Did Cheptegei look WAY too relaxed to anybody else? Concerning?

Ran 39:53 last year and I looked f’in relaxed! Almost too easy and I ain’t on no doping.

Neta wrote:

Bring back the good ole days

http://faculty.randolphcollege.edu/tmichalik/ryun.htm

Can we have one thread where nobody mentions Jim Ryun, please?

I feel the same way watching kipchoge run

Honestly I can’t remember many elites looking completely spent. Ritz many times went completely to the well. Some don’t show it I guess u can’t just assume...

michiganrunner50 wrote:

Honestly I can’t remember many elites looking completely spent. Ritz many times went completely to the well. Some don’t show it I guess u can’t just assume...

I agree.

Amos is another exception. He looks basically destroyed by the end of about 1/2 his races.

This was ridiculous, like Ackbar’s 43.18, or Makhloufi in any race.

In addition to everything else they’re doing, the shoe effect is fascinating. He floated the whole race, like he was on blades! Must feel great to weigh nothing and run in those.

When somebody breaks a good record looking like that, you just know the record will be taken down further, and probably soon. This is like Bolt hitting 9.72 in NYC, just a sign of things to come.

semi_pro wrote:

When watching his new record setting 5k run, I was really struck by how not-in-pain he appeared. I don't think I've seen any other world dominating performance like that when someone appeared so relaxed and in control... EXCEPT when Lance Armstrong would destroy the field in the mountains of the TDF. That apparent lack of struggle and suffering, by the way, was when Greg LeMond said he knew Armstrong was on PEDs.

Discus.

#2dagills

I don't think so. I think everyone here has had that one race where you pace it perfectly and everything goes great, and you finish with a huge PB. When you see the clock and know you're about to get a great time, and you get pumped full of adrenaline and cross the finish line with a huge smile on your face.

I imagine that breaking a world record is much the same -- coming down the homestretch knowing you're gonna smash it -- you're full of adrenaline and happy that all of your training is finally paying off.

semi_pro wrote:

Neta wrote:

Bring back the good ole days

http://faculty.randolphcollege.edu/tmichalik/ryun.htm

Can we have one thread where nobody mentions Jim Ryun, please?

He has to be mentioned because the reality is that if he’d taken a stab at 5000m when he was at his peak he would have run at least sub 12:30.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

This guy looked pretty easy setting his World Record mile in 1985:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX9FoKoo-wI

Looked around, pumping and pointing his arms, not really slowing down past the finish. To be honest, most world records do not have the record-setter falling over in pain/anguish.

What happened to atmospheres like that??

Sprintgeezer wrote:

This was ridiculous, like Ackbar’s 43.18, or Makhloufi in any race.

In addition to everything else they’re doing, the shoe effect is fascinating. He floated the whole race, like he was on blades! Must feel great to weigh nothing and run in those.

When somebody breaks a good record looking like that, you just know the record will be taken down further, and probably soon. This is like Bolt hitting 9.72 in NYC, just a sign of things to come.

Cheptegei should feel like he was floating in Monaco: it was a brand new track, and Chep does all his hard track workouts on a grass "track" at 8,200 ft altitude. Racing in Monaco should feel good.

Why would anyone trying to run as fast as they can waste energy by not being relaxed? Like others have stated, most of the best performances in history have appeared extraordinarily relaxed. Even by contorting your face in pain to convince everyone you are not doping you are creating tension that will affect running efficiency. Relaxed is fast!

vegan69 wrote:

Why would anyone trying to run as fast as they can waste energy by not being relaxed? Like others have stated, most of the best performances in history have appeared extraordinarily relaxed. Even by contorting your face in pain to convince everyone you are not doping you are creating tension that will affect running efficiency. Relaxed is fast!

This was a good discussion. I watched a number of the vids that people posted and I was really surprised by how in control so many runners look during their best races.

Maybe it is just that I'm used to watching "regular" races. Typically (even for elites) it seems that there is some sort of pain cave that folks go into, but I guess when someone has that "race of her/his life" it tends to look really in control.

Now I'm curious what I look like finishing my best, average, and worst races.

There is a great Joe Rogan podcast on why some athletes look wasted at the finish line while others like Cheptegei, Coe, Ovett, El Guerrouj, Peter Snell, Gebrselassie, and many of the greats can continue to run a victory lap... it comes down to how you buffer lactate. Some at 14mmol will be crippled, while others won't even notice it.

And on a personal level, when I set my 5000m personal best, I swore I would run so much faster in the future because it felt like a damn job. 20 years later, it is still my school and facility record and it felt like nothing.

*jog

Sapel wrote:

There is a great Joe Rogan podcast on why some athletes look wasted at the finish line while others like Cheptegei, Coe, Ovett, El Guerrouj, Peter Snell, Gebrselassie, and many of the greats can continue to run a victory lap... it comes down to how you buffer lactate. Some at 14mmol will be crippled, while others won't even notice it.

Then how/why don't they sprint faster at the end if they are comfortable enough to not notice it?

semi_pro wrote:

I agree.

Amos is another exception. He looks basically destroyed by the end of about 1/2 his races.

Yeah Amos shows it, I love it.

He finishes his race at 5:03 in this video and you see him hands on knees from 6:00 through 6:11. That's the normal exhaustion feeling. I'm not sure how all these other guys are celebrating and smiling if they gave 100%.

John Wesley Harding wrote:

Bekele Bread wrote:

Except Kipchoge grimaced at the end. He was clearly pushing through some pain.

So did Cheptegei.

What would the OP expect from the 5k world record? Inefficient, overreaching form because he’s just trying so dang hard? Crawling across the line vomiting? Of course he was going to ride the threshold at which he could remain composed and efficient, as anyone does in their best efforts.

As others have said, he didn’t look any less tired than previous WR-setters, except for that undertrained drama queen Roger Bannister. ..

+1. Smooth = fast.

But I could see by looking at his face that he was rinsing himself.