Jordan Hasay: 4 second improvement in FIVE YEARS?!

To all these people carrying on about how Hasay only focuses on longer distances: that is not the cause of her lack of 1500 improvement, it's the result of that stagnation. Hasay spent 2-3 years trying to eek out any kind of improvement and wasn't cutting it, so she moved up to the 10,000. And to everyone touting her massive improvements at 10,000, this is largely because she hasn't focused on it until this season.

At any rate, I tend to believe she does still have room for improvement, even at the 1500. She just needs to get out of Oregon and into a training/racing environment that will actually be beneficial to her long-term development. I kind of hope after USA Nationals this summer (where she will clearly not advance to the Worlds) she just takes a month off and then goes into hibernation training all fall/winter. Then next season will tell the tale of whether or not she can ever make the jump to being a top-3 finisher at USAs in any event.

Haha Abbey ran 4:11 completely solo at Heps last weekend, winning by 14 seconds. She can run 4:06 in the right race. Regardless, she's a 15:00 type, while Jordan's in 15:20 territory. No longer in the same league

well, at least she hasn't gone backwards, like a lot of young ladies do who train and race from ages 12 to 22.

just from watching her over the years, her physique and physiologic potential as a runner probably peaked at age 14 or 15. after that, you could see her soften, as puberty kicked in. and there goes some of that cardio-respiratory ability, as estrogen kicks in. she also got a little longer, and lost a little bit of snap in her stride in the process.

all this normal loss of athleticism that goes along with female puberty, plus continued, high-level training just sort of cancel each other out, and lead to no, or minor, gains.

this is all easily predicted; it has happened to so many other girls: early identified talent. early, high-level training and competing. relatively early rise to near-peak potential.

julia stamps followed a similar, truncated rise ten years earlier.

hasay isn't going to get significantly faster in any track events.

she should just focus on building the one thing that will slowly increase over the next ten years: endurance.

Pretty sure she improved more than Mr. Alan Webb did in college.

reer wrote:

And to everyone touting her massive improvements at 10,000, this is largely because she hasn't focused on it until this season.

So do you believe that when she arrived at Oregon Hasay was within striking range of a top 5 all-time NCAA 10k time?

Doesn't everyone agree that Hasay's talent is more suited for 10K and beyond? If that's the case why do people still expect Hasay to have massive improvement in the 1,500? Shalane Flangan's 1,500 PR is 4:05.86 which she ran about a month before her 26th birthday. Kara Goucher ran her 1,500 PR, 4:05.14, at age 28. I wouldn't surprise me if Hasay run a 4:05-4:07 1,500 in the mid 20's. That's probably Hasay's upside in the 1,500.

mdm wrote:

Staying healthy is not a talent.

You'd be surprised.

[quote]nervousned wrote:

Pretty sure she improved more than Mr. Alan Webb did in college.[/quote

And Michelle Wie

mdm wrote:

Staying healthy is not a talent.

Tell that to Ritzenhein, Fernandez, etc.

Jordan needs to join Neely Spence and get out of the circle of expectations that Nike has set up for her. She can then quietly develop and come back as a star again.

nervousned wrote:

Pretty sure she improved more than Mr. Alan Webb did in college.

And Webb had a book written about it.

Please, do correct me if I`m wrong, but from what I have been able to pull out the Internet, Kara`s 3k PR in college was 8:54, 5k PR was 15:28, she didn`t break 4:10 in the 1500.

As Hasay so far, she also didn`t make major improvements in college and was a succesful high school runner.

Hasay run 8:57 indoors and she`s definitely in 15:28 shape (going from her 10k time). All this while Kara trained for the longer distances since freshman year, when Hasay only has done so since this year.

Now, this doesn`t mean that Hasay will be as succesful as Kara, but I`d say there are good chances she will improve substantially when she`s out of the college system.

Yep, it is wrote:

mdm wrote:

Staying healthy is not a talent.

Tell that to Ritzenhein, Fernandez, etc.

Staying healthy takes a lot of the right guidance, the right discipline, and a lot of work away from running. It is surprising how often world class level talent miss a few subtle keys and their careers stagnate.

OK. Didn't Neely Spence DNF at Payton Jordan? You're right. Nice quiet development indeed.

She's a girl, right?

I don't know what else Jordan can do for the lets run posters. She is: and has had: and has:

1) thirteen age group records.

2) Seven-time Junior Olympics Champion

2) nine high school class records

3) four state championships in track

4) four state championships in cross country

5) Nine high school class records

6) Four-time top world junior champion

7) Four Western Regional footlocker championships

8) Two footlocker National championships

9) Two indoor national championships at Oregon

10) Four Pac-12 titles

11) Four school records

12) Seventeen time All-American (and counting)

At only 21 years of age, she's just getting started! Transitioning from the 1500 to the 10K will be fun to watch. Enjoy the ride, and let's get behind and support one of the greatest runners and role models to ever hit our running scene in quite some time.

I remember LetsRun posts on Jordan started here when she was 12 years old. Wow. Now that she is 21, just surviving THAT for almost 10 years is a testament to her mental toughness and stability. Posters can be brutal. Jordan obviously doesn't care nor reads these things. What an amazing young woman.

Webb only improved about 5 seconds from High School in 2001 to 2007 also. Shameful.

More importantly, she has a brain too.

http://championships.pac-12.com/track-field/2013/05/12/oregons-jordan-hasay-named-2013-track-and-field-scholar-athlete-of-the-year/