What equipment do actually fast distance runners use?

plenty of runners do static stretching

http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2013/04/12621113-essay.jpg

All runners wear splits

Soon they'll use this:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/12/pentagons-experimental-4-minute-mile-jetpack-wows-/

I doubt even the majority of runners (whether hobbyjoggers or otherwise) have a GPS device.

Running year round---most likely

Periodization? Doubt it.

Foam roller? doubt it

HRM? Doubt it

Follow pro runners? HAHAHA!

7 days a week? Doubt it

Socks? NO

Late to the Game wrote:

Only hobbyjoggers wear compression socks

5k PR is 16:12. Correct me wherever I'm wrong.

5K PR 14:44 (Flanagan) and 14:55 (Goucher).

Corrections within...

[quote]Late to the Game wrote:

Pretty much all runners have a GPS watch WRONG, "SOME"

Pretty much all runners run year-round WRONG, "MOST"

Pretty much all runners do some form of periodization WRONG "SOME" - I was shocked at how few adults periodize... many are racing from early spring to late fall... I'd say only the top 10% periodize.

Most runners wear trainers ~90% of the time

Most runners race in flats SOME, lightweight trainers are very popular for people racing mostly 10k-marathon.

Most runners rotate shoes DUNNO... never noticed

Most runners race ~5-20 times a year

Most runners take in calories on runs over 16 miles SOME

Most runners take in water before during and after a workout For track workouts, I'd say "SOME/MINORITY" during, and "MOST" after.

Most runners run 2-3 days of quality running per week MOST seem to do 2, and often 1 of the 2 is incorporated into the weekend long run. A workout on Tuesday, and quality long run on the weekend is very popular amongst many. Very few do 3 days, and those are usually the better runners.

Some runners use a foam roller

Some runners use a heart rate monitor As a heart rate monitor user, I'd say "FEW". Easily

Pretty much all runners wear compression socks

How many Kenyans do you see cruising around Iten with GPS devices and heart rate monitors? Zero that's how many.

If you have any device more complex than a BASIC 30-LAP TIMEX IRONMAN you might as well be wearing an ipod with big fat headphones. Especially if it's GPS. If you can't figure out where you are and accurately judge the distances you've covered on the basis of your geographical knowledge, you don't even belong outside. You should join a cross fit gym with other pretend athletes if your navigational skills are so impaired.

If you think it's even remotely meaningful for a GPS to tell you your run was precisely 10.1km instead of approximately 10km, then you know nothing of training either and are a hobby jogger.

http://www.timex.com/watches/timex-ironman-30-lap-t5k6939j

I think GPS is a useful tool for marathoners specifically. At any distance shorter than the marathon, your key workouts are likely to be on a track or a short measured course, and an Ironman watch will do just fine. Only at the marathon distance, when your important workouts ridiculously long, does GPS become especially useful. It's nice when you're doing a 22 mile progression run to get reasonably accurate mile splits (which you won't get with a Timex Ironman, even if you can get your total average pace).

Also, for what it's worth, a 30 lap watch is a joke and insufficient for any serious runner. You can't do 20x400 with a 30 lap watch, and that's a bread and butter 5k workout.

As for heart rate monitors, I'm not a proponent of serious zone training, but they're still excellent tools. In particular, HRMs are useful for comparing like to like workouts. It can help you determine whether your faster workouts are a sign of stronger aerobic development or rather of an approaching peak.

Indeed. Canova wrote a while ago that Mosop and Kirui did their MP runs on dirt roads with Garmin.

800 dude wrote:

You can't do 20x400 with a 30 lap watch, and that's a bread and butter 5k workout.

You can do 20x400 with a 1 lap watch as long as you don't have Alzheimer's.

Bad Wigins wrote:

How many Kenyans do you see cruising around Iten with GPS devices and heart rate monitors? Zero that's how many.

See Canova's post on 9/6/2011 10:39PM.

"We use GPS (Garmin) in every workout on rough road."

So you know more about how Kenyans trains than Renato Canova does? How did you get to know their training? How many of them do you coach?

#1 - You are a "hobbyjogger" by my standards.

#2 - Surveying the practices of fast runners is not a valid way to determine the value of the methods they use or do not use. Genetics, not equipment, is the primary determinant of one's ability level. Many of the practices you include in the list of things that "fast" runners do are wrong. This is a sport ruled by superstition and stupidity, not facts, science, and logic.

Bad Wigins wrote:

800 dude wrote:

You can't do 20x400 with a 30 lap watch, and that's a bread and butter 5k workout.

You can do 20x400 with a 1 lap watch as long as you don't have Alzheimer's.

EXACTLY.

Thank you Bradley. I don't know why some runners are amnesiacs who can't remember their splits.

Dow Theory fwiw... who knows wrote:

Corrections within...

Pretty much all runners do some form of periodization WRONG "SOME" - I was shocked at how few adults periodize... many are racing from early spring to late fall... I'd say only the top 10% periodize.

Most runners take in calories on runs over 16 miles SOME

Most runners run 2-3 days of quality running per week MOST seem to do 2, and often 1 of the 2 is incorporated into the weekend long run. A workout on Tuesday, and quality long run on the weekend is very popular amongst many. Very few do 3 days, and those are usually the better runners.

Eye opening. Can anyone confirm these three? I would've guessed that burnout would be a problem for the first point. I can perhaps see laziness leading to the second. The third one sounds crazy to me, I thought 'too much quality' was seen among faster runners.

Bad Wigins wrote:

How many Kenyans do you see cruising around Iten with GPS devices and heart rate monitors? Zero that's how many.

If you have any device more complex than a BASIC 30-LAP TIMEX IRONMAN you might as well be wearing an ipod with big fat headphones. Especially if it's GPS. If you can't figure out where you are and accurately judge the distances you've covered on the basis of your geographical knowledge, you don't even belong outside. You should join a cross fit gym with other pretend athletes if your navigational skills are so impaired.

If you think it's even remotely meaningful for a GPS to tell you your run was precisely 10.1km instead of approximately 10km, then you know nothing of training either and are a hobby jogger.

http://www.timex.com/watches/timex-ironman-30-lap-t5k6939j

Very true. It does piss me off that the best quality for the $ running watch is branded after a lame tryathlon though.

Do you want to know about the majority of runners (most are slower than you), or the majority of runners faster than you?

Probably the second one.

Only some good runners use GPS, but it can be a good tool. HRM less popular. Calories and water on long runs: Optional except for marathoners, who need to practice it.

Running 7 days a week is more common than 6. Doubles also become common, which you didn't mention.

20 races a year is a ton. It's difficult to train at any consistent level and race that much.

Late to the Game wrote:

Only hobbyjoggers wear compression socks.

I guess Meb is a hobby jogger

Late to the Game wrote:

Most runners wear trainers ~90% of the time

Most runners race in flats

Most fast runners race in spikes, and a lot probably do more than 10% of training (by time, not necessarily mileage) in spikes or flats.