Has Sarah Baxter improved since last year?

lol lol lol lol wrote:

Can anyone fill me in on the overall picture?

She saw some idiots gawking about Paleo garbage on the LetsRun boards, gave it a try, and has been going backwards since. I hear she's been stockpiling on good ol' spaghetti, legumes, and garlic bread now though and is right back on her way up.

:)

Looky Here wrote:

She saw some idiots gawking about Paleo garbage on the LetsRun boards, gave it a try, and has been going backwards since. I hear she's been stockpiling on good ol' spaghetti, legumes, and garlic bread now though and is right back on her way up.

:)

Actually, her diet probably *could* use some improving, but more for long-term health reasons rather than performance enhancement:

We know she will set a fast pace. We don't know if she can kick off it. That's were the improvement would come.

Since she's never in a close race we don't know if she can? It's how Flanagan beat Huddle in CC and how Huddle beat Flanagan the last time they met on the road.

Sad that her first HS defeat will be in her last HS race. At least it will motivate her when she gets to Oregon.

Force22 wrote:

We know she will set a fast pace. We don't know if she can kick off it. That's were the improvement would come.

What I mean is, what is the *overall picture* Re: her fitness based on performances.

For example, in 2011 Baxter ran 16:44 at Mt. SAC. In 2012 she ran 16:00--clear and dramatic improvement. In 2013, however, she ran 16:11, the context for that, however, is she went out much faster and faded at the end. Just the other day, at the CIF State Cross Country Championships, she ran 3 seconds slower than last year, although she had been ill recently.

I can certainly understand that she might be fitter, but less motivated--it might be hard to psyche yourself up for every race when you're running alone and far ahead of everyone else...

Trey Vaughn wrote:

Sad that her first HS defeat will be in her last HS race. At least it will motivate her when she gets to Oregon.

Any particular reason why you believe that is likely to be true?

lol lol lol lol wrote:

For example, in 2011 Baxter ran 16:44 at Mt. SAC. In 2012 she ran 16:00--clear and dramatic improvement. In 2013, however, she ran 16:11, the context for that, however, is she went out much faster and faded at the end. Just the other day, at the CIF State Cross Country Championships, she ran 3 seconds slower than last year, although she had been ill recently.

I can certainly understand that she might be fitter, but less motivated--it might be hard to psyche yourself up for every race when you're running alone and far ahead of everyone else...

She performed faster this year compared to last year on other course besides Mt Sac and CIF. She's either significantly faster or the same. Not slower.

iosoi wrote:

She performed faster this year compared to last year on other course besides Mt Sac and CIF. She's either significantly faster or the same. Not slower.

TY;)

Who do you think will beat her? Elise and Alexa will be right there but they cannot defeat the undefeated..

She is an example of an athlete who had an early break through. She will likely not improve that much in college. Whereas other girls who have yet to have a breakthrough will do so in college.

coach. d. wrote:

She is an example of an athlete who had an early break through. She will likely not improve that much in college. Whereas other girls who have yet to have a breakthrough will do so in college.

Why would a HS distance runner who is the best in the nation despite only training 40-45 miles/week NOT improve dramatically in college?

I am not saying she definitely will NOT. As a big time D1 coach, trust me I have seen this happen plenty of times with high school phenoms.

coach. d. wrote:

I am not saying she definitely will NOT. As a big time D1 coach, trust me I have seen this happen plenty of times with high school phenoms.

You wrote "She will likely not improve that much in college".

She undertrains. A lot.

She's already had her "growth spurt".

She doesn't seem to be injury-prone.

She seems to be a true slow-twitch athlete a la Bill Rodgers, which makes her more likely to thrive on increased mileage.

She will be able to compete over longer distances in college.

She loves running for a team, and she's going to...Oregon.

To me, the above would make me believe her to be much more likely to improve dramatically than the average bear. Er, woman.

I feel her progress will be less significant than some other girls. For example compare Hasay to D'Ag. D'Ag wasn't great in high school, but she is amazing now. Hasay is obviously a pro now, but if you look at her college career her progress was much less significant.

Alexa's gonna take her down at NXN.

lol lol lol lol wrote:

Why would a HS distance runner who is the best in the nation despite only training 40-45 miles/week NOT improve dramatically in college?

What does her mileage have to do with how much she will improve? More isn't necessarily better.

iik wrote:

lol lol lol lol wrote:

Why would a HS distance runner who is the best in the nation despite only training 40-45 miles/week NOT improve dramatically in college?

What does her mileage have to do with how much she will improve? More isn't necessarily better.

This is distance running. Yes it is.

coach. d. wrote:

I am not saying she definitely will NOT. As a big time D1 coach, trust me I have seen this happen plenty of times with high school phenoms.

Too many 40 yard sprints.

doo doo wrote:

This is distance running. Yes it is.

No, it's not. High mileage is an option. But so is low mileage with mostly quality. Plenty of people run well on low mileage. And she's running 5k/6k. There's no need for 100 mpw.