Gwen thinks she can improve a LOT in the half / full

She is right about the breastfeeding. Marathon training is way to demanding for that.

She is barely a 5K/10K runner. She has run them a total of three times combined in the last 7 years or so. Her upside is massive if she stays healthy.

Correct training long distance takes time, and definitely takes more than 2 years. It appears that reality is setting in with her, as her form and running are not very good.

Those things can be corrected, but it will take years of high quality training, mechanics building and racing in order

to be an elite body.

The elite runners that she will be facing have been training and racing for at least a decade , if not more. They have experienced the highs and lows, and they have been pushed to the limits over and over again.

Her body and form need a LOT of work, and her mechanics need to be redeveloped. In the tri world, she was going up against non-elite runners. They were elite tri athletes, but not even close to being great runners, so gwen was able to dominate them based on her talent, and those athletes were not much competition for her. She was simply the fastest out of THAT GROUP.

But on this level, she is dealing with Cheetahs, Gazelles, Salukis, etc, who specialize in elite speed endurance, so she is not going to be able to succeed just buy being a talented athlete.

After seeing her half marathon race I'm more concerned with her health if anything, because she looks malnourished....so I hope she not killing herself by trying to cram everything in.

I don't disagree with her capability to improve, but wasn't her recent half perfectly in line with that Stanford 10k race she ran a couple weeks before it?

In other words, her half performance was EXCELLENT, given her recent 10k, unless that was sandbagged

Don’t forget people.... Gwen isn’t just a runner, she’s a REAL athlete - a triathlete champion.

If she says improvement will come, rest assured it will.

Lol I knew we'd find this genius on here.

Sit and kick wrote:

I don't disagree with her capability to improve, but wasn't her recent half perfectly in line with that Stanford 10k race she ran a couple weeks before it?

In other words, her half performance was EXCELLENT, given her recent 10k, unless that was sandbagged

She's no spring chicken and she's not new to training. I don't see as much upside as every else seems to.

not so much wrote:

Sit and kick wrote:

I don't disagree with her capability to improve, but wasn't her recent half perfectly in line with that Stanford 10k race she ran a couple weeks before it?

In other words, her half performance was EXCELLENT, given her recent 10k, unless that was sandbagged

She's no spring chicken and she's not new to training. I don't see as much upside as every else seems to.

Yeah, that is what I'm saying, but people are going to say that you are hating, when it's just a critique of someone's running ability and experience.

I just see too much smoke being blown up the rear with her quest, and she just does not like good to me at all, not even in the raw sense where someone is just starting off. She will definitely run faster than 2:41 - that's obvious. However, I don't see sub 2:28 or anything close to that presently or in the future.

People just don't realize how hard it is to build up a running body, and an elite one at that. She may feast off of B and C level runners, but I don't see her ever being about to compete against A level talent. NO hate.

I don't care if people think I'm a hater because I'm indifferent to them and indifferent to her. I think you're in the right ballpark with 2:28 or so for her ultimate potential.

She'll pick up a minute in the 1/2 just from losing the breast milk.

Great for Gwen!

I'm rooting for her.

She stated heavens goak...wow! Who does that? Shes awesome.

Yeah, she has a bit to learn, but nothing new. It's work, work, and more work

Gwen, I hope the world for you!

Part of the reason her form looks odd is because of her bone structure. She has extremely square shoulders which makes her look like she isn't running relaxed even though she is.

Rerunner wrote:

Part of the reason her form looks odd is because of her bone structure. She has extremely square shoulders which makes her look like she isn't running relaxed even though she is.

In that case maybe she has even less upside than I think she does.

Dumbest post I've ever read on LRC. Cheetahs, Gazelles and Salukis don't have any endurance at all. Pure sprinters. Get out of here with you misinformed takes.

What?

It was a metaphor. ..and salukis are gazelles distance runners in the animal kingdom.

Gazelles and Salukis? They can maintain their top speed for miles and miles.

Here are Salukis hunting gazelles at max speed covering up to 5 miles. Hell Salukis are the best canine milers to 10kers, sled dogs are probably the best canine marathoners.

I can't believe you said that Gazelles and Salukis don't have any endurance.....I'm going to give you time to correct yourself.

so go ahead.

She WILL improve a lot. With enough training, she could be a top 10 US marathoner. Her chances of making the olympic team are about as good as sarah sellers making the podium at boston. It CAN happen but dont bet on lightning striking

Zoologist wrote:

Cheetahs, Gazelles and Salukis don't have any endurance at all. Pure sprinters.

Totally wrong.

Cheetahs, being cats, don't have any endurance.

However, gazelles and salukis can run for quite a long time.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Zoologist wrote:

Dumbest post I've ever read on LRC. Cheetahs, Gazelles and Salukis don't have any endurance at all. Pure sprinters. Get out of here with you misinformed takes.

What?

It was a metaphor. ..and salukis are gazelles distance runners in the animal kingdom.

Gazelles and Salukis? They can maintain their top speed for miles and miles.

Here are Salukis hunting gazelles at max speed covering up to 5 miles. Hell Salukis are the best canine milers to 10kers, sled dogs are probably the best canine marathoners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJRTPjN8oI

Oh, so now we're just pretending that you never said cheetah? And we're going to pretend humans were somehow able to persistent hunt gazelles despite some notable level of endurance on the part of the gazelle? And a 5 min video of dogs running is a demonstration of endurance? Get out of here with your gas lighting.

Keep in mind this is her first year really running. Some of these people she is up against have been running since they were 5. Yes the triathlon requires running, but in training you do more in swim and bike and less in run. You basically cross train much of the running part. She is doing amazing already but imagine her as a freshman in high school. Sure she ran a little in ma xc and track but it doesn’t compare to hs. Most freshman will make a huge jump in training after there first year running. I believe Gwen has a lot of potential she will get to. Patenice is really key here. She also has to take a few risks to figure out what training works for her.