unless amos improves a lot, damn the auto correct.
unless amos improves a lot, damn the auto correct.
Bad Wigins wrote:
You miss the point. Nothing you do during a workout genuinely simulates a race. The pressure and adrenaline before a race alter your perception of both effort and speed compared to workouts. If you don't race a lot, i.e. aren't in high school, college or elite, any pace other than suicidal feels easy and slow at least until 300m.
Uhm no. I race 800s and so do a bunch og guys i train with, its really not that hard to train yourself to feel the pace and then go out and run in that pace for the first 400/500. Thats when it get hard.
I've been a rabbit for my teammates several times troughout the year, its not that hard to run a pace youve planned to do.
It should feel easy until 300m, an 800m shouldnt feel very hard first 400m, so what? 800 pace is hard for 800m, not for 300.
David Rudisha is an anomaly, tactically speaking, for the 800m. He can run even splits 1.42 (51,51) (African Champs 2010), he can run negative splits 1.42 (52,50) (Kenyan Olympic trials 2012) and of course a WR positive split (49,51).
The majority of athletes can run perhaps two of these iterations effectively, perhaps only even one (Duane Solomon?), and not at the same speed.
Obviously the positive split is optimal for a WR. But, given that Rudisha is NOT in his best shape YET in 2014, which of the three approaches would give him the best chance of a victory vs. Amos? Given that he has been run down at 700m in his races thus far in 2014 where he was unable to be as effective as before from 400-600, he obviously tried something else in Glasgow.
If he had been in his 2012 shape, one could speculate that he would have increased his advantage following an opening 52.7. He did not have the neccesary strength and was caught in the final 30m this time around.
To me, this was the correct tactic: remember, Rudisha runs from the front and therefore has explicit control over the race: he decides the tactic. It appears to be a matter of fitness that made the difference this time around: he didn't have the necessary tools at his disposal AT THIS TIME to make the difference vs Amos.
I don't see a circa 2012 Rudisha losing a negative split race to Amos in 2014.
Has Amos, as of yet, demonstrated his ability to win using varied tactics in the 800m?
Yes the tactic was fine - the execution was meek and timid - very un-Rudisha like.
Put it this way, at 52.7 Rudisha was not even running away from Guy Learmouth - a 1.46 guy
In fact, he compounded his problems by then running even slower to 600m (1.19.8 - a 3rd 200 of 27.1). At this point his "explicit control" of the race is totally null and void and his advantage over the field (as opposed to 1.14.5 at 600m) is minimal. In fact, with a speed based sub 1.42 runner behind him in Amos he was a sitting duck and even with Amos badly boxed with 80 meters to go he was run down easily.
Your point of Amos not winning using varied tactics is valid - but the same question can be asked of Rudisha?
Has Rudisha, as of yet, demonstrated his ability to win using varied tactics in the 800m? I'm not talking about even splits, negative splits etc - I'm talking about showing tactical savvy and awareness in the pack, on a shoulder etc. No he hasn't. He wins every race front running - in fact if you watch the 100 seconds documentary it explains why he front runs every race - because he is uncomfortable running in the bunch, having his stride compromised, needing to accelerate and make decisions quickly.
For that reason he is not a complete 800m runner and why he was made to look very human last night. He is the fastest 800m runner ever but you can not call a guy who can not run in the wet or do anything but run from the front the best of all time. Harsh considering his body of work but its reality.