Centro ran a very good race today

Honors won on the world stage and fast times

CE DISCIPLINE MARK WIND PLACE DATE

1. 1500 Metres 3:50.00 Rio de Janeiro (BRA) 20 AUG 2016

4. 1500 Metres 3:35.17 London (GBR) 07 AUG 2012

HONOURS - WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

PLACE DISCIPLINE MARK WIND PLACE DATE

2. 1500 Metres 3:36.78 Moskva (RUS) 18 AUG 2013

3. 1500 Metres 3:36.08 Daegu (KOR) 03 SEP 2011

8. 1500 Metres 3:36.13 Beijing (CHN) 30 AUG 2015

HONOURS - WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

PLACE DISCIPLINE MARK WIND PLACE DATE

1. 1500 Metres 3:44.22 Portland, OR (USA) 20 MAR 2016

7. 1500 Metres 3:47.42 Istanbul (TUR) 10 MAR 2012

Chasing times first run last century .

3:50 in Walker in1975

3:30 in Cram in 1985

Mal Al wrote:

NOP Supertramp wrote:

7th is a good race for an Olympic Gold medalist?

He ran a FAST race but I don't think he ran a good race. He stayed in the back for the entire time, in a FAST race, and tried to make it all up in the last 200m. Did he really think he could get by everyone with his kick? Watching the race I thought he was making much effort at all to be in it.

Agreed. Horrible race tactically, despite the time. He was racing against himself instead of those in the race around him.

Although i'm sure he'll say this is all part of Alberto's "master plan." Saving his legs. Non championship year. Blah. Blah. Blah.

He is no longer coached full time by Alberto. He moved back east to be coached by his dad and himself.

He's now back west in Seattle to work with his collegiate coach at UW.

Jr.'s kick works off a slow pace, other elites know it and he won't ever get a flyer like he did when he won gold.

Yesterdays race was fast for him and a good time, but the depth of field and athletes running faster put him mid pack. Its a new reality that Im sure frustrates him to no end.

Last one wrote:

Mal Al wrote:

Agreed. Horrible race tactically, despite the time. He was racing against himself instead of those in the race around him.

Although i'm sure he'll say this is all part of Alberto's "master plan." Saving his legs. Non championship year. Blah. Blah. Blah.

He is no longer coached full time by Alberto. He moved back east to be coached by his dad and himself.

He's now back west in Seattle to work with his collegiate coach at UW.

Jr.'s kick works off a slow pace, other elites know it and he won't ever get a flyer like he did when he won gold.

Yesterdays race was fast for him and a good time, but the depth of field and athletes running faster put him mid pack. Its a new reality that Im sure frustrates him to no end.

It’s not “a new reality”, it is literally the exact same thing that has always happened to him in Monaco.

And bronze 2011

Alberto writes the workouts. Centro Senior, Alberto, Pete, or Dave McHenry administers the sessions. Cento also travels a lot between Portland, DC, Eugene, Flagstaff, Salt Lake, Saint Moritz, etc. THEREFORE, Alberto cannot be there 24/7. Galen is in Portland busting his ass to try and become one of the greatest marathoners of all time. Alberto is giving his all to make sure it happens.

Kiprop and others with sub 3:30 PR's were dumb to let the pace go slower than many collegiate races when they could stretched out the field and made it more of a guts race

News Flash ~ wrote:

Jakob ran 19 seconds faster today than that silly piece of metal.

Hmm...let's see...which are we going to remember more -- Jakob's 4th place 3:31 in just another DL meet in Monaco or A FREAKING OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL IN RIO?

Here's a news flash, News Flash: Olympic gold trumps Monaco fold (not gold, not silver, not even bronze). I'm not talking about the future and what this rising superstar kid might do when it counts, only what Jakob did in Monaco compared with Centro's FIRST PLACE, WORLD-BEATING OLYMPIC GOLD IN THE LEGENDARY BIGGEST RACE IN A FOUR-YEAR PERIOD.

