that is absolutely smokin. that pencils to a 31:30 10k, which is about 40 or 45 seconds faster than she's ever run i think for a 10k. besides the fact that emily infield is, with molly huddle and 2 or 3 others, about the best there is american running for 5k.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Agreed, totally legit. I was going to say as well that Infeld is top notch. I would be curious to her training leading to this result as a potential gauge to what upside is there. I am guessing that Infeld is likely not in top form right now, but the time speaks for itself. Wishing her well!

My boss ran varsity XC for SUU (just preceding Cam Levins) and watched the race. Went from thinking she would fail miserably in her Olympic attempt to gushing in a 24 hour span.

Very impressive indeed. Count me as one of those who was skeptical she could compete at the pointy end, but this was quite the start.

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Matt

Yeah I pulled up the 2016 trials results from the 5 k and she is already there

 

The postpartum effect is real.

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http://www.sweat7.com
Facebook Page: Sweat7
Twitter: @sweat7coaching

6 month’s after giving birth!!!!

As of last night, I hadn’t seen a doubt of skepticism over Gwen’s Olympic chances over at LRC.... heck, now folks are talking about her chances at nationals on the track in addition to the marathon in Tokyo. I think that indoor 5,000m time comes out to a 2:29 marathon. ... 6 month’s after child birth, and it’s worth noting that she was very open about how tough Stanley’s birth was on her body and how slow she was in getting back into training.

Also, Infield just missed a couple of weeks due to injury and then won XC nat’s last week and then last night’s husky 5,000... also impressive

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

love the all black kit she is wearing...

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

As of last night, I hadn’t seen a doubt of skepticism over Gwen’s Olympic chances over at LRC.... heck, now folks are talking about her chances at nationals on the track in addition to the marathon in Tokyo. I think that indoor 5,000m time comes out to a 2:29 marathon.//

I'm not exactly sure why there were so many skeptics here in our world, I was about 99% confident that she would get to the front of her races in the first year back. I think maybe some people just look at one particular race's time without any context to it, and then extrapolate her entire running career from that one point.

I prefer to extrapolate from her years and body of work taken into totality, which clearly shows that she was/is a world class runner trapped into the sport of triathlon. And lets all keep in mind that this race is early in the season, early in her comeback, and probably not the best distance for her overall. My guess is that she will excel the longer the race is compared to her competition. This early speed and tenacity to be in sprint for the win is a very good sign of things to come. GO Gwen!!

couldn't agree more.

I can't wait to see her in a 10,000m outdoors, and in a competitive half marathon. But, the speed showed in the 5,000m indoor race is what's needed for the always-strategic Olympic marathon that will depend upon an ability to surge constantly.

Her focus and drive is inspiring.... maybe I'll get offline and do a workout, and some school work....

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

Is there video somewhere of the race?

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blog

two things i wonder. is she still thinking marathon? because, after this, i don't know that i would be. and second, USATF announced its team for the half-marathon WC yesterday. i think they should've waited a day.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Gwen, man, frickin’ Gwen...

Maybe https://www.flotrack.org/...;coverage_id=6050685 show some?

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Maybe on flotrack pro but I haven’t come across a free video yet.

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https://twitter.com/mungub

Gwen’s prerace interview here:

https://www.flotrack.org/...k-race-in-nine-years

As Gwen Jorgensen prepares for tonight's 5K at the Husky Classic, the Rio Olympic triathlon champion can barely remember the last time she raced on the track.

"My PR on the track is 15:50 something and that's from..."

2009, I remind her. And it's 15:52.19, to be exact.....

She’s apparently still cross training a lot and swimming or cycling every day as she can’t handle the mileage yet. Currently doing 80mpw but going towards 100-120.

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

Also interesting that she was runners bc without a sponsor for this race. She’s a “free agent” at the moment but I’d expect her to sign with Nike soon.

I can’t tell what her unmarked race flats are butnin sure someone can identify them.

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https://twitter.com/mungub

Great debut for Gwen. Very exciting. I watched it over on Flotrack. She is what got me to fork over the doe for there monthly subscription.
Hey maybe I missed this buy why is she without a contract? Is she just being picky, too expensive? I'm not knowledgeable about these things at all and just wondering.

