WAY WAY WAY too logical Rich...back to the original point, a)young up and
comers at age 22, 23, 24 need to commit to racing the marathon rather than
waiting until they are slow and old and b) we as a group ran better back
then because we trained our asses off and didn't know crapola about
physiology nor were we pulled by the local yokel 5 mile dash for cash...it
didn't exist
-Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard McCann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: mike fanelli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: T&FMail List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2000 12:41 PM
Subject: Re: t-and-f: MEB and ABDI IN SYDNEY
> Mike, one problem--there weren't many sub 28:20 guys to move up to the
> marathon in the early 90s! Look at how slow the 10k people were in the 92
> and 96 Trials! (And I didn't see Pat Porter (an excellent candidate for
> marathoning) running much on the roads.) They just weren't around. That's
> my point.
>
> I don't think you can attribute this lack of talent to road racing. If
you
> look at the collegiate markes, which are largely untainted by road racing
> opportunities, the marks in the late 80s thru mid 90s were
> miserable! Nothing at the top end, and no depth in the 5 or 10k. Bottom
> line: the US had little talent to spare for marathoning during that
period.
>
> If you could run sub 28:20, you could do quite well in the US without
> moving up to the marathon during that period, so why bother. In the early
> 1980s, when we had hot marathoners, you needed to think you could run sub
> 28 to even have a shot at an international team. So sub 28:20 meant it
was
> time to move up back then. Maybe we're starting to arrive back at that
> point again. Then we'll see those guys moving up to the marathon again.
>
> Richard McCann
>
> At 06:55 PM 9/27/2000 -0700, mike fanelli wrote:
> >While I appreciate the input, Brad Hudson is not a particularly good
> >example...we're talking about athletes who are in the 28:20 (or better)
> >range over 10,000 meters moving up sooner rather than later...during the
> >,'90s, these guys typically moved on to the weekly road circuit, racing
up
> >to 10 or so miles in order to make $250-$2000...road whores with no true
> >sense of purpose... let's take 10 guys who've run sub 28:20 and are under
26
> >years old and send then to USOC training Center in Chula Vista and work
with
> >them and their coaches toward a marathon effort as part of a specific
> >racing/training cycle...betcha we get some results. (good ones)
> >
> >
> >-Mike
>
