Gwen Jorgensen’s transition from Triathlete to Marathoner

[amr63]

I saw this, Lagat in 28 something minutes! madness..

Lagat’s 28:45 is exceptional for a 43-year old (equates to a 26:34 in his prime) but the winning time is not, even though the elite race (& prize money) is for USA runners only: Craig Virgin won there three times in the early 80’s in 28:31, 28:39 & 28:03 (setting a then-US record). What surprises me is that Bernard Lagat managed to beat such a classy US field.

[amr63]

Gwen’s path to the 2020 Olympic marathon hit an unplanned rough section yesterday as she struggled to a 2:36:33 finish for 11th place at the Chicago marathon (5th USA woman).

 

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2018/10/gwen-jorgensen-second-guessing-decision-quit-triathlon-chicago-marathon/

 

To be brutally honest, right after the race I looked at my husband and said ‘Oh my goodness, I’m really questioning what the heck I’m doing,’” Jorgensen said.

 

“I am, I would say, gutted, very disappointed with my result,” Jorgensen said. “I had training that was better than that…I really feel like my training was indicative of faster racing.”

 

On the bright side, she has qualified for the USA Olympic Trials (2:37:00 is the A standard), but she’s going to have to take a long hard look at her goals and training after this. Whatever she decides, she still has an Olympic Gold ????.

[_David_]

[Aurora]

The jump from Olympic distance Triathlon to a full marathon is massive for any athlete.

 

It has taken Gomez and Brownlee a few years to get this transition right in the triathlon space, never mind racing a full marathon on its own, that's a whole different kettle of fish at much higher speeds.

 

Just going from a 10km to 21km run is a big jump speed wise, the 42km is just a different league all together. Her biggest training run during tri was only 16km, now 2 years later she is racing a 42, thats huge!

 

I think she is doing well overall, she is just used to winning the runs from her triathlon background so that is what is causing her blurred lines of success here in my opinion. Her times are good and they don't happen over night.