REALLY sad story, says she was a competitive swimmer so I wonder what happened…
She’s beautiful. How tragic. Breaks my heart.
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So sad. I read she gave herself nine weeks to train for the half marathon.
Nine weeks is not enough time.
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She seemed athletic and in-shape. I’m guessing it was just a previously undetected heart defect. Poor girl. Props to the family for looking at it like they do.
Not enough time for an off-the couch adult, but for an active, competitive swimming teen I highly doubt her training, or lack thereof, contributed to her death at all. Could very well have been a ticking time-bomb scenario.
A good friend of mine who was a stud athlete in high school got light headed suddenly and passed out when his heart stopped at the end of a basketball game. Luckily there was a doctor in attendance, and proper emergency medical equipment nearby and his life was saved. Later on he found out it was due to an irregularity in his heart and that it was only a matter of time until what happened did, and he has been unable to participate in sports since. He was luckier then this girl, but it could very well have been a similar situation.
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You could be right, but I think the question needs asking: Was she properly trained for this event?
Respectfully, swimming is different than running. Nine weeks is not enough time to push a half marathon. She had a decent time for a non-runner/16 year old: 2 hours 19 minutes.
I’m glad your friend survived.
I don’t mean to be harsh in my post, but I’m concerned that this girl was over confident in her abilities.
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You could be right, but I think the question needs asking: Was she properly trained for this event?
Respectfully, swimming is different than running. Nine weeks is not enough time to push a half marathon. She had a decent time for a non-runner/16 year old: 2 hours 19 minutes.
I’m glad your friend survived.
I don’t mean to be harsh in my post, but I’m concerned that this girl was over confident in her abilities.
Being undertrained for a half marathon isnt going to cause death. Especially if she was already “in shape” as a competetive swimmer. This is entirely a red herring.
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So sad. I read she gave herself nine weeks to train for the half marathon.
Nine weeks is not enough time.
Nine weeks is plenty of time for a seasoned athlete who isn’t looking to break world records or anything.
I’m not sure of the details (didn’t click the link yet) - but I’m just saying that a lot of people successfully run HM with no training at all.
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I’m no doctor, but I think you’re right in that it was likely an undetected heart defect.
To those saying she was undertrained and 9 weeks isn’t enough to finish a half marathon, when base level fitness isn’t a factor and athletes suffer catastrophic heart failures that’s often what’s to blame. Look at pro athletes like Fabrice Muamba of the Bolton Wanderers and more recently Rich Peverley of the Dallas Stars.
Different cases for sure, but you can’t simply point to this girl’s fitness being the problem without there being some other serious issues at play, especially considering her background in swimming.
Things brings to light important issues around the availability of AEDs at sporting events and venues.
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Sorry half marathon for a 16 year old is a long way.
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“This is entirely a red herring.”
You’re wrong.
Competitive swimming is different than running. A lot different!
**
Also, she pushed a good time for someone who doesn’t look like a runner. Sorry!
another likely cause is shitty stimulants/supplements. I’m curious to hear about toxicology.
I’m no doctor, but I think you’re right in that it was likely an undetected heart defect.
To those saying she was undertrained and 9 weeks isn’t enough to finish a half marathon, when base level fitness isn’t a factor and athletes suffer catastrophic heart failures that’s often what’s to blame. Look at pro athletes like Fabrice Muamba of the Bolton Wanderers and more recently Rich Peverley of the Dallas Stars.
Different cases for sure, but you can’t simply point to this girl’s fitness being the problem without there being some other serious issues at play, especially considering her background in swimming.
Things brings to light important issues around the availability of AEDs at sporting events and venues.
Sorry half marathon for a 16 year old is a long way.
I agree. But 2 months + of training in addition to being a fit girl (which I’m assuming from her being described as a competitive swimmer) is probably plenty for someone just looking to finish. She was running at a 10 minute pace basically, so she wasn’t cooking it by any stretch of the imagination. I realize that everyone has different paces and different people will respond to stress in different ways - but I have a hard time seeing how a 10 minute pace (basically just slightly faster than a casual jog) would kill someone (with undertraining being the sole cause). Now…I suppose it’s possible that her time was from her sprinting at full bore, gassing out and walking, then sprinting at full bore - rinse and repeat - I can see how that would do it. I just can’t imagine that’s the case.
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TriBeer is a living, breathing red herring. don’t engage.
You could be right, but I think the question needs asking: Was she properly trained for this event?
Respectfully, swimming is different than running. Nine weeks is not enough time to push a half marathon. She had a decent time for a non-runner/16 year old: 2 hours 19 minutes.
I’m glad your friend survived.
I don’t mean to be harsh in my post, but I’m concerned that this girl was over confident in her abilities.
Being undertrained for a half marathon isnt going to cause death. Especially if she was already “in shape” as a competetive swimmer. This is entirely a red herring.
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Not harsh at all and no offence received on my part!
I just feel like a normal, healthy, athletic teen, if undertrained, would maybe puke, get too tired, cramp, or have a billion other things happen to cause them to stop before running oneself until their heart stops and they die. I remember rowing in highschool. Once when it was too windy to get out on the water, and because our crew was acting like immature goofballs, our coach made us run around our lake, twice (just shy of 20k) for our workout. We were teens. Some of us had never run a 5k before. Some people finished in 1:40, others walk/ran/limped it in 3+ hours. Like I said, normal, athletic, healthy teens have incredibly resilient bodies that can withstand a ton. I’m not saying what our coach did was right and I’m sure he would be publicly executed if he pulled that in today’s world. =)
I’m not trying to pick a fight, and you very well may be right as I’m no expert, but I just think normal healthy hearts don’t give up like that, even under stress. Something else would give first if she was under trained.
Either way it’s incredibly sad. She seemed like a brilliant kid with a bright future.
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Could be that her being a competitive swimmer is what did her in. Someone mentioned 10 minute pace not being tuff, but most certainly she ran much faster to begin with and then fell apart from the pace. So instead of just quitting or walking, her competitive instincts from swimming and the fact she was running with family/friends, probably goatee her to continue running even though her body was screaming to stop. And by being a relatively fit person, she was able to push to the point where something snapped. Certainly something that was latent and in waiting, but something she would have probably survived if she had stopped or just walked when gassed.
Goes back to something i have known and been saying for 35 years, there really is no honor in continuing races just to finish. You may think so, or others lead you to believe it, but what is honorable is to stop or quit before you hurt yourself, or even worse. That is what big brains are supposed to do, animal brains will go til they die sometimes, but even most of them will quit when it is time… Don’t override your bodies signals, there will always be another race on another day.
Very sad to see this, kind of shocked about the parents response.
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You both commit a logical fallacy. Read Monty’s post and get back to me.
I agree with you that it’s so sad.
Teens do have resilient bodies, but they can be over confident.
My other concern is she had an iPod on, which distracted her. Without listening to music, she may have been better intuned to her body.
She was a competitive swimmer, who knew how to hurt. Her mind was more powerful than her body.
Yes, all so sad. Thank you for understanding.
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Thank you for posting what I was trying to communicate. Some athlete’s minds can be more powerful than their bodies. They’re taught to fight the pain and fight the signals.
I didn’t mean to be harsh, but I had to raise the question. A half marathon is a long race, needs respect and proper preparation.
Did you notice she was listening to music?
Her hydration belt concerned me too.
I also agree that 2 months is plenty of time to train for a half marathon. I’ve been running for approximately 45 years, so yes, I can do it.
But, a 16 year old may need a bit more time to train. Also, I read she was training for a 5k. Was she training for a 5k and decided to run a half marathon and felt confident to run it because of her competitive background.
It’s all so sad.
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