Tierney Wolfgram....2:40?!???!!

astrid wrote:

That article was a little distressing. I had previously thought if she wants to give it a go and run a marathon while she’s young and fast no big deal. But then to hear the higher mileage resulted in two fractures in a year?! And then she’s still training for the trials while doing online school?

I think if you qualify it’s a great experience to run even as a teen, but not sure this should be at the expense of intact bones, attending class etc. And that’s not even getting into the college scholarship debate.

I really hope she has proper coaching and medical help and her parents are being careful because that article sounded really scary. I hate criticising a high schooler on here but that’s the truth.

Agreed. Even the way she talks about the mental impacts of it all. I hope at least when she goes off to college she learns to deal with that better since I’ve heard a lot of it is her parents’ pushing her.

Here's some footage that includes Tierney running at Hike Heartland in November, 2018. Look for bib #3222.

Emily Covert is pulling at the front of the pack in the first few scenes; behind her is Tierney, with Grace Ping right behind her. Lauren Ping is also near the front. Tierney later dropped out, and at the finish it was 1. Emily Covert, 2. Grace Ping, 3. Lauren Ping.

2018 was kind of the girl's "Dream Team" at Nike Heartland, with Covert, Wolfgram, the Pings, Anna Fenske, and some others there. The Wayzata girl's team won Nike Heartland that day, and went on to finish 3rd at NXN in 2018.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

so confused please explain wrote:

Does Tierney intend to run high school xc and track competitively any more? Even collegiate xc and track? Or is she choosing to instead become a full time marathoner? Is she looking to go pro straight out of high school? Running in the Olympic Trials as a high schooler is pretty impressive and it makes sense that she thought this was the easiest route to do so, but it is a pretty risky move.

She's not going pro with a 2:40 PR.

Obviously not, but the 2:40 was her first marathon and she went out pretty hard, so it's reasonable to guess that she might lower her time enough to receive a small sponsorship and consistently earn prize money at marathons. Also, as a high schooler, I'm guessing that once news gets out to the high school running community that she will compete in the Olympic Trials, she will become even more popular which would help her a lot.

Tierney @ Nike Heartland 2018: wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TodowdL7HfQ

Here's some footage that includes Tierney running at Hike Heartland in November, 2018. Look for bib #3222.

Emily Covert is pulling at the front of the pack in the first few scenes; behind her is Tierney, with Grace Ping right behind her. Lauren Ping is also near the front. Tierney later dropped out, and at the finish it was 1. Emily Covert, 2. Grace Ping, 3. Lauren Ping.

2018 was kind of the girl's "Dream Team" at Nike Heartland, with Covert, Wolfgram, the Pings, Anna Fenske, and some others there. The Wayzata girl's team won Nike Heartland that day, and went on to finish 3rd at NXN in 2018.

That was the SECOND race in a ROW she dropped out. (State is where she also dropped out). Doing a marathon mid-season will do that.

In the Tollefson interview, she said it was her mother who suggested doing the marathon.

I think that tells you all you need to know.

That she would boost the training volume - to marathon level - after/despite two stress fractures makes you suspect that no one’s looking out for her long-term health and fitness.

Maybe she can hire Mark Hadley as a coach?

why ????? wrote:

She's typically considered to be one of the top-10 ranked XC runners in the nation and her parents and coaches think doing a marathon mid-season makes sense. How many college coaches just crossed her off their recruiting list?

Just as many as those who added her to theirs. It's tough to get talented runners to run the 10K at conference, preliminary round, and outdoor champs, she'd probably revel in all of those for all four years plus would be an xc monster. So agree to let her redshirt one fall and one spring in those four years to run a couple marathons, maybe green light a half-marathon after the end of each xc season, to boot. If she's a good enough student, any Ivy should want her and comply on competition schedule.

LoneStarXC wrote:

mar828 wrote:

Totally insane. Cathy Schiro of the future?

Or another Alana Hadley...

Or another Lindsey Scherf…

Certainly she has succeeded as a distance runner. However, this thing is a train wreck. Sure you can argue how neat it is for her to run a marathon, to qualify for the olympic trials as a high schooler. Sure you can argue that she can do what she wants. The reality is that she will fall hard and fast if she stays on her current program. We are already seeing it with Katlyn Touhy. Geez, i wish her parents or someone could steer this thing in the right direction. Distance running requires gradual development and patience. She is making the wrong decisions for a 15-17 year old girl. This is a fact.

While I am sadly too familiar with the sad stories of childhood careers gone astray, could you kindly provide some facts about "what we are already seeing with Tuohy?"

Touhy is over trained as a high school runner and recently got roughed up at an indoor meet going against pro runners. Then, if not mistaken raced again the following day. She is good but these young girls think they are invincible and the physical and mental toll catches up. See clauia lane, many cain.....

There is a group of posters who obsess over teen girls but lose interest once they go pro or go to college. Whether Wolgram or Tuohy, they will move onto their next big thing.

Holy F*. If Mary Cain was abused by Salazar because he dared to weigh a pro athlete, how do you call this?

https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a30998298/tierney-wolfgram-olympic-marathon-trials/

Wolfgram planned to jump right back into cross-country after Twin Cities, which took place four weeks before the high school state championships. But she underestimated how much mental and physical recovery time she needed.

