Steve Prefontaine: I don't want to win unless I know I've done my best, and the only way I know how to do that is to run out front, flat out until I have nothing left. Winning any other way is chicken-shit.
Steve Prefontaine: I don't want to win unless I know I've done my best, and the only way I know how to do that is to run out front, flat out until I have nothing left. Winning any other way is chicken-shit.
pehlac wrote:
Steve Prefontaine: I don't want to win unless I know I've done my best, and the only way I know how to do that is to run out front, flat out until I have nothing left. Winning any other way is chicken-shit.
prefontaine (after being outkicked by viren): "viren was great, i was 4th."
The main problem i have with sitting and kicking is that what happens if EVERYONE did that. If NOBODY took the lead, what would start off as a 5k might turn into an 800. I may never win an 800, but i have a decent shot of outkicking the other guy at the end of a 5k. People who take the lead are therefore helping me out, and i feel somewhat indebted to them. When i run in championship races, i don't care how i win as long as i win and nobody gets hurt. Until i get to the elite level, sitting and kicking in an everyday meet might give me a meaningless win, but slowing down just to make sure i beat the guy will not help me become a faster racer.
Sorry about the ramble, i realize i'm a bit all over the place.
The thing that prevents a 5k from turning into an 800 is that most of the time people will realize that it is not to their advantage to let the race come down to a kick. In a field of 10-15 guys generally only 2-3 will realistically have a shot if the race is just a sit until the last 400 to kick. However, some feel that they can win with a mile surge to the finish. Others believe that their best chance of winning is by taking it out hard and breaking away. Thus, if people actually play to their strengths, then races should not always become sit and kick affairs. If it does turn into that then some people have a warped sense of reality by thinking that theu would actually have a chance in a kick.
Here is a story on why you should kick and not just sit!
Last April I was in a 4 mile race. I was at a new level of fitness and hadn't raced recently so I was unsure of just how fast I could go. I went out fast for 400m and then settled down to a reasonable pace that I knew I could hold. Around 1.5 miles a guy came by fast and in an instant I decided to take a chance and go with him. So I latched on and paced off of him. I dug deep and glued myself to him. So we are down to the last 400m and I'm feeling grateful so I decide to follow him in (5 & 6th place) even though I could have summoned a kick. We are around 20m from the finish and he pulls off the course! I was keying off of him and slowed when he did. Turns out he was a bandit and when I slowed down, another guy passed me. I was pissed because I had enough that I would have outkicked that other guy.
[quote]afdasfasdf wrote:
The main problem i have with sitting and kicking is that what happens if EVERYONE did that. If NOBODY took the lead
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This is the reason that kickers, although we acknowledge them as the winner and admire them if they are expert at their gunslinging craft (Ovett, Yifter, Borzo), are not held in the special revere of successful frontrunners. I love watching Ovett sprint off the corner. I find nothing unethical about it in a race where the point is to win. But I loved nothing better than watching Bayi front-run to a WR and a (Commonwealth 1500) Gold in '74; as in: " . . . okay, you wanna kick off my shoulder, my shoulder is running the first quarter in 53, if you can kick by me off that, you'r welcome to it . . . ." Ditto Steve Jones in Chicago '85.
no. no ethics in running. taunt the other runner, spit on the other runner, elbow him in the ribs, trip him in the last 50 meters, do whatever it takes to win.
J.K, but seriously i've had someone do what you did to me before in a track race on a cold, windy day. this other runner didn't want to take the lead. ...I call that tactical racing, nothing wrong with that, and i still ran the time i wanted.
Does anyone remember rope-a-dope, when Ali clobbered Foreman? Ali was the last man standing in the 8th round. The first 7 did not matter. Same with running. It is only what happens at the finish line that counts.
I was running a 50 mile trail run in Arkansas, the Ouchita 50. Ray Bailey, some other dude and myself. The whole way out Ray would just stop if he found himself in the lead and let us take up point again. As we get towards the half-way point Ray pulls this trick again. Exasperated the other dude, sounding annoyed, chimes in, What are you planning to do lead the whole way back? Ray says, Yep, that is my plan. Ray proceeded to throw in a big effort and left us running for 2nd and 3rd.
No it's not unethical, but you should always thank the pacemaker for doing such an excellant job.
I like to do this to the top high school kid in the race. Stay right behind him and pass him in the last 100 meters. Teaches him that he can't always win no matter how hard he tries.
afdasfasdf wrote:
The main problem i have with sitting and kicking is that what happens if EVERYONE did that. If NOBODY took the lead, wvvv vvdvhat vwould start off as a 5k might turn into an 800. I may never win an 800, but i have a decent shot of outkicking the other guy at the end of a 5k. People who take the lead are therefore helping me out, and i feel somewhat indebted to them. When i run in championship races, i don't care how i win as long as i win and nobody gets hurt. Until i get to the elite level, sitting and kicking in an everyday meet might give me a meaningless win, but slowing down just to make sure i beat the guy will not help me becoVvme a faster racer.
Sorry about the ramble, i realize i'm a bit all over the place.
I think Centro had this figured out before he won that Olympic Gold Medal. He was ready for anything. Almost like he knew how to win regardless of strategy. And he stayed ahead of all of them.
explaine wrote:
afdasfasdf wrote:
The main problem i have with sitting and kicking is that what happens if EVERYONE did that. If NOBODY took the lead, wvvv vvdvhat vwould start off as a 5k might turn into an 800. I may never win an 800, but i have a decent shot of outkicking the other guy at the end of a 5k. People who take the lead are therefore helping me out, and i feel somewhat indebted to them. When i run in championship races, i don't care how i win as long as i win and nobody gets hurt. Until i get to the elite level, sitting and kicking in an everyday meet might give me a meaningless win, but slowing down just to make sure i beat the guy will not help me becoVvme a faster racer.
Sorry about the ramble, i realize i'm a bit all over the place.
I think Centro had this figured out before he won that Olympic Gold Medal. He was ready for anything. Almost like he knew how to win regardless of strategy. And he stayed ahead of all of them.
Centrowitz may have been aware of Lasse Viren's success. Centrowitz was aware of Mohammed Farah's success. Centrowitz was aware of Kipchoge Keino's success. Centrowitz was aware of Peter Rono's success. Centrowitz I am sure was aware of Filbert Bayi's success, 1974, Christchurch. Centrowitz knew it is better to race the entire race, lane 1, race with a comfortable stride from the front, especially final 700m. If the more talented guys in the field would have decide to race at sub-3:30 pace, Centrowitz could not have won.