The Amazing Pat Porter

"I wonder"

You mention pat porter was a 4:29 and 9:51 2 miler and how he ran 13:33 and became a world class athlete..maybe you should ask the same question about our olympian brian sell who was a 10:06 2 miler and now is a world class athlete..why? HARD WORK!!

In my humble opinion Pat's change came after a summer in the tree house with Tom White who was renlentless in getting Pat to train at a higher level. I believe Pat owes most of his success to Tommy and his ability to motivate everyone around him.

phatness wrote:

"I wonder"

You mention pat porter was a 4:29 and 9:51 2 miler and how he ran 13:33 and became a world class athlete..maybe you should ask the same question about our olympian brian sell who was a 10:06 2 miler and now is a world class athlete..why? HARD WORK!!

I actually have heard about Brian Sell's amazing past and where he is now, I was just wondering about Porter because he became one of the greatest American runners of our time but is relatively unknown and there is not a lot of information out there on him.

I also know there are many others who have come from nothing in high school to world-class (many mentioned in this thread) but I was just picking one and hoping people would have specific stuff on him. If I asked a general question like "how did many guys go from nothing to world-class?" I would get general answers from people, like "HARD WORK!!!" (as you said.) I know it takes more than that. Hard work comes in many forms and can also cause people to fall apart and never make it anywhere.

Pat fat? As I recall, he was 6 foto and 135 lbs back then...

OK but I'm seeing a lot of namedropping on your end and I'm wondering who you are. (Pre-emptive caveat: You're faster than I was).

If Dan Maas is sll lurking, I'd wonder if he could go into greater detail regarding the training regimen. Specifically, most of us have heard or seen the ASC typical week...but I have always wondered, as Dan suggested, what happens if you're not the type who can dothe repeat 700's, the mountain run, the fast(er) recovery day and stillbe able to do the mile repeats on Thursday? Was there an adjustment in there somehow?

Also, if you did all of those workouts, did you also race that weekend, or was there some alternation of weekends with races (adjusted training week) or weekends without races (standard training week)?

Avocados Number wrote:

As I recall, there was no significant African participation the first year that Virgin won. The next year, in Paris, the Ethiopeans showed up, but they miscounted the laps and sprinted one lap too early. (Similar to what Bekele did last year.) Virgin went flying by when the Ethiopeans slowed to a jog, and they were unable to recover and catch him.

Tale of the tape wrote:

You recollection is foggy.

Actually his recollection is spot on

Team placing in 1980

1. ENG

2. USA

3. BEL

4. FRA

5. URS

6. ESP

7. SCO

8. ALG

Team placing in 1981

1. ETH

2. USA

3. KEN

4. ESP

5. AUS

6. ENG

7. ALG

8. BEL

There was a pretty informative article on Pat Porter in Sports Illustrated back in 1986. It described the 11-day training cycle that all of Vigil's athletes ran in Alamosa.

Porter said that when he arrived at Adams State, he thought he was in pretty good shape. But Vigil's workouts initially caused Porter to vomit.

The writer said that by staying in Alamosa rather than moving to Boulder after graduation, Porter was displaying orneriness, which was in line with his reputation. But the writer also said that the "orneriness" was just a byproduct of Porter's focus.

Avocados Number wrote:

As I recall, there was no significant African participation the first year that Virgin won. The next year, in Paris, the Ethiopeans showed up, but they miscounted the laps and sprinted one lap too early. (Similar to what Bekele did last year.) Virgin went flying by when the Ethiopeans slowed to a jog, and they were unable to recover and catch him.

Tale of the tape wrote:

You recollection is foggy.

Average_Joe wrote:

Actually his recollection is spot on

Team placing in 1980 PARIS

Team placing in 1981 MADRID

Actually his recollection is foggy.

Virgin, by the way, had the fastest 10k time in the field in 1981. None of the Ethiopians (except Yifter) had ever beaten Virgin before, there is no reason to think that any of them could have in 1981.

Tale of the tape wrote:

Actually his recollection is foggy.

Really? How then do you explain not a single Kenyan or Ethiopian team in the top 8 in 1980 yet you're telling us there was significant participation? What were they doing, jogging the race? Well I guess you can count Algeria in 8th place but they have never been, before or since, any sort of running powerhouse that might have given Virgin a run for his money

Virgin, by the way, had the fastest 10k time in the field in 1981. None of the Ethiopians (except Yifter) had ever beaten Virgin before, there is no reason to think that any of them could have in 1981.

If they sprinted a lap too early yet still won the team title there certainly is.

