When Mo Farah was my age, all my PB's were better than his and I'm not very good.

oiuoytut wrote:

Soprano wrote:

Just so everyone is on the same page, these are Mo Farah's PBs in 2003 (when he was 20) according to Tilastopaja.org:

800: 1:48.69

1500: 3:43.17

3000: 8:05.58 (indoors)

5000: 13:38.41

While these are good marks, they are hardly anything special. If you compare the above list to U.S. times from this year, Mo wouldn't make the top 50 list in the 3000 and he would just barely crack the top 30 in the 5,000.

Farah's most noticible improvement is in his ability to finish at the end of a race. The Mo of '17 is a completely different runner from the Mo of '07 at the end of a 5k. Case in point:

The range is impressive, though. That's what makes me think that the OP is full of BS. If someone on LR claims to either have an 800m PR of 1:48 or a 5,000m PR of 13:38, maybe they're legit. I doubt there are many people who can claim to have better PRs (plural), though.

range wrote:

oiuoytut wrote:

While these are good marks, they are hardly anything special. If you compare the above list to U.S. times from this year, Mo wouldn't make the top 50 list in the 3000 and he would just barely crack the top 30 in the 5,000.

Farah's most noticible improvement is in his ability to finish at the end of a race. The Mo of '17 is a completely different runner from the Mo of '07 at the end of a 5k. Case in point:

The range is impressive, though. That's what makes me think that the OP is full of BS. If someone on LR claims to either have an 800m PR of 1:48 or a 5,000m PR of 13:38, maybe they're legit. I doubt there are many people who can claim to have better PRs (plural), though.

Agreed. There are not many runners that can run 1:48 and 13:38.

oiuoytut wrote:

range wrote:

The range is impressive, though. That's what makes me think that the OP is full of BS. If someone on LR claims to either have an 800m PR of 1:48 or a 5,000m PR of 13:38, maybe they're legit. I doubt there are many people who can claim to have better PRs (plural), though.

Agreed. There are not many runners that can run 1:48 and 13:38.

And certainly not at age 20

Not in western countries anyway

If anyone thinks Mo is clean they know nothing about track and field. There are many scientific studies that show that a clean runner cannot beat a dirty runner at this level as the intrinsic talent is at best a 1% difference between the top guys. That would mean that everyone is clean if Mo is clean... SURE!

You and Sir Mohamed are faster than Paul Chelimo at that age, whose PBs were 14:03, 8:11, and 3:46

Rupp was slower at 800/1500 and roughly equivalent at 3k/5k. The comparison is valid because both have become Olympic medalists. Rupp was already training with Salazar at that age, so he had a head start on "smart" training. So it would seem he is less talented than Farah and that plays out now just as it did by time when they were 20.

It is certainly clear that Salazar relies on science to make sure that his athletes have the proper blood chemistry and probably changed Farah's training. It is not yet proven that they are doing anything strictly illegal. This could conceivably explain an improvement from 10th in the world to 1st for Farah.

If Mo was 20 in 2003, and the OP was faster than Mo then, and is 20 years old now, then it follows that the OP was running some very fast times at just 6 years old.

I'm curious how fast the OP got, or did he decide not to continue with track and go into competitive gaming, or something else with more glamour and money than track and field?

HardLoper wrote:

You and Sir Mohamed are faster than Paul Chelimo at that age, whose PBs were 14:03, 8:11, and 3:46

Well Chelimo is doping. Thanks for pointing that out.

Jojomerci wrote:

I just spent some time looking at Mo's progression... In 2003, when he was my age, my PBs over all distances from 800m up to 5000m were better than his.

I'm good by my nations standard and had success as a junior, but If I told someone that I would go on to do what he did, I would get laughed at (hard). Why is this acceptable? My mind is kind of blown that if I had raced 20 year old Mo Farah it would have been a race.

Come on OP, tell us your PBs!

We promise not to laugh hysterically at your feeble lies!

fdsfsdfsdf wrote:

HardLoper wrote:

You and Sir Mohamed are faster than Paul Chelimo at that age, whose PBs were 14:03, 8:11, and 3:46

Well Chelimo is doping. Thanks for pointing that out.

Farah ran 1:53, 3:49 and 14:05 at 17. So Farah could have potentially beaten 20 year old Chelimo at 17 (1:53 kick) and beats 27 year old Chelimo at 34. Lol.

800ftw. wrote:

oiuoytut wrote:

Agreed. There are not many runners that can run 1:48 and 13:38.

And certainly not at age 20

Well, there are plenty of runners on the world scene that are 20 that can run sub 13:30. In 2016 alone there were 22 runners that ran faster than Farah at the same age. None of those runners had a listed 800, but plenty of them had faster 3k and 1500 times.