The race today likely didn’t hurt her value, that’s for sure. Maybe very smart to wait and get a result like this.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Hey maybe I missed this buy why is she without a contract? Is she just being picky, too expensive? I'm not knowledgeable about these things at all and just wondering. //

She probably is just waiting for a couple good results and then go for a big endemic sponsor like a Nike. In running there are these teams and groups, so perhaps it will be her intention to land one of those. Right now she is just running self coached pretty much. And I dont think this last race went that well for her either, think she got behind at the beginning and played catch up somewhat. If she gets with the right group/coach she is going to devastate a lot of those women that looked at her like an oddity from another world..

Really? I thought the race went about as good as possible. I thought she moved up pretty easily through the field.
She is amazing. I was not expecting her to do this well after having a baby just 6 months ago and not with a team or coach.
I wish her well and am looking forward to following her progress.

Isn’t she sponsored by asic’s?

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blog

She's been training with the Bowerman group...

Here is a video recap I did with her. Stay tuned we have been filming a-lot of content for you guys.

Great. Thank you. Just one comment. Public really really effin hates random music in their youtube videos, especially when it's completely unnecessary or out of context like techno over a track meet? Everyone's music tastes differ. Editing a random music track into a video is going to cause 80% of people to mute their sound. Just like I did. It is a waste of time on your end, and frustration on ours.

I've always been meaning to tell this to YTbers. Assumed they'd eventually figure it out, but the practice keeps going on and on and on. Sigh.

Don't listen to the hate Talbot, the music montages are amazing. I love every one of your videos and the Kona series along was worthy of some kind of award.

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Team Zoot 2023

Yes 5 stars for sure. Gwen looks confident and is a beast

Gotta disagree with that N=1. I enjoy the music and think you made good choices. Same with Lagerstrom’s stuff. Maybe it is a generational thing - I grew up with MTV in the ‘80s. Dilbert, are you over or under 40?

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Great video. Keep'em coing.

Great stuff, Talbot. Thank you for sharing and please keep it up!

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https://twitter.com/mungub

Dilbert,

I appreciate the feedback. Do you have any recommendations on music or what you would like to hear? With cutting to a bunch of different clips audio would be a nightmare if I just let the natural audio play. What kind of music would you like to hear in the videos?
One of the main reasons I put the EDM music is because I messages daily of people watching my videos doing trainer workouts and treadmill runs.


Everyone,
To everyone else who liked the video. I really appreciate it. Nothing drives me more than yalls feedback on this stuff. I have about 400gb of footage that we shot over this last few weeks. Tons of epic videos, Announcements, workouts, Cooking, and Stretching videos to come. Let me know if you guys have anything else you would like to see. Comment on here or go comment on Gwens videos!

A few things:

Anyone notice the all black outfit? I think she's a free agent. I didn't see anything officially Asics. Slow video made it easy to notice that she had covered the brand of her shoes (pro peloton style) or something new entirely. Looked like "She *something Run" brand.

Secondly, I loved the video. Loved it. I loved the music. Taking music recommendations might not be a good idea. They need to be able to license the music so just because I like Beastie Boys doesn't mean it'll make it into Gwen's next video. (Seriously, I really do like Beastie Boys. Come on, put some Beastie Boys into the background)

There was obviously a lot of time and attention put into making/editing this video. Really impressive. Way to go Talbotcoc! I'd love to see more of this style of video and I'll continue to follow your work. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

Lastly, I'm a big Gwen fan and think moving to the marathon is a logical move when starting a family. She did better in this 5k than I would have ever expected. I hope to 'eat my words' but still don't think she has a shot at gold in the marathon at the Olympics. She needs to be able to drop a low 2:20 marathon to have a shot. Then she needs a lot of luck on the right day. Just making the team would be phenomenal. I think calling out the goal of "Winning Gold" was a mistake. And I'd say the same if it was Emily Infeld. I would love to be wrong and I think this performance in Seattle is one step in making me look like a jackass. Do people admit when they are wrong on internet forums?

Congrats Gwen. We're pulling for you to do amazing things!

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YouTube

Very cool video. She is awesome. Thanks for posting it.

As for feedback - I'd just cut the music or make it quieter when there is actual words being spoken. As an example - it was a bit hard to hear the announcer in a few spots. That said - still a great video.

