is anyone else worried that Solinsky hasn't run a single hard race this year??

The last 7 laps of the USATF 5000 wasn't hard? Get real. Yes it was tactical. He made a tactical decision that he was going to drop the entire field with about a mile left. And he did it with everyone but Lagat.

the smartest letsrunner wrote:

Rupp ran the 3000 indoors hard (PR). He ran the 5000 indoors hard (PR). He ran the 5000 hard (PR). He ran his half-marathon debut hard.

Farah ran the 3000 indoors (PR), the 5000 (PR), the 10000 (PR) and his half marathon debut hard.

Lagat ran the 5000 hard (PR).

Merga has run numerous 5000s hard (near PRs) and won world XC.

||| Solinksy has dropped out of a 5000 in Monaco, dropped out of a 10,000 in Eugene, DNS-ed the 10000 at USATF, and got eaten alive by Lagat in a tactical 5000 at USATF - finishing time 13:23 |||

With ZERO hard races this year, is he really going to be able to race in Daegu? (By hard races, I mean PR effort. Doesn't need to be a PR, just reasonably close. Usually requires finishing a race, but not even always. Definitely requires starting the race.)

No, provided he's fit and tapered he'll be fine--CS is usually a great clutch performer and I'm sure his current bumps have just pissed him off.

ryan foreman wrote:

The last 7 laps of the USATF 5000 wasn't hard? Get real. Yes it was tactical. He made a tactical decision that he was going to drop the entire field with about a mile left. And he did it with everyone but Lagat.

You are just feeding into my argument. While Solinksky has been DNSing and DNFing around the globe, his competition (Rupp, Farah, Merga, Lagat) has been taking hard shots at everything from the 3000 to the half marathon, and performing.

The fact that you trot out Solinsky running half for ONE HALF OF ONE RACE as the best example you have of his competitive attitude (???) goes miles toward proving my point: Solinsky has ZERO solid racing efforts under his belt. And no, on the world stage, a paced 13:23 isn't a solid effort, no matter how hard you close it.

Your overall point is fine and valid; it is legitimately a concern that Solinsky has not had the number of quality efforts this season that his competitors have had.

Given that, there's no reason to pretend his USA 5000 run was anything less than a world class performance.

Didn't he run an indoor mile in 3:54 or something?

Granted its not as long of a race as he will be doing in a month, but I doubt he can "jog" a time like that, so it must have required some effort.

I'm not, but I'm sure Solinsky is frustrated.

Rupp would won that race , if he didn't ran a 10k day before ;)

Solinsky ran a 3:35 1500 earlier this year.

Jerry, since he was at Wisconsin, has always been about a little racing and a lot of training. This can be validated by the jogging and tempos Wisconsin used to do at regionals/conferences/any meet that wasn't NCAAs. His program (a successful one to boot) does not include racing frequently. With that said, I think Teg and Solinsky will be fine coming into the world championships this year.

So to answer your question, no. I'm not worried about Solinsky. The only reason he raced a lot of PR efforts last year is because he wanted another american record going into this year.

World class? I'm a big Solinsky fan, but I'm not ready to call USA's a world class performance - not even close.

Fluffy wrote:

Solinsky ran a 3:35 1500 earlier this year.

At Mt. Sac. It was the #2 time by an American at the time and still #6.

Something else Rupp cannot do.

I think he's a little banged up and since it's not an Olympic year I doubt they are that Jerry and Chris are concerned. I think Salazar has Rupp's head so messed up right now that he really needs to run a fast time to keep him with momentum. He's got him prancing around wearing that rediculous mask and he has him doing all kinds of "alternative" training while Jerry's guys are just hammering away Old School Style. If you guys had any idea how messed up the Salazar camp was right now you'd see the train wreck coming. How the two camps exist without getting into it someday is a mystery to me.

If Jerry's guys keep hammering Rupp it's going to get REAL interesting over the next 2 years. Something has to give.

info wrote:

I think he's a little banged up and since it's not an Olympic year I doubt they are that Jerry and Chris are concerned. I think Salazar has Rupp's head so messed up right now that he really needs to run a fast time to keep him with momentum. He's got him prancing around wearing that rediculous mask and he has him doing all kinds of "alternative" training while Jerry's guys are just hammering away Old School Style. If you guys had any idea how messed up the Salazar camp was right now you'd see the train wreck coming. How the two camps exist without getting into it someday is a mystery to me.

If Jerry's guys keep hammering Rupp it's going to get REAL interesting over the next 2 years. Something has to give.

Salazar's camp consists of Mo and Galen, both of whom put Merga away on the last lap in birmingham and have been running phenomenally.

coach d wrote:

Fluffy wrote:

Solinsky ran a 3:35 1500 earlier this year.

------

At Mt. Sac. It was the #2 time by an American at the time and still #6.

Something else Rupp cannot do.

as if it matters who would win a mile race between them...

so no, a 1500 6 months ago doesn't really prove much...

lol lol lol lol wrote:

CS is usually a great clutch performer

ummm ever heard of 2006 NCAA XC?

Well, what on earth would you consider world class then?

info wrote:

I think he's a little banged up and since it's not an Olympic year I doubt they are that Jerry and Chris are concerned. I think Salazar has Rupp's head so messed up right now that he really needs to run a fast time to keep him with momentum. He's got him prancing around wearing that rediculous mask and he has him doing all kinds of "alternative" training while Jerry's guys are just hammering away Old School Style. If you guys had any idea how messed up the Salazar camp was right now you'd see the train wreck coming. How the two camps exist without getting into it someday is a mystery to me.

If Jerry's guys keep hammering Rupp it's going to get REAL interesting over the next 2 years. Something has to give.

What do you mean Salazar's camp is messed up?

Mo Farah has been absolutely dominating and Rupp PRd in the 5k this year

I don't understand why people like you are so fixed on "old school style" running. Despite what some may say, there IS more to being a good runner than just working on your running abilities. There's flexibility to deal with, injury prevention, etc. All the "hammering away" is probably what got Chris that hamstring injury that made him drop out of the Pre 10k

Plain running isn't going to work for everyone, just take Verzbicas for instance. His training has consisted of minimum mileage while adding in a large amount of biking and swimming, and all this "alternative" training has clearly worked out well for him since he's absolutely stomped all the "old school style" runners this year.

Well he hit the A standard early in the 5000, ran a 3:35 1500, finished second at USTAF 5000 with a 3:58 close.

WC's are still a month away.

I'm not worried that he hasn't run fast, he ceratinly ran hard at USATF.

If he is fit and sharp, a fast time isn't needed before WC's.

And the big meets to run fast are after WC's.

It would be nice to see a PR soon but I am not worried.

He had no chance if he was well raced this year. He has no chance without that hard race. What's the difference?