"I'd say getting down to 2:18 or even 2:17 is realistic" - has Paula lost her mind?

Meb is 36 and has just PBd twice in three months, so why not Paula, she wouldn't be the first woman too come back stronger two-three years after childbirth.

And let's not forget that the Olympics is in London, home turf, if she manages too surge ahead halfway she'll get carried all the way by a screaming crowd of spectators trying to help her take the pain treshhold away...

sub3over40 wrote:

She was not healthy in Athens. She has a serious infection just before the race but tried to run it anyway and DNF. What I am saying is that we do not know what she is capable of if she is healthy. Did you pick Constantina Dita to get the gold in Bejing?? I bet not. In the Olympics, anyone on the starting line in a final can win.

Oh, please. Her "illness" in Athens was massively exaggerated after the fact. Excuses made after the fact are the most worthless excuses of all.

Anyone on the starting line can win? Get real.

She will run with the pack and get rolled in the last 5k, or she will try to take it to them in her projected 2:17 pace and blow up again. Really, though, I am already betting on a DNS or DNF.

Weldon, the camps are organised by UKAthletics. They rent a piece of Lornah's camp up in Iten and staff it with their own medical and support staff for the duration of the camp. There will physio/masseur and quite often a physiologist and doctor. One of the folks who has been can probably comment better on teh exact set up.

I guess Mo and Paula could make their own arrangements but its probably just a whole lot easier to use the infrastructure thats in place, doing your own thing in Kenya has an element of adventure to it !

To get an invite you need to be on the national team or part funded by the federation, probably a total potential invite list of up to 100 runners I guess ?

Its funny that you envy our training camps and we envy your marathon trials ! Perhaps Ms Hightower and Mr Stewart could compare notes :-)

Adrian

Jan U. wrote:

Btw, in GB _ALL_ mothers return to work after 6 months, by the way. Since abour Thatcher's time, if I am not mistaken.

You are wrong. For the mums I know the average is around 9 months. But 12 months is very normal.

wejo wrote:

I saw Paula training back in 2002. On her easy days she was training a lot faster than most men. I wouldn't be surprised if she ran with Mo a lot of days.

[..]

How do these UK training trips work? Who gets invited to them. No families allowed?

Wejo, you can't ignore the fact that 10 years have passed since you saw Paula training like crazy. As I said before, she was in her 20's back then and we all know how much better a young body recovers.

As for "no families": my thinking is she probably left them home for safety/health reasons. There are not many white women running in Kenya (I assume) and Paula is easy to identify. And everyone knows how loaded she is. As for health, I heard quite a few cases where athletes come back with Malaria. Probably not a risk that you'd want your young kids to expose to.

I wouldn’t wish to take my children to Kenya right now either for safety reasons if nothing else.

Our Foreign Office has recently issued a warning of an increased terrorist risk in Kenya, albeit mainly appertaining to the capitol Nairobi.

Kenya has admitted the threat from Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab insurgents from neighbouring Somalia was not totally neutralised.

Foreign Office officials said they believed there was a heightened threat of "terrorist attacks" in the Kenyan capital and that attacks "may be in the final stages of planning."

"Attacks could be indiscriminate and target Kenyan institutions as well as places where expatriates and foreign travellers gather, such as hotels, shopping centres and beaches. We strongly advise British Nationals to exercise extra vigilance and caution in public places and at public events."

Nutella1 wrote:

SimpleJack wrote:

With EPO anything is possible.

Article says she trains in Kenya with Mo. Why would she stay at altitude if she takes EPO?

Because its harder to find you to test you, and it can be used as a smoke screen that you trained at altitude, when you started pumping out times not seen for many years. Not saying fact, just giving an explanation.

My belief is that you can stick a fork in her. She's failed so many recent runs that it has become more the norm for her. Her time is past.

Nutella1 wrote:

She hasn't run sub 2:20 since over 7 years and yet she talks like it's going to be no problem for her. Sounds to me like someone needs a reality check.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/16/paula-radcliffe-london-2012-mo-farah

The most talented runner in the world and you shit on her modest aspirations.

You probably said the same thing about Haile G right before he set his final World record too.

failed? i wouldn't call 2:23 in 2011 failing. we are excited about the women's team we are sending and have any of them run 2:23

malacoochie wrote:

Nutella1 wrote:

Article says she trains in Kenya with Mo. Why would she stay at altitude if she takes EPO?

Because its harder to find you to test you, and it can be used as a smoke screen that you trained at altitude, when you started pumping out times not seen for many years. Not saying fact, just giving an explanation.

My belief is that you can stick a fork in her. She's failed so many recent runs that it has become more the norm for her. Her time is past.

+1

Paula's most recent fitness shows that she is still legit, but the years of wear & tear and father time has caught up to her. Paula has not run a fast marathon in over 5 years, I doubt she is all of a sudden going to run fast at the Olympics. With all that said, I think Paula on a good day can still run around 2:22, which would put her in the mix at the Olympics.

TrackCoach wrote:

Paula's most recent fitness shows that she is still legit, but the years of wear & tear and father time has caught up to her.

Still legit or not anymore? You're contradicting yourself.

I think Paula on a good day can still run around 2:22

Of course she can still run around 2:22. This thread is about if she is still able to run 2:17.

Even if her aspirations are unrealistic, what productive purpose would a dose of reality serve?

It would not increase the already huge and totally unrealistic expactations of a nation. It would not increase the pressure on her. Fine, she can think it, but keep it to herself. I don't think the realistic challengers are boasting about the shape they think they'll be in, they are going to let their running do the talking.

Constantina is done. She dropped out of London Marathon 2011 and runs over 2:40:00. Paula is heading down the same road as constantina.

ggg wrote:

unfortunately, this goal is disconnected with reality.

If she thought like you she would never have run 2:15

She ran 2:23 ...

1. After having another kid

2. After coming back from injury

3. In her first marathon in years

Why she'll win -

1. She's run 2:15, over three minutes faster than any woman in history, so it's possible. She doesn't have to be in 2:15 shape, just within 4 minutes of that to have a shot at winning it all. Totally possible!

2. One of the most talented athletes in the world

3. Has a heart way bigger than everyone on this site. To even think about the 2:17-18 range just shows you what she can do. I'd bet you my life that no one thought a woman would run 1:15 in the marathon, except Paula herself, and that's exactly why she did it. I'm rooting her on, she can do it!

Adrian Marriott wrote:

Weldon, the camps are organised by UKAthletics. They rent a piece of Lornah's camp up in Iten and staff it with their own medical and support staff for the duration of the camp. There will physio/masseur and quite often a physiologist and doctor.

Is that the same doctor as before?

Don't you notice Constanita after 28 yrs ran a personal worst. it was 2:41:00. Paula will be older than Constantina was in Beijing.