Mary, Elise and Alexa all were running great around the same time in High School, Mary and Alexa went pro and Elise went to college. Where the runners are today shows what college offers over going pro out of high school for young elite women distance runners.
I’m a big Mary Cain fan, but in no way is she “transitioning” to the triathlon. She has simply stopped running competitively and is now participating in triathlons.
I can see her Zwift rides on Strava, and those aren’t the efforts of anyone who wants to become a pro triathlete. Every ride is below 100 watts, which even at her weight is soft pedaling. And she’s not doing any volume at all.
She’s unfortunately just in that awkward phase of an athlete’s career where they can’t admit it’s really over…
I mean this sincerely: what’s wrong with her body? Who runs 9:35 for two miles in high school and in their 20s does bike rides below 100 watts? I looked at her training log. She can’t handle very much at all. She does 4 mile runs at 7:30 pace with walking breaks.
this is not an attack on her character. I’m sincerely wondering what has physically happened to her
Mary Cain lost it. No single person’s fault. It happens, and she is no longer relevant in the sport. She would be wise to pursue a real career and move on in life.
Mary Cain lost it. No single person’s fault. It happens, and she is no longer relevant in the sport. She would be wise to pursue a real career and move on in life.
I mean this sincerely: what’s wrong with her body? Who runs 9:35 for two miles in high school and in their 20s does bike rides below 100 watts? I looked at her training log. She can’t handle very much at all. She does 4 mile runs at 7:30 pace with walking breaks.
this is not an attack on her character. I’m sincerely wondering what has physically happened to her
You can either go with the theory that Mary Cain's father that is a doctor was doping her when she was young to be able to run fast and then stopped, or you can go with the theory that Mary Cain is just getting old and lazy. Or maybe it's a mixture of both.
I mean this sincerely: what’s wrong with her body? Who runs 9:35 for two miles in high school and in their 20s does bike rides below 100 watts? I looked at her training log. She can’t handle very much at all. She does 4 mile runs at 7:30 pace with walking breaks.
this is not an attack on her character. I’m sincerely wondering what has physically happened to her
You can either go with the theory that Mary Cain's father that is a doctor was doping her when she was young to be able to run fast and then stopped, or you can go with the theory that Mary Cain is just getting old and lazy. Or maybe it's a mixture of both.
Not a Cain fan but this is just a dumb post. It's FAR more likely that a combination of injuries, other health problems, and just how some girls bodies change has made her no longer an elite athlete.
You can either go with the theory that Mary Cain's father that is a doctor was doping her when she was young to be able to run fast and then stopped, or you can go with the theory that Mary Cain is just getting old and lazy. Or maybe it's a mixture of both.
Not a Cain fan but this is just a dumb post. It's FAR more likely that a combination of injuries, other health problems, and just how some girls bodies change has made her no longer an elite athlete.
Einstein, what you just wrote is basically Mary Cain just getting old. Some people age gracefully, others don't.
You can either go with the theory that Mary Cain's father that is a doctor was doping her when she was young to be able to run fast and then stopped, or you can go with the theory that Mary Cain is just getting old and lazy. Or maybe it's a mixture of both.
Not a Cain fan but this is just a dumb post. It's FAR more likely that a combination of injuries, other health problems, and just how some girls bodies change has made her no longer an elite athlete.
100% agree, I think she perhaps still has the capacity to be a very good runner again if there was a total commitment to it. Walking down the street she would appear like a typical healthy young woman, but certainly not an elite runner by any means. One can certainly get stronger and leaner post "second" puberty (as it is now being described in terms of female athletes) but not without a concerted effort and focus on strength, nutrition, and mileage. Following her struggles she probably was focusing on healing injuries (she had major surgery I believe as well), developing a healthy relationship with food, and running a lot less than she had been as a professional Nike athlete. Good for her. Maybe training like an elite again would be detrimental to her newfound happiness and independence... if so, she should cut her losses and save us all from this triathlon charade. if not, she should buckle down and get to work. she has a lot to get done but talent (and, arguably, time) is on her side.
I’m a big Mary Cain fan, but in no way is she “transitioning” to the triathlon. She has simply stopped running competitively and is now participating in triathlons.
I can see her Zwift rides on Strava, and those aren’t the efforts of anyone who wants to become a pro triathlete. Every ride is below 100 watts, which even at her weight is soft pedaling. And she’s not doing any volume at all.
