Mo Farah: What could he run for 100m?

Let's see... Galen and Mo did 10.9 and 11.0 (or was it 11.1) for a rolling 100m once. Assuming that's decently fresh, we know that 100m sprinters for the US do at least 9.26 (average) on their relay legs, and they were 9.69 - 9.95 PB runners who weren't all quite fit. Bolt did his (on the turn) in 8.9 in Beijing, not sure about his split on the homestretch this year. So for them a rolling start is probably minimum .65 difference if not more, so we're up to at least 11.7.

Then add the fact that Mo probably doesn't use blocks, has worse reaction time, and definitely doesn't accelerate fast, and I might put him at 12.25 at least, if we're talking about a legit 100m race.

He ran 13 seconds on bbc's superstars. Heavyweight olympic boxer ran 11.5x robbie grabarz the high jumper also beat farah.

If he ran it at peak fitness and well rested, then I think he'd run about 2.98. Just under the elusive 3 second barrier.

platform 4 wrote:

He ran 13 seconds on bbc's superstars. Heavyweight olympic boxer ran 11.5x robbie grabarz the high jumper also beat farah.

He ran a faster time than Ohurougu though.

I'm gonna massage these results in Mo's favour and say he would easily beat her in a 200m too.

Christine runs 22.85.

I'll give Mo a 22.50 and 11 flat 100m on a good day.

qed

Ohurougu wasn't really pushing it though.

You are going to have to ask Ventolin if you can borrow his calculator ....:)

crazy raisin wrote:

Let's see... Galen and Mo did 10.9 and 11.0 (or was it 11.1) for a rolling 100m once. Assuming that's decently fresh, we know that 100m sprinters for the US do at least 9.26 (average) on their relay legs, and they were 9.69 - 9.95 PB runners who weren't all quite fit. Bolt did his (on the turn) in 8.9 in Beijing, not sure about his split on the homestretch this year. So for them a rolling start is probably minimum .65 difference if not more, so we're up to at least 11.7.

Then add the fact that Mo probably doesn't use blocks, has worse reaction time, and definitely doesn't accelerate fast, and I might put him at 12.25 at least, if we're talking about a legit 100m race.

sub 9 sounds about right for Bolt, or about .8 faster than block start. Why do I assume .8 and not .6? Simply because in the relay you also have a bit of a start, it isn't truly flying. Also keep in mind that Bolt is a good starter, something that has to do with reaction but also explosive strength. Mo doesn't have that. Once Mo is rolling, he can be rather fast but I just don't see the explosion.

I'd put his ceiling at 12.1x.

Mo running 22.50!, NO WAY. With his endurance that would make him roughly a 46 sec 400m runner

I'll say 12.1 and 23.75

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Times?

Well in tonight's "Superstars" he ran 12.98! FAT.

The conditions were pretty bad, wet and a bit windy. So with good weather it was probably worth 12.7. It was also out of season, filmed around November time, so he was probably a bit rusty. At the height of his "speed training" part of the season he could probably get down to 12.3/12.4.

Having seen him run 100m tonight I don't believe he is capable of sub 12 for a 100m from standing start/blocks. You don't loose that much of your natural speed in a few months.

deanouk wrote:

Well in tonight's "Superstars" he ran 12.98! FAT.

That's about what the our girls (crossfit) at the regionals can run.

Wow, in a remarkable lapse of LetsRun's normal standards of immaturity, people here actually all seem to agree that he might run 12.1-12.4 on a good day. Doesn't seem that impressive, but he'd improve on it dramatically if he trained.

I'd be interested to know more about this show, and what the conditions were like, for the 12.98 he recently ran. Is that what sparked the topic?

Distance fans keep trying to make believe that their heros are fast--and they're not.

The youtube of Bolt's 9.58 has Bolt's second stride touching at 0.7 seconds, and that doesn't include the 0.24 reaction time. Along the same lines, Charlie Francis once posted that he timed Ben's workouts using first movement + 0.6s, but that's from the first step from a standing start.

Either way, in the real world, you end up with about 1 sec plus the claimed time, which puts both Farah and Rupp in the 12-low second range.

Christine Ohuruogu, along with most for the other top UK sprinters, train/race in Los Angeles with the BAF camp for part of the winter/spring (after indoors I think). She ran 23.76 last year and has run 11.37w & 11.44 in recent years (and that's from blocks, of course).

Ohuruogu would absolutely kill both Farah and Rupp in a straight up sprint. That's why they're DISTANCE runners.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=20941

Xfit_guy_the_real_one_1 wrote:

That's about what the our girls (crossfit) at the regionals can run.

Why don't you post some real times. I don't mean some crossfit sideshow, but a REAL race with blocks or standing start and electronic timing?

There are people here (Sprintgeezer and me, at least) who can run 11-11.5 FAT. Cut the bullshit. What have YOU really run?

This is a photo of one of the so-called crossfit success stories:

This is a crossfitter "running" a HM. Mind you, the crossfitter is not the fat woman in front. The crossfitter is the "man" getting beat by the fat woman. I have a feeling if CF people posted real times in a real race, you would get laughed off this site for good. My sense is that the typical CF "athlete" is the fat slob I see parading around the gym in a Tapout t-shirt. And that's why you have these crossfit sideshows: so people can't see directly how slow and weak you really are.

If I'm wrong about this, post some real times with links that can be verified.

coach d wrote:

This is a crossfitter "running" a HM.

Dude, we're talking about 100m sprints here, not about some HM slog. Get a life.

platform 4 wrote:

He ran 13 seconds on bbc's superstars. Heavyweight olympic boxer ran 11.5x robbie grabarz the high jumper also beat farah.

Well done for spoiling it for everyone and still managing to get the time wrong

I'll give Mo a 22.50 and 11 flat 100m on a good day.

qed[/quote]

That would have to be a very good day!

I was surprised he didn't run at least low 12's. 12.98 is slow for someone running his times over 1500m. Wonder what that time would do to venties calculator if you keyed that in.

He was shocking in the bike race but threw a good javelin

I'm not totally disappointed, since it was a for-fun show and he might be far from his peak. A couple of my college teammates (mid-d) were pulled down to the 100m for a couple meets and their times varied a lot. Some days they just didn't have pop in their legs, some days they just got a bad jump. It's hard to perform consistently in an event you're not used to.

'Assuming that's decently fresh, we know that 100m sprinters for the US do at least 9.26 (average) on their relay legs, and they were 9.69 - 9.95 PB runners who weren't all quite fit.'

This is usually on the lst leg and because of the changeover zone they are running less than 100m

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwLDpcye-VM

A distance runner is not losing that much speed over 100m out of season. They are training for speed endurance not out and out sprinting.

Xfit_guy_the_real_one_1 wrote:

coach d wrote:

This is a crossfitter "running" a HM.

Dude, we're talking about 100m sprints here, not about some HM slog. Get a life.

He meant your sprinting times lol.