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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Much as I like the snow, it's not the best week for it! Supposed to be tapering for Wokingham, but the only way to get to work when it snows is to run to the station as the bike is pretty dodgy until I get to the main roads. As I've got to be in tomorrow and Thursday that could mean 3 double days in a row!
If I were you SG, I'd be inclined to skip HMP reps and just enjoy a snowy run in the woods behind the Rye instead! Won't make a blind bit of difference in the long run!
All the snow will be gone for Wokingham most likely, as it's due to warm up by then end of the week.
May be we should do a forum trip to the Monday night Battersea 5k later in the Spring....
Dean, have to agree with Dachs, a whole squad being sub 4.05 sounds incredibly unlikely, as that’s like 4.22 mile pace?
That is exceptional speed.
Agree totally on the training, recovery, rehab being top notch at clubs, but that training isn’t set to maximise track length races, it’d be sharper shorter sprints. The running ability to reach 4.22 pace or quicker is huge.
Take Man Utd for instance, i’d back myself to beat the likes of Fellaini and Mata over any distance. There’s no way they’re getting near 4.22miling! I’d probably be able to hit 4.50s, but I doubt they would.
Unless that relatives team were an exceptional outfit, surely you could pick players at any team and make a similar case out for.
Also, going back 10-15years (presuming the relative’s era?), there were more pure footballers around, when athleticism wasn’t as essential as today.
I understand that David Beckham operated at county level XC. Suffered from nerves believe it or not.
Since a good standard male club runner can beat any world class time held by a women; at least in the 1500m, I can see how Dean's comment stands up.
Talking of standing up. I was getting mildly fed up of getting cold wet feet; even in the 'Fellcross'. Snow is the worst. So a solution is required. And here it is.
Yep! that's right, plastic bags over the feet.
8 miles in the snow and slush and the result was warm dry toasty feet.
I used to do this when wearing spikes on cold wet muddy courses. Very effective.
🙂
Used to use plastic bags for MTBing in the wet. My feet are too sweaty for it to work in running shoes though!!
I have some Sealskinz waterproof socks, which are great in really cold slush but generally too warm so I usually just put up with wet feet.
fellaini was a decent 10k runner in belgium apparently.
I have also been on treadmill alongside some of the best tennis players around and i am willing to bet they all could beat many here as well judging by the paces they churned out
there is a world of difference between professional sportsmen in there early 20s and competitant amatuers who are in their 30s/40s.
not sure how your example makes it stand up really Ric. As that's just the strength difference in genders.
Footballers in the premier league are still there primarily due to their football ability, although obviously many are super fit. But not necessarily in such a prolonged specialist way as a 1500.
Now Gareth Bale is super fast, so you could imagine him being able to produce a tasty 1500 time. But i bet it would still take him some specific training to get to the times mentioned. 4.08 in his youth was it? Would the muscle he's put on slow that a bit? It ups the top pace, but does it reduce it over 1500?
ps Ric, that does look mad, but i have actually done that when driving a couple of times, when i've foolishly not brought a change of footwear. Was cleaner and much safer than trying to drive with slippy shoes!
I actually think it's the Fellainis of this world that would be half decent. It's the out and out sprinters that couldn't get near those times. So Walcott, Henry, Sterling etc those sorts of players would fatigue too quickly. Too many fast twitch fibres. Just think of all those freestylers who can do amazing things with a football, but never make it because they don't have the athleticism.
I'm nothing special and I could run 4.40 with absolutely no training at 15 and 2.10 for 800m with zero training at 16. I bet I couldn't match the latter now on 30 miles a week. That's what getting old does to you
Steve Mcmanaman beat Curtis Robb in cross country; I seem to remember hearing that somewhere.
You underrate that 4:05 Dean. You aren't some totally average Joe Schmoe, you actually have damn good natural speed.
Let's move the discussion away from our own biases about how fast/slow we think we are, and look at another group of top-level sportspeople who train for a combination of speed, explosiveness, strength, technique and endurance - decathletes. Here, we can look at actual, recorded 1500m times. Unfortunately, they are within decathlons, which is a little unfair as they've had a packed programme of events to get through, but you'd still expect to see some decent times. If someone could find listings of times decathletes have run in a freestanding 1500 that'd be great, but I couldn't.
Fastest 1500m in a decathlon ever is Robert Baker in 1980 with 3:58.7. Go down the top 10 all time and 10th appears to be 4:08. Ashton Eaton, the world record holder, has run 4:14. These guys have fantastic natural speed and power, and actually need to train for this event, and a sub 4 is still an exceptionally rare thing.