“I was really tired after the marathon,” she said. “I started worrying that I wasn’t recovering, and that was stressing me out more. That’s when my season went downhill.”

After a few days off of running, she resumed a lighter training plan, but had trouble getting into a racing mindset again. At the 2018 state meet, she dropped out of the race. Then she dropped out of Nike Cross a few weeks later. She felt physically okay, but mentally drained.

“I don’t ever regret doing the marathon, but I do regret dropping out of those races,” she said. “I just felt like there was a ton of pressure on me. I needed to take a step back and really recover.”

After building up a solid winter training base following the cross-country season, Wolfgram was in the middle of her first outdoor track practice of 2019 when she felt a throbbing pain in her left foot. She finished the workout, thinking it would pass. Then suddenly she heard a “pop” when she landed.

A visit to the doctor revealed what she feared: stress fractures in her second and third metatarsals. To recover, Wolfgram had to stop running for 10 weeks, and needed to wear a stress-fracture boot for eight of those.

“I was able to run in two meets by the end of the season, but it was definitely not what I wanted,” she said.

Around this time, she transferred from Math and Science Academy to Woodbury High School, where Wolfgram planned to run cross-country in the fall of 2019. After a slow buildup after her injury, she was back logging 55 miles per week in the summer. This time, she had no looming marathons on the schedule; instead, she eyed redemption in cross-country.

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6 Stress Fracture Warning Signs

Sadly, the teen’s dreams were short-lived. In early September 2019, just a week before her second race of the season, she felt a sharp pain in her left shin. She ended up racing anyway, finishing first in the Lakeville Applejack Invitational in 18:08.56. The day after the race, she headed straight to the doctor.

“I found out that I’d just raced on a fractured tibia,” she said. “Our best guess for why it happened was that I had been running on too much hard surface, like concrete, and I wasn’t sleeping enough because I was stressed. My body couldn’t handle it.”

To recover, Wolfgram was on crutches for a few weeks, then in a boot again. She couldn’t run for nine weeks total, which meant the rest of her cross-country season was shot. Still, she remained hopeful that she’d recover in time for Trials.

Thanks for the response. I would say the facts show that Tuohy is average trained for a high school runner, and maybe surprisingly under raced. (For her career she has only run 4 non standard high school events 5k at VA showcase, Dr.Sander pro 3k twice, 6k US Club Nats)

I'm not aware that she was "roughed up" in any way during a race with pros. She was trying to run 9 minutes, and ran the first 2k's on plan coming thru in 6 minutes. At that point she felt awful/blew up/choose a descriptor and ran the final k in 3:32.

The following day she participated in the Rockland County Meet, but she did not have to make any all out race effort as she was 30 seconds per mile faster than the field. These meets while not an ideal schedule were on the calendar many months in advance. Clearly the pro effort was "the race", and the county meet was a necessary evil on cruise control.

Now due to this years quirky schedule for her NY section, she has not had a meet in about 3 weeks. She will finish indoor with NY state qualifier, NY State meet, and then NBIN.

We'll just have to revisit these threads next year when she is in college to see how she progresses vis a vis Lane and Cain. I can't promise she will keep improving in college, but I am fairly certain she will not disappear.

First off, she’s NOT an “Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier”. She’s not old enough! You have to turn 20 in the Olympic year and be eligible to compete in the Olympics, to say you’re an “OTQ”. She gets to compete because the Trials also functions as the US Championship this year, which you have to be 16 to compete in. Same situation Alana Hadley faced in 2016 cause she didn’t turn 20 until 2017. If she runs and finishes there will or should be some sort of asterisk beside her name in the results (or however they do it).

Ask Schweizer and Houlihan what they were doing in January/February during high school. They weren't running pro races. They weren't running multiple races. They weren't even running because practice did not start until the end of February. Most states do not have indoor track. Yes Tuohy is training and racing more than 99% of other high schoolers.

New article on MileSplit:

https://www.milesplit.com/articles/275945-tierney-wolfgram-set-for-us-olympic-marathon-trials

so confused please explain wrote:

Does Tierney intend to run high school xc and track competitively any more? Even collegiate xc and track? Or is she choosing to instead become a full time marathoner? Is she looking to go pro straight out of high school? Running in the Olympic Trials as a high schooler is pretty impressive and it makes sense that she thought this was the easiest route to do so, but it is a pretty risky move.

From the MileSplit article:

"Wolfgram's goals after the Trials are not to continue in the marathon.

"This will probably be my last marathon in high school -- and in college, too," she told Tollefson. " It will be my last one in awhile. I'm sad about that."

Tierney Wolgram is in the Olympic Trials: wrote:

so confused please explain wrote:

Does Tierney intend to run high school xc and track competitively any more? Even collegiate xc and track? Or is she choosing to instead become a full time marathoner? Is she looking to go pro straight out of high school? Running in the Olympic Trials as a high schooler is pretty impressive and it makes sense that she thought this was the easiest route to do so, but it is a pretty risky move.

From the MileSplit article:

"Wolfgram's goals after the Trials are not to continue in the marathon.

"This will probably be my last marathon in high school -- and in college, too," she told Tollefson. " It will be my last one in awhile. I'm sad about that."

Thanks! That's probably best for her running career, and I hope she can recover well for senior year. She'll have plenty of time to race marathons when she's older.