To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Chris Solinsky's 26:59 10,000-meter run, we just published a bonus podcast with Chris Solinsky. By now, the 26:59 has been discussed and broken down in amazing detail -- heck, our own Jonathan Gault wrote 6,000+ words about it -- so we only spent the first 10 minutes or so of our chat with Chris talking about that.
After the 26:59 talk, we spent a lot of time talking about the rest of Solinsky's magical 2010 season, during which he ran 12:56 or faster for 5,000 three times in the span of 77 days -- a feat that has only been achieved six times by any American, ever. We also got Solinsky to talk about his vision for the University of Florida as he's currently the men's and women's distance coach at Florida. Chris revealed some fascinating things during this podcast including a eally cool story about how Eliud Kipchoge was genuinely happy for him when Chris destroyed Kipchoge in Oslo in 2010 when Solinsky first broke 13:00.
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2020/05/chris-solinsky-podcast-i-believe-that-i-was-in-shape-to-run-sub-730-sub-1250-and-probably-somewhere-in-the-2640-2630-range/
If you don't have time to listen, here are some highlights.
Solinsky tells a cool story that reveals a lot about the character of Eliud Kipchoge
"This shows you Kipchoge's character...After I [broke 13:00 for the first time and] ran 12:56 in Oslo, he was the first person to come up to me [and he was] genuinely excited like literally moments after the race, congratulating me for breaking 13. He was so excited, [saying] 'That is awesome. Congratulations.' I was like (thinking), 'Aren't you my competitor? You obviously probably had a bad day for you' (Kipchoge was way back in 14th in 13:09). He was already a world champ and had done amazing things and I looked up to him [so] to have him come and be the first person to congratulate me and be that excited, I was just like 'Holy cow. That is awesome.'"
Solinsky talks about what Jerry Schumacher taught him that he uses in his current coaching at the University of Florida
"Jerry always thought big and pushed us to think bigger and that's something I've taken from him as a coach. I love seeing the lightbulb [go off]. You push a kid further than they think they can [go] and then they realize they are capable of more than they ever dreamed...To me, that has been the really exciting part of [being a college coach]."
Solinsky shares his goal for the University of Florida distance program
"My goal, my mission is to build us into a top-10 cross country program," said Solinksy, who reminded us and the world that Gainesville has a rich distance history as Frank Shorter and Marty Liquori used to train there as part of the Florida Track Club. "This was the place to train before altitude really took off for big training groups."
Chris Solinsky thinks his peak fitness actually came in 2011, not 2010, and thinks he was in sub-12:50 5000 shape and 26:30-26:40 10,000 shape
"[2011], that's another year where I wish I could have demonstrated the fitness that I was in...The best race I ever ran, in my opinion, was the 2011 USAs. I closed in 7:37 for the last 3k and sub-4 last mile. I couldn't go any faster, but when I finished obviously I was tired but I could have kept going. I had more laps in me. And walking away from that race, Jerry and I talked about it. At the World Championships, if this didn't beat [Bernard] Lagat (who won USAs), I'm going to train to get myself to the point where I can run 3:55 for the last mile. The plan for Daegu was to run a 3:55 last mile and see what happens. I figured If I can do that, I'd at least get a medal.
"[In 2011 because of my hamstring problems] I couldn't do a lot of high intense speed work but 59-60-58s [for 400m reps] wasn't that taxing with regards to my hamstring. So we were like, 'Alright, we're just going to get really good at holding that speed at the end of races,' but I believe -- and again, coulda, woulda, shoulda and what you believe versus what is reality -- but I believe that I was in shape to sub-7:30, sub-12:50, and probably somewhere in the 26:40/26:30 range. And it never happened, but just like in 2008 and 2009, the fitness was there. I just never got to show it."
Chris Solinsky: "I Believe That I Was in Shape to Run Sub-7:30, Sub-12:50, and Probably Somewhere In The 26:40/26:30 Range"
Report Thread
-
-
If you missed Jonathan Gault's features on the 26:59, here it is:
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2020/04/2659-how-chris-solinsky-transformed-a-glorified-tempo-into-an-all-time-upset-and-performance/ -
Solinsky 2011 is one of the great "what-ifs" of American distance running
-
His claims of what shape he was theoretically in are believable. Imagine if he ran these theoretical races in Rieti and they were paced for the initial 50-60% of the race right on target he could've done it. It's hard to get in that perfect race where everything in and out of your control goes just right for a maximal output.
