German Fernandez... just not the same runner any more

I watched the race, and I just didn't see any killer instinct from him. He looked smooth running 60-sec quarters, and he put himself in a perfect position with 250 to go in the race. I kept waiting for him to grab the race by the stones, but he never seemed to shift gears.

the missing ingredient wrote:

I watched the race, and I just didn't see any killer instinct from him. He looked smooth running 60-sec quarters, and he put himself in a perfect position with 250 to go in the race. I kept waiting for him to grab the race by the stones, but he never seemed to shift gears.

Nobody just watches others run away from them with 250 to go if they can do anything about it. Fernandez doesn't have it. He hasn't had it in two years. I have no idea why but it is sad to watch.

I wish him the best but it is hard to continue to be a believer watching race after race, season after season of mediocrity or worse.

Before someone else makes the claim, no his 8th place finish at NCAA XC was not a good performance, relative to his talent.

He does seem like a different runner, but i don't know what the hell is wrong with people. This is an ENCOURAGING race. His last race was a step up from indoors, and he just went a little bit faster. He's progressing, and hopefully by season end will be close to PR shape in the 1500. He's not going to just go from slow to fast in one race. He's slowly getting there.

Did he beat Osama?

I would agree if the time had been run while competing for the win, but some dude with a 3:44 PR who I have never heard of just absolutely ran away from him. He wasn't even in it at the end. No shift or kick or anything. So no, it was not encouraging.

I get the impression that he isn't in great shape. It is far to soon to write him off. Look at a guy like webb who had 2 tough years after high school, 3 pretty good years and then 3+ years of struggles. The talent is still there. If/when he gets 9 months of good training, I expect to see some great results. Or of course he might never get those 9 months....

Polish Fernandez wrote:

I understand athletes have strings of bad luck. I understand sometimes runners are running with injuries, and I don't like to knock runners when they're down. That's not what I'm trying to do. BUT, after just watching the 1500m at Stanford, I gotta say GF seems like an entirely different runner than 2 years ago. He doesn't look as fluid, as comfortable (even when obviously hurting), nor does he exude the same competitive drive as before. I could be reading into things too much, and this is the first race I've watched of GF in a while, but he just doesn't look the same.

3:44 is a pretty good time, his fastest this year.

German is a tempo runner, not explosive at all, nor should he be.

Is there a video of the race?

sadfsadds wrote:

I get the impression that he isn't in great shape. It is far to soon to write him off. Look at a guy like webb who had 2 tough years after high school, 3 pretty good years and then 3+ years of struggles. The talent is still there. If/when he gets 9 months of good training, I expect to see some great results. Or of course he might never get those 9 months....

Maybe. Sure, the talent does not go away. But the years and miles that he should be logging for long term development are slipping away. Folks like Rupp, Hall and Solinsky make the progress they make because of lots of miles over several years without a ton of setbacks. Without that it is hard to see GF ever coming close to the promise that he has shown. 9 months may lead to a few good races and lots of excitement but it takes 6 - 7 years of 90% healthy training to fully tap that potential.

Wonder if it was his diet change, no eating meat or whatever.. I think he is done guys!

Such a shame to see him fading into the woodwork

J.R. wrote:

3:44 is a pretty good time, his fastest this year.

German is a tempo runner, not explosive at all, nor should he be.

Is there a video of the race?

I agree. So then ask yourself this question... why is he focusing on the 1500? He has not run a single 5k this year, and only a couple 3k's. The guy is not a speed demon, his high school coach has talked about it and his PR for the 800 is 1:52. His best mile/1500 races were when he took it hard from the gun, running even splits and hammering from the front. He is a distance runner, not a mid d guy. I'm no Dave Smith, but it's possible he may be doing too much "mid D" training lately and not enough strength work. Move up to the 5k, run a couple 10k's, and stop fixating on the mile.

I was reading your post and thinking about Rupp and Hall...

Hall was really inconsistent in college, with a few breakout moments such as his runnerup in XC and his fast 5k senior year.

And Rupp, as talented and successful as he was in high school, only dominated the NCAA during his senior season.

Teg does run 10k apparently wrote:

I was reading your post and thinking about Rupp and Hall...

Hall was really inconsistent in college, with a few breakout moments such as his runnerup in XC and his fast 5k senior year.

And Rupp, as talented and successful as he was in high school, only dominated the NCAA during his senior season.

I think you missed the point of his post, he wasn't referencing success, just consistant training. Rupp - as far as I know - never suffered any major injuries or setbacks at UO. His only red-shirt year was to prepare for the Olympics. That consistant training was the reason he has been so successful in that senior year and as a pro, which is what the poster was saying. German hasn't had this, often due to flukes, but racing world junior XC on a stress fracture (I think it was a stress fracture, he was wearing a boot in the days before), extending his freshman season to chase junior records, racing NCAA XC in 2009, etc, etc, are not things that contribute to long-term development.

I don't have an extensive knowledge on Hall's collegiate career so I can't speak on that...

You cynics are a dime a dozen!!!! Just before Boston everyone and their brothers uncle had "written off" Hall, but then..... he blew you fu@$king minds!!!!!! Give German a chance! I'll bet anyone here, that in the next two races, he goes under 3:40! Easy!

He has always been frail or prone to injury or flukes. Even in his high school career, he sat out for extended periods due to injury, but was able to put together an amazing finish his senior year.

i agree he should go back to base training. he has probably been rushed back into speedwork because there is a lot of pressure on the program to get results ASAP. transitioning from cross to indoors to outdoors without any legitimate buildup/rest from racing period can be physically and mentally taxing. im speaking from experience. some people are different though, maybe he is a guy who was meant to peak at age 20 and plateau from there, everybody is different.

The odd thing is why he keeps running the mile - His coach has said multiple times that GF is a 10k guy - so why does he keep flailing away unsuccessfully at the mile?

I know he ran 355 as frosh and has won big mile races..but still - he should focus on the 5k, which is closer to his future.

agip wrote:

The odd thing is why he keeps running the mile - His coach has said multiple times that GF is a 10k guy - so why does he keep flailing away unsuccessfully at the mile?

I know he ran 355 as frosh and has won big mile races..but still - he should focus on the 5k, which is closer to his future.

If he isn't fit, he's not fit. He's not going to run a fast 5k right now anyway. Perhaps he wanted to focus on the 5k, but things didn't go well, so he's doing what he can. I doubt that they want him to just keep flailing away. He has to really get back in top form first.