don't Rupp and Ritz train in the same city?

ttc wrote:81F, 53% humidity & 11mph breeze is actually pretty mild for summer. Outdoor track's main season is during the summer, so I don't know why we always have to make excuses over seasonal weather.

I've never run near my best with an 11 mph breeze or when temps were 80+. Is it so farfetched to think they would have run a second or two faster per lap in ideal conditions? We know that's about what all of these guys are capable of running, so it seems pretty obvious that the conditions were less than ideal. I would call it an "explanation" rather than and "excuse." Slow times don't need to be excused. Everyone was running for place, not time.

webby wrote:

I've never run near my best with an 11 mph breeze or when temps were 80+. Is it so farfetched to think they would have run a second or two faster per lap in ideal conditions?

I agree it's not ideal conditions. I'd run slower too. My point though, is the average highs in Indianapolis are 82F in June (link below). It was a June race and the main outdoor track season is in the summer. Yet, we want to hang an asterisk next to every summer race. The asterisk belongs if it's ideal conditions, because they rarely happen. I don't see football players stating their games weren't played in ideal conditions. Why was this 10K any worse than most summer races? Not many summer days exist in 60F & 20% humidity.

It was a championship race run in warm+ conditions with a non-trivial breeze. These are not the conditions where the top couple of runners are going to want to set a blazing pace and take a chance of blowing up. In the women's race, run a little later, after a slow first 1000 Deena pushed the accelerator because she wanted to get an "A" qualifier of 31:40, but she missed it by 10-20 seconds. The men did not have any such motivation.

If it was so temperate why did smoe good runner DNF (Downin, Cabada,...)

erik wrote:

abdi was interviewed at the end and he said that the weather was great... and that he didn't know why people were complaining about it.

Anyone find it odd that a guy who's lived most, if not all of his life, in Michigan and Colorado and a guy who's lived most, if not all, of his life in Oregon might have just a bit more problem with 80 degrees and humid conditions and run 30-40 secs off their PR's than a guy who was born in Somalia, lived a good portion of his youth in Kenya and when he moved to the US spent most of his time in Arizona and California? Throw in the fact that the three guys all have similar PR's although there's no particular ball licking for the winner as there is for the 2nd and 3rd placers.

It's funny as I relate this to my own situation. I live in Florida and when I travel to NY or other Northeast sites and run in road races during the summer months I hear my local to those areas colleagues complain that it's hot while it actually feels pretty comfortable to me...although I still can't run any PR's in the warmer weather. I'm beginning to wonder if there's a connection there somewhere.

I have to ask...is there a stupidity requirement to post on this board because based on the comments on the US 10k results there must be. Why would anyone wonder why Abdi would be able to beat Rupp and Ritz.

grey beardz wrote:

WantaRun wrote:

It was very hot and humid.

WTF? Where you there? I was and the weather for June 22 was perfect. Once the sun went down it cooled. Plus about 90 minutes before the race cloud cover moved in and helped a lot. The hunidity was not as bad as it normally is in Indy and the temps compared to last week were real good. You people making excuses just need to STFU. It was a championship race with alot of runners looking like that peaked at Stanford months ago.

Conditions may have been better than last week in Indy but they were still less than ideal for distance running. I understand that nuance is not a specialty on this board but what the temperatures were in Indy last week really mean absolutely nothing with regard to last night's race.

Everyone on here has ALL THE ANSWERS. Think about it before you argue that you don't.

Summer is track's main season, but most of the major distance races (and any track races for that matter) are run in Europe, where the summer is much cooler than most of the US. When guys are racing in Stockholm, London, Zurich, Olso, Brussels, Berlin, etc and the races are in the evening, the temps are usually in the 50s and 60s. 81 degrees IS hot for a 10K and certainly warm enough to slow racing performances considerably. Generally, the only two meets of the year where US distance runners are getting weather that hot would be USATF and World Championships/Olympics (and maybe NCAAs depending on the venue). Huge difference between running in 50 degree weather in Palo Alto and 80 degree weather in Indianapolis. Go ahead and try running your pr in the kind of weather experienced last night. There is a reason such a great field ran "slow" last night, and I don't think its because everyone suddenly got way worse over the past two weeks.

ttc wrote:

WantaRun wrote:

It was very hot and humid.

81F, 53% humidity & 11mph breeze is actually pretty mild for summer. Outdoor track's main season is during the summer, so I don't know why we always have to make excuses over seasonal weather.

ttc wrote:Why was this 10K any worse than most summer races? Not many summer days exist in 60F & 20% humidity.

Put one and one together ttc -- that's why fast times are run IN EUROPE during the Summer, not the US. Get it, dummy?

Yes I was there, the humidity was very high. I could look it up, but no reason the clouds and the rain drops tell me it was close to 100%. The temp had cooled a little. I agree, that is to be expected. I was surprised that the times were not faster. The weather is much much better (almost perfect from a cool perspective, still humid) today-good times to be had.

wantarun wrote:

Yes I was there, the humidity was very high. I could look it up, but no reason the clouds and the rain drops tell me it was close to 100%. .

You don't understand humidity. Rain only means the temperature dropped below the dew point WAY UP HIGH in the air.

Sorry, not a weatherman. It doesn't typically rain in the summer in Indiana when the humidity is low. For the day.

Average Humidity 53

Maximum Humidity 80

Minimum Humidity 29

The humidity was close to its maximum of 80%, rained hard later that night. The maximum tmperature for the day was 89, but closer to 80 when the race ran. 80F and 80%RH Not 10K PR weather if your not used to it. Had hoped for more, but let's see what happens tonight.

Indy sucks and the quicker the champs can move to a real track town the better.

I don't think the humidity drops under 30% in Indiana during ANY part of the year. Besides, humidity means nothing. Dewpoint means everything. Over 50 means it's beginning to be uncomfortable, over 60 is uncomfortable, over 70 is unbearable. Dewpoints are going to be MUCH higher in the evening...especially if it rained later that evening.

From NOAA:

Indianpolis, Eagle Creek Airport

7:53pm, 78 degrees, dewpt 66

8:53pm, 77 degrees, dewpt 69

9:53pm, 79 degrees, dewpt 67

Eagle Creek is well away from downtown and where IUPUI is located. Much hotter on the track with the same dewpt.

They opened up at 2:23 for the first 800, much to slow to run a fast time... Typical 10000 at US Champs.. I expect the 5000 to go about 13:40!