whiteknuckled wrote:
OP obviously didn't listen to the podcast, just read the episode summary. Kara said it was refreshing that it was a race where the top contenders were not worried about the time at all. But this put the American women in a bad spot since they were trying for a standard. She and Des actually had great analysis in that they said the two could have worked together for the time but what ended up happening was they got the worst of both worlds where they are leading at times but not at a pace that hurts the field at all or gets them to the standard.
This podcast is definitely worth listening to for all the people who wanted Des and Galen bonding stories. They barely made it to the start line with a maniac driver trying to beat the closing of a bridge, with Galen hopping out to remove barriers and Des thinking they were going to die. Kara also said he did a great job commentating.
I would tend to agree but for one fact, neither Kellyn nor Molly were in any kind of shape to meet the standard.
I agree with Kara, it was a great race to watch develop. The biggest problem with most American coaches and the majority of our elites is that they train to race when they can't run the times necessary to race. If you put a bunch of 2:15-2:20 women in a race and a couple of 2:25-2:30 runners are hanging on at 10k, you just know they haven't got a chance. The former are waiting to see when the real race begins and looking forward to it. The later are praying they don't die before the finish. If you're a 2:30 marathoner, practicing changing the pace, surging, working a hill, etc isn't going to get you a win anywhere.