What is wrong with Kentucky Track

Yes, Weber is not without success. However, I describe Thomas Morgan as a diamond in the rough. If Thomas Morgan's high school PR was 4:30, I doubt he would have a PR under 13:30 for 5000m. I think the difference between a 4:20 and 4:30 high school PR is significant - assuming all else is equal. Morgan often struggled to break 14:00 for 5000m on American soil.

WKU had an American runner with a high school mile PR of about 4:20. He ran 13:37 5000m as a sophomore in 1979. Now that is a significant improvement in a short time.

WC power wrote:

sweet indoor track, outdoor track getting a major renovation, killer website, looks like their program is on the upswing!

Yes, they've always had top notch facilities. They had a separate track stadium (long before most were even considering it) and state of the art chevron track back in 1980!

UKObserver wrote:

Yes, Weber is not without success. However, I describe Thomas Morgan as a diamond in the rough. If Thomas Morgan's high school PR was 4:30, I doubt he would have a PR under 13:30 for 5000m. I think the difference between a 4:20 and 4:30 high school PR is significant - assuming all else is equal. Morgan often struggled to break 14:00 for 5000m on American soil.

WKU had an American runner with a high school mile PR of about 4:20. He ran 13:37 5000m as a sophomore in 1979. Now that is a significant improvement in a short time.

Was that Larry Cuzzort?

I believe it was Larry C. - studied computer science.

A very smooth runner!

Can Eldrick Floreal make a difference?

Luis Orta is a very rare exception to the Kentucky program in general. He runs less than 60 miles a week, maybe a 10 miler at the longest, and most runs at a quick pace.

Weber, during his last 3 years drove the program to the ground. He noticed there was no building this (worth his effort) and just resigned randomly. At least he had the decency to do that.

Kentucky had the #1 recruiting class in 08.

In 2009, 11 freshman women came in (9 were state champions/ footlocker finalist/ sub 5 performers).

What happened to all this talent and potential??? .... I blame the coach. His training does not work for everyone. He is a one-track minded, old man, who was done at least 7 years ago.

Collecting paycheck is fine- but not when the lives, careers, and scholarships of 100s of student athletes are in your hands.

UK has opened a bright door to its future.

Would someone w experience of the program please specify how fast runs really were during xc and how far? And did weber ever explain his coaching philosophy?

Weber mainly believed in believing in yourself. He would preach that incessantly. That was his philosophy. From a training perspective fall was base building, even for the cross country guys. When I was there we had a few good guys but mainly cross country was just training for track. Some, (Richardson, Morgan, Orta) ran decent cross off this but most cant off of 8 mile runs at 5:15-5:20 pace. I do think though that if he had a really good team the mileage would have gone and the workouts would change. I would say that once a week we would do a true cross country type workout. After all, he does have a NCAA Title in XC.

His track philosophy is largely base off the training of Steve Cram. Lots of track work, good mix of long intervals and short stuff. Some guys run well but others need something different.

party!!!! wrote:

Sounds like a great place to go to school if you aren't going to be an Olympic Caliber athelete anyways! I'd have loved only doing 40 to 50 miles a week.

Yeah, you got to look at all these collegiate guys running triple digits to get similar results and wonder if they're just navel gazing.

Runners are delusional, if you aren't a top top top talent, you need to spend more time worrying about your post-collegiate job than getting in that extra 15 miles on the ol' training log.

The girls would run 10 miles around 6:25 to 6:30 pace. Obviously this is the average pace (some faster and others slower).

Guys would run 10 miles in around 5:00-5:15 average.

10 was the longest distance run while I was there <<< ya no joke!

These runs are all done on roads.

Weber did teach the "this is your career, you make the calls" phiolosphy. which to me was another way of saying : i don't know how to coach you, so coach your self".

Glad he's gone. Stay away.

How can their guys run same pace for ten miles they race 8 k xc in?

Duyrtyg wrote:

How can their guys run same pace for ten miles they race 8 k xc in?

cause they are too damn tired from hammering regular run.

First of all it is Kentucky.

Second of all it is Track.

I do think athletes require varying approaches.

As I look back on my Div. 1 experience, I could have used a lot less intensity, far more recovery, and frankly, more mileage, albeit slower and more relaxed than what I was used to.

I was a 4:08 guy in high school, and could run a 48.5 400. Not great in cross country, but was at the top of the state with a 14:30 5k on a pancake flat course. I was reasonably fast, and I was not going to lose leg speed of any kind at age 20, meaning I did not need to pound out nearly as many intervals, and moreover, I should not have neglected the need to recover like I did. Live and learn. I needed more volume, and less intensity.

One thing that most people don't like to acknowledge as well is body weight. I look at my college photos, and to the average person, I look very fit and thin. But I consistently needed to be five pounds lighter, and to get there by eating extremely sensibly and cutting out beer in excess and other empty calories. For me to run well, I needed to be as thin as Rupp is today - very, very light. A few years ago, I was struck by a comment Harald Northrop's coach made about Peter Snell, who opined Snell needed the distance he ran to keep his weight under control. Higher mileage is not for everyone, and it takes discipline to keep the intensity under control, but it has its benefits, including helping with weight. College is not an easy environment to deal with some very difficult truths. Live and learn.

Will knew coach have the cats goin high miles or keep them low and fighting off 9 lives