Quote:
Originally Posted by likwid
100/200 to 400 for all intensive purposes is like going from doing 5k's and 10k's to a marathon. He'll have alot of work ahead of him to train into that. Even at his level, but it could happen.
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I think it's even tougher than that. You're going from about a 4:15-4:20 pace per mile in the 5 and 10K to about a 4:45-4:50 in the marathon. That 30 second/mile slower pace feels like a jog to a world class track distance man. The WR in the 10K is now under 27 minutes. In the 400 you almost have to maintain something like a 10.5 100 meter pace for the race. It is without a doubt the toughest sprint out there. The only guys I know of that doubled in the 200/400 are Tommie Smith and Michael Johnson.
I went to PC when Geoff Smith and John Treacy were there. They both made a very easy transition from 10K to the marathon. So did Alberto Salazar out at Oregon.
Smith won Boston (and had a famous runner-up finish to Rod Dixon at NYC when he collapsed at the finish after leading most of the race) and Treacy won the silver at LA in 1984. He also competed for Ireland in both the 5 and 10K at Moscow in 1980.