??

https://www.instagram.com/...igshid=16tvhoe7fvs1k

WD :-)

Hope her coach gives her some rest so she can win this one.

First 5K was the fastest I've ever run..but that bump from Piedmont Hospital to the park is a bitch. Went 17 high/20 low on the 5K splits a few years ago. Good luck to Gwen. There is some solid competition this year. Figure she'll be top 3-5.

She needs to grab a glazed donut when she passes by Publix.

Well now I want to go out and watch the pro race. So much for sleeping in on the 4th!

She will win overall female. USA!!!

Yup, that first 5K is downhill, the second isn't.

When I ran it a while back, I thought, damn! i'm killing it on this first 5k!

For the next 5k, i thought, damn, it's killing me!

Too bad the days of the 3 Dollar Cafe and the Beer Mug are gone. They made for some fun pit stops.

There's a nasty hill at the 3 mile point that's called Cardiac Hill because Piedmont hospital is right on the hill. And yes, folks have had heart attacks during the race and died.

This will be my 33rd time.

That's an awesome streak, congrats.
10k all out racing is such an under rated hard event. To me it as tough as the marathon, but a lot of people scoff at that assertion.

I'm a big Gwen fan, but realistically this is highly unlikely, it's a strong field with some women such as Aliphine Tuliamuk and Sara Hall that have recently beaten her, as well as some other contenders such as Molly Seidel and Sarah Pagano. Realistically she's an outside shot for a podium finish, and it would be a great race for her if she made the podium. I will say she's not being shy about choosing races with strong fields even if it's a bit humbling at times. It's less than two weeks since her 7th place at the USATF 10K, I recall she likes to race a lot, it will be interesting to see if she can improve on that performance, which seemed a little subpar for her.

To me race results are meaningless in her approach to the marathon prep with her window of time. Just go out there and race, learn from it. People don't know where she is in training block/load for each race, so I think people are getting way too much overblown on the actual finishing result for her this past few races. What's she is trying to do is pretty remarkable, and I guess it's fans being fans with wanting to win and dissect every result...which is fine. I just think it's far more about the act of competing right now than some place finish that is far more important.

But that's just from a coaching prospective, so as I said, fans will be fans and act like fans with reaction to results.

ETA:
And by that I mean, this is an athlete with very low volume training going for an olympic spot + gold medal in a sport that while is her strongest of the 3 from triathlon is going to require large heavy load on the legs (even if she stays on the "low" end of marathon training), she's imo set herself up for a very tight window to do this all in 3 year window. Now of course I think her "i'm going for a gold medal" was all PR fluff, and you bet she thinks she can do it, because she's just that type of athlete. But it's a huge ask what she's trying to attempt. But it keeps her much closer to her family and I think gives her husband some ability to be a regular husband/dad to their kid, so I think going to marathon running for this olympic cycle and take advantage of the big money sponsors she's getting was a no-brainer.

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

I fixed it for you. You are welcome.

Also the marathon trials are being hosted in Atlanta in 2020 so it will give her a feel for the city. I know for triathlon, I'm more comfortable racing in Chattanooga & Panama City, just because I've been there enough I know where I can go to get food if I need it and how to get around. Atlanta is a bigger city than those two, but everything helps.

Watched it live on YouTube. I think Gwen was top 6 or 7...

Nope. No podium. Bruce takes it

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

5th 33:10

Not bad?

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

It wasn't hard to spot the triathlete running with the elites today - she was the only one wearing compression socks.

A couple of photos of the leaders just after making the turn onto 10th street.

Depends on if she is mostly focusing on building her volume for the marathon and treating these races as training. If so, then not bad as she's entering some very competitive races. If they are indicative of her current running fitness, she's not yet demonstrating the fitness to make the Tokyo Olympic team. I think most folks would only give Sara Hall an outside chance of making the Olympic team and she's been beating Gwen. If she runs a marathon this fall presumably she'll be tapered and focused on that and it will be a better indicator of her progress.

