Run-Down Forums

[Conway]

What are you going to motivate ??? We're really talking about sometehing that is more neuro muscular in nature ... If we are talking motivation from practice then we are talking about introducing more speed in her competition ... And she has Tim for that ... Or maybe not ... As practicing with her could hinder him ...

What we are talking about - in my opinion - is why groups like HSI, SMTC, The Farm and others fair better than individuals - the push of the nervous system to perform at a higher quality on a consistent basis ... Working solo, or with inferior competition makes it extremely hard to develop what is necessary ...

Look back at the women's sprints during the mid 80's to mid 90's ... HIGH quality ... Marion would have had difficulty getting into the TOP 6 in many of the championship meets run during that 10 year span based on her performances of the past couple of seasons !!!!! But had she had to compete against them ... Hmmm ... Actually she was supposed to now that I think of it ... Wonder if that had anything to do with her staying out of the sport for a while ??? Could be another thread
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Dan]

Even without someone at her level to train with, you could still set up workouts where she's going over-distance relative to what her training partners are doing, thus keeping the intensity plenty high for her. Like the time I was running a 400m time trial and had 2 friends pacing me, one for the first half and one for the second. Ouch.

Despite my skeptical/cynical nature, I see no real reason to doubt Marion's reasons for taking a hiatus from T&F. She was rather successful on the hardwood, and that is a much more glamorous sport in the eyes of many, so it was probably a pretty easy decision at the time.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Conway]

Much easier to set up a simulated training environment for races 400 and up than for the 100 and 200 unless you have a very sophisticated lighting system around the track or something to that effect ... To many things happening in the blink of an eye ... And the only thing than can simulate that is electronics ...

I have to disagree on Marion's success and the glamour of basketball ... Women's basketball is more of a second class event than track and field ... And Marion was already on the precepece of the Olympics - the MOST glamorous event in the entire world of sports ... As a matter of fact she qualified for the relay team and elected NOT to go ... This in conjunction with her refusing to drug test, her Johnny Cochran defense, etc. In retrospect it doesn't look very good ... She was lucky as at the time it was viewed more as the naivete of a young girl ... But in 20/20 hindsight perhaps not so naive at all ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Dan]

True, simulating 100m work would be difficult. I still think enough could be accomplished through over-speed and resistance work, though.

[Conway]

The Cochran thing was in the area of 1992/93 ... I don't remember the specific dates ... In retrospect I find the Cochran thing disturbing as well given the types of clients that he attracts ... And that his "specialty" seems to be "clearing" individuals of particular wrongs which overtly they appear to be guilty of ... Was that PC enough ???

As far as track as a major thing ... Do not forget that by 92 there were the Worlds and these were at the point of being every two years ... So track enjoyed the same status world wide that it does now ... Marion was already running 11.13 and 22.56 in 92 ... Not too far off what she and her competition are running now ... Only real difference between then and now is level of her competition ... Then her competition was running 10.8x (Devers, Ottey, Torrence AND Privalova) AND all four were sub 22 !!! And that is only the top 4 ... Torrence and Devers were making a fairly good living and were stars of the sport (as were the others but D & T are Americans) ... By goiing ot basketball, Marion actuallly became an after though ... She was not the star of the NC team and was merely a bit player ... She was only remembered because the team won a national championship and of course the fact that she had starred in another sport made for a good story ... She could have been a gold medallist in 92 (on the relay) and set herself up for individual Olympic glory as early as 96 ... The more I look at it I can see her decision to come back in 97 heavily dependant on the fact that Torrence left the sport and Devers had begun to focus more on the hurdles, leaving the event wide open in 97 ... Marion craves the spotlight and between 92 and 96 it was not there to be had without becoming a sub 10.80 and sub 21.80 sprinter !!! That and whatever reason she had for not wanting to undergo testing ....
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Dan]

Any idea what Cochran's reputation was pre-OJ? It seems to me that was the case that made him known as more than just any ol' lawyer, but maybe he was doing similar cases before that, thus the connection to Marion?