I'm thinking maybe she should do the 5k/10k thing for 2020 and then re-evaluate and consider the marathon for 2024

I don't know man, she lost by 0.12 sec and that was probably mostly due to her shorts and singlet flapping in the wind. She was running at around 12 mph and you know aero matters at ANY speed. Given this forum, i can't believe i'm the first to mention this. You guys are really falling down on the job.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Anyone notice the all black outfit?//

The first thing I noticed and told Dan was that every single woman in that race looks like they were ready to do a triathlon, except Gwen. She was the only one wearing running shorts, and she was the only triathlete!! I know the style for women running has changed over the years, but I for one loved the throwback with the running shorts to the old days. Hope she keeps it up..

i mentioned this on my story on this race. full kudos to monty, who pointed out what i would have missed.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I appreciate the feedback. Do you have any recommendations on music or what you would like to hear?

It would be nice for a triathlon or running video to not have music at all. If there is sound of the racers, the crowd and/or the announcer, that would be more than enough.

Running at a 12 mph pace, do you not think she had an aero penalty from her shorts and singlet, of at least 0.2 sec or more over 3.1 miles??? I mean, you are the KING of aero so i find it hard to believe you would not agree.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

slowman is not the king of aero

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

ericMPro is right, i'm not the king of aero. and he isn't either. still, i'm confident in saying there is no aero penalty. if there were, i mean if there actually were, all these women would be running bald, there'd be no exposed shoelaces, the big sports watches would be gone, but most of all there'd be some very different running tactics employed.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

In all seriousness, running at a 12 mph pace, do you not think she had an aero penalty from her shorts and singlet, of at least 0.2 sec or more over 3.1 miles???//

Really, in all seriousness?? Did you see the race, she sat in for 98% of it and then sprinted the end. Do you not think that running is the same in cycling in that when you are in the draft not too much matters in relation to wind forces? If anything there is an argument that she had the least amount of wind resistance of anyone in that race, actually no argument, she did pull the lest amount of wind!!

@ Dan,

Your article says 8 laps to the mile. Is that correct for U W's track?

Thanks for posting this article. Great read!

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YouTube

i took a guess. did they really stick a 400m track in there?

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

It's 307m long...

Vdot calculator has a 2:24 based off 15:15 5K. Fast!

Of course my Vdot calculations translate to a 2:59 but i have never hit that....or come close!

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@rhyspencer

that's an interesting distance. slightly more than 5 and a quarter laps to the mile. i'm sure it makes sense.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Gotta agree. I think it's weird she said her stated goal was Olympic marathon gold. If she would have said making the team USA for the marathon that would have been one thing. A good goal. But to win the Olympic Marathon! Sorry it seems far fetched. Considering the US women hadn't even won their own, Boston for something like 30 years(??) until recently. But she even said we should think she's crazy until proven otherwise.

But I must say it will be a fun ride to watch her. What a story. And she is so darned likeable and down to earth. Plus baby! A sponsors gold mine. She's very attractive too although she doesn't seem to care about wearing the makeup and hair styling that many others do.

Many people don’t seem to understand the mentality of top athletes. They have a completely different mindset, and there is no difference in their mind between what is possible for someone, and for them.
Cam Wurf is another example of this, he sees Frodo and immediately thinks yeah I’m gonna beat this guy. At the time it was an outrageous goal, but that is how they work!
The same way Jakob Ingebrigtsens goal is to break the wr even though he is far away today.

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

@ Pat0,

I agree. She's sponsor Gold (but maybe not marathon gold).

She moved to Portland, is running with Jerry Schumacher's group, training and being paced by the 'Bowerman Babes' and not wearing Asics. I just can figure out this swooshing sponsor situation. What in the world could be going on here . . . [pink]

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YouTube

It's basically the shortest a track can be and still fit a football field inside...

Only 2:24 BEFORE you subtract another 4% should she sign with Nike & run the marathon in the Vaporfly 4% (pink font). 5% if she trains with Salazar's group.

No worries mate, i was just yanking the ST aero chain. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Ok, but we can all agree that she should wear latex socks.

Im pretty sure she bought the shorts online just a few days before the race haha.

She used to be a triathlete. :) What if Jorgensen would have continued to run post college with the same focus and passion that she had for triathlon beginning in 2010? At what age would she have run a 15:15 5K?

