Let me preface by saying Mottram was dominate on the world stage at Grand Prix meets and at championship meets when NO one was at anything above 1500m. but his 2006 season…
I can’t find or recall what he did that indoor season but he had the Commonwealth Games in his home time in mid March he was trying to hit an early season peak for.
March 9, 2006 sets an Australian record of 2k in 4:50
March 20,2006 runs 12:58 for a silver in the 5k in commonwealth games in one of the best championship races ever.
March 25, 2006 falls in 1500 of commonwealth games
then here is what separate Mottram from weak runners of today…after the commonwealth games instead of shutting it down and focusing on summer campaign Mottram boarded a plane and went to Japan and ran the world XC short course finishing 11th.
couple wks later and goes to NY and runs a 28:13 in Central Park in the healthy Kidney race…. Races the European season that summer and to top it off goes to the World Cup in September and did something NO ONE and I mean NO ONE did and that was beat Bekele and win the 3k in 7:32.
long story short, you’d never see the soft Americans run and race as much as Mottram did. Skipping big meets and championships for time trials has made the sport weak.