Why Jim Walmsley will make the olympics for USA

Of course not.

He still has to run one road marathon yet. He has done a 1:04 HM. A pace predictor says that's a 2:13:26 Marathon. But you still have to run it. So far that is just an estimate.

But it is hilarious to watch Walmsley fanboys speculating about it.

So keep it coming.

No. Well, not until they get with the times and add a trail ultramarathon to the Olympics

Jimmy is the hero we need.

The difference between Magda and Walmsley is that Magda's ultra running career has been kind of a lark for her. She wanted to retire from really serious competitive running at "standard" distances, but discovered that she could train less hard, still win races, and get some low key sponsors.

She has a full time job as a senior level leadership position for a mid sized company... on top of that she has a husband and kid to spend time with, plus coaches a track club. How much do you think she is able to train?

Walmsley on the other hand is full time dedicated to running.

Sorry, he just isnt as talented as her, so you shouldnt expect him to drop (back) down and be as competitive as she was.

Jimmy would be extremely fortunate to break 2:16. Magda was five years past her prime when she got into ultras. She ran about 2:36-38 when she won Western States but her PR was much faster when she was in her Olympian stage.

There are 14(yes FOURTEEN) men that have a faster qualifying time in the half. Six Americans beat him at Houston, all the others did it on tougher courses. 42 men have the "A" standard in the marathon. Among them are a laundry list of NCAA all Americans and seasoned professional road racers.

Why would you be so delusional to thing this ONE guy is going to beat all of these other talented, experienced dudes. Especially when at the very least one spot already belongs to Rupp, and likely another spot will be taken by either Fauble or Ward(or possibly both spots). So there MIGHT be one spot to compete for, but that's only if Ward or Fauble gets injured or has a disaster of a day.

You just don't get how far your head has to be in the sand to believe he has a realistic shot. You could make better arguments for dozens of athletes.

Mark my words he will run 2:14:32 for 7th.

As a speed type of runner who could not tolerate much distance, perhaps I am extrapolating too much, but how can you maintain decent leg speed running these incredibly long distances? The amount of cross-training might be considerable and I couldn't do both, but perhaps I am underestimating the incredible amount of. endurance that these runners possess.

In my era, most of the marathoners were pretty fast and came from the track. Only a few road warriors did well. Maybe things have changed.

Do not come with real reasons why Walmsley is not getting a Olympic ticket.

Walmsley fanboys can't take that much common sense.

Fauble Jim And Ward battle for spots 2 and 3 . Ward is a master tactician. He will be second . The hills on the OT course give Jim the nod for third .

I enjoy watching jim walmsley sightings on youtube. if you see him running alone it doesnt look like hes goin very fast but when he's running with other people you can tell he's on another level. He runs totally relaxed you can tell not by just his stride but his relaxed arm movements, it looks kinda like he's flailing them but he keeps them close to his body he conserves energy by not creating unneccesary energy anywhere.

now idk how he would do in shorter distances there are likely lots of faster ppl for marathon buts thats irrelevent.. whats impressive has little to do with his overall speed and more-so the pace per mile he averages for that long of a distance.

tlm1959 wrote:

As a speed type of runner who could not tolerate much distance, perhaps I am extrapolating too much, but how can you maintain decent leg speed running these incredibly long distances?

My answer would be that 5:00 pace is just not that fast. As a nobody, running on my own in college, I basically ran easy long runs every day in singles, after my first year on the cycling team.

I had a strong endurance base: In 1990, I ran 106 mpw the first half of the year, all easy singles (20 milers daily for much of it), and 82 mpw the second half of the year (included about 10 not impressive interval sessions).

Found "my" workout: In 1991, I found out I loved doing 6 mile tempo runs, and that replaced the interval sessions. I did some of them easy, some harder, depending on how I felt. I averaged 79 mpw for the year (plus cycling), though it was more like 90-100 mpw when I was running fastest. I did these as the first half of an out-and-back 12 miler, without a warm up, and in training shoes.

