Roesler & Mecke after today's 800

She's in the 1500 at Tx Relays, any predictions? I say 4:10.

I've always thought Roesler was such a beautiful girl, but I honestly can't say I like anything about the new eyebrows. It looks silly, and unnatural. She was a knockout before them, so why the change??

But in regards to the more dramatic matter at hand, I agree that Rose Monday was a less-than-ideal choice for Roesler. As another poster pointed out above, Maggie Vessey, a runner with similar distance-orientation to Roesler, had similar issues under this program.

Here's my "out of left field" suggestion: what about Khedevis Robinson? He's coaching Charlene Lipsey right now, and I would think the two of them maybe could make quite good training partners!

Roesler ran 1:59 and nearly 1:58 after Oregon's training regimen last year to become one of the very best in the U.S. She steadily progressed each year there and had no major injuries, so why change drastically? I could understand small changes, perhaps a little more mileage or something, but complete change seems silly. It's pretty obvious that there is no one magic way to train 800 meter runners, so why change something that was working?

I don't think there is enough evidence to say Rose Monday is a terrible coach. Maggie Vessey ran 1:58.50 and was sixth in the final at the World Championships while coached by Monday in 2011. She also ran sub 1:59 at least three other times and had a few other sub two minute performances. She ended up world ranked top ten by Track and Field News that year.

In 2012 while coached by Monday, Vessey was obviously not ready to perform in races up to and including the Olympic Trials. Given Vessey's complicated psyche that may not all have been Rose Monday's fault. It could have been poor coaching, but there could be lots of other factors. It is true that Vessey has yet to run as fast since leaving Monday as she did in 2011 while coached by Monday.

I hope Roesler can get healthy, fit and fast and get the World Championship Team position she is capable of. I do share some of the reservations about the coaching change, but time will tell.

Another factor in Laura's decision to go with Monday was location.

She has made it very clear in past interviews she wanted to go someplace where it is warm. I believe, in one of her interviews, she said someplace hot.

Frigid North Dakota winters and cold/rainy Oregon almost year-around just didn't sit well with her.

Since Laura knew Rose Monday from high school, and Rose lives in San Antonio where it's warm/hot all the time, then the Lone Star state it was.

So, lifestyle preference plays a big role here.

The times Maggie ran the first half of 2011 could have been carry over from Greg Brock's coaching.

I read that Greg coached her more as a 400/800 runner and Rose Monday as a 800/1500 runner.

She flourished under Greg and gradually got slower under Rose. She returned to Greg and her times improved. Those are facts. Who knows how her 2011 & 2012 seasons would have unfolded if she had stayed with Greg.

WarmthoftheSun wrote:

Another factor in Laura's decision to go with Monday was location.

She has made it very clear in past interviews she wanted to go someplace where it is warm. I believe, in one of her interviews, she said someplace hot.

Frigid North Dakota winters and cold/rainy Oregon almost year-around just didn't sit well with her.

Since Laura knew Rose Monday from high school, and Rose lives in San Antonio where it's warm/hot all the time, then the Lone Star state it was.

So, lifestyle preference plays a big role here.

Ah... that makes sense. Eugene weather sucks for sprinters. But going to the south and doing slow distance work in the heat sucks worse!

Welp...Hope she learns quick that her #1 priority should be her coach, and not the other things. There are plenty of good sprint coaches in the south who know how to train a 400/800 girl.

Also, I agree about the fb page... someone want to start it?

watchthevid wrote:

old guy 69 wrote:

Hey willl....you have your before and after pictures reversed.

What a difference. Those penciled eyebrows look as bad as the botox lips some women get.

Maggie Vessey never improved under Rose Monday. As soon as Vessey went back to Greg Brock she ran faster than she had with Monday.

Maybe she should call Brock?

No, he's right... She used to pluck em super tiny, now they are more natural and it looks different.

But again, How do coaches like Monday get athletes like Roesler. I guarantee I could find 20 coaches in one day who would be better.

Someone should start a petition or fb page and get trending on twitter. "Run Laura RUN! From Rose Monday!!!"

I'm sorry, I can't get behind such a lame catch phrase to try to get trending - an allusion to that dumb movie line.

Also, it seems I'm the only one curious to see how this outdoor campaign goes before flipping the f#ck out and demanding she make a change.

So I think there's confusion that needs to be cleared up.

The "new" eyebrows are her real eyebrows, right? There's no way that those heavy eyebrows could be pencilled in. By the way, they don't look bad; it's just that we're not used to seeing her natural brows rather than her heavily plucked brows from back in the day.

road rashed wrote:

Centro didn't want her in Nop after they broke up. Berto obliged.

Name all the 800m runners AS has coached...

It's reasonable to say that she is very frustrated after her 2:04. After two weeks of training, you can't conclude much and she could be much faster, but it is obvious that at the moment she does not think that this kind of distance training is preparing her at all for the 800m, when going out in 62, if I heard right, was as fast as she could go. This is an athlete with very nearly national class 400m speed in college. That's not an 800/1500m type that should be trained with longer distance stuff. Maybe more base, like Cruz and Gray, but predominantly short speed and long speed.

old guy 69 wrote:

The times Maggie ran the first half of 2011 could have been carry over from Greg Brock's coaching.

I read that Greg coached her more as a 400/800 runner and Rose Monday as a 800/1500 runner.

She flourished under Greg and gradually got slower under Rose. She returned to Greg and her times improved. Those are facts. Who knows how her 2011 & 2012 seasons would have unfolded if she had stayed with Greg.

This is correct.

There is no pencilling!!!!! wrote:

So I think there's confusion that needs to be cleared up.

The "new" eyebrows are her real eyebrows, right? There's no way that those heavy eyebrows could be pencilled in. By the way, they don't look bad; it's just that we're not used to seeing her natural brows rather than her heavily plucked brows from back in the day.

No. There is no confusion.

1) Rose Monday is going to ruin her.

2) The new eyebrows are not real. Laura has been plucking and painting for years. Who knows why women do this, other than the women themselves. It looks universally ridiculous in my opinion.

3) My opinion about both of the above points counts for exactly zero.

it's threads like this that really highlight how letsrun is full of men.

who f'in cares about her eyebrows? but if you do care, loadedforduck is correct. it's very obvious laura is now finally NOT doing anything drastic to her eyebrows. painted on?? c'mon people, have you ever looked in the mirror at your own natural eyebrows? she might shape them now but that's definitely her own eyebrows.

0) Hire Rose Monday

1) Move to Texas

2) Get injured

3) Come back slower

4) Continue to get slower

5) Paint eyebrows

6) Graduate clown college

7) Profit

Monday = Loser

Victorious88 wrote:

She's in the 1500 at Tx Relays, any predictions? I say 4:10.

Rose Monday never coached a women to a 4:10.

I say 4:20+

The first race of the season for 800 runners is usually not very pretty, especially when coming out of an injury. Just look at Rudisha's race in Australia. She is under a lot of pressure in her transition to being a full time pro in an event that is very stacked in the US (Wilson, Martinez, Beckwith, Price, Vessey, Kampf, Cain). Of course she is going to be flustered that she is not where she wants to be. But there is plenty of time before USAs and she has plenty of talent. It is just too early to know whether Monday ruined her. Pointing to Maggie Vessey is not that great of an indicator for Rose's coaching ability. It might not be possible to say whether Monday ruined Vessey or whether Vessey ruined Vessey.

I don't think anyone is saying that Maggie Vessey "is ruined," just that she never "improved" under Rose Monday.

Don't forget that Vessey regained some of her losses under Monday by returning to her former coach.

Also, Monday has never produced significant results or improvements with any athlete.