Farah was definitely fast at an early age, but fast enough that he would later go on to be the greatest of all time?

oiuoytut wrote:

range wrote:

The range is impressive, though. That's what makes me think that the OP is full of BS. If someone on LR claims to either have an 800m PR of 1:48 or a 5,000m PR of 13:38, maybe they're legit. I doubt there are many people who can claim to have better PRs (plural), though.

Agreed. There are not many runners that can run 1:48 and 13:38.

There are not many sub 1:49 guys running 5ks in the US when they are 20 years old. They all run the 800/1500. Mo's progression really isn't too shcoking until 2009. The the 26 year old goes from being a ~13:08 guy to a 12:58 runner and a 3:38 to a 3:34. Those are pretty big jumps. They do happen (injuries, training changes,...) but they always look sketchy.

Make a list of all the 20 year old 13:38 US runners. It isn't a big list and you will recognize most of the names. Then figure out which of them have sub 1:50 speed. It is a small list. And most of them are going to be the names you recognize. None peaks as high as Mo but they were pretty much all good runners.

What a lot of you don't appreciate is that Farah ran those times while basically pissing about. He didn't train hard at all until he was a bit older. Anyone who knew the type of training he was doing and what he was able to achieve off relatively little and poorly structured training could see that he was capable of world class times if he put his mind to it. In 2005 he ran 3:38 and 13:30 but I remember being at BMC races watching those runs and he looked over weight. If you look at photos from that year in the Solihul BMC race alongside the Kenyans, he looks positively chubby. So if he can run 3:38 and 13:30 while clearly not training properly and carrying weight, I can believe he is possible of the times he has achieved with good training. Also he has always been fast, he just wasn't fit enough to use that at end of races. So he didn't all of a sudden find speed, he just became stronger and stronger so he could use that speed at the end of races. That's not that far fetched and it's how endurance training works. In 2006 there was a change and he became more serious and starting training and living with Kenyans in Teddington, which enabled him to make a big jump in fitness but he needed a few years of consistent training at that level until he was able to make a break through around 2010/11. Of course that also conincided with joining Salazar but it's feasible that some tweaks to his training and 3 or 4 years of consistent high quality training could lead to a break through. I'm sure they also push the boundaries on what can legally be taken but genuinely don't believe he is doping as such. His peak and development is a bit later because although he was involved in athletics from a young age he didn't train hard until his early twenties and was able to achieve a lot off natural talent.

I can't be sure he hasn't doped but having some understanding of his development and personally witnessing it through sometimes training in the same groups and being part of the UK racing scene when he was in his teens and early twenties, I can believe it.

Farah was a 3:33/12:57 runner BEFORE he went to NOP. He was/is extremely talented. That is why Athletics UK wanted him to be trained by Salazar in the first place -- they felt his race results were below his talent level. Salazar obviously (legally or illegally) fixed that.

This quite frankly is bullshit. Before Mo went to Salazar he was coached by Alan Storey for several years. That's the same Alan Storey who coached Mike McLeod to Olympic Silver, Sonia O'Sullivan to Olympic Silver, Jon Solly to Commonwealth gold, numerous world class marathon runners, Hugh Jones, Gary Staines etc etc etc. Anyone who knows him knows he doesn't stand for 'pissing about'. Whilst coached by Alan Mo lived in a house full of Kenyans including Micah Kogo (WR holder road 10k) and spent months and months of the year in Kenya. He also trained a lot with Craig Mottram. The idea that he was 'pissing about' is a fairytale invented to justify the huge improvement under Alberto. I saw him lose British races against fairly average British distance runners over and over again. He was good but not exceptional, there were always people equally talented around him. He was no better than Chris Thompson, Sam Haughian etc as a young senior.

Mo may well have been slightly heavier but if you believe the rumours about medications and peptides to strip weight (just read Ritz's statements to hear about Salazars obsession with weight, take a look at his athletes, skeletal) that's no surprise.

Farah ran 12:57 before moving to NOP

Yeah and he became essentially a 12:40 guy due to doping. You don't dominate the way Mo did as a 12:57 guy. 12:57 guys battle for the medals...they do not dominate and appear almost unbeatable.

TAGAWIA wrote:

Nice storytelling wrote:

Farah ran 12:57 before moving to NOP

Yeah and he became essentially a 12:40 guy due to doping. You don't dominate the way Mo did as a 12:57 guy. 12:57 guys battle for the medals...they do not dominate and appear almost unbeatable.

No I'm pretty sure according to everyone on Letsrun Farah became a 12:53 guy that won races because he has a good kick and the competition was weak and stupid.