It is amazing that Galebach was able to get to his feet, and win a sprint to the line with Omar Aden.
Galebach not only is a gutsy and talented runner, he had the good sense to fall at the top of the one place on the course where he would be able to regain his momentum almost instantly. Not only that, it appears that he forced third-place finisher Ahmed Ali to hurdle him.
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What's more amazing is his confidence. He said the fall was great and gve him goosebumps since it meant he was going to have a competitive finish. For self confidence that ranks up there with Al Jolson (The Jazz Singer) who had to follow Enrico Caruso on stage at Carnegie Hall after Caruso brought the house down. Jolson said,"you ain't heard nothing yet".
I believe it was actually 600m from the finish line that he fell...at least that's what I heard. I wasn't there, though, so I'm probably wrong?
You're right that it's more than 300m from that little hill to the finish.
I'm not sure of the exact distance, but I noticed yesterday that it took the winner of the NE Champonship race (who was cruising along at 5:00/mile pace), about 90s to cover the distance from that hill to the finish line. So, perhaps 450-500m?
What's most impressive about Galebach is that he runs upwards to 120 miles a week, consistently. Pretty impressive for a high schooler.
- Tom
Tom, "impressive" is definitely not the word that comes to mind...
The distance from the turn down the hill is about 520m for the course as it is run by the HS now. I measured it last week.
120 miles a week "impressive"? I think I have another word for it too.
What's the word for it, Warrior?
Hmm well Dathan Ritzenhein and Ryan Hall did around 120 miles a week in high school. How are they running now? Impressive.
Ritz isn't a great example. He's chronically injured, but I think some of the Nike technology has definitely helped him stay in shape even through his constant stress fractures etc.
id say its pretty impressive. its going to set him up nicely for the college workload.
You have to understand, there are diminishing returns to running higher mileage especially if you're running the 5k in high school.
Dathan Ritzenhein wasnt an ordinary guy, he won footlockers twice, and was competing at the IAAF Junior world championship cross country races which were longer and probably required more training. Also, Dathan ran the 5000m on the track in high school (in 13:44).
I dont think Galebach his capabilities, neither do I think increasing his mileage will help him that much. Also, his improvements in college and post-collegiate will now be limited in many distance events, except maybe the marathon.
I completely and 100% agree that for your average high schooler, running 100 miles per week is not a good idea as you are going to find yourself chronically injured, or even mentally burnt out. However, what is extremely impressive about Galebach is his discipline and motivation to train at such a high level at such a young age. And again, I agree for the average high school kid this is a bad idea, but Galebach has proven he is above average, and even more importantly he has proven that the high mileage is working for him via his results.
As for the argument that his improvement will be limited in college and post-collegiately, there is no sound logic or scientific basis there. In my opinion that is one of the huge problems with a lot of high school and college coaches alike - they are stubborn and refuse to accept that something they personally don't believe can actually work for a specific individual, who in this case is Galebach. As for those who agree that the high mileage will set him up nicely for college, you are absolutely correct. Think of the head start he is going to have in terms of muscular-skeletal development, cardiovascular development, discipline to put in the 120 miles per week, and all of the other physiologically benefits associated with running high mileage from a young age. It's always interesting to me how high mileage individuals who aspire to get to the national, if not world class level are bashed at a young age, but if you really look at what is going on with the best in the world, they are running high mileage and developing their systems and structures way before your average American even attempts to think about putting in the neccessary work to reach their potential. Anyways, this response is a lot longer than it should be, but let's just all hope that Galebach can continue to run as impressively as he is while staying healthy. At the level he is training at the key is preventative mainanance, something I wish I understood/knew during the past few years. If he is doing the right types of drills/treatment, core work, and the tons of other aspects that are associated with training at a high level, Galebach, and anyone else willing to put in the work (smartly) will achieve great things!
- Tom
Well, fortunately time reveals all: http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Athlete.aspx?AID=1568871
All of his college PRs came freshman year, and from what I can tell, he wasn't able to run much afterwards. Looks like 120 miles a week in high school catches up with you...
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