It's entirely possible triathlon made her strong enough head to toe & mentally, to be able to run that where had she been a pure runner, not have developed the all around fitness she needed to hit that mark. We will never know, it's all speculation & nobody has it figured out had someone gone one way or the other. I'm sure someone thought that about Lance after he switched to cycling...how fast of a triathlete would he have been had he focused on that? How good of a skier could Ben True have been had he not switched to running?

The spikes are a custom upper on the Asics Cosmoracer LD plate. You can see the plate of the spike in the video she posted to instagram. She's also warming up in the nike Vomero.

This.

Slowtwitch boomers, taking a break from hating on PC culture: “Not enough milenials are interested in endurance sports”

*Talbot posts a cool video that feels right at home with a lot of the social content I consume as a young person, only it’s about a badass woman athlete named Gwen Jorgensen*

ST Boomers: “turn the music down. I want to hear more about her interval training”

i don't know that focus and passion would've done it. several of us were having precisely this discussion a half hour ago. had she stayed a pure runner in 2009? the consensus from our group: she'd be working in a cubicle right now. her triathlon interlude had as much to do with the 15:15 as anything else.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I can't wait to see her in a 10,000m outdoors, and in a competitive half marathon. But, the speed showed in the 5,000m indoor race is what's needed for the always-strategic Olympic marathon that will depend upon an ability to surge constantly.


I never doubted Gwen's ability and possibilities - She's been legit from the get-go with this, based on what I know and have seen.

What's really great to see here, and a bit of lesson for those following along is the importance and significance for great 5000m/5k fitness and performances. It's awesome tempo fitness if you are considering racing shorter - that's why you see 1500m/3000m runners, running cross-country in the fall and a few 5k road races in the off-season, and it proves great base "speed" if you are considering going longer - 10K, 1/2 Marathon, and even marathon. Raise your 5k fitness and performance and you help all of your running!!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

As a cube dweller I'm offended.

One of the main reasons I put the EDM music is because I messages daily of people watching my videos doing trainer workouts and treadmill runs.


FWIW - The music was great.

It's always a tough call. People have such individual choices. The unfortunate thing is that (so) many have a very narrow range of what they like. I can only take, "Eye of the Tiger" so many times (or never)! :-)

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

ST Boomers: “turn the music down. I want to hear more about her interval training”


LOL - who cares!

She's put in a massive amount of hard work over the years as a triathlete - had a bit of a break, via pregnancy and then come back to running and has done REALLY well.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

So the triathlon interlude was powerful enough to keep her going as an elite runner until the Olympics? I assume you think she'll end up doing more S & B than she talked about in her interviews after making the switch to the run focus.

pull out your crack pipe, you'll get over it.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Wrong thread come on now keep them straight.

i don't know how much S&R she'll do. all i know is, i have a hard time imagining her getting from 15:52 almost a decade ago to 15:15 last week, with any sort of objective analysis ending up with 14:55 or 14:50 within reach, without spending the last decade the way she spent it. just like verzbicas, who came up as a triathlete. how much faster than 8:29 do you think he would've run in HS if he'd came up as a pure runner?

i don't have any agenda here. i never believed, ever, that a background as a triathlete would better prepare one for running than pure running. but, i can point to a half-dozen right off the bat who caused me to rethink what i thought.

and, btw, it's worth considering that the lady who won gwen's race did a fair bit of swim & run to come back from injury over the last year. don't kill the messenger.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I think people forget that GJ actually was working in a cubicle back then. She had zero interest in post running because she wanted to start her accountant career. Back then tri was basically a hobby, as she was working as an tax account and dabbling in ITU (sorta 1 foot in, 1 foot out). It took Sarah Haskins, Laura Bennett, and Sarah Groff (now True) basically soft pedaling while they had a gap out of T1 which allowed the chase pack to hook on and allowed for GJ to pop onto the world stage and take an Olympic spot in 2011, and as they say "the rest is history". Basically that "oops" by them allowed GJ to believe in her ability (and showcase the potential) and that led her to going "all in" basically post London '12 Olympics. I still contend if they attacked that group, they would have gotten away and likely kept GJ off the team, and I think she likely would have just as easy said "thanks tri, I'm off to live the accountant lifestyle now".