I don't know that I see the World Championships as really filling the public awareness requirement for glamor... There is one thing with your assessment of Marion's early years that doesn't quite fit for me -- I haven't seen any indication that she's afraid of losing or will seek to avoid such situations. Sure, she loves winning and the spotlight, but she made no excuses for the loss to Zhanna at Edmonton and came back determined not to lose to her again (not that they had many matchups last year). She put it on the line when she said she was aiming for 5 Golds at Sydney, and she never backed down from that statement no matter how overly ambitious it sounded. Those are signs of a competitor, in my eyes.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Conway]

Cochran was doing the same kind of stuff in LA prior to OJ ... OJ just put him on the map nationwide ... Why do you think OJ hired him ... He couldn't afford an experiment !!!!

As for Marion being afraid to lose ... When has she really lost ??? If you are afraid to lose you do not put yourself in that position unless you have to ... And for a period of time she didn't have to !!! She was able to bypass that - avoid the competition so to speak ... And quite frankly if she didn't want to drug test for the obvious reason then she really didn't have to worry about it in high school ...

The other thing about Marion in college is that she did go out for track ... But kept being "injured" ... She competed a little but never tried the circuit ... And she kept being injured until folks in her events drifted off as I described above ...

You know me Dan ... Just playing the role of Devil's Advocate ... And in this case there is a progression of steps here that does fit !!! linking conveniently with her meeting CJ and then getting "serious" about the sport again ... His subsequent testing and quittinf the sport ... Her deterioration in her events followed by her new boyfriend who has conveniently been consulting wth CF for the past couple of seasons .... And then her own association with CF ... There are dots that connect !!!! LOL
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Dan]

[Conway]

Yeah I believe it was two seasons (maybe 3) but definitely not her senior year ... You would think someone of her caliber (even at that time) would have worked their back to finish a season ... Especially given the fact that her getting to Europe would have most certainly een a given ... Somewhat galling given her talk about her lifelong love of the sport ... Aside from the ridiculousness of John Capel, when was the last time you saw any athlete in any sport on the precipice of the Olympics just walk away for 5 years without any compelling reason - ie major illness, etc ???
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Dan]

Let me ponder that one for, oh, eternity...

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Conway]

There is an answer ... And only one ... FloJo ... Of course she was slightly different in that she got othe medals and THEN walked away ... But just as it seemed she had "arrived" ... Another DOT in the connect !!! LOL
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Dan]

Plus, FloJo never came back to the sport.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Conway]

FloJo began running LONG distance ... So technically she did come back to the sport !!!!! DOT DOT DOT ...

Also ...When was the last time you saw someone leave the sport for 5 years and come back FASTER ... Immediately faster !!! Like running 10.9s as opposed to 10.1s and 2s ...

Remember ... I am the Devils Advocate !!!!
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Dan]

I remember FloJo talking about running the marathon, but did she ever actually come back and do anything? I don't remember seeing it...

I really can't shoot down any of your Devil's Advocate statements, unfortunately. My gut feeling is that Marion is as much of a talent as anyone out there, but there are a lot of very questionable aspects to her past within and outside of the sport (the sum of which leads to the undesirable conclusion that everyone is dirty).

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Conway]

FloJo did do some road races but never got to the marathon stage ... Face it she loved to run ... Which makes her leaving the sport that much more weird ...

I in no way am saying that Marion is or has ever been dirty ... Quite frankly I don't know if she is or isn't ... But as the Devil's Advocate I see way too many items in her past and present that point to the fact that she could be ... And I think someone with her seeming need to be pristine in the publics eye would have avoided or attempted to clear up these things somewhere along the way ... Much too easy for someone to build a connect the dots scenario such as I have ... And quite frankly I'm surprised that no one has as of yet ..
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills