After Mo's 3:28.81, what is the ideal tactic to beat him at 5K/10K?

bigtool05 wrote:

why the f*ck would the defending 5k/10k world champion and olympic gold medallist, who has been specifically training all year with those events in mind, and who has already won a world class 5k this year, not be in good 5k/10k shape?? What indication is there that this is the case?

Seriously some of you people say things that are so stupid it makes me want to smack my head into a wall. Absolutely unbelievable.

Why does no one have any reading comprehension ability on this website?

Farah has not run a fast race in at least a year. He insists on letting everything turn into a sit and kick affair. His 1500m time has improved significantly. He's missed training. He's been sick. He's lost at least one race. His training partner Rupp has been running some seriously lackluster races.

These are all easily obvious things that point to the possibility that he's no longer in great 5k/10k shape. Maybe good or decent, but not great.

Go ahead and bang your head on the wall.

Put Dejen Gebremeskel on Mohammed Farah's heels with 400m to go.

Steady pace. Not seriously fast but definitely not slow.

Then HAMMER the last 2k. 4:55 for the last 5 laps.

This is the best way to beat Mo.

I have no evidence to back up this claim. But I assure you it will work.

Bob Tahri could probably do it.

rrri wrote:

bigtool05 wrote:

why the f*ck would the defending 5k/10k world champion and olympic gold medallist, who has been specifically training all year with those events in mind, and who has already won a world class 5k this year, not be in good 5k/10k shape?? What indication is there that this is the case?

Seriously some of you people say things that are so stupid it makes me want to smack my head into a wall. Absolutely unbelievable.

Why does no one have any reading comprehension ability on this website?

You need to let it go man. Nobody here is confused by what you wrote but yourself. Think about the point your trying to argue here: The defending 10000m Olympic and World Champ just showed his competition that he has 3:28 speed three weeks before WCs. He's faster than Coe, yet you interpret that result as a possible weakness, I guess because you're a contrarian. There is a not so subtle logical error here if you think on it hard enough.

5K is easy. The Kenyans move Asbel Kiprop up to the 5K. Surely he can run around 13:23 which was the winning time in Daegu?

Now for the 10K. Think history. Think Tokyo. Ron Clarke surging every other lap. Billy Mills emerging. Think Barcelona. Khalid Skah and Chelimo and the lapped Moroccan.

Surge every other lap from 5K to 8K, then everybody slow down and tuck in behind Farah forcing him to take the lead with 5 laps to go.

At three laps to go launch a surprise mass attack when Farah is about to lap a runner. Congestion and confusion. Farah cant respond because about-to-be lapped runner is in front. Lapped runner cant move out to lane 2 because the peloton is passing on his right. Farah loses three, four seconds, and the race is over.

The Waterboy wrote:

Have the Ethiopians or Kenyans run a 70 second first lap from the leaders, so cocky Mo Farah will go right to the back in 75-76 like he always does.

Then have 3 or 4 of them make an immediate break and run the remaining 24 or 11.5 laps at 26:40 pace or 12:50 pace, trading the lead to help pace each other.

Winning time will be 26:46 or 12:59, but Farah will have lost too many seconds after the first lap to catch up if they take off right away, or if he does catch up he will be burnt out by the time the last lap rolls around because he will have to run at PR pace for 90% of the race plus a surge to make up the 5 second gap from him to the front.

I would add that they should send out only 2 (or maybe 3), leaving one or 2 to establish a gap and run interference. You have to gap Farah. Then you have to make him run alone back up to the lead group. Then you have to be prepared to surge as soon as he gets close or hits the lead.

If he is still at the lead with 200 remaining you cannot give him the inside lane and a clear path to the finish.

Alamirew and Soi might be able to run as fast as Farah over the last 100-200 but they cannot run faster. They must lead him at 200 to go. Force him back or force him to lane 2.

Put Elaine Benes in charge of Mo's wake-up call by messing with the AM/PM on the radio alarm clock. Then replace all his water bottles with piping hot coffee.

That should do it.

ventolin^3 wrote:

rrri wrote:His 1500m time has improved significantly

improving a 3'33.9pb to 3'33.0 woud be "significantly" for a 5k/10k guy

what fuucking adjective are you going to use when the guy's improvement is to

3'28.8 ???

LOL. My favorite vent quote of alltime. What adjective indeed? The guy's best event before today was the 10000m and he just put himself at #6 on the 1500m list. Like, um, daaaummmm...

I think the best tactic to beat Farah is the opposite to what people are saying here.

I haven't seen many of these races where anyone sacrifices themselves.

And I think a fast pace will just string things out, making it easier for Farah to pick people off.

I think they should make the race very slow. You know Farah won't lead.

Have it be a mob of people there with a lap to go and block Farah from a free and easy path to the front.