This was a very good race for Centro, if you consider that it was just a second plus over his pr, but that it represented a 4 second drop in a short time from his season's best, which was itself about 2 seconds better than he'd run this year. So, he is now almost all the way back from injury. The fact, however, that he's never been competitive at Monaco, that his medals have all come from 3:34 and slower races, I believe, might actually be closely related. Salazar and Centro, Sr. have trained him for those championship races, with heats and relatively slow or middling tempos prior to a last lap from 50 to 53. That is what he trains for most of the year, not the 55-56 paces for much of the race that you see at Monaco. If he changed his training so as to emphasize holding that pace instead of being ready to kick hard off of 58s, 59s, or even slower as at the Olympics in 2016, maybe he would be under 3:30. Races really require very specific training.

zxczxcv wrote:

Salazar and Centro, Sr. have trained him for those championship races, with heats and relatively slow or middling tempos prior to a last lap from 50 to 53.

Good points, zxczxcv. What good is 3:31 speed if you're burned out by the time the final is run? Getting through heats to make the big championship final without expending too much energy can't be easy, yet Centro has trained to make the finals and THEN to do what it takes to medal.

That's another reason why Centro's slow Rio gold is so much more impressive than the still-impressive one-race performances Jakob, and the three ahead of him, delivered in Monaco.

NOP Supertramp wrote:

7th is a good race for an Olympic Gold medalist?

He ran a FAST race but I don't think he ran a good race. He stayed in the back for the entire time, in a FAST race, and tried to make it all up in the last 200m. Did he really think he could get by everyone with his kick? Watching the race I thought he was making much effort at all to be in it.

With the year he had last year with injuries and illnesses, he's taking it very slowly this year. No reason to kill it in an off year. He's rounding into form and this is a clear step up from his Rabat performance. Fact of the matter is, if you go into the WC/Olympic final in at least 3:34 shape, you have chance to medal, and that's all he cares about, medals. An American record would just be the icing on top.

He stated off the year with a 3:38, and 2 800's in 1:52, 1:53 (which is 3:31 1500 pace), then only ran 3:40 at Payton Jordan. This IS a good race for him. When it's time to go in Doha next year, he'll be ready.

Mal Al wrote:

NOP Supertramp wrote:

7th is a good race for an Olympic Gold medalist?

He ran a FAST race but I don't think he ran a good race. He stayed in the back for the entire time, in a FAST race, and tried to make it all up in the last 200m. Did he really think he could get by everyone with his kick? Watching the race I thought he was making much effort at all to be in it.

Agreed. Horrible race tactically, despite the time. He was racing against himself instead of those in the race around him.

Although i'm sure he'll say this is all part of Alberto's "master plan." Saving his legs. Non championship year. Blah. Blah. Blah.

I mean what did you expect? His season best was 3:35, did you think he was going to try and hang at 3:28 pace? He knows his form and he is not a dumb@ss, seems like you expected too much.

Centro isn't just good at 'kicking when it's slow'. Everyone who belongs in a 1500m Olympic final is 'good' at kicking when it's slow. Anyone can kick when its slow enough. Centro is strength based, runs 90-100mpw with a lot of tempos and hard mileage. He ran his 400m PR of 49.9 at the end of a workout before Rio (clearly he can go faster than 49.9, but he's not dropping the kind of 400m times a guy like kiprop or mahkloufi could).

That Rio race would have suited guys like that better than centro, one would think, but centro is a smarter racer, both tactically and when it comes to navigating rounds and saving energy. He has more strength than a lot of guys and can therefore cover moves and hold the lead easier and use his speed reserve when he needs to. Having a faster PR doesn't mean you can use that specific strength to your advantage without pacers. Especially after running rounds and navigating the pack.

Centro is not even in great shape rn with all the injuries. I believe he will run a 3:28 or 3:29 before he’s done but it will be sudden. He’s not a time trialer but he’s also only hit top form a few times and he wasn’t in the right races at the time

He does well in championship races because he trains and plans to be able to do three tough races in a five day period. He does not do silly stuff like blow away people in early rounds. By the final it is a war of attrition. Having said that, if his pr was 338 it would not have mattered if he plans and runs smart.