Tadese's HM WR is so stubborn

The half is a marginal event, rarely run by the best athletes at their peaks. Hope this helps.

Which is a pity because it is a beautiful distance to race.

I disagree with that comment. The half marathon is more highly contested than the marathon on a global scale by the world's elites. Mo Farah, Joshua Cheptegei, Geoffrey Kamworor, Kipchoge, Bekele, Geb have all run the half marathon. The HM for Tadesse was simply a perfect storm for his skill set. A world class 10,000m and Cross Country runner hitting the roads in the off season. His championship record speaks to his ability over the Half. The only ones that come close are Gebrselassie, Tergat, and Kam...

Ehsi wrote:

The half is a marginal event, rarely run by the best athletes at their peaks. Hope this helps.

OKJ wrote:

I disagree with that comment. The half marathon is more highly contested than the marathon on a global scale by the world's elites. Mo Farah, Joshua Cheptegei, Geoffrey Kamworor, Kipchoge, Bekele, Geb have all run the half marathon. The HM for Tadesse was simply a perfect storm for his skill set. A world class 10,000m and Cross Country runner hitting the roads in the off season. His championship record speaks to his ability over the Half. The only ones that come close are Gebrselassie, Tergat, and Kam...

Ehsi wrote:

The half is a marginal event, rarely run by the best athletes at their peaks. Hope this helps.

Never has the world’s best distance runner said, “I am going to focus on the half marathon this year.” Lots of good athletes run it as an afterthought or tuneup. Nobody ever sets out to specialize in it, and rarely does anyone try to peak for it.

I thought Guye Adola is a half marathon specialist?

Ehsi wrote:

The half is a marginal event, rarely run by the best athletes at their peaks. Hope this helps.

Ridiculous statement.

I guess the record is not THAT bad.

10k roads is 26:44.

HM is 27:40 per 10k.

M is 29:08 per 10k.

For me this seems roughly on par. Even when you consider the 10000/26:17 record it still seems ok to me. It seems more like in an optimal race the marathon WR will go down quite a bit (and Kipchoge's 2:00:25 showed this tendency IMO).

I am not a Ventolin, but I guess when the likes of Kamworor, Kipchoge, etc. get the right conditions the half might get down to 57:high and the marathon WR to 2:01ish. So the marathon for sure has some huge potential, too IMO.

Since the half is not an olympic distance, most pros run half marathons in their training cycle for marathons. They are training for a longer event and not peaking for the half. Occasionally someone will peak for a half with big prize money, but only if they don't really stand a chance of winning money at a major marathon. If the best marathoners and 5/10 track guys in the world peaked for a flat half in ideal conditions, the wr could drop by like 30 seconds.

Tadese smiling post-Berlin as his WR survives another attempt at Copenhagen!

Bedan Karoki can do it!

Ehsi wrote:

OKJ wrote:

I disagree with that comment. The half marathon is more highly contested than the marathon on a global scale by the world's elites. Mo Farah, Joshua Cheptegei, Geoffrey Kamworor, Kipchoge, Bekele, Geb have all run the half marathon. The HM for Tadesse was simply a perfect storm for his skill set. A world class 10,000m and Cross Country runner hitting the roads in the off season. His championship record speaks to his ability over the Half. The only ones that come close are Gebrselassie, Tergat, and Kam...

Never has the world’s best distance runner said, “I am going to focus on the half marathon this year.” Lots of good athletes run it as an afterthought or tuneup. Nobody ever sets out to specialize in it, and rarely does anyone try to peak for it.

Kamworor.

back in the MF day wrote:

I guess the record is not THAT bad.

10k roads is 26:44.

HM is 27:40 per 10k.

M is 29:08 per 10k.

For me this seems roughly on par. Even when you consider the 10000/26:17 record it still seems ok to me. It seems more like in an optimal race the marathon WR will go down quite a bit (and Kipchoge's 2:00:25 showed this tendency IMO).

I am not a Ventolin, but I guess when the likes of Kamworor, Kipchoge, etc. get the right conditions the half might get down to 57:high and the marathon WR to 2:01ish. So the marathon for sure has some huge potential, too IMO.

Both Kipchoge and Kamworor can go sub 58 in the right race. Shoutout to the prediction.

Ehsi wrote:

The half is a marginal event, rarely run by the best athletes at their peaks. Hope this helps.

I agree. I was always more of a 1500m and 5000m guy in college and even now as a master I love racing on the track, 1500m is MY race :). I could care less about 10kms and will race 5kms on the road as conditioning for the track.

BUT...I always try to find a HM to run when I travel. Love this distance! Most fo the fall and winter I’ll train like a half marathoner, mileage and a little speed and lots of LT runs at HM pace or slightly faster. Am looking for a good HM to race in the spring, maybe the WMA half in Poland in March. Next to the 1500m the HM is my favorite race distance, weird or what?

Tadese’s track days may have been before a lot of posters here followed T&F, but for those who don’t remember, he was an absolute animal. I would call him the best distance runner who didn’t have a kick. Countless times he set insane paces in championship races, dragging Bekele and others to record times a tenth or two ahead of him. I’m glad he’s been able to enjoy this record for a few years. Like Sileshi Sihine, a lot of folks don’t realize how good this guy was.

Don't forget that Tadese has a 26:37 PR. That's in the top 10 all time and only Bekele has run faster since. To be able to run a fast marathon, you have to be able to run a fast half, but the opposite is not true. Tadese, for some reason, just does not have what it takes to run a fast marathon, but that does not mean his half marathon record is weak, or that those who are more suited to the marathon would be able to beat it.

You can quickly tell by looking at Tedese form that he has great speed for shorter stuff, you can also tell his form won't work for setting records in the longer stuff. Go watch videos of him in slow mo, he lacks distance efficiency.

The Fap Scientist:

Are you serious? Did you watch Breaking2? Tadese's form is way more efficient than Kipchoge's (according to their science data). He used to beat Kipchoge easily when they were both younger.

The only guy who has a shot at breaking Tadese's record is Kamworor.

Ehsi wrote:

OKJ wrote:

I disagree with that comment. The half marathon is more highly contested than the marathon on a global scale by the world's elites. Mo Farah, Joshua Cheptegei, Geoffrey Kamworor, Kipchoge, Bekele, Geb have all run the half marathon. The HM for Tadesse was simply a perfect storm for his skill set. A world class 10,000m and Cross Country runner hitting the roads in the off season. His championship record speaks to his ability over the Half. The only ones that come close are Gebrselassie, Tergat, and Kam...

Never has the world’s best distance runner said, “I am going to focus on the half marathon this year.” Lots of good athletes run it as an afterthought or tuneup. Nobody ever sets out to specialize in it, and rarely does anyone try to peak for it.

+1

joel wrote:

Tadese’s track days may have been before a lot of posters here followed T&F, but for those who don’t remember, he was an absolute animal. I would call him the best distance runner who didn’t have a kick. Countless times he set insane paces in championship races, dragging Bekele and others to record times a tenth or two ahead of him. I’m glad he’s been able to enjoy this record for a few years. Like Sileshi Sihine, a lot of folks don’t realize how good this guy was.

+1