If one speedster like Gebremeskel has a clear path on the rail the last lap while Farah has to weave through traffic and go wide, he can be beaten.

gasser wrote:

You need to let it go man. Nobody here is confused by what you wrote but yourself. Think about the point your trying to argue here: The defending 10000m Olympic and World Champ just showed his competition that he has 3:28 speed three weeks before WCs. He's faster than Coe, yet you interpret that result as a possible weakness, I guess because you're a contrarian. There is a not so subtle logical error here if you think on it hard enough.

There is no error on my part. I listed 6 or so solid reasons why he might possibly not be in as great 5k/10k shape as the past. He may have decided to sacrifice some endurance for some speed. This isn't unheard of or that unlikely. Nor would it be a bad strategy considering how racing has focused on sitting and kicking nowadays.

I'm not being contrarian. I'm using my brain. I suggest you try the same.

If Farah is in such great shape, then why hasn't he run a fast time in over a year?

rrri wrote:

If Farah is in such great shape, then why hasn't he run a fast time in over a year?

You can't put all the blame on Farah. Many people are reluctant to go with the pacemakers, the same people who request the fast pace in the first place. Sit and kick races are just the norm nowadays when it comes to 5000m and 10,000m races.

NOP Follower wrote:

It seems like the only tactic left is to go fast from the gun, but it seems like that wouldn't work considering Mo has pretty fast times across the board. Anyone have any input?

Mo Farah has never hit the bell quicker than 11:59 which he closed in 54. And he is not in shape to do that now. 12:10 is his limit now, even when he doesn't have the chicken pox. He is blatantly allergic to pace and actively tries to block it.

All the EA's have to do is go out fast as a group and not back down. After three or four 61's or 62's Mo will be finished, gapped out as surely as Rupp was gapped today.

They have tried to do this before, but they've always backed down after 1 or 2 laps.

Take away his syringe

* wrote:

I think the best tactic to beat Farah is the opposite to what people are saying here.

I haven't seen many of these races where anyone sacrifices themselves.

And I think a fast pace will just string things out, making it easier for Farah to pick people off.

I think they should make the race very slow. You know Farah won't lead.

Have it be a mob of people there with a lap to go and block Farah from a free and easy path to the front.

If one speedster like Gebremeskel has a clear path on the rail the last lap while Farah has to weave through traffic and go wide, he can be beaten.

like in the Oly 5k final where he took it from 750m out?

nope.

Trust me the africans are very aware of his speed. His 1500 has sent a strong message. They now know at the world champs it will take a concerted team effort with sacrifice for their best athlete to win. Brutal mid race surges , on and off again pacing , tactics they have used years ago but not so recent.

To your point the other option , fast pace , no prisoners , equalize the speed , neutralize the kick.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Mo Farah has never hit the bell quicker than 11:59 which he closed in 54. And he is not in shape to do that now. 12:10 is his limit now, even when he doesn't have the chicken pox. He is blatantly allergic to pace and actively tries to block it.

All the EA's have to do is go out fast as a group and not back down. After three or four 61's or 62's Mo will be finished, gapped out as surely as Rupp was gapped today.

They have tried to do this before, but they've always backed down after 1 or 2 laps.

rofl

yeah

he is so "allergic" to pace that he just ran FASTER than any 5k/10k guy in history. Hell, he just ran FASTER than any 1500 guy in history save for 5 (all olympic / world champions).

lmao

idiot

Well, they can probably just post him the gold medal for the 10000 already, but 5000 is another matter, didn't you all see the Kenyan dress rehearsal for it yesterday?

Have a whole bunch of guys take it out at (close to or above) world record pace from the start and hope that one or the other holds it together to the end for the day. The Ethiopians and the Erithreans might or might not help, but there are other Kenyans running for Bahrein and Quatar and Adzerbadjan (and Kalenin tribe people from just over the border running for Uganda) etc so we might see a "team" effort of 5-10 guys going out in world record pace.

And that would be awesome! :-)

Mo certainly has the speed to go with them nine times out of ten, but they probably gonna hope that Moscow 5000 is the tenth (since he will almost certainly have the 10000 and a 5000 qualifier in his legs by then...

someone had to do it wrote:

he is so "allergic" to pace that he just ran FASTER than any 5k/10k guy in history. Hell, he just ran FASTER than any 1500 guy in history save for 5 (all olympic / world champions).

lmao

idiot

Too bad he won't be running 1500 in Moscow then, you degenerate egg of a pustulent, diseased swine's tapeworm^3.

10000 meters:27:30 won't win it this year. It will take sub 27. The chance that the Africans won't have someone run sub 27 is very unlikely. Someone might think the tactic the Ethiopians used back with a sub 13 second half. But I don't think that will cut it. It has to be very hard right away. Maybe something crazy like a sub 13 first half to see if he would respond and try and grind him out. I can guarantee that is a tactic Salazar is not considering. The 5 is much trickier but similar strategy is probably best. Rupp didn't react yesterday and I am not sure Mo would go with WR pace either at Worlds. Remember El G got beat once at worlds in the 5 and was the best 1500 guy ever. He got beat off of a fast pace compared with his Oly victory.