Mary Cain

Hip size is not relevant. The difference between male and female performance at any age is muscle mass as a portion of total mass. Females cannot produce the same muscle mass as males (at least not without a lot of roids), and therefore are slightly slower than men.

I hope Cain will bounce back at some point and get up to the world elite. It's laughable to say she would have been fine if she went to Dartmouth(!). What, so she could slow down with other runners??

Hang in there Mary -- you're doing all the right things to be world class.

DC Wonk wrote:

Hip size is not relevant. The difference between male and female performance at any age is muscle mass as a portion of total mass. Females cannot produce the same muscle mass as males (at least not without a lot of roids), and therefore are slightly slower than men.

I hope Cain will bounce back at some point and get up to the world elite. It's laughable to say she would have been fine if she went to Dartmouth(!). What, so she could slow down with other runners??

Hang in there Mary -- you're doing all the right things to be world class.

Slightly slower? 1:53 is a lot slower than 1:41.

5'3"-5'5" and 105-118 lbs. those are the parameters of 95% of the elite, clean, female distance runner.

She no longer falls within those parameters.

She had a great career, is a smart girl, and got a few paychecks while the getting was good and she was within those parameters. I'm happy for her and wish her all the best in her education, married life, and motherhood. Running is not life.

Is she permanently out of those parameters? Yes maybe her body has changed but maybe she will find a way to run faster with her changed body, she can lose weight again, it's not like she is stuck now. May take a bit to figure out and in my opinion going pro was the mistake because this was bound to happen and could have been better to go through this in HS and College, but she can still turn it around.

She is done. Going pro was a really good move though, as least she is getting those pay checks which she can use to pay for college.

But did all the dope do permanent damage?

All one has to do to figure out her plateau is look at a full body non-running picture of her from two years ago and compare to one today. She is much bigger around the hips. Try running with extra weight around your hips. It's going to slow anyone down significantly. Hopefully, she will work through it. It took Hasay 3 years to improve on her high school 1500 pr.

In a very 1980s gone 2010s way, I find Mary Cain's body to be very....hot. she looked great in those red us jerseys a couple of years ago.

Its possible it was a case of too much too soon,and its also possible she peaked way too young.A lot of super promising teens end up going backwards,and dropping out of the sport by the time theyre 20.Anorexia can also be a problem with young distance runners,as can overtraining,and injury,as well as burn out.Some teen phenoms,like mary decker,come back,and run well,but a good many dont.Im not writing mary cain off though.Maybe shes just started college,and shes putting education ahead of athletics.

Perhaps he is just following your own example?

InZeNumbas wrote:

5'3"-5'5" and 105-118 lbs. those are the parameters of 95% of the elite, clean, female distance runner.

She no longer falls within those parameters.

Neither does Erin Donohue. She did okay.

Asbel Kiprop meets the weight parameters but not the height parameters (too tall)

InZeNumbas wrote:

5'3"-5'5" and 105-118 lbs. those are the parameters of 95% of the elite, clean, female distance runner.

Mini Wheats wrote:

InZeNumbas wrote:

5'3"-5'5" and 105-118 lbs. those are the parameters of 95% of the elite, clean, female distance runner.

She no longer falls within those parameters.

Neither does Erin Donohue. She did okay.

Who??

InZeNumbas wrote:

Mini Wheats wrote:

Neither does Erin Donohue. She did okay.

Who??

2008 olympian. You're probably more familiar with John Bingham.

"Elite". Cain has already ran faster than Donohue in every event, as a high schooler . . . if that is your definition of success, then Mary obtained it.

Elite as in Dibaba, Hasan, Rowburry, Seyaum, Koster, Sado, Kipyagon, Cherono, etc, etc, etc. Muir may be an outlier, not sure there. Pull up a list of the top ten in the world, or even the top ten in the U.S., nearly all are 5'3"-5'5" and 105-118 lbs. There is a reason.

InZeNumbas wrote:

"Elite". Cain has already ran faster than Donohue in every event, as a high schooler . . . if that is your definition of success, then Mary obtained it.

.

not clear if you are looking at just HS times, but ultimately ED has a better 1500 PR than MC. 4:03.49 vs. 4:04.62