6 mile tempo runs:

Jan: 35, 36, 32, 31:42

Feb: 31:50

March: 31:00, 30:38

April: 32:34, 30:40

May: 34:32, 32:49, 31:18

June: 33:02, 32:33

Sept: 31:56

Oct: 30:36, 31:40, 30:58, 30:38

Nov: 32:15, 29:28, 31:02

Dec: 29:47

So I eventually got to sub-5:00 pace in those tempo runs as an endurance guy with nothing that could be called speedwork. I wasn't breathing hard or particularly stressed at that pace, and felt like I could go a long way.

Not sure what Magda has to do with Walmsley, that type of comparison is idiotic.

Jim is an Ultra Marathoner that fools around with the marathon.

He cannot and will not run 2:11. He is durable and strong but the trials race will boil to marathon specific training and legs that have not had the ultra pounding he has given his.

Hounddogharrier wrote:

Fauble Jim And Ward battle for spots 2 and 3 . Ward is a master tactician. He will be second . The hills on the OT course give Jim the nod for third .

I'm sorry but Scott just ran 2:09 at Boston. & he ran 2:12 at NYC.

I like Jim. I like ultra running. I hope he does well at the Trials. I want to see where he finishes against the top American marathoners. I don't think he's a favorite & I think a good day is cracking the top-10.

It does thin out a bit after Rupp, Fauble, Ward, but I would put people who are marathon specific focused ahead of him. Kibet, Smith, Vail, Derrick, Biwott, Dandena, Austin, Stinson, etc. Any of the half standard guys who decide to move up (Korir, Kebenei, Chelimo, Fishcer, True).

There are currently 41 runners who have gone sub-2:15. Maybe roughly the same as a 1:04-flat for someone who is more of an endurance runner? 14 sub-2:13 so most of those guys are in the 2:13-14:59 range. I think it's very possible to see Jim beat a lot of those guys. A top-10 wouldn't shock me but a top-3 would and pretending like he's a contender instead of just another guy in that top-40 or so isn't it.

It’s interesting he’s never run a thon and has a 1:04 half pr.

With his huge endurance how close to half pace can he hold?

I would assume it’s closer than most.

I call 2:12

Wow! So what years did you go to the games then? If a 29:28 6mi is tempo that means full 10k race effort is 27:30-28:00 or better. Very impressive! Im glad that someone who didn't even run on a team in college would be obsessed enough to save all of his training data, mileage, and exact workout times for 30 years.

are the olympics switching to the beer marathon in 2020?

[3.1]Miles Davis wrote:

Wow! So what years did you go to the games then? If a 29:28 6mi is tempo that means full 10k race effort is 27:30-28:00 or better. Very impressive! Im glad that someone who didn't even run on a team in college would be obsessed enough to save all of his training data, mileage, and exact workout times for 30 years.

Who said anything about about going to the games? You don't get to run in track races when you're not on a team except for rinky dink intramurals or all comers, which don't have 10,000s. Plus there was no internet then, and I had no idea where the races would be anyway. I don't know where you get 27:30-28:00. I think it's not a stretch to think I was in 29:xx/64:xx shape.

Why do you think it's strange for someone to keep a training log? Tons of hobby joggers have training logs. I pulled the times straight out my paper log, which is actually much easier to search/dig through old workouts than Strava or other online logs. I posted a photo of a page from the log a few weeks ago. Covered up most of it because I used it as a sort of journal/calendar, not just a training log, so it has a lot of personal information on it:

It is interesting wrote:

It’s interesting he’s never run a thon and has a 1:04 half pr.

With his huge endurance how close to half pace can he hold?

I would assume it’s closer than most.

I call 2:12

That 1:04 is obviously very soft, on just several weeks of specific training, and only one attempt while in shape. Khannouchi and Ryan Hall among others ran very close to the same pace or even faster in marathons as half marathons that they raced in the same year.

For example in 2002, KK ran 63:38, 62:16, 2:05:38, 64:35, 63:18, 2:05:56.

In 2011, RH ran 62:20, 63:53, 2:04:58, 63:02, 2:08:04.

That is to say, you can't predict JW's marathon off of just one half marathon result. I've already said, 5:00 pace just is not fast for a runner of JW's caliber. Whether or not he figures out the training to hold that pace for a marathon in his debut is another question. The NAz Elite coach was saying last year that he thought JW was a 2:11 guy.