Clayton Murphy draws the Heat of Death for 800 semis - Rudisha, Kszczot and Souleiman!!! What should he do?

rojo wrote:

No one has actually said what they would do if they were coaching him.

I mean he can kind of hope that maybe Souleiman takes it out hard.

Those guys can't be happy to be in this heat.

I mean if you are Kszczot you aren't happy with this heat either. YOu are thinking, "Damn, I'm a near lock for a medal but i might finish 3rd in this heat and bomb out."

Is Rudisha happy? I doubt it. If I was coaching Murphy, I"d say "let's hope souleiman or Rudisha take it out but if not, we need to go out in 52 flat at the slowest. So try to run a 51.5 and hope someone is ahead of you.

Quite simple, really. I'd tell him to run the fastest time he can and let the chips fall as they may.

Consider this.... wrote:

rojo wrote:

No one has actually said what they would do if they were coaching him.

I mean he can kind of hope that maybe Souleiman takes it out hard.

Those guys can't be happy to be in this heat.

I mean if you are Kszczot you aren't happy with this heat either. YOu are thinking, "Damn, I'm a near lock for a medal but i might finish 3rd in this heat and bomb out."

Is Rudisha happy? I doubt it. If I was coaching Murphy, I"d say "let's hope souleiman or Rudisha take it out but if not, we need to go out in 52 flat at the slowest. So try to run a 51.5 and hope someone is ahead of you.

Quite simple, really. I'd tell him to run the fastest time he can and let the chips fall as they may.

That isn't strategy. The 800 is very difficult to race/perfect--if he (or pretty much anyone who isn't Rudisha) goes to the front and time trials, he is unlikely a) to PR (which = fastest time he can run), and b) finish top 2.

I would like his chances better in McBride's/Berian's heat (happen to be in the same one, I believe), where he can draft off a noted pace pusher. Obviously Kszczot isn't doing any work and he's the resident kicking ace, and though Rudisha likes to lead, he often leads to slow down the pace instead of to burn the kick out of guys.

He has to race the best he can--so far he's proven to be quite adept at that, but this will be his biggest test to date.

Honestly Boris has it way harder. McBride looking real good right now, Kipketer in good form, Tuka looked nice, and who knows Aman may give some trouble. Clayton is honestly done he didn't look good to me. Souleiman strength will hold him off, Kszczot has a way better kick than him, and Rudisha is Rudisha. Boris may clutch third by holding off Tuka but Clayton is done in my opinion.

Consider this.... wrote:

rojo wrote:

No one has actually said what they would do if they were coaching him.

I mean he can kind of hope that maybe Souleiman takes it out hard.

Those guys can't be happy to be in this heat.

I mean if you are Kszczot you aren't happy with this heat either. YOu are thinking, "Damn, I'm a near lock for a medal but i might finish 3rd in this heat and bomb out."

Is Rudisha happy? I doubt it. If I was coaching Murphy, I"d say "let's hope souleiman or Rudisha take it out but if not, we need to go out in 52 flat at the slowest. So try to run a 51.5 and hope someone is ahead of you.

Quite simple, really. I'd tell him to run the fastest time he can and let the chips fall as they may.

Sound advice.... for the final. Except for the heats, the goal is to get to the final without blowing your wad

The reality is, that if your PR and only time under 1:45.00(1:44.76) is 11th fastest in the field, it is going to be a rough road, but not nearly impossible..

There was no "good" heat for him to be in really.

rojo wrote:

No one has actually said what they would do if they were coaching him.

I mean he can kind of hope that maybe Souleiman takes it out hard.

Those guys can't be happy to be in this heat.

I mean if you are Kszczot you aren't happy with this heat either. YOu are thinking, "Damn, I'm a near lock for a medal but i might finish 3rd in this heat and bomb out."

Is Rudisha happy? I doubt it. If I was coaching Murphy, I"d say "let's hope souleiman or Rudisha take it out but if not, we need to go out in 52 flat at the slowest. So try to run a 51.5 and hope someone is ahead of you.

