So my brother and I are arguing about what Hicham El Guerrouj is “best known for”

Only track nerds balls deep into this care about his workouts. Besides wouldn't doubt if a lot of elites tell tall tales when it comes to workouts to have there competition overtrain. The man on the street who knows who he is will know him for his world records and medals won at global competitions.

only he and his training partners/coaches really "know" what his workouts were. That 10x400 would indicate a sub 3:40 mile and I don't believe it. He was not that good.

What about the Mile WR?

Yuh It’s just a silly argument that’s opinion based lol but still I don’t want to go around talking about his workout/ the 400 one and that only being relevant to me if that makes sense I just feel like it is easily his most known and advertised workout whether he did it or not who knows???

I would say for paces that fast his mile time definitely reveals a correlation even if he did not hit exactly 3:40. Now I have no problem with the workout in general but the 30 second rest the whole way through ehhhhh idk about that maybe closer to 60-90s. However, if you’ve ran/run colegiately or are “pretty good” , many times we do things in practice that correlate to say a 1:48 800 or a 4:00-4:03 mile but in the race you are a bit off. Which is what I think describes El Guerroujs mile time compared to his workout predicting a 3:40.......imo

You’re both wrong. He’s best known for his mile WR.

He is known for his world records and his Olympic and World Championships wins. Almost no one knows about his workouts. Or cares about them. NO ONE is known for their workouts.

Who cares how El G worked out? Are you and your brother taking bucket loads of the best 90's EPO and HGH available, backed by the King of Morocco, with no testing available to catch you?

The average man in the street would never have heard of El G. Even most athletics fans (not talking about the average person on this board) have more than a vague understanding that he was one of the best EPO guys. Go back and look at some of his races, including his WRs, on YouTube and you'll see virtually empty stands. Guys like him almost killed the sport. Somebody posted in the Ramzi thread the other day a link to an article that Steve Cram wrote, mentioning how Ramzi's bust barely made the sporting headlines, even though he was Olympic Champion at the time. Nobody cared by that point.

Worldwide, I would say the 1500 WR and his win over Lagat in 2004 Olympics. In the US, the mile WR and the same race.

Ramzi666 wrote:

Who cares how El G worked out? Are you and your brother taking bucket loads of the best 90's EPO and HGH available, backed by the King of Morocco, with no testing available to catch you?

The average man in the street would never have heard of El G. Even most athletics fans (not talking about the average person on this board) have more than a vague understanding that he was one of the best EPO guys. Go back and look at some of his races, including his WRs, on YouTube and you'll see virtually empty stands. Guys like him almost killed the sport. Somebody posted in the Ramzi thread the other day a link to an article that Steve Cram wrote, mentioning how Ramzi's bust barely made the sporting headlines, even though he was Olympic Champion at the time. Nobody cared by that point.

Gutten morgen, Coedeppe.

Here's a snapshot of Morroco's training program back in the late 90s (you may have already seen this). They break down into several groups with a team leader for each (El G group, Hissou group, Boulami group, etc.).

Note that "they have a support team of three sport doctors, seven physiotherapists and complementary contracts with one cardiologist, one dentist and a laboratory for their different tests." Three sports doctors? Hmmm....that's interesting. ?

Here's El G's specific training program for the 97 season, which you have highlighted some of the workouts:

Morrocan Magic wrote:

Note that "they have a support team of three sport doctors, seven physiotherapists and complementary contracts with one cardiologist, one dentist and a laboratory for their different tests." Three sports doctors? Hmmm....that's interesting. ?

LOL! They were abusing so much HGH they actually needed to employ a dentist to keep the teeth from falling out of their overgrown jaws.

agdsfdfas wrote:

What about the Mile WR?

That... when I hear his name I immediately go to the mile WR. Despite the pacers, it was a (surprise) great race between two (nearly?) equally fit guys, and the record has held up for nearly 20 years now. Mile WR FTW.

Second place would be his struggles to win gold in the 1500m event he was favored to win (tripping in '96, etc) and then finally doing it.

In my circles he is known most for the 1500/5000m double when he out-kicks Bernard Lagat and Kenenisa Bekele in the same week. Pretty awesome to re-watch and was the last since I think Paavo Nurmi to do that double.

Wonder if anyone will ever threaten the 1500/5000m double again.

My top 3 are:

1 - Mile WR (coupled with 1500 WR)

2 - Doping (this is Letsrun, so looking at the title, I suspected that one of you and your brother would go there)

3 - Initial failure to win an Olympic medal followed by the double.

Moroccan Cheaters wrote:

Morrocan Magic wrote:

Note that "they have a support team of three sport doctors, seven physiotherapists and complementary contracts with one cardiologist, one dentist and a laboratory for their different tests." Three sports doctors? Hmmm....that's interesting. ?

LOL! They were abusing so much HGH they actually needed to employ a dentist to keep the teeth from falling out of their overgrown jaws.

And maybe the cardiologist to monitor the EPO abuse?

"Best known" to whom? The only runner who is a household name is a retired Jamaican sprinter.

Mo Farah is very household. Actually any sportsman on SPOTY is a household name by definition as everyone watches that.

The first things that I think of are his 1500/Mile world records and in 2004 going double gold taking down Bekele in his prime.

I don't think I have ever thought about a workout reported from any athlete.