Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 23, 2020 15:46:41 GMT -5
The OT Marathon will take place in Atlanta, GA on Saturday. Hoya alum Rich Kenah will be the race director. At least three Georgetown grads will be running in either the women's or men's race. For the women Kate Landau will be running. She will be one of the top masters runners in the race as she is 42, I believe. She said that she will not be running all out, as she has been invited to run the Boston Marathon only a month or so after.
In the men's race Andrew Bumbalough should be among the leaders. Another grad will be Nick Golebiowski, who was a 10,000m runner at Georgetown.
Another one of my favorites will be my neighbor Shadrack Biwott, who was 3rd (and first American) at Boston last year.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 24, 2020 19:06:48 GMT -5
From letsrun.com
Andrew Bumbalough — 32 years old, Nike Bowerman Track Club, 2:10:56 pb (2019 Chicago), 62:04 half Last two marathons: 12th 2019 Chicago (2:10:56), 5th 2018 Boston (2:19:52) Tuneup race: 64:10 for 4th at Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Half Marathon on February 8
2020 will be the fourth Olympic Trials for Bumbalough, who came as close as 4th in the 5,000 in 2012 and turns 33 next month. There probably will not be a fifth.
“I’ve been chasing an Olympic team my entire career. This is my last shot,” Bumbalough says, before adding, with a chuckle, “I’m trying not to look at it so bleakly.”
The transition to marathoner has been a gradual one, but Bumbalough’s decision to focus on 26.2 miles was always with the Olympic Trials in mind. He has steadily improved since his 2:13:58 debut in Tokyo in 2017, and his 2:10:56 in Chicago in October marked Bumbalough as a contender for the team. The problem? Three Americans beat him in Chicago, and none were named Rupp, Korir, Fauble, or Ward.
Bumbalough says that, with no interruptions due to illness or injury, his training has gone as well as possible. And while Derrick has occasionally gotten the best of him in some of their track workouts, Bumbalough has felt strong in longer, marathon-specific workouts.
So how does Bumbalough go from 4th American in Chicago to top 3 at the Trials? It’s pretty simple: he was with the top Americans at 35k in Chicago before fading late. He needs to be fitter now — perhaps a lot fitter — than he was five months ago.
“I made a big jump in Chicago and [I’m] hoping for another big one, because I think it will require that next level of performance to make the team,” Bumbalough says.
Shadrack Biwott — 35 years old, Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, 2:12:01 pb (2016 New York), 61:25 half Last two marathons: 15th 2019 Boston (2:13:11), 9th 2018 New York (2:12:52) Tuneup race: 63:54 for 52nd (30th American) at Houston Half on January 19
During this Olympic cycle, only two Americans have three top-5 finishes in World Marathon Majors. One is Galen Rupp. The other is Shadrack Biwott. In fact, only five Americans have even one top-5 at a WMM during this cycle, and two of them are only on the list because of the freak conditions in Boston in 2018.
Athlete Top 5’s Races Galen Rupp 3 ’17 Boston, ’17 Chicago, ’18 Chicago Shadrack Biwott 3 ’16 NYC, ’17 Boston, ’18 Boston Abdi Abdirahman 1 ’16 NYC Tyler Pennel 1 ’18 Boston Andrew Bumbalough 1 ’18 Boston The chart above doesn’t account for a race’s depth — Scott Fauble ran 2:09:09 in Boston last year and only finished 7th — but it makes one thing clear: Biwott is at his best in championship-style races on challenging courses, and that’s exactly what the 2020 Trials presents.
The concern about Biwott is that he hasn’t done much since taking third at Boston in 2018. He was 9th in New York that fall — behind Ward and Fauble — and just 15th (5th American) in Boston last year as he battled patellar tendonitis, which caused him to withdraw from the World Championship marathon in October. Biwott returned to action in January by running 63:54 in Houston, and while that put him way back (52nd overall), Biwott never blasts his tuneup races — he ran just 63:52 in NYC before taking 4th in Boston in 2017.
Biwott would have had a much better shot if the Trials were held in 2017 or 2018; as things stand, Ward, Korir, and Fauble have all passed him on the US pecking order.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 24, 2020 19:33:03 GMT -5
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 25, 2020 17:20:39 GMT -5
An important consideration in the running of the OT marathon is the shoe problem. Nike has led a revolution in the design of racing shoes. The Vaporfly and Next% and now the Alphafly have improved times by so much. The Vaporfly and Next% have been shown to improve the times by 4%; now the Alphafly are supposed to improve times by 7-8%. So if you are a Nike runner, no problem. If you are sponsored by other shoe companies, you might have a problem, although many of those companies are trying to incorporate a carbon plate into their shoes, which are supposed to make the shoes more springy.
