German Fernandez likely to race Championship 800 this year

Wow, I'm surprised there aren't more people commenting on this. It seems like it's kind of taking a page out of the Salazar playbook (racing under-distance during indoor to develop speed).

Not An Expert wrote:

Wow, I'm surprised there aren't more people commenting on this. It seems like it's kind of taking a page out of the Salazar playbook (racing under-distance during indoor to develop speed).

Would love to see him transfer to Oregon.

Before it is all over, Smith is going to screw up Fernandez...

Just wait.

I guess if you keep saying it, which people have, I guess it can happen.... but hasn't happened yet and this is his second year, one individual National Championship and one team National Championship, heres hoping coach Smith can keep f&&king things up!!!! Go Cowboys!!!

Let's see now, if I understand this correctly. Young German gets a full ride from Smith because the universe is certain that he will dominate collegiate track and field and cross country for the next four years. Year 1, he comes out the gate by falling down is a DNF at the XC championships. Then he "no shows" at Indoors. Finally, in the Spring, he wins a 1500 meter title, albeit a weak field and without Matt Centrowitz who fractured his leg. So, year 2 begins and his highly favored team barely eeks out a XC title, with German out of the picture, once again underperforming.

Are you getting the picture yet?

German running the 800m at indoor nationals seems like a terrible idea to me and makes no sense. Unless he improves greatly over the next 3 months, he'll have plenty of comp in the mile and/or 3000m. Running the 800m at nationals would be a waste of a season and championship, and you only get so many. Stop f***ing around and have the kid run his races.

If memory serves me right, I remember they hyped last years 1500 as one of the deepest in collegiate history as far as times???!!?? German went wire to wire for the win...as far as eaking out a win like the old saying goes a win is a win end of story... Oh yeah you forgot to mention that German ran 2 outstanding 5000 races last year as well, and despite skipping indoor NCAA still managed to set a World JR record in the mile and dominating at the Jr. cross Champs.... Are you getting the picture yet?

Guppy wrote:

German running the 800m at indoor nationals seems like a terrible idea to me and makes no sense. Unless he improves greatly over the next 3 months, he'll have plenty of comp in the mile and/or 3000m. Running the 800m at nationals would be a waste of a season and championship, and you only get so many. Stop f***ing around and have the kid run his races.

I agree completely. It may be somewhat of a different circumstance if he was out of college, but you only get so many semesters while having the chance to represent your college team.

Also, does it make sense to race 800's in order to work on his racing skills? I haven't ran many 800's, but I have found that each distance requires quite the separate racing strategies. Seems strange to run 800's to work on strategy when in fact he should be learning how to hone his skills in a 5k...Right?

Gotta love the 10,000 jobless Coaches on letsrun.com!! You idiots always make me laugh. you have every answer yet not one of you idiots has a colelge level job coaching anyone?? NICE!

old ndn runna wrote:

If memory serves me right, I remember they hyped last years 1500 as one of the deepest in collegiate history as far as times???!!?? German went wire to wire for the win...as far as eaking out a win like the old saying goes a win is a win end of story... Oh yeah you forgot to mention that German ran 2 outstanding 5000 races last year as well, and despite skipping indoor NCAA still managed to set a World JR record in the mile and dominating at the Jr. cross Champs.... Are you getting the picture yet?

Thank you good post!

old ndn runna wrote:

If memory serves me right, I remember they hyped last years 1500 as one of the deepest in collegiate history as far as times???!!?? German went wire to wire for the win...as far as eaking out a win like the old saying goes a win is a win end of story... Oh yeah you forgot to mention that German ran 2 outstanding 5000 races last year as well, and despite skipping indoor NCAA still managed to set a World JR record in the mile and dominating at the Jr. cross Champs.... Are you getting the picture yet?

Thank you good post!

I am with Iloveit. You armchair runners have all the great opinions, yet none of you are even close to having a coaching position in grade school. But wait, I guess if the President can win the Nobel prize by being elected, then you guys can be college coaches by attending a college meet. Smith is doing an excellent job.

Now all you guys with opinions quit spanking yourself, and go get your girlfriends pregnant. That way you will have someone to coach for at least 6 years till the big divorce!

'German running the 800m at indoor nationals seems like a terrible idea to me and makes no sense'

Maybe you think, because its a relatively big champs he should not waste his opportunity to win the longer distance events. But purely from a running point of view it makes sense to run races both under & over you main race distance. If you consider his main distance 5km then maybe the 8oo is a bit short but if 1500m then its definitely not.

Anyone know his pr for 800m?

'German running the 800m at indoor nationals seems like a terrible idea to me and makes no sense'

Maybe you think, because its a relatively big champs he should not waste his opportunity to win the longer distance events. But purely from a running point of view it makes sense to run races both under & over you main race distance. If you consider his main distance 5km then maybe the 8oo is a bit short but if 1500m then its definitely not.

Anyone know his pr for 800m?

Not An Expert wrote:

Wow, I'm surprised there aren't more people commenting on this. It seems like it's kind of taking a page out of the Salazar playbook (racing under-distance during indoor to develop speed).

well it's not to develop speed, it's to put him in races he won't dominate so he can learn good tactics/ not be a reckless frontrunner

I understand that running the 800 at a point in time or two in an actual race can prove very beneficial. However, I don't understand why it is necessary to throw German into an 800 at a championship race.

Many of the fastest 800m races run during indoor and outdoor are run during the non-championship portions of the season. Why put him in a situation where it may be necessary for him to run rounds before he can get into a highly competitive/deep 800.

OakielDoaker wrote:

Let's see now, if I understand this correctly. Young German gets a full ride from Smith because the universe is certain that he will dominate collegiate track and field and cross country for the next four years. Year 1, he comes out the gate by falling down is a DNF at the XC championships. Then he "no shows" at Indoors. Finally, in the Spring, he wins a 1500 meter title, albeit a weak field and without Matt Centrowitz who fractured his leg. So, year 2 begins and his highly favored team barely eeks out a XC title, with German out of the picture, once again underperforming.

Are you getting the picture yet?

Good gravy, you can certainly paint an unflattering portrait.

How about these performances:

-His entire freshman XC season except for NCAAs

-NCAA XC up until about 8k

-3:55 indoor mile, solo, World Junior Record

-Top US finisher at Junior WXC, 11th in the world

-13:25 5k, American Junior Record

-NCAA 1500m champion, wire to wire.

The answer to this could be he wants him to get into tactical races, not just fast 800's. You may ask what the point of training for it and trying to get the speed in if you're not going to get a fast race in, but you don't get speed simply by running the race, you get the speed by doing the training.

So the point of this could be that they get him the speed work by doing the training, then get the tactical experience by racing in 800's. This could prove very beneficial because it's not a specialty race of his and if you make any mistakes during an 800 you will be done for. He will quickly learn tactics after a few races here and it will help in his next two years of college and in his professional career.

13:25

3:39

3:55 (i)

7:47 (i)

So, pretty much you're an idiot.

the binga wrote:

...Why put him in a situation where it may be necessary for him to run rounds before he can get into a highly competitive/deep 800.

Maybe because learning to manage your effort running rounds is one of the big differences between athletes who reach the podium at major championships and athletes who can be competitive in a single race at 800-5000, but never succed at championships with rounds?