One of the announcers claimed that she had started as an 800 runner and stepped down to the 400H. I don't know if her district has indoor track and she runs the 800 in the winter or if she only ran the 800 in middle school.
Can one of you internet sleuths find her 800 times?
NJ Milesplit claims her XC PR is 25:32. She doesn't have an 800 time there so most likely she hasn't run the 800 in a while.
Olympic gold medalist Kerron Clement was in the XC team in HS. Not sure about his PB.
I think it's a good idea to be on the xc team. This way she can still be on a team but not feel any pressure. I am surprised that she is not faster. I would think that an Olympian, who is running 20-25 MPW, would be able to be in the 21 min 5k range. But I guess if she is just sandbagging the training, run 1 mile walk 2 etc. it would make sense.
My guess is that she does not sandbag the training, except maybe staying away from tree roots. If she sandbags anything, it would be the races. She could run a couple minutes faster if she had to but as World Youth Champion and now Olympian, the risk/pain involved isn't worth it to move from #25 to #18 on her XC team.
^#$^T*UHiusdv982 wrote:
One of the announcers claimed that she had started as an 800 runner and stepped down to the 400H. I don't know if her district has indoor track and she runs the 800 in the winter or if she only ran the 800 in middle school.
Can one of you internet sleuths find her 800 times?
NJ Milesplit claims her XC PR is 25:32. She doesn't have an 800 time there so most likely she hasn't run the 800 in a while.
I think she has run a couple of 800s in youth meets, which is not unusual. Based on her 55m hurdles and indoor 200m times suggest she is natual sprinter (fast twitch) and is simply not built for distance. However, she is such great athlete, I am certain she could be a decent XC runner if she ever took it serious.
Wow, she's done long jump a couple times and jumped over 19'. It looks like she would have demolished everyone in NJ if she did it at state championships.
I know a guy who was pretty good at hurdles in high school. He ran XC in the fall instead of doing football. He actually trained for XC and didn't just sandbag it. He was the top guy on his team his senior year. I saw him run in the low 17s in high school for 5k. I don't think his cross country training hurt his fast twitch. He later ran 44.57 for 400 meters (indoors) and won some 400 M Hurdle race this morning in Rio.
Coach Pink wrote:
Not sure if you need to be developing slow twitch at her level. 27 mins is to slow for her training. Now, maybe running some indoor 600's is a good idea. Skip the useless cross races and maybe some slightly over distance stuff 600-800
Edwin Moses?
Sammy Watson runs XC -- in the 18's, and is competitive up to the state level.
I think physically it is probably a good thing to do in the fall, but it does add to a heck of a lot of racing for a high school kid.
Larry David wrote:
I'm really surprised such an extraordinary athlete would compete in a sport in which her performance was so relatively poor:
http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Athlete.aspx?AID=5993655#/L0
Son one of the world's great sprinters can't run 8 minute miles for 5k yet everyone thinks Bolt can break 4:30 - laughable.
Did Edwin Moses win a hurdle race today?
Coach Pink wrote:
Edwin Moses?
why would someone question the value of off-season XC training. Many HS kids (and older) run the IH as well as the 800. No one questions an 800 guy running cross.
would kill to see Bolt run a mile! Would love this kind of thing made into a new sports show for the modern era. Those of us old enough remember the old Superstars on ABC during the winter- where we had shot putters and NFL players running the half mile and sprints, and skiers lifting weights, etc. Remember the shot putter Brian Oldfield running very fast 100 yard dash like a freight train. Great stuff, often hilarious.
FYI,
The all time WORST incompatible event for a top athlete, ever attempted-
-Smokin Joe Frazier in the swim competition in the 1973 Superstars.
..funny, sad, humiliating...
There is a top Canadian university guy in the 400/600/800 who started the sport late, coming from soccer. As far as I know he runs XC like must 800 guys in Canada...and not fast.
Frankly, soccer would be better training than running slow, but it's good to be with the team year-round.
BigTex wrote:
Did Edwin Moses win a hurdle race today?
Coach Pink wrote:Edwin Moses?
no but he did go almost a decade undefeated and set the world record multiple times. I believe his PB is 47.02. correct me if im wrong but pretty sure thats faster then the winners of rio and london...
I know what Edwin Moses accomplished. I think you are missing the point of the conversation.
I was pointing out that Kerron Clement was a solid XC runner in high school and has always managed to have plenty of fast-twitch. It is a myth that distance running kills speed. Not doing speed kills speed. Besides that, modern studies show the 400 is about 43% aerobic. I would imagine that the 400 hurdles would require even more aerobic effort than the open 400. Either way, fall XC is a good fit for McLaughlin and all other long sprinters.