Geb's and Tergat's PR's-a comparison

Tergat and Haile moved up beyond the 10k at different points in their careers. Haile had a lot of running left, but Tergat was close to retirement.

So how fast could Tergat have been had he focused on the marathon at a younger age-like a certain young Kenyan running now?

Still, tergat set the record a few years back and he's still running at a high level now even if he is past his prime now.

Tergat set his marathon record in a real race without perfect conditions and pacesetters. Tergat in his prime approximately = Geb in his prime in the marathon in my opinion.

Um Tergat had a "pace setter" (or at least competition) up until the last few meters, and I've never heard anything about the weather conditions.

Sure, Haile had Tergat's record to shoot for, but to take almost a minute off is incredible.

After Tergat's WR he didn't race until the olympics and then blew up in London the year after and just beat Ramaala in NYC Marathon that year aswell. Tergat probably didn't reach his full potential in the marathon. I think if he had of ran Berlin in 04 or 05 at his peak he may of been able to run a bit quicker. Would of been good to see Haile vs Tergat in Berlin 05. Haile ran 2:05 there from memory that year

"Haile is clearly coming at the 10k from the speed end of things..."

No he wasn't. He just had a great kick.

Your logic is absurd. Haile G is faster at every distance on the track so Tergat should be faster at the marathon just because he is closer at the 10k?

No, he clearly did come at the 10k from the speed end of things, at least compared to Tergat-he didn't just have a fantastic kick, he ran 3:31 indoors!

Let me break it down for you in terms you can understand:

Runner A runs 22/48/1:48/3:52/13:45

Runner B runs 26/53/1:54/3:58/13:46

Who would you think would run faster over 10000m and the marathon, runner A or Runner B?

tergats time of 3:42 for 1500 is a joke, he probably has only raced 1500 at altitude or low key meets, if he had run a european meet with pacers, he absolutely would be under 3:35 at worst and possibly under 3:33. in fact tergat once was timed for his last 1500 meters of a 12k cross country race in 3:41 with a slight uphill and flat but no downhill on the last 1500.

You start a post "Truely confused" and you're trying to put things in terms I can understand?

I'm not the one that is confused. Two of the greatest 10k runners in history move up the the marathon and they both set WR's at various points in their career. Sounds pretty cool to me.

However you're suggesting that Tergat should have been the better marathon runner because of some correlation between 5k and 10k times? Geb ran faster at every distance. Not surprising that he ran faster at the marathon distance as well.

Tergat's 1500m PB is a split from his 3000m PB. I think it was Monaco, 1997 or some year around that.

Come on dude, use your brain. Not all pr's set across an entire career are run at full potential.

Tim Hutchings on Eurosport, during the NY marathon a few years ago, said that Tergat ran 20 x 400 at St Moritz in 54 seconds. He didn't mention the recovery, but if that session is anyway true, you can imagine what kind of 1500 he was capable of. (3.32?)

hghhbn bnb wrote:

Tim Hutchings on Eurosport, during the NY marathon a few years ago, said that Tergat ran 20 x 400 at St Moritz in 54 seconds. He didn't mention the recovery, but if that session is anyway true, you can imagine what kind of 1500 he was capable of. (3.32?)

I don´t for a second believe that Tergat could do that session. That is faster than 1500 WR pace.

hghhbn bnb wrote:

Tim Hutchings on Eurosport, during the NY marathon a few years ago, said that Tergat ran 20 x 400 at St Moritz in 54 seconds. He didn't mention the recovery, but if that session is anyway true, you can imagine what kind of 1500 he was capable of. (3.32?)

Maybe if you had said something believable like 58-59 you would have had some credibility but 54? at altitude? El Guerrouj could not do that session, no runner in history could do that session without very, very long rests. So that does not help this discussion.

Tergat had better relative endurance then Haile did, how does Haile run so much faster at the marathon then Paul did?

Haile's body type is more suitable for the marathon than Tergat. Haile conserves more fuel. Pretty simple.

Alan