When Track Coaches Have Fun...

"What's really fun is to take the sprinters to the Piedmont Distance [Running] Festival and enter them in the 800 meters!"

Coach Brady-Smith,
at the track
awards banquet.

He didn't say why it was fun. The reaction of the other contestants at the pace set by the sprinters in the first 100 meters? The reaction of the sprinters when they realize what they are in for?

Comments

[trotsky]

Nothing is fun about the 800 meters -- for anybody who has to run the race.

[No Longer a Runner]

My worst memory from high school is when my track coach entered me in the 800 (I was a sprinter), because the other guy hasn't shown up. I had a huge lead after the first two laps (a 200 m track) and then by the third I hit the "wall" and despite putting in all of my effort, my legs would not respond and each of the other seven runners passed me one by one. On the last lap I actually collapsed and had to crawl across the finish line, after which I lost most of the previous day's meals in the corner of the indoor stadium.

[t e whalen]

I've got five possibilities here:

1) The reaction of the distance runners to the initial, unsustainable pace.
2) The reaction of the sprinters to jumping to an early and substantial lead.
3) The reaction of the distance runners to the sprinters' inability to sustain their initial, unsustainable pace.
4) The reaction of the sprinters to losing their early and substantial lead.

Also possibly:

0) The reaction of the sprinters on being told they're going to be racing in an event 4 to 8 times longer than they're used to.

(On preview, the 800m is horrible on a 200m track, but I remember it being pretty fun on a 400m outdoor track -- certainly better than the 1600m)

[Talboito]

The Piedmont track is 400m.

But I have to agree the 800 is no fun under any circumstances.

[mac]

I watched one of my 15-year-olds run the 800 m at an invitational track meet at Serra High School this year. It was one of the most enjoyable races I've watched all year. He came around the last turn about 5 guys behind -- and passed all of them to win...

[JR]

The 800 is too long to be run entirely as an anaerobic event. Sprinters who have not learned how to run a combined aerobic-anaerobic race experience terrible pain for the last half to third of the race - if they can finish at all. Perhaps watching your kids suffer is amusing for some coaches. But I think he was just kidding.

[Chris]

I ran the 880 yards/800 meters in H.S. back in 1983. It was my favorite event. I was 6'3", but was very slender due to being a runner.
What is good about the 400 and 800 meters versus sprints is tactic. I always enjoyed going out at a pretty fast clip, but had enough "gas" left to sprint the final 200 meters or less.
Most sprinters were persons that were not as tall, and had "fast-twitch" muscles. Most longer distance runners were not as tall and had "slow-twitch" muscles and tremendous endurance. The 800 was perfect for me due to my muscle/body makeup, and I didn't have as much endurance, but had a better sprinter finish than the longer-distance runners.
To each their own, I guess.