Japanese training system in Fukuoka,

Thank You.

My understanding is that Abe was coached by one of the Soh brothers and consequently an emphasis on over-distance. It is interesting to me that an elite runner of her caliber would run a 100km race, with the suggestion coming from her coach. Very unusual, and impressive to me.

I appreciate your reports. Please keep them up as you can.

December 30, Ohori Park, Fukuoka

Spoke with the baseball coach of one of the youth league teams in Fukuoka.

The players ages 7-16 are all in pre season training right now, logging km almost every day. They run time trials and are `cut` if they don`t achieve the following times.

14-15 years old - 2000m in 7.00 minutes or under

10-12 year olds - 2000m in 8:00 minutes or faster

I told the coach that those were good times, and doubted that boys in our countries could run that fast. He merely said that if they don`t achieve those times, they are not fit to play.

Ghost in Fukuoka (Airport) on way back to Seoul 31

ghost wrote:

December 30, Ohori Park, Fukuoka

Spoke with the baseball coach of one of the youth league teams in Fukuoka.

The players ages 7-16 are all in pre season training right now, logging km almost every day. They run time trials and are `cut` if they don`t achieve the following times.

14-15 years old - 2000m in 7.00 minutes or under

10-12 year olds - 2000m in 8:00 minutes or faster

I told the coach that those were good times, and doubted that boys in our countries could run that fast. He merely said that if they don`t achieve those times, they are not fit to play.

Ghost in Fukuoka (Airport) on way back to Seoul 31

he says are baseball players who cant run these times are not fit to play, yet the usa has always dominated baseball and still do. sure there are a few japanese players who have made the major leagues, but they are rare. and i can also guarantee that are players many of which have a big gut from babe ruth to maybe the majority of are players are fat and would not even run the japanese standard for 2k. but if they put either the best japanese team or an all star team and had them play a 162 game season, the japanese would be lucky to win 20 games. i asked a friend who is a big baseball fan why sadaharo oh (unsure of spelling)who hit over 800 home runs in japan. never made it to the majors and my friend said because the pitchers oh was hitting against would be lucky to make a high school team in the usa.

i meant to write a lot of are fat usamajor league players can not even hit the japanese 2k standard for 10-12 players.

its an apples and oranges comparison example keninisa bekele would be much fast in the 2k than the pudgy babe ruth, but k. bekele would never be as good in baseball as ruth.

The baseball season in Japan starts around March/April till October.

At the moment in Fukuoka, all the baseball teams are doing endurance work, in the form of long runs (up to 10km) and timed sessions over 2km, and the cutoffs are 7:00 minutes and 8:00 minutes for the older (13-16) and younger (10-12 years) players. I asked the coach why they did so much endurance, and he responded that you need fitness to play baseball to a high level. When I then suggested that explosive speed was perhaps more important, coach told me that around March time, the running switches to 100m sprints, and he also has time limits for his teams for that distance too.

Ghost in Korea (currently -8 degrees centigrade in Seoul)

December 31, 2007

I think that is a silly and ineffective way to determine your roster for baseball. It would be much better to specialize with baseball-related stuff for the entire year. Maybe some occasional endurance stuff to make sure that the players don't gain weight and maintain a little bit of fitness. 2000 meters in 7:00 is no joke for a 14-year-old, and it has zero relation to baseball ability. That is even too stringent for most cross country athletes at that age.

I would have to agree with you on that. It means that the baseball teams are mostly composed of guys who are mostly lithe and fit, and some 'fatter guys' who may have skills will be cut.

In Japan, the coaches love to use endurance in pre season.

In Fukuoka, I lived near a shrine and small mountain with hundreds of steps leading up the 200m hill to the shrine. This is located about a 5 mintues walk from the Muromi subway station, one stop from Meinhoma. I used this place to maintain fitness, as I can no longer do much running. Uphill walking, at my age, I find, is a much better workout compared with running on flat ground, if you have bad knees/hips. The pounding effect is nullified uphill, and I use light steps on the steps coming down.

