Hope the Gouchers move down to Dago to join the Culpeppers.
Man!
I was looking forward to him flipping the bird at the end of a fast marathon.
Now he can be a stay at home daddy.
Why doesn't he just take 4 or 5 months COMPLETELY off, let everything heal and start to train for a marathon?
Would it be possible for him (or anyone) to be competitive at the marathon distance if he's not starting to train for it until 35?
Maybe Adam could draw inspiration from another former XC great, Carlos Lopes.
After his 1976 World XC title, Lopes kinda disappeared, partly due to injuries.
Then in 1982, at the age of 35 he ran 27:24 to break the European Record in Oslo.
At the age of 36, he made his marathon debut in 2:08:39 in Rotterdam.
Then a year later at 37, he won the World XC title, ran 27:17 and set and Olympic Record in winning the marathon in LA.
And finally at 38, he set the WR in the marathon, running 2:07:12.
No reason Adam couldn't do the same thing!
lopes returns wrote:
Maybe Adam could draw inspiration from another former XC great, Carlos Lopes.
After his 1976 World XC title, Lopes kinda disappeared, partly due to injuries.
Then in 1982, at the age of 35 he ran 27:24 to break the European Record in Oslo.
At the age of 36, he made his marathon debut in 2:08:39 in Rotterdam.
Then a year later at 37, he won the World XC title, ran 27:17 and set and Olympic Record in winning the marathon in LA.
And finally at 38, he set the WR in the marathon, running 2:07:12.
No reason Adam couldn't do the same thing!
That's dang impressive. I've always been a Goucher fan, but it just seems really hard for him to stay healthy. Lopes I'm guessing was able to train and race thru most of those years, Goucher certainly has not. He has raced maybe 10-20% of what an a typical professional should have over the last 10 years and I'm guessing his training has been hampered most of that time.
I believe that part of the injury cycle has to do with stress. Injured pros take it really hard, and that stress is the opposite of what the body needs to heal. The longer it goes on the more stressed/depressed they become and the harder it is for the body to have the positive energy needed to recover.
The baby may change things completely and make him just change his focus in life. Or perhaps it will just give him happiness that has been lacking and take some focus off the frustrations and allow him to heal.
I've always thought Goucher was a monster for XC, I know there is no real money in it but for the sake of competition and glory I wonder if he just trained on the bark, grass and alter G and focussed on the world XC championships maybe for the next couple years if he might not have some success. It just seems like for marathon training you are going to have to pound some long runs on the roads at some point and given his injury history, that doesn't seem like a good plan.
kind of surreal. i remember when he was tearing up the CO XC scene.
I've met Adam a few times, and he's cool but he doesn't seem to be the type to chill out and let things heal very well.
Asshat wrote:
Would it be possible for him (or anyone) to be competitive at the marathon distance if he's not starting to train for it until 35?
It would be entirely possible for him (not just anyone) to be competitive at marathon distance. The problem is though he just can not get/stay healthy.
I remember reading "Running with the Buffalos" when it first came out and in their Wetmore comments on Adam:
"If there's a weakness, it's his durability...He's got three out of the four. If he's got durability and can do ten years of one-hundred-plus-mile weeks, he'll have four out of four, and he'll be hard to beat..."
Wetmore claimed that Adam had the determination, talent, and courage but had yet to show the durability...how prophetic and amazingly accurate, that truly turned out to be.
Its a shame for Adam, he seems like a nice guy, obviously is extremely talented and a very hard worker, but he is not by any means the first elite runner to lack the necessary durability. Just a shame. I would hope he could get things together and fully recover, but things do not seem to be heading that direction. He has a good future no matter what though.
Sorry for the spelling and grammar errors. I do know the difference between their and there...
He was doing 20 miles on Magnolia road at 5:20 pace. He is an amazing runner. Dude should take off 6 months, let things heal and do a build up and pop a 2:10.
Once he has his kid, I think he'll change. And by change, maybe he'll be a better runner. I think he'll improve "magically" once he has something more important in his life to focus on rather than just his running...
asdffdsa wrote:
He was doing 20 miles on Magnolia road at 5:20 pace. He is an amazing runner. Dude should take off 6 months, let things heal and do a build up and pop a 2:10.
It is interesting to think that if he could get back to what he was doing in college while training for cross country he would be ready for a great marathon.
I don't think he's done either - a guy who just keeps coming back like he has is unlikely ever to retire.
lopes returns wrote:
Maybe Adam could draw inspiration from another former XC great, Carlos Lopes.
After his 1976 World XC title, Lopes kinda disappeared, partly due to injuries.
Then in 1982, at the age of 35 he ran 27:24 to break the European Record in Oslo.
At the age of 36, he made his marathon debut in 2:08:39 in Rotterdam.
Then a year later at 37, he won the World XC title, ran 27:17 and set and Olympic Record in winning the marathon in LA.
And finally at 38, he set the WR in the marathon, running 2:07:12.
No reason Adam couldn't do the same thing!
Lopes also worked full time as a banker.
After reading Running With the Buffaloes, it is impossible not to pity and cheer for the guy. I wish him all the best and I think he sounded really cool and realistic in the interview. Go Adam!
Either way, his role as an inspiration to the group that really kick-started the new boom is sacrosanct. As Kennedy was fading away, he was the ONLY guy willing to take it to the Kenyans, and his brashness and determination, especially in the face of adversity had a lasting impact on people like Webb, Ritz, Hall, Solinsky, etc...
While he'll never be satisfied with what he accomplished on the track, if we've learned anything in the last generation, it's what you contribute to the sport as a whole that counts.... and Adam, despite all the setbacks, has been an invaluable part of U.S. distance running.
Good luck to him, whatever happens.
The desire is all but gone in Adam. He knows it, and his wife knows it. When your mind gives up, then it flows thru the body. He needs that fire back inside of him.
All the tools are still there for him, he just needs to re-motivate himself to be a competitor again.
I wish he would ask me, because my inspirational philosophy would get him back.
bootsie wrote:
Either way, his role as an inspiration to the group that really kick-started the new boom is sacrosanct. As Kennedy was fading away, he was the ONLY guy willing to take it to the Kenyans, and his brashness and determination, especially in the face of adversity had a lasting impact on people like Webb, Ritz, Hall, Solinsky, etc...
While he'll never be satisfied with what he accomplished on the track, if we've learned anything in the last generation, it's what you contribute to the sport as a whole that counts.... and Adam, despite all the setbacks, has been an invaluable part of U.S. distance running.
Good luck to him, whatever happens.
Excellent post. He did exactly that. He had no fear when Kennedy was on the down slope and every other top American had just accepted getting killed by the E. Africans. Goucher didn't just want to believe he could compete with the top E. Africans, he wanted to stick it to them at a time when no other americans were helping to up the game. People thought Kennedy was just an outlier, never to be repeated by Americans.
Goucher thought different, and was one of the big reasons we had young runners inspired to pursue running and do it with confidence coming into the early 2000s.
It's a shame he wasn't healthy more of the time to do more of what he wanted to, but his role in raising the game cannot be forgotten. There may be some consolation in knowing this, but you know the guy is a competitor thru and thru and still wants to be out there doing it himself.