She’s unfortunately just in that awkward phase of an athlete’s career where they can’t admit it’s really over…
I mean this sincerely: what’s wrong with her body? Who runs 9:35 for two miles in high school and in their 20s does bike rides below 100 watts? I looked at her training log. She can’t handle very much at all. She does 4 mile runs at 7:30 pace with walking breaks.
this is not an attack on her character. I’m sincerely wondering what has physically happened to her
She says in this very podcast that her body can't handle running anymore. At least not at the level expected of her. She didn't go into it but I'm assuming from past injuries she's had.
She's been trying out triathlon as a hobby. She never said she was going to the Olympics in it, although I'm sure she would be elated to. She's been at it on and off for like 4-6 weeks. Plus she was sick. She said swimming was the only sport she had a good team experience in, so she wanted to try.
I do think swimmers are more friendly and team-oriented. But also, Mary was way better at running, so no one would have hated her for being so much better than everyone else at swimming. Her high school experience sounded alienating so maybe that's why she didn't think a college team experience was anything she couldn't miss out on, when Al Sal and NOP are knocking at the door.
As a girl, I thought the conversation was super interesting. They talked about periods and trying to ward off puberty. Emma conflated the Bronx and Bronxville. Mary had to tell her she came from a snooty town where she was bullied and all the parents are crazy competitive about their kids' results.
When they were talking about women and social media, I don't think the girl Mary was specifically talking to was Colleen Quigley. She wouldn't be talking to someone older and more experienced like that, like she was mentoring her. Mary still sounds so very young but she also acts like she is the oldest 25-yr-old in the world, which, I think, is warranted to some extent.
They talked about how old white men write her letters telling her to toughen up. Ha, anyone here wanna own up to this?
I mean this sincerely: what’s wrong with her body? Who runs 9:35 for two miles in high school and in their 20s does bike rides below 100 watts? I looked at her training log. She can’t handle very much at all. She does 4 mile runs at 7:30 pace with walking breaks.
this is not an attack on her character. I’m sincerely wondering what has physically happened to her
She says in this very podcast that her body can't handle running anymore. At least not at the level expected of her. She didn't go into it but I'm assuming from past injuries she's had.
She's been trying out triathlon as a hobby. She never said she was going to the Olympics in it, although I'm sure she would be elated to. She's been at it on and off for like 4-6 weeks. Plus she was sick. She said swimming was the only sport she had a good team experience in, so she wanted to try.
I do think swimmers are more friendly and team-oriented. But also, Mary was way better at running, so no one would have hated her for being so much better than everyone else at swimming. Her high school experience sounded alienating so maybe that's why she didn't think a college team experience was anything she couldn't miss out on, when Al Sal and NOP are knocking at the door.
As a girl, I thought the conversation was super interesting. They talked about periods and trying to ward off puberty. Emma conflated the Bronx and Bronxville. Mary had to tell her she came from a snooty town where she was bullied and all the parents are crazy competitive about their kids' results.
When they were talking about women and social media, I don't think the girl Mary was specifically talking to was Colleen Quigley. She wouldn't be talking to someone older and more experienced like that, like she was mentoring her. Mary still sounds so very young but she also acts like she is the oldest 25-yr-old in the world, which, I think, is warranted to some extent.
They talked about how old white men write her letters telling her to toughen up. Ha, anyone here wanna own up to this?
I think we have a hired Mary Cain shill up above. That amount of grovelling at Mary Cain's feet is absurd. No one buys that crap on LRC when we can all see Mary Cain is highly conceited and blames everyone else but herself.
She says in this very podcast that her body can't handle running anymore. At least not at the level expected of her. She didn't go into it but I'm assuming from past injuries she's had.
She's been trying out triathlon as a hobby. She never said she was going to the Olympics in it, although I'm sure she would be elated to. She's been at it on and off for like 4-6 weeks. Plus she was sick. She said swimming was the only sport she had a good team experience in, so she wanted to try.
I do think swimmers are more friendly and team-oriented. But also, Mary was way better at running, so no one would have hated her for being so much better than everyone else at swimming. Her high school experience sounded alienating so maybe that's why she didn't think a college team experience was anything she couldn't miss out on, when Al Sal and NOP are knocking at the door.
As a girl, I thought the conversation was super interesting. They talked about periods and trying to ward off puberty. Emma conflated the Bronx and Bronxville. Mary had to tell her she came from a snooty town where she was bullied and all the parents are crazy competitive about their kids' results.
