Elle Purrier - Are you F***ing kidding - 4:16.85 full mile FTW at Millrose. AR and #2 all time

David S wrote:

I think it was a mistake for Koko to try to run away from the field like this on an indoor track. I don't know if Koko could have won, but if the pace were a second or two slower she could have made it a lot harder for Purrier to pass in the final 100m. Granted, it took a historic performance to do so. But it seemed like Koko really died at the end of the race. Slowing at the end like that was probably not a big deal from a time standpoint, but for placing in an indoor track race it's probably the opposite of what you want to be doing.

If Koko didn't take it out she would have got wrecked by Reekie's 1:57 kick. Only time GDS beat Koko was in a slower race with a kick, and by looks of the other day Purrier had more in the tank too.

Koko was damned if she did, damned if she didn't in that race. On balance, her tactics neutralised the two highest profile threats going into the race. No one thought Elle would come out like that.

another perspective wrote:

If Koko didn't take it out she would have got wrecked by Reekie's 1:57 kick. Only time GDS beat Koko was in a slower race with a kick, and by looks of the other day Purrier had more in the tank too.

Koko was damned if she did, damned if she didn't in that race. On balance, her tactics neutralised the two highest profile threats going into the race. No one thought Elle would come out like that.

Yeah I'm not saying Koko shouldn't have pushed the pace, just that she pushed it a little bit too much. You shouldn't be slowing at the end of an indoor race, and Reekie was already dropped. But hindsight is 20/20 and I'm playing armchair quarterback.

Nobody can estimate their performance within half a second accuracy in a mile race. Neither can one know how fast will be enough to take the edge of a strong kick of another runner.

If you look at the official splits (and if they are correct), Koko did not get much slower at the end, she just could not react to Purriers kick. Sure, it was risky to lead for so long but she was playing to her strengths and almost worked.

My prognosis before the race was that if the pacing was good and if Koko was strong enough to push it to times of 4:16-18 she could probably beat Reekie and GDS, if too slow she would lose to at least one of them in the end. This was mostly correct, only I had never thought Purrier could keep with such a pace and outkick everybody.

What a smart run.

https://youtu.be/iuQHaZ41wDE

Seriously mate? wrote:

PrZ wrote:

You know you’re on the letsrun message boards when someone runs the 2nd fastest indoor mile ever, and people don’t even hesitate to comment on her appearance and body type.

It's a fact. She is noticeably leaner than her college days. I don't get what is so hard to understand about this in a sport where body weight and percent body fat matter a lot.

Bekele was straight up fat for years and it resulted in wildly inconsistent performances in the marathon. He got serious about his diet and training leading up to Berlin, showed up to the start line noticeably leaner and nearly pops off a world record. It's not rocket science.

She's got a long way to go before she looks like this....

She has more mass that this guy.

Frank Shorter clearly lost weight after college and then starved himself to lose even more for the 1972 Olympic marathon. In this picture he's even thinner than Rick Wohlhuter. That almost no US male runners are no longer willing to do this why American male distance running declined after the early 1980's.

https://blog.runningcoach.me/en/2015/10/06/everyone-can-learn-from-running-legend-frank-shorter/

bladerunner wrote:

She's got a long way to go before she looks like this....

Luckily Mark Coogan is a close friend of Pete Julian, I'm sure he can ask for some secret NOP tips on how to slim down even more while not loosing any strength. Worked wonders for Hassan after all.

Purrier looked like she had gas left in the tank. Coulda gone faster. Purrier vs Houlihan at indoor nats is gonna be real, real interesting, particularly if the pace is fast. If it's a tactical race I'm still picking Houlihan as it's unclear if Purrier can win a slow, tactical race.

Clean athlete. Smart coaches brought her along with common sense in sane athletic Northeast. Coached at altitude. Coached to finish fast. Dedicated young athlete. Seeing her in person strength and power obvious.

Check out what Coogan has done with another local- Umass’s Heather Maclean- 4:25.9,closed in 64!

David S wrote:

another perspective wrote:

If Koko didn't take it out she would have got wrecked by Reekie's 1:57 kick. Only time GDS beat Koko was in a slower race with a kick, and by looks of the other day Purrier had more in the tank too.

Koko was damned if she did, damned if she didn't in that race. On balance, her tactics neutralised the two highest profile threats going into the race. No one thought Elle would come out like that.

Yeah I'm not saying Koko shouldn't have pushed the pace, just that she pushed it a little bit too much. You shouldn't be slowing at the end of an indoor race, and Reekie was already dropped. But hindsight is 20/20 and I'm playing armchair quarterback.

