800m Dope Show - Women dropping ~2 seconds off personal bests in Semi!!

Tim's a runner, but not an 800m runner.

I am sure there are dopers going to the final, but also the women were treating the semis as a final (Sum out in 27!) and the Beijing track is super-fast, so all the PRs are not a surprise. The men were much more tactical in the semis, but just as doped.

When did 1.57's become absurdly fast? Women's 800's have become absurdly stagnant in recent years, possibly because of more stringent testing. However, if you can run 53 for 400m, you should be able to run 1.57, a number of the women can do just that (for 400). Remember, if Kratochvilova (doping aside) had any kind of endurance she might have run 1.47 off a 47.99 (call it 48). I coached a HS boy this year, with a poor endurance background, who ran 1.47 off a 48.5, so this shouldn't be all that difficult for a training-developed woman with similar speed.

Kratoch's record can go down to a 51-second runner who has developed a good endurance base. If you are slowing down more than 5 seconds per lap from your 400 PR, then your endurance needs work.

I won't find it suspicious until they all run even faster in the final. If they set multiple PRs after going through rounds, then it will be highly suspicious.

Could it be that Beijing's a trampoline track, perhaps even moreso than Monaco, since it was resurfaced?

Come on Coach!

You can't compare men to women, their bodies are different, the guys are stronger, by using that analogy why don't college coaches just convert their men and women from quarter milers to half milers and have their runners win the 800 meters every year?

1:57 became fast when that person ran two seconds faster then she had ever run before in her life in a semi final race! It's possible to drop that time if she's now racing like she has been practicing, however in Europe I would have thought there would have been signs.

It's not the actual times per se, it's the sudden improvement. A bunch of 800 runners who have been training and elite racing for years suddenly 1-2 seconds better...in the 800! Any idea how unlikely that is?

Don't give me that 'peaking' nonsense. 40 yrs of watching (probably)non-doping races have shown as many peaking failures as successes. Elites say they train for a specific race, but all you can really do is build to as high a plateau as possible and hope major races come within that plateau.

In more lowly circles you often see people suddenly take a quantum leap, but thats pretty much always because they get serious and train more. These guys ALWAYS trained smart and hard.

Something else is at work......

zoom800 wrote:

Come on Coach!

You can't compare men to women, their bodies are different, the guys are stronger, by using that analogy why don't college coaches just convert their men and women from quarter milers to half milers and have their runners win the 800 meters every year?

1:57 became fast when that person ran two seconds faster then she had ever run before in her life in a semi final race! It's possible to drop that time if she's now racing like she has been practicing, however in Europe I would have thought there would have been signs.

If anything, shouldn't women slow down less from 400 to 800?

I mean most of the 3:57-4:00 1500m women are only 2-flat 800m runners.

zoom800 wrote:

Come on Coach!

You can't compare men to women, their bodies are different

Their bodies are not "different". A woman with a 52 400m time and a 2:00 800m time has the same running physiology as a man with those same times.

Vlad The Inhaler wrote:

and the Beijing track is super-fast

How could it be faster than any other decent synthetic track? Are there special fans that create a counter-clockwise wind around the stadium? Is it short of 400m? Is it made out of some top-secret substance that propels you forward?

Since the first semi was so fast, the other heats we're going for a fast time because they wanted the 2 time qualifiers.

More so, it was paced like a Diamond league meeting (58,5), and maybe the girl hadn't been in a good race yet?

I've seen a guy go from 4:05 to 3:47 from one season to another in the 1500m. (If you're not so good at maths, it means the guy reached the finish line 110 meters before the previous season best time).

Hard, responsive surface + warm windless conditions = perfect for 800m running. Also, as mentioned, first heat went fast so others were running after the clock, and no dominant runners, so it was like a final/DL meet.

Athletes are peaking for a world championships?!? No way!

Also fast track and good conditions

1:47.55 Donavan Brazier (Kenowa Hills, Grand Rapids, Mi) 1:47.67 Carlton Orange (University, Memphis, Tn) Which one is your athlete?

tapioca pudding wrote:

I coached a HS boy this year, with a poor endurance background, who ran 1.47 off a 48.5, so this shouldn't be all that difficult for a training-developed woman with similar speed.

... you're trolling with this:

Kfjf wrote:

Their bodies are not "different". A woman with a 52 400m time and a 2:00 800m time has the same running physiology as a man with those same times.

If not, this is certainly a good nomination for Worst Post of the Day.

Also if not, I'm hoping even more that you're not a coach.

tapioca pudding wrote:

When did 1.57's become absurdly fast? Women's 800's have become absurdly stagnant in recent years, possibly because of more stringent testing. However, if you can run 53 for 400m, you should be able to run 1.57, a number of the women can do just that (for 400). Remember, if Kratochvilova (doping aside) had any kind of endurance she might have run 1.47 off a 47.99 (call it 48). I coached a HS boy this year, with a poor endurance background, who ran 1.47 off a 48.5, so this shouldn't be all that difficult for a training-developed woman with similar speed.

Kratoch's record can go down to a 51-second runner who has developed a good endurance base. If you are slowing down more than 5 seconds per lap from your 400 PR, then your endurance needs work.

The women's current top 400 and 800 runners are historically week.

Smelling their own British butts and trying to divert the blame to clean runners who are better than they ever were.

I'm really hoping... wrote:

Their bodies are not "different". A woman with a 52 400m time and a 2:00 800m time has the same running physiology as a man with those same times.

I'm dumping my gf immediately!