So no, she wasn't going to run professionally. It really was tax account career + itu as a hobby or nothing, her early post college years.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

You might use pink and other people might say it's a zero sum game, but after all the research Nike did pre-sub2H attempt, Kipchoge always races with tape on his shins to help with aero. Also, check his race kit.

I'm sure people were also making fun of cyclists and triathletes before aero concerns were the norm.

She used to be a triathlete. :) What if Jorgensen would have continued to run post college with the same focus and passion that she had for triathlon beginning in 2010? At what age would she have run a 15:15 5K?

Mark,

It's a good question to ask.

The post collegiate world for a runner that Gwen was at the time - good-but-not great - would offer few opportunities. There is little sponsorship support, again for runners where she was at. Money starts to become a BIG issue. It's a high point of attrition for many very good runners, RIGHT when they could really start to step it up. There's also the physical challenges - often runners at this level, may not have access to the best coaches, and there is a tendency to over-train - taking the simplistic more-of-more is the best/easy solution to higher performance - so burn-out and injury, loom as dangers as well.

With the move to triathlon and the extraordinary success that she had at triathlon right after college, Gwen saved herself from all the negative of the above. Now after 5+ years of triathlon training, and a bit of a break from pregnancy, she's coming back to JUST running - she's physically/mentally fresh, and financially, while I have no idea of the full picture, I would assume that over the final few years in triathlon, with the sponsors and success that she had, is at least for the time-being, financially well off.

To answer your question straight up - she may have gone on to success as a pure runner, or we would never know who Gwen Jorgenson is!

Personal anecdote - When I stepped away from triathlon myself in 1997 at age 37, and went back to just running, I had some of my best running performances of my life for a couple of years after that! :-)

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

yeah. great post. thanks for the reminder. you're absolutely right.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

And...She is still breastfeeding!!!! Superwoman :-)

Can you elaborate further??? I take it that this "oops" was in one of the Oly Trials races??? Also, I thought she was already a full-time triathlete by 2011???

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

That's great stuff right there.

Btw, just from that bit in the video, she's clearly lovely and super marketable. Hope one of the big companies really gets behind her and supports her.

Thats always an interesting question. On the latest On-Coaching podcast episode, Alan Webb speaks about his training. At one point he swam 3-4 times a week with a masters group in the morning and he also did strenuous weight lifting. He said that altitude training never worked for him, but lifting and swimming were kind of his "altitude training". When he stopped doing it in the week before a race, he felt really fast with a lot of pop in his legs.

So when you do a lot of other hard stuff besides the running, the running gets harder, just like at altitude. Then you taper and do away the cross training and you feel like a million bucks. Thats my theorie at least.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

\

that's astonishing.. this level of performance while still breastfeeding is just amazing. golly.

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

I believe he is talking about the 2011 London ITU WTS event. There ended up being a huge group, maybe 50 women all heading out of T2 together and Gwen had a great run to finish 2nd and auto qualify for the 2012 Olympic team...

Ah, I see, thanks for this info. I still wonder if the "oops" that Brooks spoke of was really an "oops"; I just find it hard to believe that, if those three women had not "soft-pedaled' at the start of the bike, that she would have never become the top Oly tri woman in the world. That's more or less what it sounded like to me anyway.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

So when you do a lot of other hard stuff besides the running, the running gets harder, just like at altitude. Then you taper and do away the cross training and you feel like a million bucks. Thats my theorie at least.


Generally I see all of the European, and North American runners doing most/all of this "other" training, but the East Africans - Kenyans and Ethiopians - they just run!

You never see a picture of Eliud Kipchoge swimming, water-running, running in some zero-G unit, weight training etc . . . In fact here's a few pages from his training diary - http://www.sweatelite.co/...orld-record-attempt/ Yikes!

Why the difference?

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I know the point you are trying to make and completely agree with you. I retired from tri a few years ago and just run and have never been faster.

I've seen that a few times and always get a kick out of the fact that people seem to focus on his mileage/kilometers. It roughly equals 110 miles or 180 kilometers per week. People see that and think they've got to run that much to run their best. But, they fail to realize that at his pace (even his easy pace) that's only about 12 hours a week of running.

