Dear Hansons PLEASE take over Marathon Development for USA

The Hansons program is great but they really shouldn't have one single guy slower than 2:16 in the marathon which is roughly equal to a 29 minute 10k. These guys may not be the most talented group in the country but they do have enough talent to produce a group of guys in the 2:12 - 2:16 rabge with the occasional "Sell" at 2:10. Davilla's performance was exceptional and hopefully she can build off of it.

"Destroyed?" No unbiased perspective there. If you've got a problem with the Hansons that means you've probably got a problem with yourself.

Jomo wrote:

This is ridiculous. The Hansons have destroyed 20 athletes or more for every Sell and Davila they have produced. Sell and Davila are their best results and they still aren't "world class". Its like dropping a dozen eggs and being happy that only 11 broke.

A 28:30 is also equal to a sub 2:13, but I don't see Americans coming close to the "marathon potential" other than the Hansons group.

who has been destroyed wrote:

Really. Which sub 28 minute 10k guy did they destroy? OH, I get it, you meant that the guy that wasn't good enough got exposed. Thanks to Hansons for giving these athletes that were not good enough to make it a chance.

Yeah, thank God they exposed that 28:20 guy and that 28:50 guy for what they really were; 29:50 guys. They were just living a lie in college.

I think you missed the point. YOU CAN'T RUIN GUYS THAT ARE RUNNING OVER 28 MINUTES. If these type of guys make it and become major factors on a World Stage then they are the exception, not the rule. If these type guys fail, then welcome to the real world, most of you will. You are expected to fail.

If an 11 minute 2 mile guy doesn't make it on a DI college team, it is not the coaches or the colleges fault. The kid wasn't good enough. Although these 11 minute guys will blame the system and their teammates and everyone but themselves. Then they will go out and run 10:20 2 mile on their own and think they proved their point. They didn't. THEY STILL AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO COMPETE AT A D1 SCHOOL.

I have never seen one of these guys that have failed at Hansons or Zap or McMillan or anywhere else go on to run 27:40 or 2:10 for a marathon. Why? Because they were never good enough. They may improve l0-20 seconds but never close to making an Olympic team. Just like the 11 minute high school kid improved on his own but was still not close to being a D1 runner.

I am not a Hanson fan because I think they give guys that are not good enough false hope. If a 29 minute guy gets down to 28:30, who cares? If they run 28:10, still no one cares. 10k guys that are graduating from College at 23 years old and still aren't running as fast as Rupp and Ritz did as a high school kid should quit and get a real job and be a productive member of society.

So why are you still wasting your time running (if you even do) and trolling on letsrun... Shouldn't you be out being a more "productive member of society?"

Well that's a problem too. There are more opportunities than ever for these guys yet we have "professional" runners running 2:18 marathons.

Many years ago there was a guy from San Diego who was one of the better, but definitely not the best, runners from the area. While in college at UCLA he ran 28:53 on the track and 2:14 in the marathon. At the time his marathon time wasn't seen as an exceptional performance. It was a very good performance but right in line with his 10k time. If he was running in 2009 his 10k time would rank 35th on the US list but his marathon time would put him 4th!

My question is why can't we have more guys with similar track times running better marathons today? With all of the support that is available you would think the US could produce at least 35 sub 2:14 marathoners a year.

Nothing against the current guys I know they are training hard and doing their best but something has to be wrong with the way we (the US) are preparing these guys to run marathons.

Chad Johnson couldn't break 50 at the Crim last Saturday, in almost perfect weather. Keep it up guys. 2:12 plus marathon pace for 10 miles, after how many years with the program? Time to get a real job. I heard that there are quite a few guys leaving or being asked to leave. For the life of me, I can't figure out why.

I think it's a US problem not a Hansons problem. We had 49 sub 29 minute 10k performances on the track this year yet only 14 sub 2:20 marathoners. Heck, Josh Cox is 15th on the US marathon list and he ran his time enroute to a 50k. Not sure what the problem is but there is a problem.

We just don't value the marathon highly enough in the US.

trying to figure out how to compete with the east africans is like everyone trying to figure out what was causing all them home runs a few years ago.

for years the record sat at 61, then bam suddenly every shmoe is hitting 55 HRs a year.

was the mound too close?

was the mound too high?

was the ball juiced?

were the ball players just better because of all the new weight work outs that players do now?

hmmmmm.. we just can't seem to figure this out????

We should probably try to figure out why we can't compete with the Japanese, first.

If we don't value the marathon in the US then why do we have all of these training groups? I'm not asking why we don't have 2:04 - 2:05 guys, that's a different question. 49 guys running 29 minutes or better should equate to more than 14 guys running sub 2:20. These guys are obviously training and have better than average talent so I wonder why we aren't getting better results?

take 47....and counting. wrote:

Chad Johnson couldn't break 50 at the Crim last Saturday, in almost perfect weather. Keep it up guys. 2:12 plus marathon pace for 10 miles, after how many years with the program?

Two words: tempo run.

Chad is focusing on marathon preparation so he can satisfy all the people on this thread who desire faster U.S. marathoners. Check his result on Oct. 18 and then resume your complaining.

"All these training groups?" "All" those training groups aren't drawing many of the B and C tier 5000/10,000 guys to the marathon. You're right, that many sub29 guys should mean we'd have more than 14 sub2:20. But we don't. Why? Because it's not worthwhile for enough sub29 (and enough sub30, sub31) guys to make the move to the marathon, regardless of the existence of "all these training groups" you reference.

(Incidentally, is there any elite training group in the US with the stated focus of the marathon other than Hansons and McMillan?)

jizzmo wrote:

trying to figure out how to compete with the east africans is like everyone trying to figure out what was causing all them home runs a few years ago.

for years the record sat at 61, then bam suddenly every shmoe is hitting 55 HRs a year.

was the mound too close?

was the mound too high?

was the ball juiced?

were the ball players just better because of all the new weight work outs that players do now?

hmmmmm.. we just can't seem to figure this out????

Yeah, I guess Shorter, Edelen, Bjorklund, Beardsley, Salazar, Kardong, Hodge, and all those other guys were all doped up when they ran those great times. We'd better hang 'em up, fellahs, we'll never live up to those great marathoners from back in the day, they must have all been doped. Which also explains why we had so many great marathoners in the 90s, when EPO use was at its peak...

hardset nipples wrote:

Because it's not worthwhile for enough sub29 (and enough sub30, sub31) guys to make the move to the marathon, regardless of the existence of "all these training groups" you reference.

Yes it is. Why? Money. Funny because I'm part of one of these groups, have been marathoning/road racing for a few years now, and picking up decent money (choosing races where I can win/place well). We have a lot of track 5K/10K types moving towards the roads/marathon too cause they see it's financially more lucrative.

However, with all B/C African types cleaning up every American regional/national road race, I think it deters a lot of American talent from wanting to face them head-on (on the roads). The Africans are racing every weekend. Why aren't most top Americans doing this too (like Bill Rodgers and company did)? There was a lot more glory in the 70's/80's when the Americans could win/place well at all the infamous road races, competing against mostly their own countrymen/women. Must have been a huge thrill and motivation for a lot of the American runners. I realize this "race every weekend" attitude goes against the Hanson approach, but it worked.

If "it is" then how does that jibe with the yearly marathon lists for 2008 and 2009?

hardset nipples wrote:

If "it is" then how does that jibe with the yearly marathon lists for 2008 and 2009?

It may not be evident now (just looking at marathon results in down Olympic years), but I believe it's going to catch on and we'll see more <2:19 marathoners than in 2007.