Cas Loxsom is the Worst Trained 800m Athlete Ever

Deer Park wrote:

Disappointing.

So much talent, just wasted.

Who coaches this guy? Is Danny Mackey his coach? Nick Symmonds? Self-Coached? or a mix of all the above?

He needs to move groups, join up with Johnny Gray.

This is the type of post i hate.

You know who coaches the guy and you offer nothing in terms of facts.

This year he a) PRd (1:44.92) and b) Made his first Worlds team. That's called progress. His tactics today left a lot to be desire but he'll learn from it.

My lengthy post-race interview with him is here:

How bad did Cas beat you when you raced him in high school? Must have been really bad if you're still holding that grudge.

You have no idea who his coach is yet you know he's the worst trained 800 athlete ever? Hmmm.

You have no idea who his coach is yet you know he's the worst trained 800 athlete ever? Hmmm.

...but he ran 20.9!

You don't make a World Champs team by being the worst coached runner, Loxsom is just in over his head at this moment. That will change. Making your first jump into the bigs becomes and end in itself. It's easy to become a tourist and mentally check out. Once the novelty of racing the big boys wears off, he will eventually focus on the task ahead, rather than the extraneous bs around him.

He'll be fine.

Loxsom has had way-off days before, when he was at Penn State there were a few rare occasions when he just did not perform at his top level.

He also has days - and they are much more common - when he performs really well.

In that regard, he's a bit like Manzano.

I guess I'd call him a dangerous runner - he might run dangerously slow or he might run dangerously fast.

I admire his ability to put a bad performance behind him and move on to do really good ones.

he understands from nick and mackey that he needs to work on his aerobic endurance in the offseason. if johnny gray were his coach, he would be working at this from a speed endurance perspective, which I would guess is more appropriate for a speed-based athlete like Loxsom. Plenty of potential there, just depending on the right kind of training. I understand he's going to shut down his season now, but he says he is in very good shape, so he should hold off and race in Europe after Beijing and get some confidence and experience for next year.

Cas always has struck me as the quintessential "nice guy", with no killer instinct. Super-talented, likeable, but easily rattled under fire. Contrast with Symmonds, who steps up almost beyond his apparent fitness.

It's mostly a head game at this level.

Johnny Gray?! Wasn't it his runner that rabbited the final at usatf this year? Who advises THAT? Poor guy had a 3.0x 800 time for finishing result.

Deer Park wrote:

Disappointing.

So much talent, just wasted.

Who coaches this guy? Is Danny Mackey his coach? Nick Symmonds? Self-Coached? or a mix of all the above?

He needs to move groups, join up with Johnny Gray.

Re:"talent, just wasted"

Except for Kenya, the U.S. 800m team is probably the most difficult one to make and Case made it. Looks like he had a bad race, that's all.

rojo wrote:

Deer Park wrote:

Disappointing.

So much talent, just wasted.

Who coaches this guy? Is Danny Mackey his coach? Nick Symmonds? Self-Coached? or a mix of all the above?

He needs to move groups, join up with Johnny Gray.

This is the type of post i hate.

You know who coaches the guy and you offer nothing in terms of facts.

This year he a) PRd (1:44.92) and b) Made his first Worlds team. That's called progress. His tactics today left a lot to be desire but he'll learn from it.

My lengthy post-race interview with him is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OHs5NxXNyI

For a 24 year old the world championships are not the place to learn tactics

Our guy Rimmer did even worse. Knew what time he had to run and went out in the first heat after going through in 56.

Thanks for making my point. Running 1:44 this year and setting an AR over 300m should not result in running 1:48 in the prelims and bombing out without being competitive.

That Clayton kid has more race intelligence than Cas. Perhaps USATF didn\'t let him run with his Ray-Bans and it cost him the qualification.

But back to coaching, 20.9 means NOTHING. It tells me that he wasn\'t doing sufficient mileage and workouts. Too fresh. Not enough training.

Deer Park wrote:

But back to coaching, 20.9 means NOTHING.

The funny part is your opinion means NOTHING.

malmo wrote:

You don't make a World Champs team by being the worst coached runner, Loxsom is just in over his head at this moment. That will change. Making your first jump into the bigs becomes and end in itself. It's easy to become a tourist and mentally check out. Once the novelty of racing the big boys wears off, he will eventually focus on the task ahead, rather than the extraneous bs around him.

He'll be fine.

Wasn't Harry Johnson your coach when you medalled at WC '77?

Think before writing wrote:

Johnny Gray?! Wasn't it his runner that rabbited the final at usatf this year? Who advises THAT? Poor guy had a 3.0x 800 time for finishing result.

One bad result does not obviate his own fifteen years or so of running sub 1:45 on similar training or the transformation he made of Duane Solomon into a 1:42.80 runner, in addition to seeing dramatic improvements in numerous UCLA 800m runners.

mr. sunshine wrote:

malmo wrote:

You don't make a World Champs team by being the worst coached runner, Loxsom is just in over his head at this moment. That will change. Making your first jump into the bigs becomes and end in itself. It's easy to become a tourist and mentally check out. Once the novelty of racing the big boys wears off, he will eventually focus on the task ahead, rather than the extraneous bs around him.

He'll be fine.

Wasn't Harry Johnson your coach when you medalled at WC '77?

Harry Groves.

"One bad result?" Try Khadevis in the OT final '08, not to mention Johnny's many own "blow-ups" in world-level comps. He had one method, no options.

jjjjjjjj wrote:

Think before writing wrote:

Johnny Gray?! Wasn't it his runner that rabbited the final at usatf this year? Who advises THAT? Poor guy had a 3.0x 800 time for finishing result.

One bad result does not obviate his own fifteen years or so of running sub 1:45 on similar training or the transformation he made of Duane Solomon into a 1:42.80 runner, in addition to seeing dramatic improvements in numerous UCLA 800m runners.

Wait, are we talking about Solomon or Loxsom here?

It appears that someone has their panties in a bunch just because Cas did a workout on Flotrack where he ran a 200 that may or may not have been 20.9, and because of that he is now the worst trained athlete in the world. Because, you know, haters gotta...