Has anyone ever heard of 13-year old phenom, Sydney Thorvaldson of Rawlins, WY? Her times seem absurd considering they were all run at elevation (Cheyenne is about 7,000'):
10:10 for 3k cross country at the Wyoming state meet in October, winning by 1:45.
38:39 for 10k at a tough Bolder Boulder for first overall female in citizen's division and an age 13 record (well ahead of the likes of Lauren Gregory at a similar age).
1:21:21 at the Denver Rock and Roll Half Marathon in October (6:12 per mile) as fourth overall female.
I am betting she could push Ping. What kind of training is required to be a top middle school athlete anymore?
Move over Grace Ping
Training Advice/Discussion
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Grace has only been at 7,000 feet since August.
How many years has Sydney lived at 6800 feet in Rawlins. -
Rover the Wonder Pig wrote:
Grace has only been at 7,000 feet since August.
How many years has Sydney lived at 6800 feet in Rawlins.
No idea. Not really my point or question... -
i hope neither burns out
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i hope neither burns out
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Very good, but Ember Stratton ran similar times at a young age and look where she is now: not even winning NXN.
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If Coach Ma could get a hold of these little gazelles, Americans would be beating all the East Africans in eight years!
Has Tinman referred to Ping as an "average talent " yet? Maybe he's waiting for when she breaks 9:50 2M on the trak. -
Milers Hate Mud! wrote:
If Coach Ma could get a hold of these little gazelles, Americans would be beating all the East Africans in eight years!
Has Tinman referred to Ping as an "average talent " yet? Maybe he's waiting for when she breaks 9:50 2M on the trak.
Lol -
12 year old Alayna Szuch of Evergreen, CO ran 38:51 at the same Bolder Boulder also setting an age record, and was top 7 overall at the Loon Mtn 10K USATF Mountain Championships.
Phenoms everywhere. -
Coyote Montane wrote:
12 year old Alayna Szuch of Evergreen, CO ran 38:51 at the same Bolder Boulder also setting an age record, and was top 7 overall at the Loon Mtn 10K USATF Mountain Championships.
Phenoms everywhere.
Indeed. That's really moving at Boulder's elev. & on a fairly challenging course. Ridiculous for a 12-yr old. Probably worth a 37:50 or faster at sea level. -
You forgot Allie
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I'm happy that there are all these teen phenoms in running. However, I hope they're having fun at running more than anything. As they get older, the odds of them being chewed up by some shitbag coach gets higher, so I hope that they run for fun and grow up to be good people versus Olympian jerks.
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Boulder course is 30 sec slower than your typical altitude (5000-6000 ft) 10K, and those are about a minute slower than sea level. But you wonder where these kids are going to be in 4-5 years. Hope they can keep improving and having fun with the sport.
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Let's hope they avoid burnout, unfortunately it is all too common.
Now if there turns out to be a youth runner that can top the likes of Nancy Wambui's 15:22 5000m at age 14 however.... we can only hope haha -
SOS wrote:
It's been shown many times that the best adult women distance runners didn't even run competitively in their early teens and as a result their bodies reached sexual maturity (yes this is very important in bone and muscular development) before their bodies were subjected to the rigors of distance running.
Link to any examples? -
Why would the single-age world record holder move over? Ping holds WRs for 5k at ages 10, 11, 12 and 13.
Sydney Thorvaldson is very good but she is the chaser. Ping and she will likely not run against each other until next year. The Utah control over middle school runners for spring track might prevent that. -
Blown away in WY wrote:
Has anyone ever heard of 13-year old phenom, Sydney Thorvaldson of Rawlins, WY? Her times seem absurd considering they were all run at elevation (Cheyenne is about 7,000'):
10:10 for 3k cross country at the Wyoming state meet in October, winning by 1:45.
38:39 for 10k at a tough Bolder Boulder for first overall female in citizen's division and an age 13 record (well ahead of the likes of Lauren Gregory at a similar age).
1:21:21 at the Denver Rock and Roll Half Marathon in October (6:12 per mile) as fourth overall female.
I am betting she could push Ping. What kind of training is required to be a top middle school athlete anymore?
I saw her at a meet in Craig CO (Moffat Invitational) this fall where she ran a 13:low for a 4k effortlessly talking and cajoling within seconds of finishing. Looked like a warmup.
She also ran a 5:2x 1600 as a 7th grader. Word at the meet was that she just trains with team and that's it, just natural. The thing is, she didn't even seem aware of her abilities and she didn't dress or act at all like an elite runner/phenom. Not pretentious or decked in gear at all. You'd be hard pressed to pick her out among other middle schoolers (at least until she started running!) -
Wyo-why so fast wrote:
Blown away in WY wrote:
Has anyone ever heard of 13-year old phenom, Sydney Thorvaldson of Rawlins, WY? Her times seem absurd considering they were all run at elevation (Cheyenne is about 7,000'):
10:10 for 3k cross country at the Wyoming state meet in October, winning by 1:45.
38:39 for 10k at a tough Bolder Boulder for first overall female in citizen's division and an age 13 record (well ahead of the likes of Lauren Gregory at a similar age).
1:21:21 at the Denver Rock and Roll Half Marathon in October (6:12 per mile) as fourth overall female.
I am betting she could push Ping. What kind of training is required to be a top middle school athlete anymore?
I saw her at a meet in Craig CO (Moffat Invitational) this fall where she ran a 13:low for a 4k effortlessly talking and cajoling within seconds of finishing. Looked like a warmup.
She also ran a 5:2x 1600 as a 7th grader. Word at the meet was that she just trains with team and that's it, just natural. The thing is, she didn't even seem aware of her abilities and she didn't dress or act at all like an elite runner/phenom. Not pretentious or decked in gear at all. You'd be hard pressed to pick her out among other middle schoolers (at least until she started running!)
If that's true, that's amazing. Especially impressive was her half marathon at 6:12 per mile avg in Denver's thin air. I guess the question is, how much does the team train & does she run on her own or with parents on the wknd? Hard to believe you can just show up to a half on little training and drop that kind of time just behind some elite runners.
But, either way, the inherent talent is crazy. I hope she can sustain it. -
Based on my experiences as a “dad†of 2 daughters who ran high school track/xc I mostly agree with SOS. So often those “pre-puberty flyers†(7th, 8th and sometimes 9th grade) become non-factors or are completely out of the sport by senior year. Some just burn out, sometimes it’s the physical transition from 13 year old to that of a young woman, or often a little of both. The girl that won this year’s NCAA XC never won state in anything during HS and barely cracked the top 50 at nationals…the deck seems to get “reshuffled†from one year to the next as I see it.
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SOS wrote:
Any parent that moves their family across the country (Grace Ping's family) just so their 13 year old daughter can train at altitude is pushing their kid like tennis parents are notorious at doing. This is idiotic and clearly they have lost focus. Tiger Mom and Dad!!!
Yes she could ultimately be successful but at what cost and what are the odds? 1 in a million.
Odds are these girls will be out of the sport long before they finish high school.
Young phenom runners should be nurtured and held back as much as possible to avoid injuries and burnout. What you do as a 13 year old has no bearing on how you will do as an adult Especially with girls.
It's been shown many times that the best adult women distance runners didn't even run competitively in their early teens and as a result their bodies reached sexual maturity (yes this is very important in bone and muscular development) before their bodies were subjected to the rigors of distance running.
The family did NOT move for running reasons.