He was pretty fast and not a triathlete. ;)

True. But he would have had the perfect build to smash the swim and bike as well.

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

5th 33:10

Not bad? //

I would agree, not bad. Only 40 seconds off the winner, and it looks to have been a pretty big pro womens field. She continues to race well, just not great. Like I said before, coach should rest her soon for some big race just to get her mind right. Even though they are all good results, I dont think she looks at them that way. Throw her a bone coach and rest her for something so that she can feel good about all those big miles you are piling on her...

Can you rest/taper her up for all these races AND build volume? Like I said the time table she’s pigeoned herself to is 3 years. That’s to the Olympic Games so what 2.6 years to trials. That’s not a whole lot of time to get built up volume and taper for all these races she’s running. Like I said it’s a huge ask what’s she trying to do, so if that’s the goal then imo she doesn’t get the luxury to race every event she does primed and race tapered for everything.

ETA: Think about the travel for all these races, that's 3-4 days of "interrupted" training every time she goes to a race + the fatigue/intensity/stress from the actual race. So all these races have pretty much built in taper/disruptions as it is.

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

heh heh, I like the spectators' expressions.

I think her performances are solid as expected. You can't read too much about placing's because of training volume(that could be said about her competition as well) but what concerns me is after the half and the USA Nationals 10K it appears to have her dissatisfied with place. This can be used as fuel but it also can rattle one's confidence. Gwen is used to not only winning in triathlon but being able to control the race tactics. Here it is a bit different. As mentioned before she is on a short time table to 2020. Hasay,Huddle, Cragg,Linden as well as Hall, Taylor are among those ahead of her but so much can happen between now and then. Jerry Shumacher is one of the best distance coaches in this country and should have her on track to give it her best shot. Track and Field, and the Marathon are a one and done trials so there isn't a second chance, Give her credit she is not shying away from big events and that is needed to learn tactical strategy.

Gwen is used to not only winning in triathlon but being able to control the race tactics.

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I would disagree in that Gwen didnt control race tactics in ITU. For the majority of her races, she simply did just enough on the swim and bike to simply out run everyone. Very few times did she actual "tactically" race a smart race and win...Rio was one of them thankfully. But most of her races, she simply was part of the chase group that kept the front group within a reasonable enough gap....which I believe at one time her biggest comeback was 2 mins out of T2.....that's not controlling, that's just out classing on the run, and honestly just shows how undeveloped the racing was.


Now to her credit, she didnt need to "control" the race, because EVERYONE knew she would out run Duffy back then. She was going to out run everyone, so she didn't really need to race tactically smart. She was going to get pulled along and be part of the chase group that was going to keep the gap manageable. But that race tactic in 2018 wouldn't have worked. She would have had to up her game much more on the swim and bike if she wanted to maintain her dominance.


ETA: Now back to her transition to marathon.....I think she's doing exactly what she needs to do, and I think she's just getting what we call a reality check. Not bad, not good, just the reality of the situation. So I don't think she needs her hand held in order to feel better about it. I also don't think she's fragile if she's taking butt whippings atm. I think it's just part of the reality of her transition to elite running.

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

I think her strength and weakness in ITU races dictated the tactics of the field and forced field to attempt to get gaps. Gwen raced her own race to continued success!

Agree. Isn't her perceived advantage over her U.S. marathon competitors the fact that she already has an Olympic gold medal and her mental toughness and planning/organizational skills are superior to her rivals?

Mark, I would think the coach she had, Turner--actually was more repsonsible for her planning & organizational skills along the way. That's what a coach does along the way as part of a development program for the athlete. But you know that already.

On another note, I am sure her coach has a better handle on what she should do at this time, than our ST armchair coaching of resting her or whatever else. We can only speculate as to what really is best for her, as we don't know her like her coach does.

No time to taper for small races just get the road race experience. Get keep packing the miles for that fall marathon. :)