German Fernandez 3:44.43

5 years ago we thought this would be his mile time by now.

In high school, he ran this fast after an 8:3x two mile.

werew wrote:

In high school, he ran this fast after an 8:3x two mile.

Nope. He ran the 1600 first, 4:00.29, then he ran the 8:34 3200.

In all seriousness, why is he so bad now? Does Jerry just kill this guy in training or what? If Salazar coached him, this board would be so upset at his lack of progress.

PFft. People are past that. Most have given up.

Really doesn't look good for Jerry's group...Bumbi also 3:44 and Huling DNF.

at least he beat a 3:33 guy in Carsten Schlangen.

GF needs about six months of healthy training to run 3:34 again.

I don't get how Nike even pays the Btc/Schumacher group anymore. They rarely race, they never win races, and they shy away from press. Schumacher has never done a single video interview. And they've never been in a WOW or workout video. They've only had a website for the last few months.

Evan's the only one producing results.

What happened to Ryan Hill? Remember that 7:34i time?

Mark Wetmore's the only one who knows what the hell he's doing this outdoor season.

Emma Coburn and Jenny Simpson. 'nuff said. Get Fernandez to Boulder. Run up Mags a few times. Shit will work itself out.

Ryan Hill was a close second to Lawi and beat Jäger. Not sure why people are acting like this is a bad showing for him. Was it a PR? No. But it wasn't that sort of race. He spent the last 4 or 5 months losing to Jäger, Bumbi et al so this is promising for him IMO. Jäger will be fine. Bumbi probably had a bad race. This was a rust buster. As sad as it is to say, This is not surprising for GF. And it's not because it's a rust buster or he likely had z bad race.

These guys all peaked back in the indoor season. Everyone knows you can't maintain a 7-8 month season and yet all these guys were running fast times in February. Sure they'll say they're going for two peaks a year, but the reality is that they probably didn't take any time totally off mid year, rather they cut back on intensity. Look at what Lagat, Rupp and Farah do. Minimum of two weeks (more in Lagat's case) of zero running after a competitive peak. They then build up slowly to another peak. Basic stuff but I don't get the sense that BTC does that. They hammer all year and hope guys survive. Their best performances come in Feb-May after they've had a real fall break.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

at least he beat a 3:33 guy in Carsten Schlangen.

GF needs about six months of healthy training to run 3:34 again.

So you are saying he'll never run 3:34 again?

The reality is: people don't realize that staying injury free while training at a very high level is actually a fairly rare ability, and is of course the key to success. People don't realize that guys like Rupp and Solinsky (*when* he was healthy) were/are absolute freaks of nature, able to train at insane volumes/intensities and just not break down or burn out. The German Fernandez's or Andrew Wheatings are really quite common/more common. I used to think it was funny when people always talk about "poor Ritz, he's always hurt", when in reality he's trained at an incredibly high level for years and years. He's had some minor problems that sidelines him here and there, but really, he's been extremely durable. But I guess people think that since he's very gifted, he should NEVER get hurt??

We'd all have reached much higher levels than we actually did if we NEVER got hurt and ALMOST NEVER got burned out, and could train as hard as we pleased. Training 100+ miles a week at a fast pace with lots of high intensity speed work thrown is not a matter of having an iron will or wanting it badly. Ok, it's partly that, but it's more about having a body that can absorb such stress and instead of breaking down from it, be able to withstand it, and get stronger from it. It's the rarest gift/talent of all. With tons of talent but without that specific ability (the ability to not break down), you're Chris Solinsky or German Fernandez. Still a great runner, but not close to truly world class.

He has killed Heath, Fernandez, and Bayer will be next.

Hill should get out quick.

Jager is great (in a dumb event) and Huling, Lamong, Bumbalouugh, and Derrick was already this good when he got there.

Solinsky retiring and Teg close behind.

I predict Jerry gets back into the college game after 2016.

Why anyone would pick Schumacher as a coach is beyond me at this point.

dudes washed up

This race is clearly Dave Smith's fault.

nave wrote:

dudes washed up

Remember earlier this year he ran a high 3:43 and then within a week her ran 3:38. If he can every get rid of that lower leg injury that seems to keep him out, he could still run very fast.

Injury prone, yes. Washed up, not yet.

asfsff wrote:

I don't get how Nike even pays the Btc/Schumacher group anymore. They rarely race, they never win races, and they shy away from press. Schumacher has never done a single video interview. And they've never been in a WOW or workout video. They've only had a website for the last few months.

Schumacher has done a video interview. But I will say that I believe it's the one and only.

No, I think that he will have that healthy six months and maybe a year. The odds diminish every year but he's still young. Staying healthy is a skill and it is possible for him to gain that skill, though probably not with Schumacher. Salazar might get him a year of health. There's nothing natural about Rupp. Salazar is very careful about getting him the kind of general strength training that helps prevent injuries. I know a little bit about being injury-prone, because I got injured on low mileage with not that much intensity almost every week or two in high school and college and was eventually out for a decade and a half with injury. The thing was that various exercises from a physical therapist and others allowed me to run far higher mileage than I could ever manage when I was young and to stay healthy for much longer stretches and run faster times. The only thing is that GF is not going to be running those low 3:30s/sub 13 times we expected for him if he doesn't figure this out until he's in his late 30s. I hope he figures it out much sooner. It doesn't seem like Jerry is the guy to tell him.