Have 400/800m runners or 800/1500m runners better chances in future?
I think that it is easy for 400/800m runners to run 1:50 but much more difficult to run 1:45 as for 800/1500 runners.
What should be different in training? Should a 400/800 specialist do more fast track work and a 800/1500 specialist do more aerobic power work?
1500m. This has been proven over and over again.
Yeah, very different energy systems used in a 45-second mad dash and a 1:45 controlled mad dash.
I don't know there have been some pretty good pure 800 guys who have never ran a good mile and its debatable whether they are speed guys or distance guys. For example, Wilson Kipketer, Khadevis Robinson, Johnny Gray, Yuir Boorzkovski, Wilfred Bungei, among others. None of these guys has ever recorded a world class 15 (howver some may be capable and very few have run a world class 4. So you don't necessarily need to be a 15 type, there are pure 800 types and they very well may be the best.
Off the top of my head:
-close to 80% of the top 50 800m runners by time were better 1500m than 400m runners
-Wilson Kipketer ran 3:59 in the mile in 1994 (last year he ran it). His 400m pb is 46.7. Which is the superior mark?
-Borzakovskiy still has un tapped potential: 45.5 400m and a mid 3:4x 1500m.
-KD doesn't race much above 800m, but you gotta believe that having Johnny Gray as a coach, he's running his fair share of 70+ mi weeks as Gray did.
Just running a single 800m chances are like 50/50.
Running 3 races (heats, semis and finals) 80/20 to the 1500 guy.
Look at Ramzi in 2005, not sure if he really was the best 800 runner out there but he had the strength (epo?) to last 3 races. (+ 3 races in the 1500)
45.5 is better than 3:4X mid
I dunno, seems to me that the 799/801 types out there pretty much own the 8.