Steve Holman - Marathoner?

[5k Guy]

http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/athletes/ ... .html#rono

The above link shows Steve Holman listed as an elite male athlete entered into the ING-NYC Marathon.

Now that is a big move up in distance.

[MJD]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/tfn/di ... sage=21790

[5k Guy]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

That thread is a year old. So how many minutes has he knocked off the old 2:30 time in the past year.

I'd be very impressed if he ran under 2:20.

Someone with his talent can run 2:30 without any real speed work or too many tempo runs, but you have to be somewhat more serious to go under 2:20 (5:20 per mile pace).

I'm not questioning his ability to do it, but it would just demonstrate that he is serious enough to put in the 100+ mile weeks and tempo runs to race at that level.

[dralmorris]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

I live and work in WDC and it is the rumor here that this is just a fun marathon for him. You are correct--- Steve has had the talent (i.e fast twitch m. fibres) but you have got to train for the marathon, just ask GEB

[George P.]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

Now that is a big move up in distance.

"Big" perhaps; but hey, why not? Only a few weeks ago, a certain poster on this board instructed us about extrapolating middle distance performance to marathon performance. (Um, whom could that poster have been? Could it have been ... nagh...)

[MJD]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

I expressed my position on this ad nauseum on the other thread. The fact that he would even make the news because he is going to jog through a marathon just shows the ridiculous hype the event gets.

[doug0914]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

rod dixon who won an olympic medal in the 1500 meters moved up to the marathon and won new york. i dont think this will be the case with holman as he has not been competing at a high level for a long time. but most world class milers run 70-90 miles a week in their base season which would make them better prepared for the marathon than 99% of the entranrts in a marathon. in al lawrence book the self coached runner al lawrence asked rod dixon how much he was training as a successful road racer/marathoner and dixon said he ran no more than 70 a week, but he had to tell people at clinics it was over 100 because no one would believe the truth. steve ovett ran a 101 half marathon indicating he could run a good marathon, john walker once said marathoners are basically the rejects of distance running who could not make it in the mile and if milers seriously trained for a marathon, the milers would dominate the race, note he said that when the top marathons were being won in 210-212, not the 206 that is common now.

[Friar]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

Dixson: high leg lift or shuffler? I think it makes a difference and most milers have the lift rather than the more efficent shuffle .

[dralmorris]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

the training determines the "lift" or "shuffle" as you correctly note!

[Powell]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

>if milers seriously
>trained for a marathon, the milers would dominate the race, note he said that
>when the top marathons were being won in 210-212, not the 206 that is common
>now.

Yeah, but by the same token the top 1500 races in those days were won in 3:35 rather than the 3:28-3:30s we see today. If the reasoning is valid in principle (and note I'm saying 'if'), it will be valid nowadays just as it was 30 years ago.

[MJD]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

>Dixson: high leg lift or shuffler? I think it makes a difference and most
>st milers have the lift rather than the more efficent shuffle .

Shuffle-at least when he was running marathons-Smith looked less like a marathoner than Dixon at NY. He had a higher leg lift-just looked more inefficient.

[5k Guy]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

<<< The fact that he would even make the news because he is going to jog through a marathon just shows the ridiculous hype the event gets. >>>

I'm not sure of why you think a 2:30 marathon (what he ran in Twin Cities in 03) is jogging. Not many people I know jog at 5:45 per mile. If he is closer to 2:20 this time (have no idea if he will or not) but that is a 5:20 pace and is equivalent to the trials qualifing time needed a year ago. Are either of these two competitive in NYC. No absolutely not (unless you are a women) but its not exactly jogging.

Having run a few marathons in that time zome (2:25 to 2:30) I appreciate that some work and dedication is involved. Good for you Steve.

[MJD]

Re: Steve Holman - Marathoner?

2:30 is jogging for Steve. I understand that 2:20 to 2:30 is commendable for mere mortals like you and me but it is nothing to write home about for Steve. It's the equivalent of about a 32 minute 10km. Yawn.