not the ticket son wrote:
PS The guy who used the word "yanks" is also corny.
Sorry, should have called you Septics.
not the ticket son wrote:
PS The guy who used the word "yanks" is also corny.
Sorry, should have called you Septics.
In the two interviews being discussed in this thread, Mottram really sounds like Steve Prefontaine did leading up to the '72 Olympics (that is, if you believe the portrayal in the two feature films about him). A lot of people thought Pre was overly confident/cocky, but as several posters on this thread have noted, when you back it up as frequently as Mottram does, you don't come off sounding like the tool that so many of the posters on this site tend to do. And if you still think he's overly arrogant, let's try to remember just how bad ass 8:03 really is. Infrequently run or not, when only Geb and D. Komen have run faster than you, you're just damn fast.
Oh my god people: OSTRAVA, not Australia, OSTRAVA.
Hell, its the middle of winter here, as if a world class 5km would be going down.
OSTRAVA.
/rant.
I agree with you on that point. I do think the concept of "guts" or "balls" is a bit corny. As if Craig won simply because he could endure more pain or because he wanted it more, which is probably far from the truth. He won primarily because he is fit and is training smart.
I was simply trying to point out that I do not think Mottram tries to belittle his competition. I certainly do not think CM was implying that Bekele, Tadesse, Teg, etc do not have any balls.
According to my sources, Craig Mottram actually does very little work faster than his 10k pace, which would be, say, 1km intervals, often done on trails, at altitude. The great majority of his work has an undercurrent of steady aerobic volume all through the year, with an injection of marathon pace work, then 10k work, then an injection of more specific work leading into a track race, and that's about it. When you've got a great aerobic base, that's all you need; an injection of something approximating threshold, then an injection near max, etc. He's super-fit aerobically, and he's working out how his body responds to training at altitude then coming down to race at sea-level. If you race track within 48 hours of coming down, you'll fly, but then you enter a hole for a week or two, but by about 14 days (anecdotally) things pick up again. So we'll see what happens in Ostrava. I'd also pick Tegenkamp as a very good tactical runner; he appears to be brilliantly coached; he may be a big factor in Osaka 5k.I hope so.
The "f-swearing" appears to be Craig caught off-guard prior to an interview; he may not have been aware that the camera was on as it's at about knee-level. As for the "balls" comment; that's pretty standard UK-Aussie-NZ terminology; no big deal, and I'd say he was including all the people who went with the pace in his description of what it takes to race at that level. If you want to know more, you'll have to buy the book!
Great website.
if you don't like craig mottram, i don't know what to tell ya... he's gotta be the most fun person to watch race and then listen to during interviews after.
Yeah; agreed, he's just what the sport needs. And...we only have to draw breath sometimes to get criticized, so good on him; winners can be grinners!