I was out riding trails yesterday evening and got a call from Pat Lemieux, a good friend, and Gwen Jorgensen’s husband. Since she won a gold medal in Rio last Saturday, I assumed they would be back here in the US right about now. I was hoping he was going to say that they were done for the year and that he was going to do Chequamegon again next month.
Instead he said that Gwen was running the New York City marathon, November 6th. Between that time they are going down to Florida for a training camp before the ITU WTS finals in Mexico and also doing another triathlon in the Bahamas. Pretty jam-packed scheduled for a triathlete.
I think she has ran one marathon before, but I’m not sure about that. Nothing like this though. I assume she’s do fine. I have no idea whether she will be competitive. She can run a low 32 minute 10000 meters, so she is fast enough, for sure. But putting over 4 of those together back to back is a different deal. But I applaud venturing out.
Why not do some bucket list stuff when you have the form to do it? She eventually might turn exclusively to running, so it is a good idea seeing if that is a realistic possibility.
She definitely has a runner’s body.
I wouldn’t bet against Tucker in a one-on-one competition, though.
I’m sure there was no start money involved….like maybe 9-10 years of your W2 type stuff.
The marathon is on a whole different level than the 5-10k ‘s she probably raced a lot and LSD running for your tri sport. Why rick injury?? She probably will just try and survive . I don’t think she will be racing this. Here to see someone talented get injured running 26 . She probably don’t have the proper bass miles either for 26.
Yeah Tucker is quicker and much cheaper to fuel than Gwen 😉
Appearance money, hopefully. The broadcast can mention “Olympic winner Gwen Jorgensen in a very elite field..” Do a human interest story if there’s no action.
Epiopians will take the podium. No question about that. IAAF is as bad at doping as cycling.
was that supposed to say Ethiopians or EPOpians? 😉
For her to run a marathon is a waste of good athleticism (and an unnecessary risk of injury). Hope the start money is ultimately worth it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/sports/olympics/two-events-fewer-16-miles-more.html
NYRR apparently approached her, so we can assume she’s doing it for more than a free entry. ITU triathlon follows an Olympic cycle with regards to funding and exposure, so they do need to take advantage of opportunities
She’s got enough speed and energy endurance, but will lack the long run training needed to get through the muscle breakdown of the last 6 miles. Still, she can probably go just under 2:45 and slip into the top 20 women. But not under 2:30 without the specific prep and no distraction of remaining triathlon season.
You should alert her coach, since you’re obviously an expert.
She made a statement in 2014 when asked about doing an Ironman, something to the effect of “I see myself possibly getting into marathon running”, so that seems like what’s next on her list, what could be left to accomplish in triathlon after an Olympic Gold?
racing 26 miles and surviving 26 miles are two different things.. a world best tri athlete I bet does 10 mile endurance runs.. maybe 12-13 miles.. lots of intervals.. 400-1600.. to RACE a marathon, you need tons of base miles.. if not, just survive it and hope you don’t get injured.. talent will get you only so far.. hope she dosent get hurt.. shes the best triathlete in the world.. I use to be a 400meter runner in high school. 48.7 was my best. I trained a lot of 100-200-300’s. when coach made me run 800’s in a meet, it hurt… so racing a 26 when you are use to racing 6.2 and your long day is probably 10-13, that’s not near enough miles to be competitive.. IMO. hope she stays healthy..
Swimming in the Rio sewage was a far greater threat to her than a marathon. Barring an oddity she may come away sore for a few days. At least this was my experience of running 2 marathons without any specific run program, with the long day being 13 miles twice. My guess is the New York athletic club and possible asics is paying her well.
Isn’t a Kona Ironman or woman title the apogee of the sport?
Scrum,
DAMN DUDE!!! 48.7 seconds for you to take a spin around your high school track??? F$&king-A man! You must’ve been the shiznit in high school — Had all of the chicks fawning over you cuz they wanted to touch your letter jacket – which you still proudly wear to this day whenever you pull your red Chrysler Lebaron convertible out of the garage – that has “400m” for the upper rocker patch and “48.7” for the lower rocker patch . Everyday, between 4th and 5th period, you and your brah’s would see the geeks leaving the A/V room, and everyday y’all would punch them in their junk, then y’all would puff-up, grunt and snort while chest bumping each other. Your main brah, the starting quarterback – who is still bagging groceries at the Piggly Wiggly just down the road from the Hardee’s where you just got promoted to assistant grill and fryer manager – probably bet you to see who could shag the entire cheerleading squad first, but hey, my money would’ve been on “Mr. 48point7” — unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately if you still think of yourself as the shiznit, life after high school has come nowhere near as awesome as it was while you were in highschool.
Only if coach didn’t make you run those 800’s in those meets… there’s no telling… Hell the 400m world record was just broke at the olympics, it’s now at 43.03. If you could’ve been training those 100-200-300’s during all of the times you were hurt because coach made you run those 800’s – you could’ve easily cut 0.01 secs/meter from your pace! EASILY!!! Just think… If coach would’ve not made you run those 800’s and let you to continue to train with your method, the BEST method of 100-200-300’s – your letter jacket would now have a lower and a new lowest rocker patch of “43.something” and every time you take a cruise in you Chrysler Lebaron with the top down, you’d have some bling that the ladies would want to see, more than likely it’d be gold bling but at the very least it’d be silver bling.
Her running the NYC marathon is like Froome racing in post- tour criteriums…….