Dave Wottle is an American Olympic athlete from the 1970s. He wore a weird “lucky” hat. I don’t think it’s relevant to the story, but I’m just painting a picture here.
Wottle was a 1500 meter guy from a small school who made mass improvement during his collegiate career. He was mild-mannered and awkward. You probably wouldn’t “athletic juggernaut.”
However, Dave beat legends like Jim Ryun, Marty Liquori, and Steve Prefontaine. Like the guy in the movies. “Pre” you know, “Stop Pre.”
So Wottle was very good. He thought of himself as a 1500 meter runner and hated the 800 meters.
But he ran it anyway.
During the U.S Olympic trials in 1972, Dave Wottle ran and won the 800 m and tied the World Record.
I guess he was pretty good at the event that he hated. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
At the Munich Olympics, Wottle ran the 1500 m and the 800 m. He missed the final in the 1500 (his preferred event) but qualified for the final heat of the 800 m.
No one gave him a shot to win, even though he shared the world record. He had knee injuries, decided to plan his wedding two weeks before the Olympics, and wore a silly hat (ha! I did make the hat it relevant to the story).
So he wasn’t exactly the favorite.
Two Kenyan dudes were FAST and a guy from the Soviet Union hadn’t lost an 800-meter final in 4 years!!
But that’s why you run the race.
The race went out quick, and Wottle was getting crushed. It’s actually crazy.
It looks some doofus was lost and somehow found himself on the start line of the Olympic final.
However, Dave, aka the Wottle the Throttle, aka the Head Waiter, found himself with the pack at the end of the first 400 meters. He hung tough, found a hole to move on during the back stretched, and kicked his ass off to win the Olympic gold.
There is a Youtube link at the end of this email where you can watch the race. But read on for like one more minute. I promise there is a takeaway for you.
The footage of this race is wild. I think Powerade or Wheaties or some big food company ran a commercial featuring the race a few years ago. The message was to “never give up” and meant to inspire.
But the truth is Dave Wottle had a plan. He was not the fastest guy in the race, and he knew himself, and he his pace.
He ran near identical splits which is something a “slower” guys must during a fast race. He ran almost matching 26 seconds per 200 meter split.
He just knew exactly how pace for success.
Runners struggle to learn pace. Some never quite figure it out. Poor pacing will ruin your workouts and sabotage your race day.
It takes a long time to learn hard numbers of minute per mile. But, there is a better way.
Use the “Talk Test” to improve your pacing:
- Easy pace = story conversation
- Normal Distance pace = normal convo
- Marathon/Half Marathon pace = Labored breathing 2-3 sentences
- Tempo/Threshold = 5-7 word sentences.
- Interval = one-word sentences.
Okay here is the video of the 1972 800 meter Olympic Finals.
I just watched it and got chills. It’s so dope.