Here is the take on Bumbi:
His teammate, Andrew Bumbalough, has yet to make a final decision, but says he will likely wear the Next% in Atlanta. While he’s run some workouts in the Alphaflys, Bumbalough says they are noticeably heavier and he feels more comfortable in the Next%, which he wore while running his PR of 2:10:56 in Chicago last fall.
“[The Alphafly], in the transition, it does not feel quite as good as the Vaporfly,” Bumbalough says. “Though it’s still a pretty incredible shoe.”
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FrazierFanatic
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Feb 28, 2020 20:34:53 GMT -5
Let's go Hoyas!
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 29, 2020 13:28:57 GMT -5
Bumbi has fallen back at 16 miles.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 29, 2020 13:53:47 GMT -5
And it looks as if Andrew has dropped out. Tough course, strong winds.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 29, 2020 13:59:06 GMT -5
It looks as if my neighbor Shadrack has also fallen back and Nick, who started pretty far back, has passed him.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 29, 2020 14:09:09 GMT -5
Kate Landau is still in it; she might be the first master's women.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 29, 2020 14:10:29 GMT -5
And Shadrack has dropped out too.
Oops, still on course, but very slow.
Now dropped out.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 29, 2020 14:59:02 GMT -5
Nick 2:22:47 for 81st.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 29, 2020 15:02:53 GMT -5
And our highest placing finisher:
14. Kate Landau 2:34:07 a great run by the 42 old Georgetown grad. She told me that she is running Boston later on this year so she would run this marathon conversatively. She beat most of the pre-race favorities.
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Post by reformation on Feb 29, 2020 15:25:13 GMT -5
Wonder if Bumby will take a shot at the team in 5k/10K
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 29, 2020 18:13:11 GMT -5
I was thinking the same thing, but especially towards the 10,000m.
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sheasdad
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Post by sheasdad on Mar 3, 2020 19:54:07 GMT -5
Molly Seidel’s coach is 25 years old and works part-time at his parents’ hardware store on the Boston Marathon course: Georgetown's Jonathan Green (2018)
There is so much about Molly Seidel that makes her journey to the Olympics incredible. She spent last fall in Boston working at a coffee shop and babysitting for Tracksmith founder Matt Taylor. Though she was a four-time NCAA champion at Notre Dame, she turned down contract offers to leave school early in order to receive treatment for an eating disorder. As recently as three months ago, Seidel wasn’t planning on running the Trials at all (she was supposed to debut at the Houston Marathon). Seidel told Runner’s World before the race that “Tenth to 20th range would be a good day for me. All of these women are really good and have the times [to back it up]. I want to go out and be realistic, but not count myself out.” And then there’s hear coach, Jon Green. Seidel, at 25, became the youngest American woman to make an Olympic marathon team since 1992. Yet she’s seven months older than Green, a two-time top-10 finisher at NCAA XC for Georgetown who graduated in 2018. Green and Seidel met as teammates at the Saucony Freedom Track Club, but both left last fall, with Green picking up shifts at his parents hardware store — located on the Boston Marathon course in Wellesley — to help pay the bills.
Seidel turned to Green as her coach in November, and he guided her training from afar (Seidel spent built up for the Trials in Flagstaff), at times seeking advice from NAU coach Mike Smith, whom Green knew from his time at Georgetown. Now, at 25, Green has done what many coaches spend decades attempting to do: coach someone to the Olympics. The national media is loving Seidel making the Olympic team as a barista in her first marathon as she was featured on NBC Nightly News on Monday. Speaking of being a barista, Green said he thought Molly standing on her feet a few hours a day was good for her (though she took time off from her job before the Trials to train in Flagstaff). It seems unlikely Seidel continues her barista job, but her tips might go through the roof now.
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sheasdad
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Post by sheasdad on Mar 4, 2020 6:08:40 GMT -5
Also Men's OT Marathon winner Galen Rupp is now coached by former Hoya Mike Smith.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Mar 4, 2020 13:41:41 GMT -5
Good stuff!
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