You are meandering further away from the discussion.
You mean relaxing during a race is something new? By golly ...Shazaaaam!
We are talking about CHANGING GEARS, going to the arms, changing the cadence, which you never see from the current crop of Robot Lions. You sure as heck saw it from the crew that dominated the 4x800 in the 80s. We're talking about digging in at the end of the race like the two most prolific winners of the Penn Relays, Don Paige and Mark Belger used to do. Or, from a guy like Charlie Magure, who couldn't run a 55 second 400 if his life depended on it, but was the ultimate competitor when it came time to kick.
It's the emotion of the kick and the heat of the competition. When this new crop finds it, they're going to do something. Until then, it's a very predictable result: go out too hard, maintain the same cadence, get passed.
Heck, finishing third in the Penn Relays is always quite an accomplishment -- unless, on paper your times add up to give you a huge advantage and you're unable to close the deal. When that happens, there's a problem. That problem isn't the legs or the lungs - it's the heart and the head.
The day that the Robot Lions walk into the paddock at Franklin Field with the attitude that "this is my house, and this is my wheel, and no one is going to take it from me" is the day that they finally win one.
The day you see that "gimme the baton and get out of my effin way" attitude from the Robot Lions is going to be the day that they win.
The reason why 7:11 is still the Penn Relays record is that Penn State had four guys with a Mark Belger attitude on that team. The reason why the won four wheels in the 80s with only one runner who could remotely be called a blue-chip recruit (Vance Watson), is because those guys were murder on the track. They didn't run like maniacs on the first lap and shit the bed. They ran like maniacs in the last 200 meters. They were exciting.
Charlie