HRE wrote:
I just can't get myself to the idea that someone who took over two seconds off the world records at the 1500 and mile and was unbeatable for nearly three years was poorly trained.
Ryun's training was deficient in recovery, both long term and short term. You may recall Cordner Nelson's prescient observation at the end of the "Jim Ryun Story" (which went through the 1967 track season) that Jim was showing signs of overtraining and that he should probably take a break but had to go straight into the cross country season for his junior year at KU.
Ryun came down with mono the following spring. At the US Olympic Trials in 800 meters that summer, he dropped out during the final lap, which is an event that he might well have won in Mexico City.
Ryun was obviously stale by the time the outdoor season came around in 1969 (his senior year). He was barely winning races against inferior competition. He got his clock cleaned by sophomore Marty Liquori at the NCAA mile, and he dropped out during the final of the NCAA three mile at the same meet (even though KU needed the points to beat San Jose State for the team championship). The following week, he dropped out during the AAU mile.
He should have been obliterating the domestic competition that year. But he was stale from overtraining and from having no breaks in the training cycle. He even said so to the media at the time.
From 1971-1972, his performances were wildly erratic. He would run a mile under four minutes one week, and then finish last in 4:10 the following week. It was a relief when he finished fourth in the 800 meters trials in 1972, because he had been running poorly in previous races. It wasn't even clear that he was going to make the Olympic team.
It also isn't clear WHICH Ryun would have lined up for the 1500 meter final in Munich (had he not been tripped by Billy Fordjour of Ghana in the semis).
I suspect that part of his struggles after 1967 were due to the lack of recovery. This is not an indictment of Ryun, because he had a strong-willed coach who pretty much dictated what Ryun did up to that point.
You say that Ryun might not have run as fast as he did if he trained differently. But the best years for performing at that distance is 23-26 for the vast majority of world record holders and Olympic champions. Most of the great milers like Morceli, Snell, Coe, Cram, Aouita, Ovett, El Gerrouj, Webb, etc., ran their fastest times between the ages of 23-26. Even Herb Elliott was 21 when he set his mile record.
So I think Ryun likely would have improved if he had had a really good coach following the principles of Lydiard and Bowerman. Ryun got an unlucky draw, although it could have been worse.