Honestly is Mo Farah on something?

'What was he looking for?? Why has he moved so many times? All of the above groups train hard, have focused and succesful individuals.. but was Farah looking for something else?? and has he found it with Salazar?'

He ran sub 13 the year before Joining Al Sal

He didn't try the Kenyan thing for a while he did it for years either in Kenya or Teddington uk since 2005 at least. That's what made him great Al Sal has just polished that hard work.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Al Sal has just polished that hard work.

Just like he did with Ritz.

I really don't think the evidence presented in this thread supports the "sudden, dramatic improvement" that reeks of PEDs.

That makes me wonder WHY people want to see that evidence when it is not really there...

Mo up until last year was "supposedly" being coached by Alan Storey, who wasn't really coaching him, plus UK Athletics had pretty much washed their hands with Storey which made it difficult for Mo to have any contact with him. Then Canova was advising Mo, but as Canova had said many times "...Mo is a friend I was helping up, I was not coaching him", therefore Mo never had any real structure or backbone to his training, which at his level is crazy. It's amazing he ran the times he did last year.

As for the Kenyan thing, he did spells training with them, nothing long term. Now married and with a child, the US system has proven best for him and his family. He is happy and that is why he is running well. MASSIVE TALENT.

From a british point of view i hope Salazar hasn't made Mo peak a year early.

If you look at some of the other athletes he's coached such as Adam Goucher and Dathan Ritzenhein there seems to be a similar pattern. They come to him with huge aerobic bases, Salazar injects a lot of quality/interval work into their training, they run well for a short time and then get injured.

I hope Mo can sustain his form to 2012. Maybe he should think about having an extended break at the end of this track season as he seems to of been in top shape all year.

That sin't true, mo lived and trained witha group of Kenyans including Micah Kogo for several years (since 2006) it wasn't a short period of time. If you reach a ceiling training with the world record holder for 10k then what exactly has he found with Salazar?

http://www.spikesmag.com/features/whenmofarahmetmicahkogo.aspx

Mo was coached by Storey whatever you hear from UKA, stewart has a bee in his bonnet about Storey and at every opportunity tried to associate himself with Mo

and Chris Thompson, despite the fact that neither of them had anything to do with UKA Endurance, in fact Thompson moved to the states because he was getting no support from Stewart and co. Now it seems that Brendan Foster feels the need to champion Stewarts influence every time he races on the BBC, and that quite frankly, is bullshit.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1469164&page=0

Oh and for the poster who pointed out that Farah's U20 times aren't pheonomenal, here is the list of his progression at 3k from a younger age. I certainly concede that his progress stalled somewhat in his late teens but he always had talent. He never looked to be hugely physically developed very early on or to be someone who had an inaccurate birth certificate.

Age 14: 8:47.5 (UK all time #2)

Age 15: 8:33.5

Age 16: 8:16.2 (UK all time #3)

Age 17: 8:12.5

Age 18: 8:09.2

Anyone running the equivalent of around 8:55 for 2 miles at 16 seems pretty phenomenal to me.

What are the best American guys doing at these sorts of ages now?

so ultimately, what is "cheating" from a literal, not moral, standard? is it simply the taking of a defined list of PEDs?

and what is the purported reason for Salazar athletes to take this laundry list of "prescribed" drugs? are the prescribed drugs specifically violations unless accompanied by a prescription? does the combination/interaction of several otherwise legal drugs give the same benefit as taking a banned drug? do the prescribed drugs throw off metabolites etc which could obscure the presence of metabolites from banned substance(ie a masking type effect)----someone please educate me on the reason behind all these drugs.....

as much as I want to believe we have seen an American professional distance running renaissance(we have seen one in HS), the first year Salazar effect is getting tough to believe without at least some reservations--Have I become the running equivalent of the Lance fanboys I used to snicker at and say how can they be so blind? i hope not

Moh Fara is clean. Alamriaw is the biggest doper on the circuit. Coming out of nowhere last year to run 7:27 at Rieti. Yeah right.

