sanya richards running 800 this weekend - predictions?

2:04.22

1:59 and the speculation starts.

Very interesting. I'll predict nothing below a 2:04. Not that I don't think she CAN do it, but that she's just in more of a "base" training mode right now and is just racing something longer than usual. Obviously Sanya finishes very strong in 400s that she races, so it is quite possible she has good 800 ability. But then, she's a world class 200 runner, too, sooooooo more likely that her 800 ability is limited and she's just overdistance racing early in the season here.

This is really interesting. You have to wonder why she is doing it. Sanya has run 10.97, 22.17, and 48.70. Why run the 800 instead of the 100 or the 200?

I love the 800 though so I am all for it and I am going to imagine that the Hart training has put her in shape to run a great time. She is one of the worlds great female sprinters. World class over 3 distances. If she goes into the race with a great attitude and wants to do well she will.

Even taking into account the inevitable wind, I'm calling 2:03.63. YHIHF.

She has a sub-11 100, so her optimal range is almost certainly not beyond 400m and is probably below 400m (she has faded relative to others who are also doing the standard slowdown in several (all?) of her loses. Also, this is early season and she probably would only be running 50.5 for 400m right now.

2:05 or higher; 1:59 is not up to her '400 level' by the points charts but this is not her event.

If she is training for it, 2:04. If not, 2:08.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Sanya Richards

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.yardflex.com/archives/SanyaRichards_Sports.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.yardflex.com/archives/000897.html&usg=__JEgNZV7OOJfOzG5GQ_gF7s05HAU=&h=306&w=204&sz=15&hl=en&start=26&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=lvvEojH2p-jFRM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=78&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsanya%2Brichards%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADBF_enUS272US279%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1mm

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But 26, while she has faded in her losses, look at what she does in her wins! She closes hard and leaves everybody looking like they're going backward. Her first 200 is probably faster than her 2nd 200 (like pretty much everyone else in the world) but her 2nd 200 is very very strong, just like all Hart-trained athletes.

Remembering back to reading a Hart article a couple years ago, their early season training consists of repeat 200s on Mon, and an either Wed or Thur they're running 800s. He gives them a time goal for the first 400, and then they hang on for the last 400 as best they can. Over the course of the season, those 800s become 700, 600, 500, 450. Sanya's got some endurance there.

2:09.

The 800m never goes well stepping up for the first time if you don't specifically train for it.

what about the miles though?

she ran 2:10 in HS on relay splits. race plan is the only issue. if she sets it up right she should run 2:03 without too much difficulty. Clyde Hart training is more endurance based than speed based. if he practices what he preaches, then she was running 1ks all fall.

Wow. This is a race for the ages in my mind. I've always wondered what would Michael Johnson run for 800 or what would Jeremy Wariner run for 800.

It seems so easy to think, "well they'd cruise through 400 in 50 and ....."

But my mentor John Kellogg went to Baylor and he says that people who assume they would be near the world record are way, way off as he asked people down there what they'd run and I think the answer was barely under 1:50.

But this race should help answer the ultimate what if.

Im serious when I say that I'm fascinated by this. I thought about even trying to raise like $50,000 to get a Wariner or Usain Bolt to run an 800 at the end of the season.

The Stache wrote:

But 26, while she has faded in her losses, look at what she does in her wins! She closes hard and leaves everybody looking like they're going backward. Her first 200 is probably faster than her 2nd 200 (like pretty much everyone else in the world) but her 2nd 200 is very very strong, just like all Hart-trained athletes.

Remembering back to reading a Hart article a couple years ago, their early season training consists of repeat 200s on Mon, and an either Wed or Thur they're running 800s. He gives them a time goal for the first 400, and then they hang on for the last 400 as best they can. Over the course of the season, those 800s become 700, 600, 500, 450. Sanya's got some endurance there.

You are right, but she has so few losses that those cases are more notable; she has won both ways but really only lost with the fade, I think (I could be wrong, but this is my memory on this). If you have more, please comment further.

Where are all the people who reckoned Wariner could run 1:43

They have all gone quiet now a sprinter is actually doing the 800m

2:09

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Where are all the people who reckoned Wariner could run 1:43

They have all gone quiet now a sprinter is actually doing the 800m

Waiting for the results.

2:08 through 2:10 range.

A conservative and fairly accurate prediction would be in the 2:03-2:06 range, I think much slower than a 2:06 would be deemed a poor performance. Best case scenario I think 2:01ish. A 50 second 400 guy moving up to the 8 for the first time usually runs close to 2 flat give or take 2 seconds and men have better endurance. This is a race for the ages though as we distance runners always want to know how sprinters would fair moving up.