There's a few items I'll address from this thread.
Not all 2k mi+ plane shipments are equal.
West to east is easy. South to north is easy.
The east to west and north to south are tough. I like to see five weeks acclimation time for those. Might be the reason the east coast runners don't win when the cup is held at SA. It makes runners like Improbable and Omaha Beach coming up plays against on the double ship most of the time. Must verify who went west before heading east again.
Layoff runners aren't equal. You're onto something when looking for competent long break trainers. Also look for what stage of their career they're in. Improvement happens a lot from 2 to 3 and 3 to 4. Less often from 4 to 5. 5 and up it's washy.
Workout spacing is every bit as important as workout speed. A lone fast drill in a vacuum has less value than a weekly schedule of slow ones. Also short drills often mean less. Signals more often are found at 5f+.
My $0.02
|