Was reading the George Mills article where his 7:40 broke a record from the 1980's and in a race where Coe placed 3rd. Many Coe fans will make you believe he was undefeated at 3km and never actually ran any championships, but to this day the man retired with personal bests of 7:54 and 14:06.
Was he simply too fast? Poor training?
Because he was a speed based 1500m runner and trained like it
klsedla wrote:
Was reading the George Mills article where his 7:40 broke a record from the 1980's and in a race where Coe placed 3rd. Many Coe fans will make you believe he was undefeated at 3km and never actually ran any championships, but to this day the man retired with personal bests of 7:54 and 14:06.
Was he simply too fast? Poor training?
His 7:54 was run in 1987 during which he was hindered by a foot injury. His only other race that year was a 1:46. The 3000m was a solo effort so it’s an unknown as to how hard he pushed himself.
That Coe had poor training is ridiculous.
Why is Jakob so poor at 800m?
He's an 800/1500 runner, makes sense that he would get worse as the distance moves beyond 1500.
I think he had a solid 4 mile road race result
Weird coincidence wrote:
He's an 800/1500 runner, makes sense that he would get worse as the distance moves beyond 1500.
So was Cram, and he ran an 8:15 2-mile and 13:29. Ovett ran 8:12 and 13:20. It’s likely Coe could have run as fast as those two, but never ran the distances when he was healthy and in his prime.
I remember when he lost indoors over 3000m to Adrian Passey by 8 seconds in 8:05, in his first race of 1988. It made the sports headlines in the UK. I'm sure it played a part in the selectors that year feeling they could drop Coe on the basis that he was 'done' (although we know now it was largely political).
cause he ran 1:41 for 800m? its obvious
2020420 wrote:
Because he was a speed based 1500m runner and trained like it
Yes Sir!!!!
Coe was a 400m-800m runner who was able to "race up" to the 1500/Mile. The only reason he was able to do that was because of his fall/winter X-C training his father Peter implemented. Coe was somewhat of a "fragile" athlete, he often would get sick/injured during the winter months when trying to run too much mileage. The X-C training (hill repeats/long intervals) at a lower volume allowed him to gain the necessary strength needed to run quality 1500's/Miles.
klsedla wrote:
Was reading the George Mills article where his 7:40 broke a record from the 1980's and in a race where Coe placed 3rd. Many Coe fans will make you believe he was undefeated at 3km and never actually ran any championships, but to this day the man retired with personal bests of 7:54 and 14:06.
Was he simply too fast? Poor training?
He used 3000 and 5000m races as training.
Because he could run 46 seconds for 400m. How many elite 3k/5k guys have anything remotely close to that ability over 400m?
Coe could have run a lot faster at 3000m and 5000m. He never really raced these distances during track season in his prime. He ran a 3:47.33 mile. That requires a lot of endurance that would easily translate to a fast 3000m.
His 5000 is basically identical to Cruz’s
Coe’s best event was 1000m
A great 5000 is a lot to ask from guys who can split a 45
dsrunner wrote:
His 5000 is basically identical to Cruz’s
Coe’s best event was 1000m
A great 5000 is a lot to ask from guys who can split a 45
Coe could have run much faster for 5000, whether you believe it or not.
The first 10 years of LRC was pretty much dominated by Ovett vs Coe and questions like this. Coe was likely a ~13:20 guy (Ovett 13:15) but why bother? Even back then 13:20 didn't cut it at top level.
featherswasinnocent wrote:
The first 10 years of LRC was pretty much dominated by Ovett vs Coe and questions like this. Coe was likely a ~13:20 guy (Ovett 13:15) but why bother? Even back then 13:20 didn't cut it at top level.
Moorcroft was a 13.20 guy also. But then one day....
Kessler
Coe ran 1:41.73. Cram in comparison ran 1:42.88 and Ovett’s PB was only 1:44.09 (he could have run faster, but not 1:41 fast).
Coe was so speed based that from ‘76 to ‘79 he raced 23 800s and 2 400s without contesting any longer races. When he finally did race a mile again, he set the WR in his first try.
He ran a 46.87 open 400 three days before that mile WR.
I’m sure Coe could have run faster at 3k and 5k but I’m also quite confident those were not his events and he was never capable of a truly competitive 5k. I believe Cram and Ovett especially were better suited to those events, but who cares when Coe ran 1:41.73 and has a better Olympic resume than those two combined.
The suggestion that his 3k/5k PRs might be due to “poor training” is laughably absurd given his times and achievements at 800/1500. His father and coach Peter Coe was obsessive and left no stone unturned, and some details of Coe’s training are included in his book(s?). One workout I remember was: 100-110-120-130…up to 200 in 10m increments, adding 1.0 seconds to the target for each rep. So for Seb, you’re starting with a 13 second 100 and running faster and faster until you’re running a 23 second 200. That’s not Ingebrigtsen training, but obviously it worked brilliantly in its own way.
Nitpicking, but not sure Coe has a better Olympic resume than Cram and Ovett combined. Yes, 2 golds to 1 gold, and 4 medals to 3. Coe made four Olympic finals, Ovett made five (six if hadn't been tripped in the 76 1500m semi), and Cram three successive 1500m Olympic finals. Has anybody else even made three successive 800m Olympic finals? Certainly not three 800m finals AND two 1500m finals.
Also, to the previous poster that said Ovett's limit was 13:15, I doubt that very much. He looked very much capable of better than that when jogging a 13:24 at the Commonwealths in his 30's and blowing away Buckner and Tim Hutchings with his kick, who set their pbs of 13:10 and 13:11 around then. If he had dedicated himself to the 5000m, or decided to be a 1500/5000m man early in his career, he would have broken 13 minutes before Aouita.
