A lot of really talented high school girls have non-linear progressions once they go through that 17-20 age range. Many of them plateau, or even start to get slower. It's not an uncommon phenomenon.
It might not be weight gain, it could be that her body has changed in other ways and she has lost that sense of coordination and fluidity. Hopefully it's only temporary.
i think it was a case of too much too soon.a lot of teens come from nowhere,run phenomenal times,then dissapear down a hole,by the time theyre 20.they either lose interest,overdo it,get injured,burnt out,or even get eating disorders.in australia we had a similar talent,georgie clarke.she ran 2.01/4.06 at age 16,and never improved on that.she ran in the 2000 olympics,and that was pretty much it.she got injured a lot.expectations can be high for teen phenoms,and so many of them are out of the sport by the time theyre 20.i believe mary overdid it.
Several have mentioned the idea that she must be putting up decent workouts or they wouldn't send her to Europe. I would say this is especially true after a poorly paced 9:23 rust buster.
My question is could she be racing all her workouts trying to prove herself?
Does anyone know who is on the track with her during training?
To much too young
Easy. She's a non-doper now. That's my non-doping theory.
it sounds like she is lost right now - everything she decided to do has failed out recently.
She tried going to U Portland. that didn't work out
Running has been awful for a year or more
She's 19 years old, living in her old bedroom
is she still going to Fordham? that place can't be a picnic for a smart woman like MC. Esp when her pals are all at fancy colleges.
I'm sure she does decent workouts but then freaks out in races since she doesn't trust herself anymore and is probably wondering what the point of it all is...
I reject all this physical talk. If that were the case she would be plateuing or down maybe 3-5 seconds in a 1500. And she wouldn't be flying to Germany to race. This is utter collapse, not just a little dip.
Although I suppose some sort of physical change could be adding to her mental tailspin.
truth be told. wrote:
I saw her in person in her prime and then last spring- she's put on weight and has hips now.
In one of Lydiard's books he talks about young female prodigies who look like they'll own the distance running world when they mature actually get wider in the hips, a natural thing for females in order to bear kids he says, and never end up being as fast when they're mature as they were as adolescents.
I also wonder if if the jump from high school star to pro runner isn't too big an adjustment and such runners would really be better off running in college. No matter great a high school runner you are, the sport is still recreation for you. It's not your job. As a college athlete with a scholarship the sport starts to become your job and maybe is the best way of making the transition.
rojo wrote:
We believe in free speech
This is the most heavily moderated forums I visit.
bay area wrote:
rojo wrote:We believe in free speech
This is the most heavily moderated forums I visit.
The most heavily moderated forum you visit?!? With all the garbage that gets left up on here???What vile wastelands do you usually frequent?
On topic, feel bad for Cain. Hard for me to see her coming back to prominence, but who knows? Not I. Hope she does.
agip wrote:
I reject all this physical talk. If that were the case she would be plateuing or down maybe 3-5 seconds in a 1500. And she wouldn't be flying to Germany to race. This is utter collapse, not just a little dip.
Although I suppose some sort of physical change could be adding to her mental tailspin.
If you can easily see the extra weight on someone, then it's costing a lot more than 3-5 seconds. I'm not going to opine on whether that is in fact the issue because I don't really care to spend much time pixel peeping the alleged muffin tops of teenage girls. I'll just say that gaining 10 lbs would totally explain her deteriorating performances. The math is straightforward. Divide previous weight by current weight, and multiply by the vdot that corresponds to her previous best times. You'll get a vdot that corresponds to her current best times. So a 110 lb, 4-flat 1500 runner who subsequently puts on 10 lbs and doesn't lose fitness will become a 4:20 runner.
In practice, even less than 10 lbs could probably explain her poor performances, because there's a psychological component. Everyone knows that it's much easier to push yourself right up to the edge when you know you're running well. But most people don't push themselves as hard when they know they're already running poorly.
My theory: Father Time remains undefeated.
With young female distance/mid-distance runners, I just throw my hands up.
Celebrate their early success, then wait and see what happens in 2 - 5 years.
With guys who show early success (Alan Webb) and flame out quickly, I have often speculated that there might be some metabolic reason behind the early success and early flame out. Basically, early maturation and early aging. Something along the lines of a young teenager with the body of a mid 20s male. By the time the same athlete hits the normal fully matured age (mid 20s) he is already experiencing the decline typically seen in the late 30s - 40s.
Yeah like there's never been a young female distance running phenom that faltered when she aged. A few more years and you just add her name to the list.