Grant doesn’t have the look in his eye nor the form alignment in his limbs to be a 26:xx and 12:xx athlete cleanest. He fails every litmus test of such an athlete. Paul chelimo and Bernard lagat are true world class athletes as they present to my eyes both the look of one and the physical formation and alignment as well.
It really is very easy to tell the real clean good athlete from the real dirty doped one.
Except Grant is the only one of those three you can be sure is clean and has always been clean.
That is interesting. I do agree with you that the fact that Grant is "always in shape" is on one hand awesome but, as you pointed out, also exhausting. Being in 7:25 3000m shape and then 12:50 5000m shape and 26:40 10km shape all the time can't be easy on the body. But he seems to pull it off, so what do I know.
Where you and I disagree is in how we think he does this. I don't think he is doping.
But yes, it seems as if he doesn't really have a true "peak" but rather just maintains his (awesome) fitness all year round. Maybe he takes a big break in the Fall?
I should wait to read the rest of the thread to comment, but I've gotta get to work. Remember how Grant's season ended last year? Being that fit, for that long, definitely did take a toll on him last year. But he held it exactly as long as he needed.
I recall the story where Pre opened up a work out with a sub 4 minute mile (after warming up)
The story I read was that Pre ran a 4:08, jogged a lap, and then ran a 4:02. That was pretty studly at the time. It was between trips to Europe and shortly after the workout, he ran a sub-4:00 during a smoky, field burning day, and coughed so violently that he fractured a rib, ruining his return trip.
I recall the story where Pre opened up a work out with a sub 4 minute mile (after warming up)
The story I read was that Pre ran a 4:08, jogged a lap, and then ran a 4:02. That was pretty studly at the time. It was between trips to Europe and shortly after the workout, he ran a sub-4:00 during a smoky, field burning day, and coughed so violently that he fractured a rib, ruining his return trip.
I believe its in one of the Pre books.
The 4 minute mile was during that smoky day. The claim was he opened up his workout with the 4 minute mile, following a warm up
Was it Kenny Moore who stated this?
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
lol, you guys are being pretty hard on Malmo when he's exactly correct. Obviously it's a workout that only top level guys can run. But it's exactly what you would expect from a guy with Grant's credentials between 3000(7:25) and 10000 (26:33)
The story I read was that Pre ran a 4:08, jogged a lap, and then ran a 4:02. That was pretty studly at the time. It was between trips to Europe and shortly after the workout, he ran a sub-4:00 during a smoky, field burning day, and coughed so violently that he fractured a rib, ruining his return trip.
I believe its in one of the Pre books.
The 4 minute mile was during that smoky day. The claim was he opened up his workout with the 4 minute mile, following a warm up
Was it Kenny Moore who stated this?
The smoky 4-minute mile was a one-off. He and Dellinger had scheduled a day to run it, and probably would have cancelled it, but the word had gotten out and maybe a thousand people showed up to watch, and Pre didn’t want to let them down.
Someone asked for more on Sam: Gilman ran 3:52.8 for the mile, 7:43 for the 3, 3:35 for the 15. He graduated from Air Force in '23. Nice to see him running well and particularly good to see him training with Grant since Grant said he would not train with just anyone who was close to his PR's.
It may mean Grant and Mike regard Sam as capable of significantly more than what his PR's are now, if Sam is regularly working out with Grant. I hope so.
Haven't read the thread, so I imagine others have pointed out a. it was more like 4:00.5 b. it was four laps, not a mile c. a lot of it was running on or very near the line (no curb).
IOW, worth about 4:02.x for an actual mile. Still damned impressive; not a four-flat.
The 4 minute mile was during that smoky day. The claim was he opened up his workout with the 4 minute mile, following a warm up
Was it Kenny Moore who stated this?
Yes, there was that 4-flat mile on a smoke-filled practice day.
However, the poster who brought up Pre was probably referring to an anecdote from Dave Wottle in the Fire on the Track documentary video.
Wottle recalls being in the stands at the Oslo, Norway stadium watching Pre and Dellinger/coach prepare for the 1972 Munich Olympics.
After his warm-up, Pre ran a 4:00.+ mile. Then, per Wottle: "He ran a ladder. Meaning, then he ran his workout. Was Pre ready for Munich? Yes, he was."
Grant just ran a 4-flat 1600 at the end of his workout.
Is Grant ready for the indoor season? Yes, he is. Especially the 5000 race he stated he will be racing after his NBIGP mile this upcoming Sunday (2/2) and the Millrose 3000 the following Saturday (2/8).
Grant/Mike have yet to confirm where this 5000 race will take place.
However, my speculation is that Grant will return to Flagstaff following his upcoming week-long East Coast racing trip, gauge the results with Mike from his Millrose 3000, sharpen up for another 10 days or so, then return to Boston for the BU Terrier DMR Classic/Last Chance Meet on Friday, Feb. 21st. This is the meet where Grant ran his 12:51/5000 indoor pr last year, just missing Woody's indoor AR.
They might choose to stay on the East Coast for two full weeks and cap off their indoor season with the 5000 at the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Saturday, Feb 15th. However, when Grant is in training, he does not like to be away from altitude for more than several days. Thus, speculating the 21st will be his target race of the season.
Last year at the BU DMR/Last Chance Meet, Grant stated post-race his planned pace was 62/lap (12:55/5000) then kick in as best he could -- resulting 12:51.84.
This year -- assuming all goes well on his first East Coast excursion -- pretty much expecting Grant will target 61/lap pace. Meaning, a 12:42-12:43 new WR, breaking Bekele's 12:49.60.
Assuming Bekele's record is still standing. Which may not be the case, given three significant BU meets will be held prior to the 21st.
The Dr Sanders Scorcher and other meets held this past weekend were just the appetizers. Indoor t&f we've been waiting for since the end of xc last fall starts this weekend.
At the beginning of the video, his coach said, "Honestly, this workout, it's the only time we've done it all year."
Grant doesn’t have the look in his eye nor the form alignment in his limbs to be a 26:xx and 12:xx athlete cleanest. He fails every litmus test of such an athlete. Paul chelimo and Bernard lagat are true world class athletes as they present to my eyes both the look of one and the physical formation and alignment as well.
It really is very easy to tell the real clean good athlete from the real dirty doped one.
Except that you leave out VO2 max and talent. As in most sports, talent alone can take you very far and Grant is super talented, evidenced by his success all the way back to high school. Throw in he's a notorious hard worker, super shoes, and elite coaching he is receiving and it's not hard to see his success. I think you're just thinking that no American could be this good so he must be doping. I get it, but to simply think that because he's the best American isn't accurate. Unless you can provide some concrete evidence that he could be doping, it seems you just want him to be dirty for no apparent reason.
Your comparisons to Chelimo and Lagat are funny. It's like comparing the body of Lebron to Luka. There are obvious differences, but guess what? Both are great basketball players.