Lopes ran 27:17 in 1984 and won Olympic gold in the marathon. No way does Virgin beat him in 1984. Porter was mere steps behind after becoming the sacrificial lamb to try and break the race open. A great cross-country runner. Africans, or no Africans, the level of competition stepped up in the mid-80s and only increased from there.

Even so, I am adamant that Porter was never really a 9:50 guy. He was probably more like the equivalent of a 9:30 guy on very modest high school training, which means he was probably a 9:10-9:20 guy with more mature training. Even so, his accomplishments were impressive. I've always been equally impressed with the guys who never broke 10:00 at low elevation in high school but go on to run 28:30. Some of them have been mentioned here already. Shawn Found, formerly of the University of Colorado, was another one.

Tale of the tape wrote:

Virgin, by the way, had the fastest 10k time in the field in 1981. None of the Ethiopians (except Yifter) had ever beaten Virgin before, there is no reason to think that any of them could have in 1981.

You're wrong to think that there is no reason to believe that any of the Ethiopians could have beaten Virgin if they hadn't miscounted the laps. Despite the mistake, Mohammed Kedir (1980 Olympic bronze medalist at 10,000 meters) finished just two seconds behind Virgin, and ahead of Mamede, and followed up with a win in the world cross championships the following year (1982) over Salazar. In 1981, Kedir was almost certainly superior to both Virgin and Yifter in cross-country.

Dan,

I'm surprised to see you here. I actually ran against you once back in . . . 1991, I think. As I recall, you made it to the finals of the 1992 Olympic trials at 1,500 meters, but I don't remember seeing your name much after that. What have you been up to?

impartial wrote:

OK but I'm seeing a lot of namedropping on your end and I'm wondering who you are. (Pre-emptive caveat: You're faster than I was).

Well, I said that I ran against a couple of the guys who have been discussed here. I guess I understand how that could be regarded as "namedropping," but I think I'm just reminiscing about the past.

Although a few people here know me, I really prefer to remain anonymous on letsrun.com. Most people here are perfectly pleasant, but there are some who get pretty aggressive and intrusive. (In fact, on occasion, I do as well, but that's just one more reason to prefer anonymity.) In any event, I'm confident that few people here would recognize my name.

Average_Joe wrote:

If they sprinted a lap too early yet still won the team title there certainly is.

They didn't sprint a lap early. They merely ran towards the finish chute then got back on track when they realized their mistake.

Virgin won two worlds championships in 1980 and 1981, had the fastest 10k in the world in 1980, and had never lost to Kedir.

Was there, you were not wrote:

They didn't sprint a lap early. They merely ran towards the finish chute then got back on track when they realized their mistake.

Virgin won two worlds championships in 1980 and 1981, had the fastest 10k in the world in 1980, and had never lost to Kedir.

I was taking the previous posters word at what they did. I make no claims about it myself. It certainly seems logical that they would run towards the finish chute because they thought the race was over and that they therefore sprinted but if you are going to tell me they didn't, fine with me.

Regardless his recollection clearly is not at all "foggy". There really want NOT the kind of African participation in 1980 that there was in later years, even the following year. Moreover, the fact that Kedir finished so close behind Virgin after the problems (whatever they were) at the finish chute belies this statement:

"there is no reason to think that any of them could have in 1981."

There certainly IS a reason to think that any of them could have done so. They damn near did, even after heading for the line too early.

Was there, you were not wrote:

They didn't sprint a lap early. They merely ran towards the finish chute then got back on track when they realized their mistake.

"Mohammed Kedir miscounts and makes his effort one lap too early, leaving the way for Craig Virgin to capture his second title."

Antonio Cabral: "Craig Virgin second win. Rod Dixon and Fernando Mamede wre the early leaders. Craig Virgin was also near, The Ethiopian team in bloc, had weaved theur way to the front of the race. They run as a group. Approaching te end of the penultime lap all Ethiopian sprinted clear. The taugh that the race had one lap less, but they were have to finish the race, and Ethiopian Mohamed Kedir regained the lead on untill the final 200m, when Virgin slipped past to retain his title"

The Ethiopians have trouble counting laps. In the US-African dual meet in 1971, Miruts Yifter started his kick one lap too soon in the 5,000. He put a lot of distance between himself and Prefontaine, but he stopped running with one lap to go, thinking that he'd won. Anyone who saw that kick knew that he would have.

And then the following year at the Olympics in Munich, Yifter went to the wrong gate for his 5,000 semifinal and missed the race altogether.

I recall seeing Porter ran a 2:20 marathon as a test run back in 94 or 95. Not sure where it was or if I am correct. I think it was when he was running for Pearl Izumi. Anyone have correct/accurate info?