Athing Mu is about to have a season like Henry Rono in 1981

Mu and Kersee until last Saturday purposefully had not run any serious races to set her up for a championship 800. Now they suddenly need a second 800 race one week later. The decision not to race indoor and not to race in the spring has caught up with her. Mu has a great deal of talent so somehow maybe she pulls this off. The odds don’t favor it.

Doing some research online and talking to other coaches, wouldn’t assist you in training Mu?

Mu simply does not display any of the aggressiveness that made her successful. Watch the following two races, the 2023 Diamond League Final (her last good race) and this past week's Prefontaine Classic. In the DL Final, she hits 200m in 2nd place, just off the shoulder of the leader Hodgkinson. This past weekend, she hit 200m in dead last place out of 11 runners. She simply does not go for the win anymore.

2023 Diamond League Final

2025 Prefontaine Classic

the problem with Kersee's approach is that it's too much based on theory with zero experience. So just looking things up and talking to distance coaches isn't gonna help.

His ego is too big, and he thinks he knows something that nobody else has ever discovered. He's looking at a chart and reading that if Mu is 49.x and 3:5x she can run 1:52. Great theory. Experience would tell him you can't change a tiger's stripes.

You can improve Mu's endurance to back up her speed and very specific talent in the 800. Turning it into a focal point is the mistake.

And she 100% needs the team training atmosphere. Not everybody does. But that person who is digging deep to try to find the love and joy in running does.

It's a science experiment gone wrong.

I hope that Mu can return to the winning form she displayed earlier in her career.

the above schedule is pretty much identical to her pre olympic year win.

not to mention a standard sprinter based 800 schedule

her actual training now and moving forward might be similar to the above.

you however don't go with little racing for 2 years and jump into the shark tank.

if Mu runs a low key 800, the pace is likely not that great, and B grade races are not known to produce the best of times, nor the best of surfaces.

a 201 800 next time out, will probably mean a 159 soon in a competitive race..

which does not cut it in elites

but its on the right track.

the more i think about it, I see Mu improving very fast.

and surprise the "experts" here.

can see a 4th in an elite race in the next month or so.

after that its just too much speculation

but i would bet cash on 4th in an elite race this season.

She doesn't have "a month or so". USAs will be over by then.