Meb just dropped out of Boston

Calf.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/04/05/meb-keflezighi-pulls-out-of-boston-marathon-with-calf-injury/

I think "pulled out" is a better term in this case.

Why are our top guys injured/DNF races so much of the time? Or is this just me noticing this. It seems like our lop women race more often and stay healthier...not that I am throwing stones. These guys are amazing athletes.

yeem wrote:

Why are our top guys injured/DNF races so much of the time? Or is this just me noticing this. It seems like our lop women race more often and stay healthier...not that I am throwing stones. These guys are amazing athletes.

I think you make a good point.

Because they have to be at 100% to have a chance at truly racing for the win, whereas a bunch of East Africans can be at 98% with the same fitness. Now, those numbers aren't exact, but do you see what I'm saying? It's very difficult to strattle the razors edge without getting sliced up now and again.

Meb is old enough to be a grandfather, technically.

Billy Moore wrote:

Because they have to be at 100% to have a chance at truly racing for the win, whereas a bunch of East Africans can be at 98% with the same fitness. Now, those numbers aren't exact, but do you see what I'm saying? It's very difficult to strattle the razors edge without getting sliced up now and again.

Meb is old enough to be a grandfather, technically.

I think it's just that when an East African pulls out nobody on these boards notices (unless he's like a 2:04 superstar guy)

Perhpas in Meb's case that he's getting older and perhaps a bit more fragile?

yeem wrote:

Why are our top guys injured/DNF races so much of the time? Or is this just me noticing this. It seems like our lop women race more often and stay healthier...not that I am throwing stones. These guys are amazing athletes.

to be fair: womens marathons are often 16 miles tempo pace followed by a 10 mile race. Of course you can recover more quickly from that...

timetodoit wrote:

I think "pulled out" is a better term in this case.

This. Silly women..

Nutella1 wrote:

yeem wrote:

Why are our top guys injured/DNF races so much of the time? Or is this just me noticing this. It seems like our lop women race more often and stay healthier...not that I am throwing stones. These guys are amazing athletes.

to be fair: womens marathons are often 16 miles tempo pace followed by a 10 mile race. Of course you can recover more quickly from that...

Nutella1 wrote:

yeem wrote:

Why are our top guys injured/DNF races so much of the time? Or is this just me noticing this. It seems like our lop women race more often and stay healthier...not that I am throwing stones. These guys are amazing athletes.

to be fair: womens marathons are often 16 miles tempo pace followed by a 10 mile race. Of course you can recover more quickly from that...

I think that is a misuse of the word "tempo" given that "tempo" pace is harder than marathon pace, but I get what you're saying.

yeem wrote:

Why are our top guys injured/DNF races so much of the time? Or is this just me noticing this. It seems like our lop women race more often and stay healthier...not that I am throwing stones. These guys are amazing athletes.

I get that same deflated feeling. It seems that at every major race one of our top guys pulls out. Maybe it's because we only have a few top guys. If a top Kenyan or Ethiopian pulls out there's a lot more to fill in the gaps. For us it could 50% of the "top guys".

who cares

bigtool wrote:

I think it's just that when an East African pulls out nobody on these boards notices (unless he's like a 2:04 superstar guy)

I agree. Remember when James Kwambai and Duncan Kibet precipitated the deluge of otherworldly Kenyan times with their 2:04:27s at Rotterdam? Both had a ton of DNFs and DNSs in the ensuing years; the difference is when they do it, nobody immediately goes global about the way "our guys" train or how "our guys" lack guts or what have you. They just think that one dude decided to drop out or pull out of a marathon, which is exactly the way we should think about Meb.

He's had a great career. He's had absolutely improbable success beating athletes with much better PRs, showing racing savvy, a strong knowledge of cycles and peaks, or something, and he's a class act. But as he gets older it's going to be harder to put together the type of training to be world class- or, each year, he'll be a little more fragile, a little more likely to be put down by a freak accident like he was here. That's no strike against him and it's no strike against American distance running.

I hope he turns it around for a killer fall marathon.

bigtool wrote:

I think it's just that when an East African pulls out nobody on these boards notices (unless he's like a 2:04 superstar guy)

I agree. Remember when James Kwambai and Duncan Kibet precipitated the deluge of otherworldly Kenyan times with their 2:04:27s at Rotterdam? Both had a ton of DNFs and DNSs in the ensuing years; the difference is when they do it, nobody immediately goes global about the way "our guys" train or how "our guys" lack guts or what have you. They just think that one dude decided to drop out or pull out of a marathon, which is exactly the way we should think about Meb.

He's had a great career. He's had absolutely improbable success beating athletes with much better PRs, showing racing savvy, a strong knowledge of cycles and peaks, or something, and he's a class act. But as he gets older it's going to be harder to put together the type of training to be world class- or, each year, he'll be a little more fragile, a little more likely to be put down by a freak accident like he was here. That's no strike against him and it's no strike against American distance running.

I hope he turns it around for a killer fall marathon.