Ben Blankenship Explains the Sit &Kick USAs: "Who wants to lead for 2 laps or 3 laps and get outkicked and get seventh.&q

Franklin wrote:

No, the worst thing for track is when the entire field jogs 90% of the race.

Maybe it is, but it doesn't change the fact that the 'hero' that saves the sport and bangs out a fast pace at the front isn't likely going to be anywhere the lead at the business end of the race.

alanson wrote:

There's a number of guys in this race who could run a 3:36 time trial in Eugene in the middle of summer.

If anyone did that he would win by 20 meters.

Whoa. It doesn't take too much reasoning on this one to conclude that A -----> Not B.

Unless you can solo a 3:33 (or on the rare chance that nobody takes up the chase), you won't be dropping that "number of guys" who could solo 3:36.

Another way to look at it is that anybody who makes a championship final probably needed a good kick to do so (and has developed it and used it plenty of times in the past), and he would rather take his chances in a sprint finish than almost certainly sacrificing his race by trying to make it "honest." If somebody is routinely a full 4 seconds faster than the next fastest guy in the field and he doesn't have the best kick in a slow race (actually a pretty unlikely combination of traits for national-level or above runners), then it's definitely on him to make the pace fast - and that means really fast, not merely "honest." Even then, the effort required to drop that "number of guys" who are drafting behind him might not be enough.

This is an excellent thread--good arguments on both sides.

I do not have the answer here, as I do not have the talent or experience that others obviously possess, but as one who likes to "watch, wait, and go," I would have to say that front running would seem to be a bad idea for most runners. A planned tactical "burn" could work (and has worked), but I would not try it from the get-go. I prefer to keep the focus on myself, since I am the one running the race. I monitor my systems, and then try to act accordingly, keeping in mind my competition, too. This would seem to apply whether one is competing for first or the top ten.

Politifact wrote:

J.R. wrote:

The situation is entirely different when you go to World and Olympic champions.

Herb Elliott

El Guerrouj

Filbert Bayi

John Landy

Noureddine Morceli

Not a single one of those guys won an Olympic or World Championship leading the last 1000m.

All of them were well in the lead BEFORE the last lap, often with 2 laps to go, and none of them waited for the kick. El G rarely if ever ran slower then 3:38, even in prelims. You must not be familiar with Filbert Bayi, who lead wire to wire against top international fields many times at his peak.

Ralph Sampson wrote:

It really can be exciting if you pay attention and appreciate what is really going on.

Chess is exciting like that too, but fortunately, chess is not running.

asfasfsfdsf wrote:

You is me wrote:

I wasn't limiting it to US nationals. A race is a race so it doesn't matter what stage.

It does matter because the field is very even, ability-wise, at USAs. Your local po-dunk high school 1500 doesn't count, and neither does a championship coronation of a runner who is far and away better than the rest of the field.

The distribution of PRs is not that different than in any other level of racing. The PRs in the US 1500 will range from 3:30 - 3:39 (or whatever the standard is). If you are a 3:33-34 guy, then you should be in the front leading. It will eliminate the slower guys who can't run that fast no matter what. It will also give you a chance to beat the 3:30-3:33 guys that are sore, overtrained, or having a bad day.

webby wrote:

You Know Me wrote:

Isn't that the same for every tactic?

No. Running from the front works for more like zero people per race.

That's because it's rare that the most talented runner jump in front and give it their all these days. And to be blunt, most US runners are abject cowards when it comes to going for it from the start, period. One of several reasons the Africans beat the hell out of them at even the shorter races like the 800/1500 almost every single time. No yanks will medal at the 800 or 1500 at the WC's, not Lionel, not Centro. Not Solomon, but in his case it won't be from a lack of guts.

D Solomon in Front wrote:

webby wrote:

No. Running from the front works for more like zero people per race.

That's because it's rare that the most talented runner jump in front and give it their all these days. And to be blunt, most US runners are abject cowards when it comes to going for it from the start, period. One of several reasons the Africans beat the hell out of them at even the shorter races like the 800/1500 almost every single time. No yanks will medal at the 800 or 1500 at the WC's, not Lionel, not Centro. Not Solomon, but in his case it won't be from a lack of guts.

Certainly neither Leonel nor Centro has shown themselves capable of medaling in a WC so far.

D Solomon in Front wrote:

That's because it's rare that the most talented runner jump in front and give it their all these days. And to be blunt, most US runners are abject cowards when it comes to going for it from the start, period. One of several reasons the Africans beat the hell out of them

Just like the DL 5000 last weekend in NYC, lol

People speak here as if a "tactical race" only refers to a slow pace followed by a 150 meter kick at the end. There's more than one way to skin the proverbial cat here.

As another poster pointed out, having that inside lane for the last 400 meters is more critical than having sub 50 second quartermile speed when you're dealing with runners of comparable talent. A great tactic used by Sebastian Coe in the '84 Olympic 1500 was to get to the off-pole position prior to the bell lap. Doing so gave him the advantage position when Cram tried to start is own 300 meter kick - Coe had the inside position by then, and simply held off Cram on the backstretch (negating Cram's primary advantage) before bursting through that final 100.

That '84 race was IMHO a tactical race, but a tactical race off a relatively fast last 1000 meters. It is somewhat comparable to the '80 Moscow 1500 in that vein @ the last 700 meters.

Thanks for providing some great insight and nuance to the issue. Those two races are stellar examples of pure and dramatic racing, yet defy "sit-and-kick" v. "front-running" labels.