Given sub-7:30, 12:50, 26:40 were in the cards, where do you all think he was at for 1500, 800, 400, 200? -
I am still waiting on your feature about what Salazar could have run if he didn't burn himself out by age 24. Will that be next week?
-
Any runner can say they could have ran faster than their PRs. What you do matters. What you say is irrelevant. Injuries are part of being an athlete. I know he was answering a question but just giving some perspective.
-
Castro Castro Castro wrote:
Any runner can say they could have ran faster than their PRs. What you do matters. What you say is irrelevant. Injuries are part of being an athlete. I know he was answering a question but just giving some perspective.
I agree he could of just said yeah I think I could of lowered my personal bests had I been healthy and left it at that. To say sub 12:50? and 26:30s? My goodness that comes across as very disingenuous to just how fast those times are. Its a very millennial thing to do. I’m a millennial myself and stuff like this is why old timers dislike us so much. -
Has Solinsky been talking to ventolin? These are some outlandish predictions I could see him making.
-
Sub Everything! wrote:
His claims of what shape he was theoretically in are believable. Imagine if he ran these theoretical races in Rieti and they were paced for the initial 50-60% of the race right on target he could've done it. It's hard to get in that perfect race where everything in and out of your control goes just right for a maximal output.
Given sub-7:30, 12:50, 26:40 were in the cards, where do you all think he was at for 1500, 800, 400, 200?
At 6'1" and 165 lbs, Solinsky was a complete badass distance runner.
Usually such rarified air i(sub 13, sub27) is the domain of 130-140 pounders. Even the "giant" phenom Jakob ingebrgsten is only 6'0" and 140 pounds.
Imagine watching Rudisha run 10ks!
I'm guessing Solinski could've gone low 3:30, 1:44, :48 high, and sub:23.
5 or 10 lbs lighter and he would've obliterated his predicted prs. -
But there was that idiot in another thread claiming that nobody can break 15 minutes in a 5k and also break 13 in a 100. Obviously Solinsky could run 12 seconds if he could run 22 and 48.
-
There’s no world where Solinsky could run under 23 seconds in the 200m
-
Did he claim he could win a medal at the Olympics or World Championships? Or even the USA championships?
Who cares about times.... win. -
1:44! Oh boy. That'll be news to him.
-
I give him 12.5-22.8-48.8-1:46
-
Why didn't you ask him about his homophobic prank calls to Galen Rupp back in the day?
-
came here to say this exact point. I think every runner I know including myself thinks that they could have run faster than they did. put up or shut up
I think a "perfect" race is a rare occurrence -
First, I totally believe him.
He hit fast times in 2010 and then upped his training.
Second - we should have a "How fast could you have run" thread.
See who has the best hypothetical PRs. -
sprint fast wrote:
But there was that idiot in another thread claiming that nobody can break 15 minutes in a 5k and also break 13 in a 100. Obviously Solinsky could run 12 seconds if he could run 22 and 48.
Was that idiot me? Probably not, as I wouldn’t have picked a 15:00 5k as the reference.
But it’s reasonable, if you are talking FAT 100m from blocks. I dissected MF’s 13-seconder after having correctly predicted it. Solinsky IDK...bigger and more power, but more mass to get going, and still absolutely trained for distance and consistency, not acceleration and high speed. I might give him 12.6-12.8 FAT.
No way he could go 22 seconds FAT from blocks. Most likely not even 24. I would give him 24.6-24.8 at best. -
always_better wrote:
came here to say this exact point. I think every runner I know including myself thinks that they could have run faster than they did. put up or shut up
I think a "perfect" race is a rare occurrence
Yeah, but there is the situation where you KNOW, because you have done it in practice, and just been injured come race time. That situation deserves some unofficial credit, like the new unofficial deadlift record. -
sub 12:50 isn't too much of a stretch, he ran 12:55. Put him in that 12:46 race from 2012 (https://www.letsrun.com/2012/paris-0706.php) and maybe he'd hang on for a 12:49.
26:30/26:40 is a lot more of a stretch. 26:30.00 would make him 4th all time behind Geb, Bekele and Tergat. (Nicholas Kemboi ran 26:30.03.) 26:40.00 would put him 13th all time ahead of Wanjiru, Rupp, Farah, and Kipchoge i.e. people with a lot more global hardware than he has.
We rarely know what athletes are capable of in their perfect race (maybe Woody Kincaid's 12:58 is the exception?) but 2-3 seconds per K between real and ideal is a big leap of imagination.
