If Mo can run 8:07, why is he chicken of real competition?

Blitzplay wrote:

Did he duck the London Marathon? A race that included a ridiculous amount of the fastest guys in the world ever. He ran a race he was never going to win. Everyone can go on about the money he made for running that race but he still knew he wasn't going to win.

Did he not run against Bekele in the Great North Run last year. Oh, and what about the NYRR half Marathon.

Exactly. Instead of competing in his own events, he was off on some exhibition road racing tour, risking absolutely nothing because it didn't matter if he won or lost. He has not been defending his 10,000 or 5,000 credentials. The Euro titles mean diddly squat.

If he were out of shape he'd have some excuse, but obviously he's not. He skipped CWG because he would face Kenyans. He skipped Eugene 10000 last year because he'd face Bekele. Whenever he faces a real challenge he gets sick and ends up in the hospital. Why wasn't he in Stockholm to battle Longosiwa, Ndiku and Edris? He could still have easily won his payday race in Birmingham no matter how that went. He just didn't want to risk losing.

That says to me that he's not a real competitor. He's in it for the status and the reputation. If his heart were in the sport he'd be matching his kick against Ndiku's, chasing 12:50, challenging Kiprop at 1500. Instead he does essentially nothing. He's not an honest athlete, just an attention-loving prima donna.

Did you really expect him to run a hard 5k in Stockholm 4 days after completing a Euro 5k/10k double? You can say the Euros are worthless but they are championship races. I agree with his choice to run the Euros over a DL 5k. He cannot win the DL series at this point but medals were up for the taking in the Euros. I think this is rational thinking for an athlete plus he has the GNR coming up in two weeks.

I don't think AlSal wants Rupp and Mo competing against each other outside Championship years anyway. He wants Rupp to hone his race tactics and adding Mo into that equation makes since. I think he wants Rupp to learn how to win. Granted, this hasn't happened outside of Oregon during the outdoor season but avoiding Mo will always increase Rupps chances of winning.

*not adding Mo into that equation makes sense.

Bad wigins,

If mo went to Zurich on Thus and won i'm sure you will be complaining about him winning in 'slow race' with his usual boring 'sit and kick'

and someone else will be complaining about the 'epo' mo is allegedly taking.. then someone else will accuse him of cheating on his wife the night before the race ..hell, someone said horrible human being what is next war criminal ?? Lol

Blitzplay wrote:

Did he duck the London Marathon? A race that included a ridiculous amount of the fastest guys in the world ever. He ran a race he was never going to win. Everyone can go on about the money he made for running that race but he still knew he wasn't going to win.

Did he not run against Bekele in the Great North Run last year. Oh, and what about the NYRR half Marathon.

Great post genius.

You're just backing up our viewpoint. The only reason he did those races is because there was a huge payday. Getting money is his number one priority. That's what we've been criticizing him for genius.

He wasn't concerned with the competition. He was concerned with the money.

And his 5k/10k Euro double should not have prevented him from doing a diamond league race. That Euro double wasn't even a tempo effort for him.

The fact that he focuses on the 10k anyway makes him a competition dodger. He is clearly a 1500m runner but he chooses to take advantage of a weak 10000m era instead. That is avoiding competition. Don't even try to defend the 10000m as a nonweak event. If it wasn't, they wouldn't be removing the event from the sport.

Ok, so Mo is after the money from the marathon and avoiding competition on the track you keep saying. Well then, Is Bekele avoiding the competition on the track and only chasing money?

Why isn't there the same BS being talked about all the young Ethiopian and Kenyan marathon runners who never run on the track? All everyone has been talking about for the last few years is, will Mo ever run a fast time trial? He goes out and runs a fast race and now the question is, Why did Mo run a fast race?

You guys are a trip. And then there's the weak 10000 blah, blah and that is Mo's main target. Ahmm, no it's not, Mo runs way more 5k's than 10s. At the end of the day, you can only beat whose there. There is no way you can contest the strength of the 5k, some of the fastest guys in history are around now and guess who dominates the 5k, you got it, it's Mo.

And your next irrational bs spouting. He nowhere near as good as Bekele or Geb. Name someone better than Geb or Kenny? That's right, you can't. Get a grip people. A smart competitor does not attack when he is coming back from injury. When you have dominated for so long, you don't give your opponent any chance to get his foot in the door.

jeiei wrote:

Because 8:07 isn't that fast. Several guys can run that and as shown, Farah isn't in the kind of shape to finish fast at that pace.

He ran a 56 second last lap? not too slow of a finish!

Don't know his plans and reasons but he has run a 3min28 1500m and that's respect.Why he doesn't go for a fast 5km/10km time and please all the Americans we can only speculate,at least he had the balls to attempt a marathon.

Cant understand why Galen Rupp who has transformed USA running and him get such criticism.

tony the tiger wrote:

Bad wigins,

If mo went to Zurich on Thus and won i'm sure you will be complaining about him winning in 'slow race' with his usual boring 'sit and kick'

Are you seriously entertaining the idea that Mo is going to Zurich?

This is an off-year. He ran the marathon, won Euro's 5 & 10, broke Ovett's record. He has British records for 1500, 2M, 3k, 5k, 10k (last 3 I presume, I haven't looked it up). No one else is attacking the WR's (above 1500m) either anyway. If you want to see a record - have the best guys (with him in the field) go after 12.37/26.17 and see if they drop him. He wants to win races- times are not that important it seems to him. They are more important to the denizens of this site however, yet it is his career not yours. If you can do better then you are welcome to try, otherwise you are just whinning for no particular reason.

