Linda Somers-Smith, age 48, ran 16:14 5K at Silicon Valley Turkey Trot!

Thanks for highlighting some of her better performances. I had argued on the other dubious thread about the fact her 2.30 suggested she was capable of mid 15s and 32 low. Apparently I was correct.

I am absolutely flabbergasted that these people (or perhaps it's just the one)find her performance suspicious.

If you asked me what a 48yo female ex Olympian could potentially run for 5k I'd say low 16s. That is what anyone with knowledge of the sport would expect.

Red Glare, my intellectual superior may be on this board, but you are not he. As proof of this fact, you missed my very simple point, which is that the "evidence" that you are using to call Somers-Smith into question is not enough to suggest that someone is a cheat. You are posting anonymously and calling someone out on incredibly weak grounds (not evidence, circumstantial or otherwise). You are a coward and a fool. I feel sorry for you and all who have to deal with you on a daily basis.

mopak wrote:

Thanks for highlighting some of her better performances. I had argued on the other dubious thread about the fact her 2.30 suggested she was capable of mid 15s and 32 low. Apparently I was correct.

I am absolutely flabbergasted that these people (or perhaps it's just the one)find her performance suspicious.

If you asked me what a 48yo female ex Olympian could potentially run for 5k I'd say low 16s. That is what anyone with knowledge of the sport would expect.

To me it doesn't add up. I was mid 15:30s in my prime and at 48 cannot even break 17:00 anymore. I know that proves nothing, but to not view it as suspicious is crazy. I'm not accusing, but it should be alright to question the obvious.

If Linda is clean, I hope that she takes this thread as a complement and testimony to the excellence of her running at this stage in the game.

If she isn't clean, I hope she changes her ways.

Finally, I hope she's clean.

No way wrote:

To me it doesn't add up. I was mid 15:30s in my prime and at 48 cannot even break 17:00 anymore. I know that proves nothing, but to not view it as suspicious is crazy. I'm not accusing, but it should be alright to question the obvious.

I know a some fast local guys around 50 years old - guys who don't run road races - but who can still kick my ass by 5 minutes on a 40 to 50 minute mountain run. OK, I'm not the best uphill runner, but they are beating other guys who are also fit enough to run sub-16. I expect that I'll still be able to run 16:low when I get to 48 in 8 years, and my best times are kind of similar to Somer's.

If this had been any 48 year old male with a marathon PR of 2:30 who had run 16:14, we wouldn't even blink an eye. There would be no need to even consider other PRs. It would be considered a good, but probably not great, performance.

Highly unlikely she is clean.

Think about it. Why did Bill Rodgers slow down?

Al Salazar? Dan Browne? Hell, even Colleen DeReuck slowed down.

But yet this woman gets faster in her late 40's?

C'mon!

I was low 16s when I was 40 too. Big difference between 40 and 48....you'll see.

But she has slowed down from her best performances. Her 16.14 is slower than the speed she was running 10ks in her prime.

I pointed out earlier that Steve Moneghetti ran 30.00 this year. Steve was born in 1962.

Steve had a long and fruitful international career -4 OG marathons with 3 top 10s. A WC marathon bronze and a 4th also ran WC 10000m. CG marathon gold, silver and bronze and CG 10000m bronze and 5th. 4th and 6th at World X. 2 World Best times at the Tokyo H.Marathon etc.

Steve's best 5000m on the track was 13.25 and 10000m on the track 27.47. The 13.25 was at the big NEC meet in Melbourne 1996 where he finished 2d to Moses Kiptanui.

The 27.47 was at the Bislett Games in 92.

Looking through his top road 10ks we have 28.55, 28.59, 28.33, 28.19, 29.13, 28.38, 28.45, 28.13, 28.20, 28.31, 28.39, 28.12.

Somers -Smith ran as fast as 32.04 on the roads, within 4 minutes of Mona's best road times.

At 47 Mona ran 30.00 and several similar performances.

I should point out Mona is just a recreational club runner these days. He usually passes on any cash/awards he wins in races. He still trains pretty hard but just because he loves being out running with his mates.

On that simple basis of comparison Somers-Smith would seem a realistic chance to run sub 34 for 10k at 48 if she had her act together. A sub 34 10k suggests a sub 16.30 5k to me.

16.14 is brilliant running from her but hardly an "out there" performance that should raise red flags.

