I'm not gonna defend Strand's tactics, but it's easier to get position in a fairly strung out 3:28-3:30 pace race than a 3:55 pace race where the entire field is bunched up. And this is exactly what we saw at USATF.
Strand has a world class kick off any pace. 12.5 second final 100 in a 3:30 is ridiculous. And in that 3:47 race, his final 200 was close to a second faster than most of them.
Strand's last 100 at USATF was :12.69, NOT :12.5 !!
I think part of the issue here is our different definitions of the word "great". Strand is now at a level he really should be compared more to global competition and not NCAA competition. In the NCAA, sure he has a great kick. But someone who has a truly great kick on the global stage would have been able to win that race from Strand's positioning. Alos, part of a great kick is being able to position yourself well. This is easy to do in a fast race where it gets strung out. If Strand couldn't insert himself where he wants in a slow race against NCAA comp, he's not doing it in a WC final.
Well NCAAs had a couple of 3:31-32 guys (Martin, Green, Spencer) in it, it's not like he was facing a bunch of scrubs. His kick nearly got him the win over all of them despite terrible position, and near-perfect execution from Green. There're fewer pro guys who win that race from that position than you might think. Strand's kick is really good. I think you can dissociate kick from positioning. An example: Centrowitz had a good kick and masterful positioning. Leo Manzano meanwhile probably had a better kick, but his positioning was never as good (and his fitness trailed Centro most of the time).
Right now, Reynold Cheruiyot has one of the best kicks of the world, but his positioning is pretty rough.
Well NCAAs had a couple of 3:31-32 guys (Martin, Green, Spencer) in it, it's not like he was facing a bunch of scrubs. His kick nearly got him the win over all of them despite terrible position, and near-perfect execution from Green. There're fewer pro guys who win that race from that position than you might think. Strand's kick is really good. I think you can dissociate kick from positioning. An example: Centrowitz had a good kick and masterful positioning. Leo Manzano meanwhile probably had a better kick, but his positioning was never as good (and his fitness trailed Centro most of the time).
Right now, Reynold Cheruiyot has one of the best kicks of the world, but his positioning is pretty rough.
I had this remaining open. Reynold again showing spectacular kick, but bad positioning.
Well NCAAs had a couple of 3:31-32 guys (Martin, Green, Spencer) in it, it's not like he was facing a bunch of scrubs. His kick nearly got him the win over all of them despite terrible position, and near-perfect execution from Green. There're fewer pro guys who win that race from that position than you might think. Strand's kick is really good. I think you can dissociate kick from positioning. An example: Centrowitz had a good kick and masterful positioning. Leo Manzano meanwhile probably had a better kick, but his positioning was never as good (and his fitness trailed Centro most of the time).
Right now, Reynold Cheruiyot has one of the best kicks of the world, but his positioning is pretty rough.
I had this remaining open. Reynold again showing spectacular kick, but bad positioning.
My two cents, fully aware that this exercise is a little crazy given how much more knowledgeable Kessler and his coaching team are than me. But as a brainstorming exercise, maybe this thread will highlight a few good ideas. 1. Keep touching speed, but next season emphasize the 1500/3k and, if in doubt, favor base over early racing/sharpening. It does seem like the best 1500m kickers of late are ones with good natural speed (like you) but who emphasize base and 3k/5k over the 800. (And yes, Grand Slam probably pulled you toward 800 work, and arguably at exactly the wrong time of the season.) You're still young enough to be thinking about long-term year-over-year base building. Excelling at half squats and flying 40m sprints is far from pointless, but between that, your other weight-room activity, and your natural capacity to do muscle-ups and such, and the result is that I suspect you're carrying a bit of extra muscle up top that isn't doing you any favors in the 1500, and all that work on the explosive side may be leading you to peak too early in the summer. 2. Maybe your body can't take the kind of mileage that a base monster can, so get creative. Stir in a judicious amount of bicycling (Hocker) and/or arc trainer work (Valby). Or, and this is really outside the box, bring pulse monitoring and lactic threshold monitoring to easier forms of climbing in the offseason. That is, rather than pushing yourself technically, sacrifice that for a new game--seeing how long you can stay in the aerobic zone while doing easier climbing. Easier climbing also tends to be more leg-centric than arm centric, so that's another plus--less muscle build-up on the upper body where it's mainly just extra weight in the 1500.