Jeff Benjamin has the inside scoop on Coe's preparation for the 1984 Games when he left his father behind and trained in American for a month:
http://www.runblogrun.com/2014/09/the-ressurection-of-sebastian-coe-with-a-little-help-from-his-american-friends--30-years-ago--the-19.html
I'm not a big track historian and didn't know Coe lived with legendary HS coach Joe Newtwon for a month. That's pretty cool. And trained totally alone.
Truly amazing.
As the article points out, he'd never be able to do that in this day and age of twitter and what not.
I'd add it would never be allowed in this day and age because some federation would insist the athlete join some stupid official training camp.
And how about this workout:
"I did a session of 20 X 200 meters, all in 25 to 26 seconds with only a 35-40 second recovery jog in between. That showed me I was ready," said Coe.
The piece also includes talk about Coe, Netwon and Jim Spivey all having a night of beers and music at the "Iron Skillet".
http://www.runblogrun.com/2014/09/the-ressurection-of-sebastian-coe-with-a-little-help-from-his-american-friends--30-years-ago--the-19.html
A FANTASTIC read: The inside scoop on Seb Coe's 1984 Olympic prep work - training alone and living with Joe Newton
Report Thread
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What sorts of vitamins were used?
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outstanding. Thanks for sharing.
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Great article. I really enjoyed it. Thanks, rojo.
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That he trained alone for a month is nothing new. You can read about it in "better training for distance runners". It also shows his training logs.
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Good article. Should point out that CRam did not hurt his ankle from over racing. Cram hurt his ankle by stepping on a Coke can when out running and nearly missed the games because of it. If Cram was fully fit in 84 that would have been a great race
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Nothing new here at all. This is all featured in two biographies of Coe by British journalist David Miller as well as Coe's autobiography and Peter Coe's training manual.
By this stage of his career, Coe - like any intelligent athlete who has stayed with the same coach their entire career - did not need regular contact with his coach. He knew what the training had to be to get him in shape for the games ; he merely needed peace and quiet to get it done without any distractions.
On Cram ; didn't he damage a calf/soleus/achilles (?) in an attempt on Coe's 1000 record in Italy before the games? certainly not the infamous Coke can incident! -
God, this might have some cool stuff in it but the writing is absolute shit.
It reads like an 8th grader's book report. -
The article mentions that he was seeing a foot doctor to have some orthotics made for him to prevent injury. That surprised me as I always thought that Coe was a textbook example of perfect running biomechanics.
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Flat Stanley wrote:
Good article. Should point out that CRam did not hurt his ankle from over racing. Cram hurt his ankle by stepping on a Coke can when out running and nearly missed the games because of it. If Cram was fully fit in 84 that would have been a great race
"Would have been a great race"? Ya, that 84 final was a true let down and POS.
give your head a shake, Stan. -
I thought that this was the beginning of issues Cram had with Compartment Syndrome, which gradualy got worse in later years. Don't know if he had surgery for it, or if that resolved the problem (doesn't always).
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aslan wrote:
God, this might have some cool stuff in it but the writing is absolute shit.
It reads like an 8th grader's book report.
Staten Island edumacation -
Welcome to 1984, Rojo.
This story has also been told once or twice a year since then. -
"
God, this might have some cool stuff in it but the writing is absolute shit.
It reads like an 8th grader's book report."
-Even eighth graders know to use a comma before a conjunction, smart guy. -
Coe came very, very close to not being selected for the 1500m squad to LA. He also was just as close, though coming out on the other end, in the selection process to Seoul. I have no doubts that he would have medaled there as well.
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He was seeing John Durkin, DPM for a prescription foot orthosis. Orthotics is the specialty within the medical field concerned with the design, manufacture and application of orthoses. John Durkin's brother was on the 1500m US Olympic team in '76 and '80.
Podologist wrote:The article mentions that he was seeing a foot doctor to have some orthotics made for him to prevent injury. That surprised me as I always thought that Coe was a textbook example of perfect running biomechanics. -
Rush Libtard wrote:
[quote]Flat Stanley wrote:
Good article. Should point out that CRam did not hurt his ankle from over racing. Cram hurt his ankle by stepping on a Coke can when out running and nearly missed the games because of it. If Cram was fully fit in 84 that would have been a great race
That wasn't Cram, that was Ovett I believe -
Very well-written article, giving a sense of urgency to Coe's buildup. Coe's reaction to the press after his win, however, showed that he ran on pure hate. The magnanimous thing to do there was just to celebrate. The press would have to eat its words without him saying anything.
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Anyone on the York CC team at the time had opportunities to watch Coe workout on the York track. Coe even posed for individual pictures with the York boys and girls teams. Anyone who later ran for Newton heard all about the visit. Coe did some legendary tempos on Butler National golf course and track workouts like the one noted. For a guy as slight as he was (128 lbs), Coe looked much more impressive in person with a long stride and incredible power to weight ratio. 30 years later he's still one of the top 5 middle distance runners of all time. Arguably the best when you consider his 800/1500/mile times in combination. Rudisha and El G better at their respective events but not the same athlete over both distances.
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Thanks for the clarification in the orthoses/orthotics terminology. Websites such as this one do make it confusing: http://doctorsorthotics.com/zcart/
John Durkin obviously did a great job. Coe was hardly ever injured in his long career, it was mainly viruses that put him into the sidelines...