I Disagree.

kapal wrote:

As proof of this fact, you missed my very simple point, which is that the "evidence" that you are using to call Somers-Smith into question is not enough to suggest that someone is a cheat.

Yes, it certainly is circumstantial evidence. It was present in the cases against Jacobs and Hellebuyck. How could you manage to miss that, if you're so allegedly with it?

Hey, you CHOOSE to deal with me, so go pity yourself for a while.

la la land wrote:

If Linda is clean, I hope that she takes this thread as a complement and testimony to the excellence of her running at this stage in the game.

If she isn't clean, I hope she changes her ways.

Finally, I hope she's clean.

+1

I sincerely feel that way, as much as anyone else who has posted to this thread.

Besides her performances, which were several orders of magnitude better than a 16:14 at 48 (world record indoor 1500 m at 39), Jacobs had a consisitent pattern of skipping big races with known rigorous drug while she was clearly in good form since at least 1995. Such as skipping the Olympics in 2002 where EPO testing was known to be finally ready, after winning the 1500/5000 double at the US Olympic Trials.

If there was prize money, Hellebuyck was winning races every weekend on both Saturday and Sunday, or even on the same day if he could make the flights in time. This included really quick recovery from marathons and half marathons.

For the guy who says wait until I'm 48 (I'm 40), I think I'll be reasonably fast still. Just because you slowed down doesn't mean that much. I said before that a 48 year old male with 2:30 marathon PR running 16:14 (slower than 10K PR pace) would not be suspicious at all. I know a 50 year old guy, 10 years older than me, with no real running accomplishments that I'm aware of who was always finishing a bit me when I was winnning a lot of local races 5-6 years ago. He isn't racing as much these years, but when he does, his times haven't dropped off that much, and I think low 16s 5K is within he reach.

mopak wrote:

But she has slowed down from her best performances. Her 16.14 is slower than the speed she was running 10ks in her prime.

16.14 is brilliant running from her but hardly an "out there" performance that should raise red flags.

You are cherry picking your data. Linda Somers Smith has been racing consistently for the last 10-15 years on the roads and her NEVER in all that time dropped anything like a 16:14 time. You have to go back to her early 20s to find anything similar, then you have to ask why is she running at the same spped now at 48 after following the pretty standard slowing process that most runners follow as they age. You can claim that in 15 to 20 years of racing on the roads she "never had her act together" but that is frankly weak.

It is an out there performance any way you slice or dice it...but that doesn;t mean its dirty...just out there.

Get a life.

A woman runs a very fast time for her age, and what do we get?

A threadful of wankers saying she must be doping.

Get a fukcing life.

And you should learn to read. I have never argued that she is cheating, just that this performace is unlike anytyhing she has run in a very long time.

OK, I'll rephrase it:

Get a life.

A woman runs a very fast time for her age, and what do we get?

A threadful of wankers questioning whether or not she's doping?

Get a fukcing life.

weIlnow wrote:

OK, I'll rephrase it:

Get a life.

A woman runs a very fast time for her age, and what do we get?

A threadful of wankers questioning whether or not she's doping?

Get a fukcing life.

As a masters runner myself, I'd like to know how she did it. I want to know what she has been doing differently this year compared to the last 10. new diet? plyometrics? more miles? less miles? what?

I'm not interested in wether she's using drugs or not. I don't care to be honest. If she's clean I'd like to know what she's doing to get faster at 48 than she was at 38..I'd like to do that myself.

Suspicios sam wrote:

weIlnow wrote:

OK, I'll rephrase it:

Get a life.

A woman runs a very fast time for her age, and what do we get?

A threadful of wankers questioning whether or not she's doping?

Get a fukcing life.

As a masters runner myself, I'd like to know how she did it. I want to know what she has been doing differently this year compared to the last 10. new diet? plyometrics? more miles? less miles? what?

I'm not interested in wether she's using drugs or not. I don't care to be honest. If she's clean I'd like to know what she's doing to get faster at 48 than she was at 38..I'd like to do that myself.

__________________________________________________

Best way to say it so far. Well, anyone? Linda?

Suspicios sam wrote:

You are cherry picking your data. Linda Somers Smith has been racing consistently for the last 10-15 years on the roads and her NEVER in all that time dropped anything like a 16:14 time.

That's already been disproven, from data in the link that you provided yourself. You're the one cherry picking slower performances.