I like Kramer but he either has superhuman healing powers or he needs to chill out. Guy is trying to set a record for most 800s in a season.
Some guys like racing their way into shape. I know Sowinski was this way. You need to build the lactic resistance/pain tolerance somehow, and I think it's much more enjoyable to do that in a race as opposed to 3 x 500 or 5 x 300 all out.
I know of a British 400 runner who worked speed and aerobic endurance, avoiding the middle ground lactic tolerance training, then opened his outdoor seasons early, accepting his early 400 races would suck until he developed the tolerance to finish the races.
His times came down progressively, he ran well at trials and made relay teams.
Steve Cram's 1985 WR 1500 is 110th on the all time performance list, while Coe's world record 800 set 4 years earlier is still 10th.
in the 80s there were 12 sub 1:43s and 2 sub 1:42s
in the 90s there were 34 sub 1:43s and 4 sub 1:42s
in the 00s there were 18 sub 1:43s with 0 sub 1:42s
in the 10s there were 42 sub 1:43s, 9 sub 1:42s and 1 sub 1:41 👑🇰🇪
in the 20s so far its 13 sub 1:43s with 4 sub 1:42s
in looking through the top times on the world athletics site, couldn't help but notice lots of the top 800 times happen at or right around the olympics
Seeing more progression from decade to decade is interesting but I do think a lot of that is helped by some outstanding athletes just tearing up the track. for the 90s and 2010s, Rudisha and Kipketer carried as I think only Nijel Amos went sub 1:42 in that time besides those two. It does seem that the big players start getting it together for the Olympics, which is expected but kind of strange that it is so much more pronounced than in other events. Maybe in this way the 800 is more like a sprint, where it's not unreasonable to expect a fast Olympic final so you gear up for it with fast races, while longer races had a tendency to be tactical in finals so running fast in preparation wasn't as important.
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.