Kyle Valby is a commercial director at a major Pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, has spent his career in pharmaceuticals (Merck). Nobody tell Astro!
(2) She gets injured and is out for a long time, yet she comes back even faster.
This one is a non-factoid, without substantiation, regardless of how many times the usual suspects keep repeating it. Those same suspects neglect to mention the time Tuohy clutched her hamstring and yelled out in pain in a cross-country race, only to miraculously show up and race soon thereafter.
Where have you been? This is like the main part of her story, something Valby herself brags about in most of her older interviews. Listen to her interviews in 2022 where she talks about barely running, getting surgery after NCAAs, and on and on. She always brags about not training, until very recently.
(3) She is the fastest collegiate ever, yet she mostly cross trains.
It mysteriously worked for a spell with Natalie Cook, and works for the fastest female high school 5000m runner, too. One big question mark with Valby is whether it will work for marathon training. It did with Ingrid Kristiansen.
And where is Cook now? What about Marlee Starliper? No one else who "mostly cross trains" has ever had this kind of success in the NCAA.
(2) She gets injured and is out for a long time, yet she comes back even faster.
This one is a non-factoid, without substantiation, regardless of how many times the usual suspects keep repeating it. Those same suspects neglect to mention the time Tuohy clutched her hamstring and yelled out in pain in a cross-country race, only to miraculously show up and race soon thereafter.
Where have you been? This is like the main part of her story, something Valby herself brags about in most of her older interviews. Listen to her interviews in 2022 where she talks about barely running, getting surgery after NCAAs, and on and on. She always brags about not training, until very recently.
(3) She is the fastest collegiate ever, yet she mostly cross trains.
It mysteriously worked for a spell with Natalie Cook, and works for the fastest female high school 5000m runner, too. One big question mark with Valby is whether it will work for marathon training. It did with Ingrid Kristiansen.
And where is Cook now? What about Marlee Starliper? No one else who "mostly cross trains" has ever had this kind of success in the NCAA.
Where have you been? This is like the main part of her story, something Valby herself brags about in most of her older interviews. Listen to her interviews in 2022 where she talks about barely running, getting surgery after NCAAs, and on and on. She always brags about not training, until very recently.
No, where have you been? You go “on and on”, when there is nothing actually there to pin-point, except that she cross-trains. She has never hidden that. I’ve listened to all of her interviews that I’m aware of, trying to find out what ‘the secret’ is.
I think it is very interesting Kyle Valby is going to negotiate the waters in this shady sport; maybe Nike felt they could low-ball her (🤷🏼♂️)?
I figured one thing a connected-insider agent could do is be the clout for preferentially getting athletes into meets. But if Valby plans to go to the marathon relatively soon in her career, is getting into meets that important?
(Caveat: Take my potentially erroneous random thoughts on this topic loosely.)
Generally speaking, good for her. Hopefully she gets a good fit for her career and is successful. The agent comment strikes me as the most concerning. Assuming she wants a primarily track based career, is her dad going to negotiate her into diamond league meets where other agents are filling fields by tying their lesser athletes to their top athletes? She has not been in a position where she has a coach getting her into any top pro meets, she just gets her times time trialing against other college athletes. Could be tough, but a big base salary from a shoe company would help.
If she heads to the roads and marathons, she'll get into the big US based races as she will be easily marketable to them for the next couple of years.
Her dad is a commercial director in big pharma and no doubt has a lawyer for her. He will do fine negotiating her agreement and clearly has a vested interest in her financial success. If you think a brand deal with a shoe company is more complicated than biotech, think again!
An agent would still be involved in some way, he is probably acting more like her manager.
Generally speaking, good for her. Hopefully she gets a good fit for her career and is successful. The agent comment strikes me as the most concerning. Assuming she wants a primarily track based career, is her dad going to negotiate her into diamond league meets where other agents are filling fields by tying their lesser athletes to their top athletes? She has not been in a position where she has a coach getting her into any top pro meets, she just gets her times time trialing against other college athletes. Could be tough, but a big base salary from a shoe company would help.
If she heads to the roads and marathons, she'll get into the big US based races as she will be easily marketable to them for the next couple of years.
An odd Valbyism is that she's never ran any post season or pro race over her entire high school or college career. Just standard races organized by her schools and coaches.
So far her agent has not even been able to get her entered for the Usatf Olympic trials. 🤔
So far her agent has not even been able to get her entered for the Usatf Olympic trials. 🤔
Hardly anybody has entered the Trials yet. This happens every USATF Outdoor Championship/Olympic Trials. It seems like a lot of runners do not want to "show their cards" too early and keep their competition guessing about what they will do. Cranny just entered the 1500, 5000, and 10000; there is ZERO chance she is doing all three. But it makes people guess what her intentions are.
There will be a wave of entrants starting about June 7 or so. Some will wait until the evening of June 9, with the deadline only hours away. Happens every time.
… she cross-trains. She has never hidden that. I’ve listened to all of her interviews that I’m aware of, trying to find out what ‘the secret’ is.
The only “secret” that seems definitive is she literally works her arse off, and builds it up, on a “Arc Trainer”. There may very well be something to the idea that collegiate females need different training than collegiate male, just by going down the extensive injury list…Elmore, Chmiel, Tuohy, etc.etc.
From things she has said in podcasts I believe she has a great relationship with her parents. If her dad has the qualifications to negotiate business terms, it seems like it would be a good deal for her to go with someone she can trust in her inner circle and who won't take advantage of her. I could understand if she was a little wary of being scammed again after that $20,000 ATM fiasco. That was just a year ago. If it was your daughter who fell for something like that, wouldn't you want to step in and help. She is going to be so highly recruited, and there will be people involved who would no doubt be tempted to take advantage of her sweet nature and skim off of her. I am glad for her that she has people looking out for her.
From things she has said in podcasts I believe she has a great relationship with her parents. If her dad has the qualifications to negotiate business terms, it seems like it would be a good deal for her to go with someone she can trust in her inner circle and who won't take advantage of her. I could understand if she was a little wary of being scammed again after that $20,000 ATM fiasco. That was just a year ago. If it was your daughter who fell for something like that, wouldn't you want to step in and help. She is going to be so highly recruited, and there will be people involved who would no doubt be tempted to take advantage of her sweet nature and skim off of her. I am glad for her that she has people looking out for her.
He’s not a lawyer but he certainly has her best interests in mind and he has business experience. Definitely a good call
I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up with On. They seem to have money to burn and Ritz seems open to adapting his training for each individual athlete. Boulder would also be a great place to live and train.
Shoe companies should be falling over themselves to sign her. Generational talent, and good looking. With a healthy dose of 'doesn't take herself too seriously'. Absolutely perfect for marketing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up with On. They seem to have money to burn and Ritz seems open to adapting his training for each individual athlete. Boulder would also be a great place to live and train.
This is what I’m talking about. If she signs a deal with a luxury brand, don’t be surprised. They don’t even need shoes. Lululemon, Vuori, Tracksmith, etc. Sign a huge clothing deal and then wear whatever you want for shoes.