Walmsley’s OTQ bid - Houston half marathon

1:06:xx. I don’t think he will make the Olympic team.

But Jim that was a downhill 5km. Last time you ran a competitive flat race you were 42nd place and only ran 5:15 pace for 12km:http://www.usatf.org/usatf/files/61/61f7cfcf-67e0-427f-901b-7f9fd15502d9.pdf

kljlk wrote:

He just ran 13:34 for 5000m. What does that equate to in the half marathon?

Truuuuth wrote:

Last time you ran a competitive flat race you were 42nd place and only ran 5:15 pace for 12km:

http://www.usatf.org/usatf/files/61/61f7cfcf-67e0-427f-901b-7f9fd15502d9.pdf

Only 6 places and 33 seconds behind Samuel Kosgei who has a 59:36 HM and 2:06 marathon. Extrapolating what someone can or can't run based on one race is mildly entertaining, but really doesn't mean anything. January 20th isn't that far away. We can see then.

team Unruly Bush wrote:

Oh. So quite recent.

Walmsley ran a 31:29 10k the week before Western States!!

I find it ridiculous that people on here are looking for reasons and evidence to prove he can't do it. Do you have anything better to do with your life? Sorry you failed as a runner and didn't ever get the chance to OTQ/are stuck at elite but last I checked, Walmsley could be a great hope for our country and we should pretty much try and take what we can. And hide Salazar from him if he does do well.

The build-up to the Super Bowl is talk, talk, talk, of analyzing stats and "expert" judgment. On paper, there may be a clear winner to bet on but it comes down to the actual game and who performs better that day. The same applies to this situation. Why you would try to find reason to prove Walmsley can't do OTQ is beyond me. Pathetic wanna-be's that never made it, it's pitiful. Whatever helps you sleep at night though; whiskey works better in my experience.

RDOG21 wrote:

.... but last I checked, Walmsley could be a great hope for our country and we should pretty much try and take what we can. And hide Salazar from him if he does do well.

....

Now THAT is funny.

Walmsley is a good runner but the next US Marathon superstar he is not and never will be. He is 28 for starters. He might run a sub 2:20 Marathon but that will be it.

Different Sam Kosgei. Though this one has run 1:02 and 2:13. At the time of this race though, he was in the army and running 31:00 10ks.

Frank Shorter here wrote:

RDOG21 wrote:

.... but last I checked, Walmsley could be a great hope for our country and we should pretty much try and take what we can. And hide Salazar from him if he does do well.

....

Now THAT is funny.

Walmsley is a good runner but the next US Marathon superstar he is not and never will be. He is 28 for starters. He might run a sub 2:20 Marathon but that will be it.

What makes discussions about Walmsley's potential at standard road distances so interesting is that no one knows what he can do. The guy has a monster base and two months to sharpen for the Houston half.

Walmsley supporters point to respectable track PRs from college (and a video of a fast finish from one of the Stanford meets) to argue he never came close to reaching his potential. The Walmsley doubters point to less than impressive performances (during the time he was in the Air Force and not training seriously) to suggest he is no big deal. Comparing him to other guys that are thought of as Ultra guys, my gut tells me that he will be a little bit better at the marathon than Max King (1:03 Half/2:14 Marathon) or Steve Way (2:15 marathon at age 40).

I'm excited to see what Walmsley can do. As a fan of the sport, it exciting to see him go for it. I hope he does well and it lifts all of US men.

Put down a 452 3rd mile..... wrote:

Walmsley ran a 31:29 10k the week before Western States!!

No reason to think off that time he isn't capable of a 1:04 effort. If I'm not mistaken, in addition to being the week before WS100, it was also pretty damn warm out and the course supposedly was almost 1/4 mile long (so maybe 40 seconds faster for actual 10k?) You also can't tell me it was a max effort run.

Iirc that was the Hotter than Hell 10k or whatever it’s called in Scottsdale. Weather actually wasn’t crazy hot, it’s been 110 before, but it was still warm and run in the middle of the day. I think Jim pretty much ran what he needed to in order to grab the check.

Lemonlime wrote:

One thing for sure is NO one in LetsRun can beat him at any distance half mary or above.

There are hundreds of us Letsrunners who could beat him. We're just too busy banging supermodels on our yachts.

I've run with Jim and know him and he will do it. Guaranteed

He already ran a light fartlek workout on the track -

4 x 800/800 + 400/400 in about 2:26/68 for the distances with about 90" recovery runs in between

Solid, at altitude. I don't think he has a lot of time, but should be fun to watch.

Exactly. People point towards his collage career, which a lot can happen afterwards. Then his half arsed army stint. A lot reference his 42nd place but clearly it didn't click for him until sometime after (even though he was not so far behind some high-calibre runners).. It seems you're not allowed to have a bad race these days.

But what you can't ignore is his ultra success. People compare him to Sage Canaday and think he'll be lucky to get a 2.19. Walmsley is so far ahead of Sage Canaday it's not even comparable. Sage has no chance at competing at the big ultras or short to medium, let along toe the line with the guy who is destroying all the records. Yet SC spent much time on achieving a specific marathon time (good on him) and still fell short. I have no doubt JW has not only more speed, efficiency and staying power, but that he hasn't really tried yet. So JW has not come close to winning UTMB, how does this prove anything? There is no speed in UTMB when comparing to a half. The faster high tempo ultras is where JW is at his best, and where if any, they are going to translate to marathon / half marathon speed. Add that his collage times are positive too, and he has proven he can go the distance, literally.

Tom Evans, an ultra runner that has broken into the ultra world in style tried his luck at a half and just clocked 1,06+. I think it's quite possible for the top ultra runners to run these times without being too focussed on the HM career/training.

Of all the ultra runners, I still think JW is by far the fastest over runnable terrain (marathon up to 100m) so in my mind it's entirely plausible that he pulls out a good 1/2 without too much focus.

You can argue either either way, but more evidence points more towards a serious time than it does to 'he'll have to hang on to dear life´ to qualify.

Walms had a big break through after cheating scandal at AF.

This was a guy running 5:50 at JFK, 6:40 at Lake Sarnoma and 3:50 at Moab Red hot.

He's a hobbyjogger

Hgf1 wrote:

Walms had a big break through after cheating scandal at AF.

This was a guy running 5:50 at JFK, 6:40 at Lake Sarnoma and 3:50 at Moab Red hot.

CONGRATULATIONS!! YEA!!!!!

You have won the Dick of the Day award for 11/21/2018.

This

and This

He might well be better at it than Max King, who can already run 2:17 on a hilly marathon course (Los Angeles), or that 2:14.

I think Jim has something like 4:04 mile speed, and as they say, talent doesn't go away. I think he blows up at Ultra distances because he's more suited to road races, and might not even know it.

Anyone here bashing him needs to seriously stop and ask themselves if they even have the balls to try and run 100 miles.