Do I think more footballers than decathletes could run a good 1500? Almost certainly - the pool is wider, the need for endurance is greater, and the money is vastly better, luring in more of the sporting talent. But the notion that the majority of a single Premiership team could run a 1500 (presumably just in an informal training setting as well) faster than all but the six fastest decathletes in history just doesn't seem plausible.
Decathletes are closer to rugby players than footballers, they are generally around 14st and very muscular. Their training is targeted at the other nine events, the guy that wins the 1500m is usually way down the combined points list.
Footballers are lean, slim and have great endurance, very similar to middle distance runners. I don't see most doing 4.05 but I can see a handful with most sub 4.30's.
Anyway, 8 featuring 3 x mile reps @5K pace in the park to try to get some speed back into my legs. 5:08, 5:05, 4:59. That's pretty pleasing given I haven't really been doing speedwork recently, so slightly feared that my 5:30 target HM pace was about the fastest I could run at the moment. Still, a little less enamoured with the notion that Phil Neville in his prime would have been 40 seconds ahead
Rugby players is a bit extreme. I can't see Adam Jones doing a pole vault. Many footballers are lean, slim and have great endurance. Many others are powerful and built like ... well, rugby players. Again, I don't doubt that there are a number of footballers capable of those times. I just really doubt that the majority of a team are.
Sub 4:30? Absolutely, but there's a world of difference from that kind of level and 4:00/4:05
I remember Dwight York running a 1000m in an edition of 'Superstars'. I found the actual year (2002) but no mention of the exact time.
When I mean the exact time, it was something like 2:43. It was way under 3 minutes.
🙂
Ric - i think steve clarridge ran a fast 800 on grass on superstars too
dachs- its kind of you to say but the only thing not ordinary about my 1500m time is my age. 540 amateurs beat me last yr. pretty run of the mill in the greater scheme of things.
the 1500m the pro footballers used to run were on a track and were timed and they had to repeat during the season to demonstrate speed endurance levels. In my original comment on this i said the majority were 4.05. it is possible that he meant a sub part of the team did 1500m sessions and maybe another sub team did sprint drills. I am drinking with him in a fortnight i shall clarify
Get him drunk and then time him round a track.
I don't think Rugby player is extreme at all, taking Adam Jones as a typical Rugby player is however extreme. Take a modern day centre/winger 6ft 3 and 14st maybe slightly bigger and you have a typical decathlete.
If you look at the points achieved for the 1500m they are (he says without checking) the lowest of all the events. As these are correlated to the existing world records, we can safely say that they are ill suited to the event.
The average footballer is around 12 stone, less for midfielders, probably about 2 stone lighter than the lightest rugby player.
I guess my point was that I can see that footballers are fairly well suited to 1500m, and that I can see a few of them being 4.05. However I couldn't see a whole squad being that quick, there will be a range.
There are bound to be some footballers who could have run sub 3.40 but we'll never know as who's going to bin £100k a week for a bit of lottery funding and an Santander endorsement
For the record I refuse to accept Phil Neville could beat any of us.
Dean, Andy Ripley broke 2 minutes for 800m on the track on 'Superstars'. He was a large rugby player.
🙂
wasnt phil neville a bit of an all rounder, flintoff once said he was glad phil chose football as it meant he would be the best cricketer in lancashire.
So Christian Wade plays a spot of rugby and used to train with us at Wycombe Phoenix. 11 seconds for 100m.
http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=47696
Looks like the Staines 10k has already sold out. To think that two years back it didn't do that until early March. The entries only opened on 23/1.
To think I only casually put my money down on Sunday. I must have been in the last dozen or so.
🙂
I will admit to using the example of Adam Jones doing a pole vault purely for my own amusement.
Recognise a few faces on the facebook page. Ric: you and Tish look to be photoshopped in at a smaller scale.
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Hard put to recognise my face in that one -luckily my receding hairline is distinctive!
I entered late on Sunday night - must have just squeezed in!
Yes Phil, I guess I'd be photoshopped in even smaller now.
Bus, there were still some entries left on Monday so probably ok.
🙂
I hope long socks and Lycra didnt win. There's been an invasion of long socks and tights.
I think he is further back in red shorts, the other guy looks too tall, either way you look different without your coat on Ric.
The guy running the other way has triathlete written all over him, I think he's forgotten his photochromic sunglasses and can't continue until he's retrieved them.
great photo...a bit early in the race i imagine for the guy in yellow vest to be eyeballing the opposition,
whats with the datchett muscle t-shirts (whats wrong with a good old fashioned athletics vest),
no 618 looks like a competition winner and is a bit too happy to be there,
no 69 is doing fancy dress as a referee but if he is giving the thumbs up to the crowd i fear a fade is coming,
and no 96 has a touch of benjamin button about him