Other point is the UK system is not conducive to running fast.

If you look at the sheer number of UK juniors who go over to the states, and because they're finally getting into good quality races with lots of people running at the same level they frequently run very big PBs.

E.g. Tom Farrell, Johnny Van Deventer etc.

On the flipside I know some US guys who have come over to UK system (nothing special ~15:00) and have really struggled to get anyway close finding themselves in small meets with no-one running within a second/lap of them despite being in great shape.

The dozens of "supplements" er PED's that Al Sal has Mo and Galen on he has perfected of late thanks to his now full blown friendship with Lance Armstrong. The 2 are in almost daily contact the past year. Several long time mutual associates in or close to Nike have confirmed this and the hardly secret levels of extreme doping Salazar did.

So "when" Galen or Mo tests positive as the testers are onto the games being played and just need a little more time to tweak the science of the testing, what is Nike going to do with the whole mess that would result? Nike's involvement in US track is huge and its cover-up of so many dopers over the years in various sports that I fear it would reverberate in so many high and unexpecte places.

Before the year is over I suspect we will see a half dozen major track athletes caught as I am hearing some new testing using blood is proving very valuable and USADA and WADA have greatly stepped up this proceedure compared to urinalysis. This along with analytical biography testing is going to be doomsday for a few in the sport who haven't been playing so clean.

fff wrote:

Alamriaw is the biggest doper on the circuit. Coming out of nowhere last year to run 7:27 at Rieti. Yeah right.

That was by no means his first race of the year.

Yes this is me speculating and putting 2 + 2 together and getting 4, but I have heard several stories regarding the amount of supplements that Mo takes, which when questioned about by a fellow GB athlete at a championship was answered with something along the lines of:

'Ever since my blackouts last year (European Cross Country and Great North Cross Country) I have started to take every legal vitamin supplement I can get my hands on to make sure my levels are topped up.'

(Athlete) - 'Who told you to take so many? (apparantly at least 10 different tablets in one go)'

Mo - 'Paula. She said she always takes these (pointing to several plastic bags/bottles). She told me, why not take everything that is legal to improve your performance regardless of knowing exactly whats in them'

Take this as you will, but if he is just going to take some random tablets because a friend told him they will improve his performance and keep him topped up, then he is obviously going to trust his new coach and peers at Nike. Anyone ever thought this Nike Oregon revoloution could be to do with gene doping?

So what do you all believe exactly that these athletes are taking? Testosterone, HGH, or what?

A documentary here in the UK a year ago showed Matthew Pinsent (former olympic Gold medallist in Rowing) showing how he could quickly and easily buy HGH online and have it delivered door to door in 2 days. It's easy.

Look at Cathal Lombard a few years ago, from a 14.20 guy for 5k to 27.30's for 10k in a couple of seasons at a late stage in his career.

he said he was tested 6 times when on EPO and never tested positive in that period, he was working independently, self administering and with no medical back up, now compare that with Mo and Galen...

Paula has been operating in the 'grey area' for long enough. The problem for Mo is that he isn't the sharpest tool in the box...

HGH is easily available in Mexico, cheap and easy to get. Why do you think Salazar has had his high altitude camps in Arizona/New Mexico and even Mexico last 3 years?

The Salazar cocktail includes some testosterone, EPO and HGH not to mention blood doping. Nike has a blood lab set up in the Mia Hamm building these guys use when in Portland and its in the most highly classified area. The guy in charge used to work with Lance Armstrong's group.

Everytime Salazar's guys are tested they keep the testers waiting outside about 5-6 minutes. What's going on behind closed doors?

You shouldn't be making accusations like that under that name. I'm okay with people joking about how anyone could be doping but you took it too far. If you're really with the USADA then you are pathetic, irresponsible, completely unscientific and not knowledgable in the least.

USADA informant wrote:

Everytime Salazar's guys are tested they keep the testers waiting outside about 5-6 minutes. What's going on behind closed doors?

That hasn't been what I've observed when I've seen his athletes being tested.

I want more info!