Range Rover wrote:
30th Avenue homey wrote:Damn, you nailed it.
He is doing extra workouts after running quality races.
He was doing that when Abdi made him cry like a little girl at the 2008 trials.
FAIL.
How are people so clueless? It is precisely BECAUSE he was doing that in 2008 and years before when he was getting beat a few top runners that he is where he is today. That was no secrect back then, they alwasy said their primary target was 2012 olympics and beyond. They always focussed on the big picture as oppossed to the day to day or just the upcoming season.
He has never been slow, he never suddenly picked up speed or suddenly became good. He has been phenomenal since his senior year in high school and kept his head down and worked harder than anybody else on a continued basis, including in the injury prevention and cross training departments.
It's fine if you want to BELIEVE that he is cheating because you don't like that he is really fast, but don't let the facts of his achievements and progression slip your mind.
As someone mentioned, he did 3:39 at ncaa west regionals on a double, and was second at Pac-10s that year with about :52 last lap in between tripling 1500,5000,10000:
Finals
1 Matthew Centrowitz Oregon 3:51.00 10
2 Galen Rupp Oregon 3:51.18 8
3 Andrew Wheating Oregon 3:51.27 6
4 Garrett Heath Stanford 3:51.33 5
5 Abdi Hassan Arizona 3:51.65 4
6 Austin Abbott Washington 3:52.39 3
7 Brandon Bethke Arizona State 3:52.54 2
8 Eric Lee California 3:52.59 1
9 Jordan McNamara Oregon 3:53.26
10 Michael Coe California 3:53.69
11 Joey Bywater Washington 3:54.06
12 Elliott Heath Stanford 3:54.75
Just for kicks:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3016383&page=0Regionals 1500 - 2009
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=3280&do=photos&photo_id=46106He didn't just come out of nowhere in the 1500, 5000 or 10000. He's been really good at all of them for over 10 years.