Is Sara Hall really running World XC two weeks after LA?

I wondered about that myself when I put the link up. I'm sure the IAAF had that release ready before LA, but the thing is, she knew she was racing LA when she confirmed her spot on the US team. It's not like LA was a last minute decision. So whether she ran a great race in LA or bombed, she knew she was going to have a marathon in her legs going to World XC.

So should the decision really change at this point because her debut wasn't great? Does it matter that she ran 2:48 vs 2:28? Maybe mentally, but physically a marathon is a marathon.

I know that last sentence isn't true. Surely cratering a marathon takes more out of you than finishing kicking it in feeling great with "too much" left. However, speaking from limited experience (2 marathons) I actually felt way way worse after my first one where I ran better/faster than my second one when I totally bombed the last 10K. I think it was because the first one I had enough left to really kill myself the last miles and beat up my legs, but in the second one I was so depleted, so dead, that I was barely shuffling at the end. So my legs actually didn't feel too bad the next day since they only "raced" 20ish miles vs 26.

Hall said she had cramping issues that hindered her performance, so maybe she wasn't able to hammer herself as hard that last 10K and will be recovered faster for World XC than if she hadn't bombed at the end.

Just my rambling thoughts.

Soprano

You are spot on on the psychological part. On the physical I would disagree. 20 hard miles + dead march is super hard on the body and can be worse than hard 26 ones. I have had races like that and my body shut down for ~3 weeks. Easy miles felt like hard paced. Hm felt like 10k. And so on. On one occasion I had cramps/dehydrated so bad that my shoulders/arms where screaming during the race and sore for a whole week.

Bottomline: I don't see her being able to run this well at all.

For what it's worth, Deena Kastor did in 2013:

-2:32:39 for 3rd place on March 17, 2013.

-34th place at World XC Champs on March 24, 2013.

So Kastor only had 7-days where Hall will have almost 13. However, Kastor ran well in LA, Hall didn't. I guess we'll see.

Somebody in the family has to have a pair.

Will either collect the gear and jog around or bail so last minute that another person waiting for a spot can't prepare properly. I realize she earned this right, but it would be nice to send as strong a team as possible.

An all-expenses paid, post-marathon vacation to China. Who would turn that down?

a pair to draw on wrote:

Somebody in the family has to have a pair.

Of legs?

L.A. kids like Sara, Deena, Ryan, Arcianaga, Hasay, Meb, Maggie ... are freaking animals.

justsomeoldcoach wrote:

Soprano

You are spot on on the psychological part. On the physical I would disagree. 20 hard miles + dead march is super hard on the body and can be worse than hard 26 ones. I have had races like that and my body shut down for ~3 weeks. Easy miles felt like hard paced. Hm felt like 10k. And so on. On one occasion I had cramps/dehydrated so bad that my shoulders/arms where screaming during the race and sore for a whole week.

Bottomline: I don't see her being able to run this well at all.

Was it 20 hard + dead march, or 20 hard and jog in?

If she felt a problem and just shut down would be different than if she crashed and burned.

Sara Babe is THE major hottie for ASICS in the Orient. There's no way that Sara isn't going to China and tour around Saigon, Seoul, Singapore, and Hong Kong for ASICS.

It's the MONEY, you foooze wrote:

Sara Babe is THE major hottie for ASICS in the Orient. There's no way that Sara isn't going to China and tour around Saigon, Seoul, Singapore, and Hong Kong for ASICS.

Yep - what he said.

The most beautiful active athlete today is Sara Hall of ASICS.