run by nature wrote:
captain and me wrote:I Disgree Deano - I think he did start the strength work when he got to Loughborough (Fall '75) and that is in part why he made the 800m breakthrough (1.47 in '76), and kept so doing through to '79 and the 1.42.3. I would believe that Peter embraced the strength work as somewhat of a missing piece of the puzzle, and something he had limited knowledge and experience in, so left it up to Gandy to help in that direction - with Seb away at school anyway.
Secondly, who says he didn't do any specific 800m work prior? according to what is published in BTfDR, he did sessions that I would call 800m centric, just not at the expense of other development (multi-pace).
In The Perfect Distance p 77, it says Gandy would not initially have a great deal to do with Coe. Therefore did not start weight work in fall 75, and performance of 1.47.7 was not due to weight work in the winter before.
The year before the 1.47.7. Coe ran a 36.2 300m and a 8.14 3000m and a 3.45 1500, but only a 153.8 800. He was capable of running sub 1,50. So the 1.47.7 was not a breakthrough, merely continuing the progression.
The question to ask is why had Coe run so few 800s in his junior career, why had Coe, throughout his junior years (until 19), run so poorly over 800 - even compared to 400m/300m times. Why did he very rarely race 400m. Why, when you have a slow 800m PB and you have just run 36.2 and 8.14, not run an 800m?
Read my summary on page 3 of his race selection as a junior.
I initially wondered why Australians were so poor over 800m (for 35 years), found data to back that up, then thought of reasons for it and possible solutions. Then really took a good look at Coe's background/racing as a junior and it appears to me, he developed speed and endurance but not speed endurance. He rarely ran 800m. Big focus on 1500 3000 cross country - opposite to Australian juniors middle distance runners.
This is interesting because Lydiard got criticised in the 1980s for the fact that Coe was running so fast and successfully on a speed orientated system. Lydiard would always respond that Coe could run a very fast 3k and cross-country as a teenager and had endurance levels most others didn’t have.
Coe did more miles from 1978 onwards then is claimed. There is that famous story that on Christmas Day 1979 that Coe was going to take the afternoon off but he sat there nervously thinking that Ovett was out doing a 2nd training run so he went out for another run and it was snowing.