The "finishing kick" is just an illusion

the FAKE Hingle McCringleberry wrote:

What is Peter Schiffs take on finishing kicks?

He has predicted 100 out of the last 1 of them.

The finishing kick can happen in only one situation and that is if you are too much of a sissy to run an optimal pace. If you run a proper pace you should never have enough left to speed up, only enough to make more effort. The world records bear this out, except the ones set by sissies.

In that 7:20 set by Komen, pretty much the best performance ever, he didn't really speed up at all, just held on to a perfectly set pace.

A kick is not an acceleration.

A kick is when you either pass someone in the end or run away from the someone in the end.

So it means you are running faster than the others at the end, not that you were running faster than your previous pace.

So it's still a finishing kick in an 800 if you are closing faster than the others while slowing down overall.

Star wrote:

A kick is not an acceleration.

A kick is when you either pass someone in the end or run away from the someone in the end.

So it means you are running faster than the others at the end, not that you were running faster than your previous pace.

So it's still a finishing kick in an 800 if you are closing faster than the others while slowing down overall.

No.

A kick is ALWAYS an acceleration.

And is thus rare in the 800 and not a real thing in a properly run 400.

No to you

If two runners come out of the final turn even, then the one who wins has out-kicked the other.

Even if the winner's final 100m was slower than the previous one.

Bad Wigins wrote:

The finishing kick can happen in only one situation and that is if you are too much of a sissy to run an optimal pace.

No. Optimal pace is whatever pace gives you the best shot at winning the race. For some people, the optimal pace is a slow one that leaves them with the ability to kick. We're talking about racing, not time trialing.

jamin wrote:

In most cases the runner isn't even speeding up (w.r.t. his avg. page for the race) but rather maintaining pace while the other runners around him slow down.

Absolutely correct.

TROLL POST

jamin wrote:

In most cases the runner isn't even speeding up (w.r.t. his avg. page for the race) but rather maintaining pace while the other runners around him slow down.

For 800 and under yes I'd agree, but every final lap of my 1600 is always the fastest by at least a few seconds.

Whenever Mo Farah wins a championship race, it's with a sub-60- or sub-55-second lap. Clearly neither he (nor anyone else) can hold that pace for a full 5 or 10,000M. How is that not a kick then? That is how 90% of championship races are won. Perhaps more than 90%.

This is about right.

Bad Wigins wrote:

The finishing kick can happen in only one situation and that is if you are too much of a sissy to run an optimal pace. If you run a proper pace you should never have enough left to speed up, only enough to make more effort. The world records bear this out, except the ones set by sissies.

In that 7:20 set by Komen, pretty much the best performance ever, he didn't really speed up at all, just held on to a perfectly set pace.

It is absolutely right if your goal is to run the fastest time possible, as compared to a goal of winning a race.

For the rare few who are out to set a world record, that may mean the same thing, but otherwise an optimal race may mean different things depending on the context.

nortump wrote:

This is about right.

Bad Wigins wrote:

The finishing kick can happen in only one situation and that is if you are too much of a sissy to run an optimal pace. If you run a proper pace you should never have enough left to speed up, only enough to make more effort. The world records bear this out, except the ones set by sissies.

In that 7:20 set by Komen, pretty much the best performance ever, he didn't really speed up at all, just held on to a perfectly set pace.

So in your mind, Centro didn't run his "optimal" pace in the Olympic 1500m final because he had a kick at the end? He almost certainly would not have won the race if he'd attempted to PR. I simply can't comprehend the logic by which winning is labeled as suboptimal, and strategies that eliminate any chance of winning are labeled as optimal.

Komen had no idea what pace he was running in his 2 mile; he was was just pushing the entire way. So, he was exceptional and you can't generalize from his 2 mile or 3k.

Bekele's and Farah's kicks aren't illusions.

jamin wrote:

In most cases the runner isn't even speeding up (w.r.t. his avg. page for the race) but rather maintaining pace while the other runners around him slow down.

Hey numbnuts! Is it an illusion in MOST cases, since you say in most cases the runner isn't speeding up? That would mean that in some cases they are speeding up, and the kick is not an illusion. Meaning you are delusional as usual.

jamin wrote:

In most cases the runner isn't even speeding up (w.r.t. his avg. page for the race) but rather maintaining pace while the other runners around him slow down.

Very true with runners who run even splits throughout the entire race and what seems to be a negative split because they hang back. As far as distances over 1500 its more about turnover.

It is not an illusion that one runner is running faster than the rest leading up to the finish.

Never.

The person with the faster finish had the better kick.

-1/10

There are countless counterexamples to this absurd claim.

poor effort wrote:

-1/10

There are countless counterexamples to this absurd claim.

Here's another one.