Why the heck is Kszczot such a lock? He has a personal best of only 1:43.30.

As suggested in a previous post, Murphy should just stick on Kszczot's shoulder and hold on. They are both known to drop the hammer the last 100m.

Berian looked too labored in his heat race. However I can still see him and McBride taking it on from the gun and just trying to hold of Kipketer and Aman.

you're very right about the limited options. Also, I should know this but I cannot understand that straight line nonsense. You're spot on, why the heck do 800 runners cut in, rather than triangulating a direct path to the 200m mark? has always made no sense to me as well, it will only save you distance, which sure as hell makes a difference in a whole heck of a lotta 800 races!

gnhr wrote:

when you're no better than the 4th best guy in your race, your options are limited.....

also, i don't know what lane he's in, but he could do himself a favor by concentrating on running a straight line from the break to the outside of lane 1 entering turn 3. it is astonishing how few elite 800 runners do this well. the stride or two you save could come in handy.

As i said: 26-26-26-26.......... if 3 guys can beat that, God bless them, you

did your job and can go home with head held high.......

It'll be a good race for sure. Rudisha will likely lead unless someone else beats him to the 200, and it should be pretty quick. They may need sub-1:44 to qualify. It'll be interesting to see if Murphy can hold on.

Even if he PRs chances are maybe 40% he qualifies by time. Hard to expect more, he's still young.

Not to be a stickler, well OK, to be a stickler, the heats were already run and this is the semi final. Though "Heat of Death" does sound a lot cooler than the "Semi Final of Death", which sounds like maybe not total death...

ttc wrote:

He should pray only. Athletes always give all credit to God.

You chosen folks never stop lol.

Murphy isn't the first guy to rapidly improve once they got into post HS training and racing. But you, white hating cuck that you are, hate seeing a non POC run decently.

Go back to burying your face in a soc professor's crotch and leave the board to people who actually have knowledge of the sport.

Julius Assange wrote:

stop lol.

Murphy isn't the first guy to rapidly improve once they got into post HS training and racing. But you, white hating cuck that you are, hate seeing a non POC run decently.

Go back to burying your face in a soc professor's crotch and leave the board to people who actually have knowledge of the sport.

Oh gawd.......YOU??

"Julius Assange"

"white hating"

"cuck" (awww, the crazy right wingers have invented a new insult, how cute)

"soc professor"

All the key right wing words, taken straight from their playbook. Ready to make "AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" ??

What, no "LIB-TARD" ?!?! You're slipping

Lemme guess, YOU are one of the people "who actually have knowledge of the sport" ??? ha ha ha, Now THAT is a LOL!

I totally agree about the cutting in at the 200 break issue. The shortest path between two points is a straight line. So the logical thing to do is a straight path from whatever lane you are in to lane one just before the 2nd curve.

gnhr wrote:

also, i don't know what lane he's in, but he could do himself a favor by concentrating on running a straight line from the break to the outside of lane 1 entering turn 3. it is astonishing how few elite 800 runners do this well. the stride or two you save could come in handy.

I totally agree about the cutting in at the 200 break issue. The shortest path between two points is a straight line. So the logical thing to do is a straight path from whatever lane you are in to lane one just before the 2nd curve.

HELL YEAH HE READ MY POST!

gnhr wrote:

when you're no better than the 4th best guy in your race, your options are limited.

just stick to the basics:

if it feels slow, get to the outside shoulder of the leader and be ready to react if you feel someone coming. and your sense of feel better be working!

if they go out hard, try to be a smarter racer. hold back without losing contact, smooth out your race and try to have the best final 120

also, i don't know what lane he's in, but he could do himself a favor by concentrating on running a straight line from the break to the outside of lane 1 entering turn 3. it is astonishing how few elite 800 runners do this well. the stride or two you save could come in handy.

What should he do?

Run a completely controlled race for second?

Murphy ran a stupid race again. Got pushed around cause he let Soulimon cut him off on the tangent and he fell back.

He then got boxed.