My hypothesis is that she isn’t actually getting many injuries recently but is sticking with her current training for a few reasons:
1. It’s clearly working well / why switch things up when she’s running so fast with this program
2. She doesn’t believe she can run more and not get injured so advocates for keeping this approach, and coaches don’t want to push back hard on it given (1)
Reason I say this is she’s been consistently racing and in interviews says her training has been staying the same season over season - so I don’t think they’re trying to bump up the mileage and running into injury issues, and instead she just has that assumption.
I’d love for someone to ask her about it in an interview - “when was the last time you tried to run higher mileage? Have you had any significant injuries the past 18 months?”
My hypothesis is that she isn’t actually getting many injuries recently but is sticking with her current training for a few reasons:
1. It’s clearly working well / why switch things up when she’s running so fast with this program
2. She doesn’t believe she can run more and not get injured so advocates for keeping this approach, and coaches don’t want to push back hard on it given (1)
Reason I say this is she’s been consistently racing and in interviews says her training has been staying the same season over season - so I don’t think they’re trying to bump up the mileage and running into injury issues, and instead she just has that assumption.
I’d love for someone to ask her about it in an interview - “when was the last time you tried to run higher mileage? Have you had any significant injuries the past 18 months?”
well we know she missed the 2nd half of Indoor season in early 2023 due to injury
My hypothesis is that she isn’t actually getting many injuries recently but is sticking with her current training for a few reasons:
1. It’s clearly working well / why switch things up when she’s running so fast with this program
2. She doesn’t believe she can run more and not get injured so advocates for keeping this approach, and coaches don’t want to push back hard on it given (1)
Reason I say this is she’s been consistently racing and in interviews says her training has been staying the same season over season - so I don’t think they’re trying to bump up the mileage and running into injury issues, and instead she just has that assumption.
I’d love for someone to ask her about it in an interview - “when was the last time you tried to run higher mileage? Have you had any significant injuries the past 18 months?”
well we know she missed the 2nd half of Indoor season in early 2023 due to injury
We also know that she was still limping from that injury at outdoor nationals.
Any time she is healthy for four or five months she runs some great times. This was the first time she has ever run a 5000 off of a healthy training block.
Having an injury somehow makes her not the healthiest? The healthiest person in the world can break their leg. That doesn't change their health status.
Having an injury somehow makes her not the healthiest? The healthiest person in the world can break their leg. That doesn't change their health status.
When she signs with Red Bull she will have their biomechanists help her fix her form. As much as we consider DI legitimate, sometimes it is barely above high school as far as strength and physio assistance, much less how the student-athlete is taking care of fueling, resting, etc. What type of pro she decides to be will determine her ceiling?
I'm not saying Parker has an ED, but she's probably unaware of how much fuel is required to sustain her volume of training. If you look at her pictures from high school, Parker is significantly leaner now. Sometimes gradual weight loss can creep up on someone (especially females) to the point that they're no longer recovering well.
Her puddles of sweat cross training regimen is praised as an alternative method to greatness, but something isn't right if an athlete cannot handle basic beginner level mileage. I love watching her smash records, and yet I worry that she'll break at anytime. I'm hoping someone (coach, athletic trainer, PT etc) can help her get to the root of her injuries so she can sustain more mileage in the next phase of her career.
Unfortunately it’s probably under-fueling, whether intentional or not. Looking back at her instagram you can see her body composition changed quite a bit between 2020 and 2022 and due to being able to handle higher mileage in high school to suddenly not being able to, I don’t think it is just the “getting older, training more, leaning out” process.
Hopefully she can figure out the fueling and have a long and healthy career, since she is obviously crazy talented!!!
Come on. Can you name, in the history of mankind, an elite runner that had an unbalanced stride due to diet?
When she signs with Red Bull she will have their biomechanists help her fix her form. As much as we consider DI legitimate, sometimes it is barely above high school as far as strength and physio assistance, much less how the student-athlete is taking care of fueling, resting, etc. What type of pro she decides to be will determine her ceiling?
If I was her parent or coach, I would have her visit the very best biomechanists(?) to try to help her. What makes you think no one gives a crap?
The same reason Tua Tagovailoa's career was going to end last season due to concussions. Fans thrill to overreact. The biggest howl on this site recently was the assertion that Valby is too fragile for steeplechase.
After Nuttycombe, there were comments that she looks “fitter” and “stronger”. I think she is obviously stronger through her core this year.
I originally started looking for evidence, on whether something was off in her stride, around the time Isaac Wood mentioned it in his pre-Nats interview with Chavez.
I made a point to clarify that the slight imbalance we see in the video was shot at the end of the race when fatigued. So there may be a weakness there that can still be improved upon.
What if she's not abnormally injury prone, but is just one of the few to work around it effectively. You just don't usually hear about the "injury prone" runners because they stay injured, so our sample of successful runners is mostly those that can handle the higher mileage/intensity.
I'm not trying to imply that Valby's training is optimal (although it might be better than intuition would tell us). Instead, I'm saying that it's very possible that many otherwise talented athletes disappear into obscurity by thinking higher impact training is the only option for high level performance. Perhaps we'd see more examples like Valby if well thought out "lower mileage" programs were considered an option for elite runners.
This sounds pretty close. I could not find details on her injuries. A quick search found a reference to "broken foot" and "lower leg injuries," but that's too vague to do more than speculate as to why these injuries occurred.
Take the broken foot, for example. It could be caused by landing wrong on one step or even stepping off the track. (I've done that.) It could be caused by wearing shoes that weren't supportive enough. (I've done that.) It could be caused by continually making left turns on the track. (I've done that.) Every injury has a cause. If you don't ID the cause and correct it, the injury is likely to occur again.
Also, some people just have better genetics for running. About half of participants in those "18 weeks to marathon" get injured. OTOH, some runners have never had a major injury setback. Valby could be more towards the injury side of the bell curve. Often, these injury-prone runners disappear so we don't hear much about them. Parker Valby is an exception so kudus to her for hanging in there!
I'm not a doctor. I'm not a coach. I don't know her situation or her injuries, but as an injury-prone track runner, here is what has worked for me. Consider it as the results of an experiment-of-one!
1) Every injury has a cause. Determine the cause. Then, take steps to prevent it. It could be shoes, left turns, lack of support, muscle imbalance, diet, running form, etc. If you don't address the cause, it could happen again.
2) Avoid running on pavement. Stick to hard packed dirt, short grass, or the track. (If you race on pavement, you'll need to do some running on pavement, but if you watch videos of the African elite marathoners, they do a lot of dirt road running.)
3) Change shoes at the first twinge of an old injury. I carry three pairs of shoes to every track workout. If one of my myriad of foot injuries twinges, I change shoes.
4) Change directions on the track. Running left turns at speed is like having one leg shorter than the other. You need to balance it out.
This is all pretty good stuff. I think it now more imperative, with the high stack shoes, to be aware of them wearing down unevenly.
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