Yeah, but the Kenyans are doing altitude training all the time. For Webb that didn't work so he had to make his sea level training harder. XD

No, I am just kidding. I known that the best runners only run (maybe with some core or Wrights). And I agree that the best way to run fast is to run and recover from running.

And that is kind of a dilemma for me. My talent lies in running and it is my best sport and I really want to find out how fast I can get. And I love running. But I also love five hour training days and training a lot.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

I've seen that a few times and always get a kick out of the fact that people seem to focus on his mileage/kilometers. It roughly equals 110 miles or 180 kilometers per week. People see that and think they've got to run that much to run their best. But, they fail to realize that at his pace (even his easy pace) that's only about 12 hours a week of running.


One key thing about Kenyan running, and that is never seen in these basic training diaries is that EVERY run is a Build Run even the "easy" runs or those 15Km runs with no other information are done as follows: They always start off ridiculously easy ( we could run with them for the first couple of miles), and then gradually the pace starts to build so that at the end they are often running at sub 4:30 - 5 min/mile pace!

This is key for two main reasons:

- as almost EVERY day they are touching the very upper end of are best aerobic/tempo pace

- you are mentally and physically making negative splitting and closing fast, something that becomes automatic

They have tried to figure out why the Kenyans are so good. One theory put forward is that over the course of a year, they spend more time running at that upper tempo pace than other runners - note they are touching it a little bit each day!!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Not that i'm any great runner but I ran this way the first 3-4 years of my tri "career" everyone said "oh you're running too hard every day" so i switched to trying to run "easy" most days and "hard" once a week. My times stagnated so i went back to this style of training, such that i'm gasping at end of every run. I'm running faster ever since switching back. Further, i read an interview a few yrs ago with the fastest amateur half-marathoner in the U.S., can't recall his name, but he ran around 1:03 IIRC. His training consistently solely of running 13-15 mi/day, 7 day/wk, and running last 3 miles as hard as possible. No intervals or the like.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Over the last winter, I only run at continuous pace and did some short hillsprints and strides to complement it. No Vo2max intervalls, no trackwork and nothing that was painful or uncomfortable.

A lot of those easy runs would start as fast or slow as I felt like and then, on good days, I would pick up the pace every 5-10 minutes. I made sure that I never really had to push and just let it flow. I waited until I felt good at a certain pace and then tried to relax and go a bit faster. Usually the last 10 minutes I was breathing a bit harder but everything was under control.

When I did my first race in the spring, I broke my 10k pb right away by half a minute. I guess that brisk running at relaxed effort were the key to a fast time.

The real hard stuff is important for sure. But I guess a lot of agegroupers to too much of it and forget that you need to be able to float at pace. It's not all about no pain no gain.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Not that i'm any great runner but I ran this way the first 3-4 years of my tri "career" everyone said "oh you're running too hard every day" so i switched to trying to run "easy" most days and "hard" once a week. My times stagnated so i went back to this style of training, such that i'm gasping at end of every run. I'm running faster ever since switching back. Further, i read an interview a few yrs ago with the fastest amateur half-marathoner in the U.S., can't recall his name, but he ran around 1:03 IIRC. His training consistently solely of running 13-15 mi/day, 7 day/wk, and running last 3 miles as hard as possible. No intervals or the like.


There's a tendency to make running overly complicated - just look at Kipchoge's program from 30,000 ft. It's pretty straight-forward and basic - yes there is hard a very fast running - and this is the world's best marathon runner, but his program is not that complicated. Everyone huddles around these training programs looking for the secret workouts, or the silver bullets . . . there aren't any!

Ounce good base running fitness and endurance is established, the build runs, where in the final 10 minutes or so of most runs you are touching the upper reaches of zone-4 in those final 10 minutes, maybe all you need, for some pretty good 5K - 1/2 Marathon race times. The trick as the Kenyan's do is to make the first 5 - 15 minutes of those runs, ridiculously easy! Most start too fast, with all training.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Ya, i see this all the time espec in the pool. Guys/girls burn up the first 50 but the it's all downhill after that. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Gwen stalking update #2:

I see Nike Peagasus today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPM0nR-hbvM

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YouTube

That about the same 5k PRs as Desiree Linden and Amy Cragg, 2:21 - 2:22 marathoners. She may be on to something.