Natasha Fraser runs 25:28 8k

Course is legit. Time is legit. The woman rolled today. Worth 31:40 - 31:45 10km on a Sun Run type course.

in the race wrote:

Course is legit. Time is legit. The woman rolled today. Worth 31:40 - 31:45 10km on a Sun Run type course.

HAHAH,

We shall see in due time. That would be, what, a 3 minute PB for her?

It'd be a huge p.b. Sounds laughable; I understand your reaction. Based on today's performance, those are the numbers.

Just in case you aren't trolling, Geoff Martinson is now selling real estate in Victoria, and taking his running "sort of" on the side. He's probably in the best off-season shape of his life, perhaps some quick 5K's coming up ?

The course is not short. The course is legit. It is the same course that the provincial 8k championships have been run on, which means that it has been certified legit. Additionally, she finished sixth overall. If it was so short, where were all the men? It is 8k plus a few feet, as required. The turnaround is in the exact spot as always. I was riding the lead bike in front of Martinson, so for sure the turn around was spot on, which is a break in the median of the road - no other way to lay the course out....

Martinson ran alone for over half the race. It is a solid effort. Three-time Olympian and former British 10,000m record holder, Jon Brown has the current course record of 23:18.

http://athleticsillustrated.com/editorial/fraser-smashes-record-martinson-wins-handily/

Natasha, since she has dropped 10 pounds and has been training 120kms per week has dropped her times. Most of which has happened during the cross season, as the change came less than six months ago, so she has shown other times, but placing that have led to this result. She won BC Cross Championships handily and placed third in Nationals behind Megan Brown and Kate Harrison.

Natasha's run today was legit.

Natasha and Geoff and are both very talented athletes with a lot of potential.

okay so we know teh course is legit. very impressive result but how anyone nowadays not be sceptical of a 2 minute PB?

Good question. If everyone had a two minute pb, then you can say the course is suspect. She was beating men. She finished sixth overall. I have her on camera - a GoPro on a bike with her doing the exact course.

Like I said her cross results were tremendous recently, they just don't correlate to times, being cross. If you go to the video I shot at Athletics Illustrated of her running up a steep hill at provincials, you will see how strong she is.

Here is the post-race video interview:

http://athleticsillustrated.com/interviews/natasha-fraser-post-race-interview-pioneer-8k/

I saw this result this morning on a David Monti tweet and was immediately like "Who?" and "They ran what?"

I started googling around. tilastopaja.org says that Fraser is 32 and has pbs of 16:17/33:44/74:06 for 5k/10k and 13.1.

This interview -

http://athleticsillustrated.com/interviews/natasha-fraser-interview/

- says she ran for Simon Fraser University - an NAIA school - was burned out and took 3 years totally off before coming back to the sport. Before being married, her name was Natasha Wodak.

tilastopaja.org says Wodak is 31 and has a 16:12 pb.

The two most recent results I found from her via Race Results Weekly ohter than her 3rd place showing at the Canadian xc champs.

October 7th - 74:06 victory for 13.1 at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon.

September 22nd - 34:29, 5th place at the Oasis ZooRun 10-K (Canadian 10-K Championships/Timex National Road Race Series Finale).

So someone with those recent results and apparent PBs of 16:12/33:44/74:06 now runs 25:28 for 8k on the roads in less than ideal conditions?

That can't be easily explained.

25:28 is 5:07 mile pace meaning she'd go through 5k in 15:55 and keep going for an exta 3k. It converts to sub 15:30 for 5k.

Have i seen big breakthroughs like this? Yes, but they are rare. When do they happen?

1) She barely trained at ll her whole life and is now training a lot.

Given the fact she competed in college , that doesn't seem likely but look at American Alisha Williams -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT3NGCyzMqg

she started running 100 miles weeks from 65 before and went from 15:45 in the 5k to 32:03 for 10k. When I picked really training after college after not having run consistently since 10th grade, I could run a marathon at my 5k pr basically within 30 months.

2) She was anemic her whole life and it recently got fixed.

3) The course was short.

4) Other.

Rojo,

The course cannot be short because it includes a loop that can only be run one way, a turnaround spot that is unmistakable - the same way it has been for years. It is certified by the provincial body.

The conditions were not "not ideal", they were quite good. A little cold, but almost no wind, no rain and filtered sun at about 1 degree celcius. Dry surface so no frost or ice.

Interestingly she told me she lost 10 pounds six months ago. I am a believer in optimum weight for runners. And the rough theory of: for every pound you are over optimum weight you lose 2 seconds per mile per pound. So lets say she is at close to optimum weight now....10 x 2 = 20 x 5 miles = 1:40.

That is roughly right comparing her old times.

In those last six months she hasn't raced much other than cross, where she has done very well. Won provincials and third in nationals.

Her three years off included casual running that is not detailed...so we don't know for sure what that means.

Finally, her mileage is at 120kms per week (75 Miles) not huge however, she works six and eight hours a day on her feet waitressing.

The question here is, does working on one's feet stress the athlete or is it supplemental to training....? Not too too far off on the notion of Japanese runners walking for three hours with backpacks on....or back in the 60s and 70s when the best athletes worked full time.

Rojo,

The course cannot be short because it includes a loop that can only be run one way, a turnaround spot that is unmistakable - the same way it has been for years. It is certified by the provincial body.

The conditions were not "not ideal", they were quite good. A little cold, but almost no wind, no rain and filtered sun at about 1 degree celcius. Dry surface so no frost or ice.

Interestingly she told me she lost 10 pounds six months ago. I am a believer in optimum weight for runners. And the rough theory of: for every pound you are over optimum weight you lose 2 seconds per mile per pound. So lets say she is at close to optimum weight now....10 x 2 = 20 x 5 miles = 1:40.

That is roughly right comparing her old times.

In those last six months she hasn't raced much other than cross, where she has done very well. Won provincials and third in nationals.

Her three years off included casual running that is not detailed...so we don't know for sure what that means.

Finally, her mileage is at 120kms per week (75 Miles) not huge however, she works six and eight hours a day on her feet waitressing.

The question here is, does working on one's feet stress the athlete or is it supplemental to training....? Not too too far off on the notion of Japanese runners walking for three hours with backpacks on....or back in the 60s and 70s when the best athletes worked full time.

alejandro wrote:

26., yes I am familiar with Natasha's previous times. Her 25:28, on a rolling road course on a zero degree (C.) day, is by far her best performance, not even close.

Posting late MISTAKE and quickly -- was reading Rogers....

One word. EPO.

WSAN wrote:

One word. EPO.

I doubt that... We like to test at national championships here in canada.

WSAN wrote:

One word. EPO.

is this not about the same as a guy going from 29:45 to sub 28?

she ran a fast 10km on the track back in september, about 4 months ago, i think it was low 33 mins.

I cycled the lead spot in front of Martinson. I started about 150m in front of the start line - to give room of course, so in theory I cycled less than 8kms. My Garmin and yes I know they are not perfect, but my Garmin shows 8:04kms.

Here is the link to her BC Championships 10000m race results and at that site you can watch the video of the race and see her in it:

http://victoriarunseries.com/popeyes-supplements-bc-10000m-championships-results-2012/

She was not tested at BC Champs nor at Canadian Champs. Don't tell lies here. She was also not tested at the race yesterday so lets be honest.

All of that is public record so no need for lies.

She is definitely at a point in her career where I'm sure she is looking towards PEDs as its almost over for her

She's kind of a babe.