Unfortunately, AS doesn't have much of a history of success with milers. Shannon Lemora back in '96, AW in '10, and olionard as of recent are the only ones of note, as far as elite status is cincerned. Olionard headed to eugene after only a few short months. Webb lasted only slightly longer.
German Fernandez should not be a miler!!!!!!! He should be running the 5k and maybe even 10k period. He does not and never has had the wheels to close in a 1500. Therefore, Al Sal and gang are perfect.
Salazar has a terrible record of injuring every non-Rupp/ Mo runner under his purview (direct or indirect).
Goucher - good then, injured
Ritz- great then, injured
Webb- promising, then injured
Centro- injured
O'lionard- injured
...
If German goes there - promising, then injured, then never recovers.
I actually think he should move away from shorter stuff to longer distances to decrease the chances of injuries. You'd be doing fewer hard repeats as a 5k/10k guy as opposed to a pure miler. The 5k and 1500 are extremely competitive in the US and abroad. Perhaps a move to the 10k early on would be good for him. Schumacher has a good track record with converting athletes to the 10k from shorter distances.
And why not? A low 27 minute time will basically put you in the top 3 of US runners. Whereas a low 13 minute time might not.
I think alsal and also canova are bad choices these guys are playing with the grey zone and also drugs that will cause a long term issues that will haunt their athletes later in life.
WATCH and see. Running fast aint so worth it when you have cancer of the thyroid or kidney, or blood poisoning when you aren't even 45.
chris derrick
i think chris derrick would be a really good fit in alberto salazar's group
German is a man of integrity and may not want to go the Al/Sal/peds route.....
I don't want to sound like a hater but German has been saying this same kind of thing for his entire collegeiate career. He was never able to get any consistent training in because he always got injured after only two or three months of training and then had to take a month or two off to recover.
It's really sad and just too bad, German is one of the more talented runners the United States. His body is simply too fragile to do the hard training & mileage required to compete at the highest level.
It really is Dave Smith's fault. Look at those workouts he had him doing freshman year. 6 x mile on the cross course finishing in 4:16/2:01... he was obviously pushing himself with mileage and everything. I think Lanana would have been a way better fit for him. He knows how to bring guys along and realizes if they're injury prone.
So glad to hear he's leaving OSU. People can talk, but his career has been terrible there compared with what everyone expected from him. That may or may not have been Dave's fault, but at least if he leaves he'll have a better shot. Dave Smith is known for destroying his athletes, both physically and morally, and the fact German is electing not to spend a 5th year says a little something. I'm proud of him for making it four; most guys who go there transfer or quit withing only two years. They remain good because of their constant big name recruits, but most do not stay. I really hope up and comers look at German's career at OSU and take notice. Some guys have run well there, but for each one there are 5 who quit or transferred. You just don't hear about them because they were 4:10-4:15 HS miler types and thus didn't get the attention of the letsrun crowd. Living and running in the area, talking to different guys, reading between the lines, it's clear the OSU experience is not a good one for 2/3 to 3/4 of those who go there for whatever reason.
Regardless, good luck to German. Watching him train and race back during his freshman year was incredible. If he can stay healthy and get a new coach there's no doubt he can run <3:36 and <13:15.
Smith has been a bad coach both physically and especially mentally. He appears to destroy the ambition and love of running in the runners. And having German run indoor meets considering his achilles was just total stupidity, perhaps also greed for the points.
I don't know who would be a good coach for German in the U.S., however Salazar does seem to care a lot for the runners and takes a lot of care with them, so I think he would be a good choice. Canova would be good but he's based in Kenya.
He will join either Schumauker or AlSal, quickly run a 13:03 and America will bury its head even deeper in the sand about the PED use among our sub 13 wonderboys.
AlSal... not a good choice. He destroyed Ritz toying around with a bunch of nonsense. Cutting holes in shoes, Changing his stride, having him do workouts that were ridiculous. I think Fernandez and Ritz are pretty similar in terms of fragility, and AlSal does not have a good record with Ritz.
Schumacher... I'm a huge fan, but not impressed of late. He clearly doesn't have enough control over his athletes mileage/effort levels (see Solinsky's comments... he was given way too much freedom).
Jager, Teg, Solinsky... all badly injured w/in the last 2 years.
Bairu... massively underperforming his collegiate success.
Nelson... AWOL in the Olympic year
Kara and Shalane: Rock Solid
Lomong: running OK. Could go from Olympian to not making the team, though (I know everyone loved his 5k, but Rupp and Lagat will beat him... so that leaves 1 spot).
Bumbi: Running decent, but no big jumps yet.
Again, I like Schumacher ... but would feel a lot better if he was able to keep his guys healthy before sending Fernandez there.
German should go to Saladbar he will have all the access to all the EPO he wants.
Please Come Again wrote:
Salazar has a terrible record of injuring every non-Rupp/ Mo runner under his purview (direct or indirect).
Goucher - good then, injured
Ritz- great then, injured
Webb- promising, then injured
Centro- injured
O'lionard- injured
...
If German goes there - promising, then injured, then never recovers.
Everyone gets injured at the elite level, and all of those runners had a long history of injuries before ever talking to Salazar.
Hudson is where it's at
Definitely not Schumacher. He sounds like an ass. Has a bad attitude and never gives any interviews.
Hudson needs to take care of himself before he tries coaching anyone else.
German Fan wrote:
I would go with Bernard Lagat's coach if he signs with Nike. When was the last time Lagat was injured? Anyone remember? I don't!
While I agree that Bernard has been remarkably healthy throughout his career, I seem to remember him hurting his hamstring four years ago between his Olympic Trials double and the games. It was kind of a big deal.
DST