800m elite men Australia and why they are struggling!

LOL

800m type wrote:

The vein in JR's temple is going to rupture in 3, 2, 1 .......

To be fair, the Aussie record for 800m from 1968 has been equaled, but never bettered.

mark b wrote:Hasn't the men's 800 been generally pretty poor this year? The event in London recently was clearly the weakest in the middle/long distance events

mostly because Korir was over-raced in year & injured in semi

his 1'43.7 off huge -ve splits was worth 1'42-flat/low in ideal run off 2s splits/ideal pacing/drafting to bell/etc

rest of Kenyans had little left after trials where the 2nd placer, bett practically solo'ed a 1'44-flat for 2nd

A coach I have chatted to recently was of the opinion that the 800 is the most complex middle distance event to get the training right for. not that the training is any more demanding for the athlete than other events but to get the various ingredients of a programme in exactly the right balance for each athlete is very difficult

probably not

it's not rocket science

if you can get accurate training logs from past elites, a specific programme can be developed for any elite

it's alleged caballo did little more than 15mpw !!! & in he practically solo'ed a 1'43.5 in montreal with no reservoir built for 800 rounds !!!

he was tricked into 800 coming into '76 when his coach said increased mileage woud help his 400 & then his coach in '76 suggested he try the 800 as well !!!, something caballo was not to keen on

in montreal shape, he couda gone 1'42-mid that day in a paced 1-off zurich off ideal pacing/drafting to bell

so, with exceptional 400 speed, 15mpw can get you 1'42-mid/low

so 1 extreme is shown

as for ozzies, there must be some serious non-interest in 800

- doubell ran 1'44.4 in mexico after rounds

that altitude cost him ~ 0.75s

i have no doubt he couda run a 1-off zurich as above conditions in ~ 1'43-low

- elliott in '58 games, at just 20y off 1500 training on a dirt track, for 880y ran 1'49.3 with 2nd lap of 50.5 !!!

to convert to 2s +ve split 2 lapper i use :

correction = ( 2nd lap - 1st lap - 2.0 ) * 1/3

-> (50.5 - 58.8 - 2) * 1/3 = 3.5s

-> 1'49.3 - 3.5 = 1'45.8

that is for 880y

knock off 0.6s to convert to 800m

-> 1'45.2

knock off 1s/lap for dirt/synthetic

-> 1'43.2

i've sen brief clip of race & he does some wide bend running & lacks some drafting

that knocks some serious tenths of the above & it was after rounds & at 20y, not his peak & off primary 1500 training !!!

i have no doubt that on a '70s zurich, he wouda run

~ 1'42-mid/high

someone needs to look up his training

if a guy from late-50's was in that shape, a sports-mad country shouda been producing numerous 1'42/1'43 guys in interim, but track i believe is very low down on pecking order...

Part 4 A look at Coe's progression.... just for background at this year's Australian Junior Championships the 15 year old's won the 800m in 1:55 and the 1500m in 4:03 both faster than Coe's Pb's at the same age.

As a coach are more excited with a 15 year old running 1:55 with lots of interval based training or a kid who runs 2:01 in his first year of athletics (track and field) and runs 3 days a week?

https://www.runnerstribe.com/features/australia-and-the-mens-800m-part-4-seb-coe-as-a-junior/

Plenty of talent out there for sure, but young people don't know how to train they need guidance. But isn't this true of Athetics in Australia in general, it seem to me to be at an all time low?

Good point. Let's look long term and plan long term.

coahc wrote:

Part 4 A look at Coe's progression.... just for background at this year's Australian Junior Championships the 15 year old's won the 800m in 1:55 and the 1500m in 4:03 both faster than Coe's Pb's at the same age.

As a coach are more excited with a 15 year old running 1:55 with lots of interval based training or a kid who runs 2:01 in his first year of athletics (track and field) and runs 3 days a week?

https://www.runnerstribe.com/features/australia-and-the-mens-800m-part-4-seb-coe-as-a-junior/