weights again... wrote:
Phil Latter,
Yes, weights may have helped him come back--but how many miles a week was he doing when he was "coming back?" Probably between 0-20/30. Not 130. If you are only doing a very small number of miles, you can do some weights and it MIGHT not mess you up (but still might make things worse, mind you), but if you're one of the best collegiate runners in the country running 130 mile weeks, and 115 the week of nationals....you don't need weights.
If McDougal had instead told Mr. Latter that he believed that his injuries had resulted from neglecting weight work that he'd been advised to do by his coach at Liberty or some other mentor figure, chances are pretty good that you'd be saying something different. And if not you, someone else.
It's only natural for people to pick apart every detail in an article about an injured and very talented runner and draw conclusions based on what is, at best, a superficial biosketch (not the fault of the writer). McDougal himself probably doesn't really know what caused him to get hurt, assuming there is any one tangible reason that can ultimate become known. People run 20 miles a day for extended periods and run a lot of it hard, and they get hurt. I think the sustained 18+ in singles was a bad idea myself, but there's no way to confirm this.
Anyway, there's no real cause for bagging on the dude at this point (not that you were, weights again...) because it looks for all the world that even if he was doing something misguided, he's trying to fix that. he's not sitting around pissing and moaning about how hard he worked and now it's all gone, or slamming his head against the wall and redoubling or merely altering his stength routine. That would be harder for his chorus of fans and supporters and critics to swallow than some throwaway talk about God's plan or whatever.