Every day, I saw baseball teams using those steps to do killer sessions, with the coaches calling out instructions. Very tough workout, steps, and they had to run up the steps with very quick steps and action. Then when the steps were finished (about 45 minutes of steps), the baseball players would run back to the baseball field, some 3km away in Nishijin! (they had also run there!). All in all, these kids (ages 10-16) were doing up to 2 hours of endurance work a day in this pre season phase!

The work ethic in Japan has to be seen to be believed, and I get the feeling it is over the top.

Going back to runners, I have seen mid level High school Ekiden runners (age 16-17 years) run killer sessions, and their best times are around 15:20 for 5000 track. I get the impression that they are much more effective on the road compared to the times they produce on the track.

Ghost in Korea

its called over-training...

johnny utah wrote:

its called over-training...

i think its more a matter of japan gearing everything to the marathon example their national record holder in the 5k at 1313 is only 217th on the all time list and the 10k japan national record holder is only 258th on the all time list. but in the marathon japan has 9 men in the top 100 2nd only to kenya and 11 different japanese men have run under 208.

in the womens 5k the japanese have 1 girl in the top 100 in 76th place in the 10k japan has 8 in the top 100 with the top girl at number 39, in the womens marathon japn has 19 in the top 100 more than any country. with 3 of the 8 women who have run under 220 being from japan and with kyoko fukishi moving up to the marathon i think they will have at least 4 in 2-3 years, just let fukushi run a few marathons then run a berlin, chicago, london etc. and look for another 220.

With the Japanese emphasis on mileage, much of it (contrary to belief by many) at specific marathon pace or faster, on measured training courses, the Japanese are ideally prepared to run well over marathon distances. That is why you have Japanese sub. 2:09 runners with relatively modest 10,000 times in the 28:00-29:00 minutes range, and female sub. 2:25 runners, with relatively modest 5000/10,000 times of 15:30/32:00 or slower.

In addition there is a huge reservoir of talent to procure from the thousands of Junior High school and High school runners who train and race in the Ekiden road races held all over Japan during the winter months. There is huge interest in the Ekiden races, and I was astonished to see that even the Junior High school Ekiden races are shown on National t.v. No other country in the world, I think, would bother to show Junior High school athletes running road relays on National t.v.!

The Japanese physique, generally small and light, is also well suited to running at relatively high speeds for long periods of time, producing less expenditure of energy compared to most western runners. African runners also have that. Just watch them run, and it becomes clear that lifting and rotating those short levers is easier, compared to the physiques that most of us are born with (longer levers and heavier as well).

Also, the Japanese mental attitude has to be seen to be believed - I have seen some pro runners literally throw up their lunch at some of the sessions accomplished in Japan, including one memorable 10 by 2km session on a measured park course, by Soh, the son of Takeshi Soh, who ran around 2:09 30 years ago!

Ghost in Korea

ghost,

obviously you haven't witnessed too many workouts if you think that only the japanese throw-up from doing workouts... and isnt is just a sign of strong mental attitude.

Back in the mid to late 70's I watched many good runners train in Britain like Dave Clarke (3:39/13:22/27:56/2:13), Bob Holt (3:51/7:59/13:48/28:39/2:16), and countless 29:00-30:00 minute 10,000 runners, and I never saw them throw up.

The only time I saw runners throw up, might be after a heavy binge session in the pub on Saturday night, but a little later, those same runners would head to the 'chippie' for a late night take away of fish and chips or chicken and chips. True amateurs those guys, but talented runners.

Ghost in Korea

again, making a very general conclusion based on a few observations of a small sample of athletes. if you could determine what soh ate for lunch, it sounds more likely that he ate to close to his workout time. anyone with a belly full of noodles and a smitten of dedication would deposit his lunch somewhere during training.