fdsfasdf wrote:
But. . . wrote:He can focus all he wants on getting his speed down, but it just isn't going to drop that much, and honestly doesn't need to. Altitude adjusted, he ran 4:06 and 8:45 within 18 hours of each other. Maybe he won't be any better than 3:55 or something by the end of college, but the mile isn't going to be his distance. You don't need amazing 400 speed for a great 10k or marathon, which is where his wheelhouse will be as he matures.
I disagree with you somewhat. Without improving his top-end speed, I doubt he cracks 4:00, and that will limit him up to 10k. Don't get me wrong, a true distance guy can run a brilliant 10k on 4:00 speed (ala Rupp at Oregon), but the difference between brilliant and world class 10k runner is the mile speed (ala Rupp post-Oregon, Geb, Bekele, and any other world-class 10k runner).
You are right about that, of course. The days of front-running at the international level and winning consistently on strength alone pretty much ended in 1972 when Pre lost to much better kickers. It's no longer even good enough to run a 56 second last lap in the biggest races because there are guys with better speed than that even out to 10,000 meters. But Conner surprised himself and others when he ran that 1:56 800 at State as a junior. When I was a Utah high schooler, the State record was 1:55, which used to be a very good time. Now, of course, it's pretty routine for U.S. high schoolers to run 1:51-1:52. But whether Conner develops that kind of speed or not, I agree that he's going to eventually move up in distance and excel at half marathons and marathons. We'll see, but he sure has a bright future.