From what I have seen he will be ready for the next 2 years, in part because this is a down-year. The mistake is chasing really fast times this year, assuming that 2012 and 2013 were "big" years and hoping that 2015 and 2016 will be as well, is that athletes could easily burn out. You can only go to the "well" so often. He chooses to win championships and not chase records - his career (good or bad).

No I was just saying even if Mo shows up and win , you guys would still complain about slow race and sit and kick tactics that Mo deploys ..in other words Mo wont win with you guys

Godksnalak wrote:

If he is in 8:07 shape the way he ran it from the front then he is as fot as anyone in the world.

That is an ill-informed statement, since it's only good for a 13:16 5k, or a 27:33 10k.

listen up... wrote:

Godksnalak wrote:

If he is in 8:07 shape the way he ran it from the front then he is as fot as anyone in the world.

That is an ill-informed statement, since it's only good for a 13:16 5k, or a 27:33 10k.

Pretty sure this is a troll post but I will bite anyway.

The race was 2 miles (3218 metres) and not a 3000. Who is misinformed now?

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Just responding to your first paragraph about Bekele. Bekele doesn't get the same criticism as Farah because he isn't afraid to use different tactics, he races even when he is no in top form, he races frequently, and he goes after records.

He also isn't avoiding competition on the track by racing on the roads. There is far, far more competition on the roads than the track. But this is irrelevant because he already faced the top competition head on when he was running on the track.

The same thing can be said for all of the young Africans that you just mentioned. The roads are much harder and more competitive than the track. The races are nearly always fast and there are many world record attempts and legendary fields.

The fact that you even tried to use any of that shows that you don't know what you are talking about. Either that or you are a troll. Which is it?

The primary reason the Brit record stood so long because they don't run a 2 mile race that often.

According to a similar Age Grade standing, an 8:07 2 mile converts to a 13:14 5k and 27:33 10k.

Based on VO2max (using Daniels and Gilbert VO2 max formula), an 8:07 2 mile converts to a 13:07 5k and 27:19 10k.

And using the Mcmillan Calculator, an 8:07 2 mile converts to a 13:16 5k and 27:33 10k.

Take your pick; it is not THAT fast.

Bekele races frequently!?!? Are you calling the 5000 weak? And as for another point in your previous post stating that Mo is really a 1500 metre runner, LOL. He has run a super quick 1500 but he has run 60.10 for a half marathon. How do you make out that anyone who has run a HM at that pace is a mid-d runner?

Mo hasn't run a WR, so what. If he thinks he can't break the records, what's the point in running for them? It's really like saying Cam Levins should go for the WR. I didn't know there was shame in not being the WR holder. In that case, you should be ashamed of yourself for not breaking a WR.

As for your point on the east African's. Come on man, where do you think the competition stems from? It's the big payday's. The young Africans are avoiding the track to try and cash in on the marathons. The Money brought the competition to the marathon. Not the other way around.

Do you really think all those young guys would be running marathons if the track paid the same?

As for Mo's tactics. If you are destroying a team with one approach in any sport, you don't change that tactic to an experimental one. Why would you change a winning formula?

BTW, your tactics of insults as your opening comments isn't a great debating technique. It shows weakness.

tony the tiger wrote:

No I was just saying even if Mo shows up and win , you guys would still complain about slow race and sit and kick tactics that Mo deploys ..in other words Mo wont win with you guys

I'll admit that I might still criticize him, particularly since Zurich is likely to be slow with the points up for grabs, which would make it a typical choice of races for him.

But I would not call him a chicken.

Bekele races frequently!?!? Are you calling the 5000 weak? And as for another point in your previous post stating that Mo is really a 1500 metre runner, LOL. He has run a super quick 1500 but he has run 60.10 for a half marathon. How do you make out that anyone who has run a HM at that pace is a mid-d runner?

Mo hasn't run a WR, so what. If he thinks he can't break the records, what's the point in running for them? It's really like saying Cam Levins should go for the WR. I didn't know there was shame in not being the WR holder. In that case, you should be ashamed of yourself for not breaking a WR.

As for your point on the east African's. Come on man, where do you think the competition stems from? It's the big payday's. The young Africans are avoiding the track to try and cash in on the marathons. The Money brought the competition to the marathon. Not the other way around.

Do you really think all those young guys would be running marathons if the track paid the same?

As for Mo's tactics. If you are destroying a team with one approach in any sport, you don't change that tactic to an experimental one. Why would you change a winning formula?

BTW, your tactics of insults as your opening comments isn't a great debating technique. It shows weakness.[/quote]

I didn't use any insults. Even if I did, it doesn't show weakness. That is something you have chosen to make up and infer.

You keep avoiding and ignoring my statements that prove you wrong.

Yes, 3:28 makes Farah a mid distance runner. Running 60:10 reinforces this because 3:28 is a better time. Thank you for providing support for my statement. 60:10 is about 2:00 off of the real world record. It is not that fast. Plenty of middle distance runners do high mileage and can run that time.

Once again you have displayed that you dont know what you are talking about. That or you are trolling.

These two know how to peak for the right meets. They are the best at it. It's an off year and they are not 100%. They know when it's time to pull the plug.

You get injured when racing hard, tired and not mentally into it.