When they were talking about women and social media, I don't think the girl Mary was specifically talking to was Colleen Quigley. She wouldn't be talking to someone older and more experienced like that, like she was mentoring her. Mary still sounds so very young but she also acts like she is the oldest 25-yr-old in the world, which, I think, is warranted to some extent.
They talked about how old white men write her letters telling her to toughen up. Ha, anyone here wanna own up to this?
I think we have a hired Mary Cain shill up above. That amount of grovelling at Mary Cain's feet is absurd. No one buys that crap on LRC when we can all see Mary Cain is highly conceited and blames everyone else but herself.
You sound like the hick town folk in Little House on the Prairie who resent Laura Ingalls Wilder for being head of her class.
She's been trying out triathlon as a hobby. She never said she was going to the Olympics in it, although I'm sure she would be elated to.
I can't speak to what Mary has or hasn't said about her aspirations in triathlon, but the title of the podcast says she's "transitioning to the triathlon", which implies that she's attempting to become a pro triathlete (as opposed to a pro runner).
She is not transitioning careers based on her cycling efforts. I have a better chance of turning pro in triathlon than Mary (based on actual cycling data), and I have no chance.
Did she call the triathlon a "hobby" in the podcast? If so, this is an accurate statement, and she certainly doesn't deserve any criticism for it if this is what she admits. But if she's still pretending there's a future in pro athletics for her, I guess I just don't understand her thinking.
Mary had to tell her she came from a snooty town where she was bullied and all the parents are crazy competitive about their kids' results.
The bullying subject has come up before. It makes no sense. How many star HS athletes are "bullied"? More often than not they are worshiped. She was also far beyond the typical star HS athlete with her national and international standing. She either has an odd definition of bullying or there is something significant within her personality which would cause said bullying.
Mary had to tell her she came from a snooty town where she was bullied and all the parents are crazy competitive about their kids' results.
The bullying subject has come up before. It makes no sense. How many star HS athletes are "bullied"? More often than not they are worshiped. She was also far beyond the typical star HS athlete with her national and international standing. She either has an odd definition of bullying or there is something significant within her personality which would cause said bullying.
I agree. Something is very off about her claims being bullying. I've never once heard of a sports star in high school who was bullied for being good. That makes no sense.
I do know that there was some tension at her high school right before she went pro because her and her parents had different ideas about how she should train and what races she should run than the high school coach did.
So if she talked about having disagreements with her high school coach, that would make sense. But claiming that she was bullied by her teammates because she was really fast makes no sense at all.
It's super insightful. I loved what she said about social media, and how agents and brands influence what runners post and how they present themselves. I am curious to know who the abusive agent she referenced was.
The bullying subject has come up before. It makes no sense. How many star HS athletes are "bullied"? More often than not they are worshiped. She was also far beyond the typical star HS athlete with her national and international standing. She either has an odd definition of bullying or there is something significant within her personality which would cause said bullying.
I agree. Something is very off about her claims being bullying. I've never once heard of a sports star in high school who was bullied for being good. That makes no sense.
I do know that there was some tension at her high school right before she went pro because her and her parents had different ideas about how she should train and what races she should run than the high school coach did.
So if she talked about having disagreements with her high school coach, that would make sense. But claiming that she was bullied by her teammates because she was really fast makes no sense at all.
What she was abused by Alberto
…and bullied by her HS teammates???
What are the odds?
One is on the west coast and one is on the east coast.
"writing her letters"??? like they mailed letters to her? doubtful
I believe it. Once I took a class with people of all ages and this older man wrote me a letter after. I didn't mind because it was super nice but was surprised to receive it.
On calling the triathlon a hobby: Mary didn't call it that, so yeah, maybe she wanted to think of it as an option to turn pro or at least elite level. But there was an emphasis that she was trying it out as a novice and aware of making herself vulnerable to scrutiny and criticism. But they talked about how you can't be afraid to fail.
There was def an element of searching for next path in her life and things not being what you imagined in your youth. Doors being shut already. Like she said 25 was too late to go to medical school cause she didn't think you could juggle med school and kids. I took that to mean she doesn't really want to be a doctor. Cause you would do it if you really wanted. And the comment made me recall how I used to think 24 was old, like too old to choose to go to grad school. That's what made me think she sounded young. Like, you have plenty of time to have kids!
I believed she was bullied. (It sounded like before high school.) Maybe you can chalk it up to her personality as well, kind of sheltered. Maybe people are thinking of bullying in different ways. She probably means being talked about behind her back and getting the cold shoulder from other girls. It's different for boys. Like she would have had so much fun as Hobbs Kessler.