So why not do both? Have the tactical breakdowns squared away for the most part before hand (which athletes and coaches most certainly do at that level), and then be ready to adapt on the fly. That's pretty much what it comes down too. So yeah not really sure what your disagreeing with. ///
I totally agree with you that tactics have to be thought out in advance, and strategies for the different ways they play out need to be practiced and ready to implement. To think you just go out there and swim, bike, and run your hardest and let the chips fall, well those are people that really never got the nuance of the Killer B's, or some one like Vincent Luis.
But I'm going to throw something out there now that I have not seen discussed, and basically glossed over. I would bet that Taylor Knibb is working on a new strategy, one where she runs herself to the podium. You all seem to just gloss over her run abilities as if they are static and stuck where they were a year ago. She is battling with the likes of Gentle and others on the run in the 100k races, and if you back out her mini vacation in T2 she had in the test event, she ran one of the fastest runs and just seconds behind the best runner in the sport. She ran herself onto the US team that day, and from what I saw, made a huge leap in her 10k speed.
And lets not forget she is 25 and still on a steeper improvement curve that others many years older. I dont think she is going to do stupid stuff anymore, like missing the lead swim group, pulling and attacking from the front, etc. I think she will have a plan to solidify a top swim break on the bike, perhaps 7 to 10 ladies. Then wittle them down to a manageable group of 5 or 6, and use her bike power to take some of the run out of the group. That could come in many forms, attaching and forcing chases, going first into turns and accelerating to open micro gaps, etc. Of course the possibility of getting away with one or two others is there, but that is a lot harder said than done. Like the time she went off the front with her teammate who she trains with, but with someone that can actually take a pull and give her a break. Like a Duffy type racer, that could work, but at the very least make a hard chase from the others...
I'm going to make the call right now, Knibb is going to be a runner to contend with come the games, and all this glossing over her on the run will work to that advantage. Perhaps if she would have exited T2 in the front of that test event group and ran in right behind Potter it would be more evident, but coming from the very back well down from the front and negative splitting past a whole bunch of top running ladies, well just was not that noticeable except for those of us who watch that stuff closely.
I totally agree with you that tactics have to be thought out in advance, and strategies for the different ways they play out need to be practiced and ready to implement. To think you just go out there and swim, bike, and run your hardest and let the chips fall, well those are people that really never got the nuance of the Killer B's, or some one like Vincent Luis.
But I'm going to throw something out there now that I have not seen discussed, and basically glossed over. I would bet that Taylor Knibb is working on a new strategy, one where she runs herself to the podium. You all seem to just gloss over her run abilities as if they are static and stuck where they were a year ago. She is battling with the likes of Gentle and others on the run in the 100k races, and if you back out her mini vacation in T2 she had in the test event, she ran one of the fastest runs and just seconds behind the best runner in the sport. She ran herself onto the US team that day, and from what I saw, made a huge leap in her 10k speed.
And lets not forget she is 25 and still on a steeper improvement curve that others many years older. I dont think she is going to do stupid stuff anymore, like missing the lead swim group, pulling and attacking from the front, etc. I think she will have a plan to solidify a top swim break on the bike, perhaps 7 to 10 ladies. Then wittle them down to a manageable group of 5 or 6, and use her bike power to take some of the run out of the group. That could come in many forms, attaching and forcing chases, going first into turns and accelerating to open micro gaps, etc. Of course the possibility of getting away with one or two others is there, but that is a lot harder said than done. Like the time she went off the front with her teammate who she trains with, but with someone that can actually take a pull and give her a break. Like a Duffy type racer, that could work, but at the very least make a hard chase from the others...
I'm going to make the call right now, Knibb is going to be a runner to contend with come the games, and all this glossing over her on the run will work to that advantage. Perhaps if she would have exited T2 in the front of that test event group and ran in right behind Potter it would be more evident, but coming from the very back well down from the front and negative splitting past a whole bunch of top running ladies, well just was not that noticeable except for those of us who watch that stuff closely.