PAN AM MARATHON: US BOMBS

dey bombed wrote:

Toronta wrote:

Yes it does.

No, it doesn't.

See how easy that is, stupid?

There are not five minutes worth of hills in Toronto.

Hint: the NYC marathon runs 2-3 minutes slow.

Hint the NYC Marathon is run in Fall , not 34C humidex. You are a stupid moron.

Oh please, when is every day not a "grind" for Rob Watson?"I'm loving the ride. I dig the sport, dig the grind and love meeting all sorts of neat folk along the way...""I just love this sport and I love the whole grind....""Not gonna lie, that first 3weeks was a grind!""I’d be running a 10km race, at km 7 things would start to hurt. I’d be grinding hard and eventually roll up on someone...""I used to be a pretty tough b@stard, easily an 8 out of 10 in my ability to suffer and grind. Last year that dropped to a 5 at best...."Even....."Grouse Grind take 2-Gotta get that elusive sub 30."AD NAUSEUM

fred wrote:

Rob Watson:

"The race was run under warm and humid conditions. Four of 18 runners could not finish the race. Another dropped out before the start.

“It made for a very challenging day. It was definitely a grind,” Watson said."

I guess that's your favourite word(s), Rob. Other than Fast Fade From the Front.

' “I was doing workouts based on what Eric and Reid were doing, not based on what I needed,” Watson says.'

What did you need?

Did the American guys, or anyone for that matter, have a chance to go through the full training cycle in preparation? Like, did they necessarily know they were going to be chosen, etc. (the TrackTy debacle notwithstanding)?

here's the thing wrote:

go usa. wrote:

Idiot. It was a slow, tactical race in the heat and hills. They ran fine.

Losing a "tactical" race won in 10+ minutes over your PR is bad tactics.

Said the worst tactician ever.

dey bombed wrote:

Toronta wrote:

Yes it does.

No, it doesn't.

See how easy that is, stupid?

There are not five minutes worth of hills in Toronto.

Hint: the NYC marathon runs 2-3 minutes slow.

Yes, at least 4 minutes slow... And Leon only had a few weeks to really focus on preparations. Anyone who doesn't understand the effects of humidity is naive. 2:19 on that course (I am from Toronto and have actually run the 10 k loop) in those conditions is easily worth 2:14, which is the level they are at. Leon in particular should be applauded for his effort on such short notice. Well done to both.

I was there watching. There was no shade, little crowd support and it was brutal conditions. 19 or 18 started and 13 finished. As the runners went by you could hear the squish of their shoes soaked with sweat after the first lap. And that was all you heard because there were no spectators to speak of. It was surreal to see miles of road closed and it was very quiet. There was one lead vehicle which was police van and a motorcycle. No press on the course. At the official aid station at 4/10/14/20/24/30/34/40k point at one point I was the only person not a cop, medic, half asleep South American federation coach or water station volunteer. The course was not flat and had long uphills/downhills and the turnaround area was a bit hilly. My hat is off to anyone that finished that race yesterday. Definitely worth 5 minutes.

here's the thing wrote:

go usa. wrote:

Idiot. It was a slow, tactical race in the heat and hills. They ran fine.

Losing a "tactical" race won in 10+ minutes over your PR is bad tactics.

I didn't know their PRs were sub 2:07.

From the only map I can find it wasn't even four laps really--essentially out and back 4 x? Looks like a horrible course and yes, High Park is hilly, especially if you're repeating the same hill series 8x.

Leon and Young did well, the first four runners are in sub 2:13 form.

The Peruvian runner (silver medalist) ran 2:11:01 in Rotterdam this year (and beat Coolsaet by the way, so Rob Watson lost fair and square against a better marathoner)

I was out watching both the women's and men's marathons at Pan Ams and can attest that the course and conditions for both were atrocious. It was hot, hilly and extremely humid. Even the best trained and heat-acclimatized athletes could not expect to run well in those circumstances. The races were total wars of attrition and how Tejeda ran 2:33 or Perez set a PB is beyond me. Extremely impressive. Your American boys, Leon and Yonge, ran very well and should be commended for their efforts.

I can only hope Mastromarino (the Argentinian in third place) is anyway near 2:13 form as he is still trying to get the 2:17 qualifying standard for Rio (there are no athletes with the mark yet in Argentina). I read in a post-race interview that he went to the pan am games to fetch the mark & not a medal and he finally left with a medal & not the mark...Hopefully he gets in a good training block and runs a fast marathon soon.

Ben L Wrong wrote:

Leon and Young did well, the first four runners are in sub 2:13 form.

The Peruvian runner (silver medalist) ran 2:11:01 in Rotterdam this year (and beat Coolsaet by the way, so Rob Watson lost fair and square against a better marathoner)