Could Coe have gone sub 13 in the 5k?

Surely that just means that Coe wasn't taking it very seriously.

I'm not sure about sub-13 minutes for the 5,000, although I certainly think he might have given it a good bash.

From reading, it seems as though Coe prolonged his career as an 800 metre runner by a couple of extra years in order to win the major championship gold that eluded him in 1980 and 1984. (He got it in '86 at the Europeans, although there are some who would argue as to whether this is a "major".)

By focusing on the 800 for those extra years, it would seem that Coe avoided the long intervals, road races and long track races that would have been a necessary part of a 5,000 metre runner's preparation. (I don't even want to talk about the mileage!)

Still, would a 5K focus between the winter of 85 and the autumn of 88 (Seoul) have been enough to create a sub-13?

Perhaps. Bob Kennedy, as we know, has done it, and he's not even on the same 1,500 planet as Coe. But, of course, that doesn't mean everything.

12.5 laps is a long time for a miler to stay focused and I wonder if Coe - a quick twitch kind of athlete - had the temprement for that kind of concentration?

An enduring mystery.

Martin

Well, everyone else took running for their club in road relays very seriously and ran their guts out. I would have thought pride alone would have inspired Coe to run a lot faster than the club runners surrounding him. I don’t know of any other international runner who never ran the best he could for his club in a relay race. Anyone remember Dave Bedford’s record run in the Southern 12 stage?

If you read the biography on Coe by David Miller, he twice harbored thoughs of moving up to 5000m, first in 82/83, then a second time in 84/85 after the olympics. He became sick the first time and abandoned the idea and then had an untimely injury in the spring of '85 that kept him from doing the spell of endurance training that he needed to tackle the event. I'm wondering if his immune system would have handled 5000m training so well. He came down with illness many times in his career, and perhaps doing the extra mileage would have made things worse. Or maybe he would have gotten sick less if substituting slower mileage for weights and strength training in the gym put less stress on his body.

5'9" and 118 pounds. It's no wonder he was frequently logged out with illness. Never made either of the world champs in his career.

Could Coe have gone sub 13 in the 5k?

Yes.

Taz wrote:

Well, everyone else took running for their club in road relays very seriously and ran their guts out. I would have thought pride alone would have inspired Coe to run a lot faster than the club runners surrounding him. I don’t know of any other international runner who never ran the best he could for his club in a relay race. Anyone remember Dave Bedford’s record run in the Southern 12 stage?

No - let's hear about it!

heck no wrote:

First, who does repeat 2:08 800's with 45 second rests "when returning from injury" ? Is he joking? No wonder the guy was injured if that is considered rehab.

Second, what world class athlete sees someone at the track, wanders over, and asks "can I join in"? That would never happen for even a serious sub-elite racer, much less Coe.

i have no doubt this could have happened. have you ever seen the old seb coe documentary? the name of it escapes me, but there is a segment that shows him doing repeat 800s on a rolling macadam road, with his dad driving alongside in a car, timing the reps and recovery. seb's running them in 2-flat with a minute's rest, and by the end of the minute, he is absolutely chomping at the bit to get the next one going. it looked ridiculously easy, and was one of the most badass things i've ever seen. it really and truly proves how and why he was one of the all time greats in our sport.

anyway, a workout like this was esay for him and so it is very easy to see that he would be willing to "jump in."

The documentary was called Clash of the Titans. It was about the rivalry between Coe and Ovett. The session took place on the Rivelin Valley road near Sheffield.

the program i saw made very litle mention about ovett. it was just about seb's training and accomplishments up to that point- i believe he had just broken the 800m record, which, by the way, was also an extremely manly performance. seb just busts off the front and humiliates those guys..no one even tries to go with him.

Jon

I have a well-worn copy of this very episode (from ITV many, many years ago) on VHS with the tabs clipped so it can't be recorded over. It's one of, if not the best, Athletics video I've ever seen.

(Although, I do wonder how all those commuters in Sheffield felt when they got stuck behind Peter during one of Seb's 800 metre sessions! Hopefully there was more of a "We're For Britain" kind of spirit back then.)

Martin