Look at KoKo's splits, she went 64/65/65/63, she sped up, maybe not as much to qualify as a "kick", but Purrier hit 62. Do you think KoKo was thinking of Purrier at the starting line? She couldn't have guessed she would run 4:16. I think KoKo played it perfectly to her strength. Judging by the last lap Reekie was still in it with 50m to go, she would have got her with a slower 3rd quarter.

nr Boston port wrote:

Clean athlete. Smart coaches brought her along with common sense in sane athletic Northeast. Coached at altitude. Coached to finish fast. Dedicated young athlete. Seeing her in person strength and power obvious.

Check out what Coogan has done with another local- Umass’s Heather Maclean- 4:25.9,closed in 64!

Maclean has always had speed, she started off as a sprinter in high school. She ran 2:03 in college, 4:24 closing in 64 is expected (it's 4:24 is 65point pace)

2:03 is quite good in college, but 4:25 is not expected coming off that. It's a significant step up.

hurrikane wrote:

nepsta wrote:

Jeez what an ignorant post. Mark has done a great job with Ellie and she was a badass in that race. Also, Hop (at UNH) did a fantastic job with her and is one of the most underrated coaches in the NCAA

Purrier is obviously an incredible talent. She made the coaches look good at UNH, not the other way around. For someone who is talented enough to shatter an American record a couple years out of college, she should have been a lot more successful in the NCAA.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I don't think it's very well-informed. If you knew more about her background going into UNH and her introduction to distance: running training you'd probably agree with me that it goes both ways - Elle made UNH look good and her coach did a fantastic job with her at that level. Her breakthrough now demonstrates this.

I feel like Purrier may have that x-factor... the ability to pull off wins in ugly, dirty dog fights. If she and Hassan have an “oopsie”, Hassan is going to go bouncing into the infield. You can really tell that the other runners don’t want her near them for this reason. She is just too muscular and coordinated. This will be tremendously helpful in championship races and indoor track. Imagine this jacked, explosive country gal covered in scrapes and bruises 24/7 colliding with Koko... not pretty.

Purrier seems like a nice person with strong morals. But everyone makes mistakes. If she “accidentally” takes out some of her competitors in big races here and there, I am fully prepared to look the other way.

Rupp fan wrote:

Purrier seems like a nice person with strong morals.

Really? How'd you figure out what kinds of morals she has? What kind of morals did the other women in the race have?

nepsta wrote:

hurrikane wrote:

Purrier is obviously an incredible talent. She made the coaches look good at UNH, not the other way around. For someone who is talented enough to shatter an American record a couple years out of college, she should have been a lot more successful in the NCAA.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I don't think it's very well-informed. If you knew more about her background going into UNH and her introduction to distance: running training you'd probably agree with me that it goes both ways - Elle made UNH look good and her coach did a fantastic job with her at that level. Her breakthrough now demonstrates this.

My team competed against her team in high school and in the America East conference. All the articles make it seem like she wasn't good in high school to make it a cool story but she was a BEAST in high school off of basically no training. While working on a farm in the mornings.

Her PR's in high school:

400 - 59 open, 57 or 58 relay split

800 - 2:11

1600 - 4:50 as an 11th grader

3000 - 10:09 (also a 10:56 3200 which isn't as good)

She ran 17:49 in XC and also won the footlocker northeast regional in XC (32nd at nationals).

She redshirted her freshman outdoor season in college. Ran the steeplechase unattached at meets, won US junior national championships in the steeplechase and finished 9th in the world at the world junior championships (against Ruth Jebet, Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in steeplechase). As an 18/19 year old. One year of coaching won't change much, that's off of pure talent. How many college freshmen get 9th at the world junior championships? It's amazing she didn't get a ton of attention then - Mary Cain stole the press because she won...but she was being coached by Alberto Salazar and being trained like a pro. Purrier was probably running less than 30 miles per week and only had a few months of steeplechase experience yet placed 9th in the world - that is DAMN impressive.

Although she had some success in the steeplechase, she had absolutely no business doing it in college. Her form was horrible. For the longest time she couldn't even hurdle, she would step on each barrier. It was clear that her best event was the 1500 or even 5k so focusing on steeple slowed her development.

So while you ignorantly think this was her breakthrough, her breakthrough actually happened in 2014 as an unattached college freshman. The truth is she underachieved based on her EXTRAORDINARY talent until this 4:16 in the mile.