Maybe we ALL need to rethink our training methods: aerobic cross-training key to max running potential

All these studies ignore prior training. They got faster because they did higher mileage FIRST and then dropped their mileage. The only guy this didn't work for is Cam Levins who got slower when he dropped his mileage. Maybe Cam should have gone for 3 hour bike rides on Saturday mornings and spent 2 hours a week in the pool?

doesn't always work, bad study wrote:

All these studies ignore prior training. They got faster because they did higher mileage FIRST and then dropped their mileage. The only guy this didn't work for is Cam Levins who got slower when he dropped his mileage. Maybe Cam should have gone for 3 hour bike rides on Saturday mornings and spent 2 hours a week in the pool?

BS. They got faster because they quit being injured.

Just wow... wrote:

Especially us injury-prone runners!!! Maybe we don't have to be those physical freaks who can handle 120 mile weeks, but we can still get comparable results if we take this path. Even if you can handle the huge mileage, this seems like a much lower-risk alternative maybe with similar results at the races. Guys like Meb and Ritz have been doing this for years, and now this headline article on Betty Potter, who just ran 32:04 after switching over to triathlon training and dropping her running mileage down to 50 mpw owes her improvement to it:

http://www.athleticsweekly.com/event-reports/beth-potter-and-andy-vernon-triumph-at-highgate-night-of-the-10000m-pbs-61180

She ran the same time last year (twice) before switching to tri, so she hasn't improved one iota.

32 flat won't trouble the East Africans.

She maintained, soon she will start slipping.

You'll get the usual letsrun negativity, but I thought this was eye opening and kind of neat for the reasons you describe.

Beth's not half bad looking either.

I feel strongly that distance runners don't take pure muscle strength seriously. I think we all believe running is 99% aerobic, and all we need to do to run fast is elevate our heart rate.

From my personal experience, pure muscle strength matters a lot in distance running. Stronger quads, stronger hamstrings and calves and feet (and upper body too, to a point), will make us better distance runners.

I think that is one reason FM does so well under Bill Aris - they do a lot of weightlifting.

Maybe that is the special sauce in what is working for this distance runner.

agip wrote:

I feel strongly that distance runners don't take pure muscle strength seriously. I think we all believe running is 99% aerobic, and all we need to do to run fast is elevate our heart rate.

From my personal experience, pure muscle strength matters a lot in distance running. Stronger quads, stronger hamstrings and calves and feet (and upper body too, to a point), will make us better distance runners.

I think that is one reason FM does so well under Bill Aris - they do a lot of weightlifting.

Maybe that is the special sauce in what is working for this distance runner.

You are 100% correct. that is ONE reason.

There is a way to increase maximum muscle recruitment that is specific, hill sprints and max velocity work.

Hill sprints hit all the criteria to be > than work in the weight room. Weight room should be supplemental, not a focus.

agip wrote:

I feel strongly that distance runners don't take pure muscle strength seriously. I think we all believe running is 99% aerobic, and all we need to do to run fast is elevate our heart rate.

From my personal experience, pure muscle strength matters a lot in distance running. Stronger quads, stronger hamstrings and calves and feet (and upper body too, to a point), will make us better distance runners.

I think that is one reason FM does so well under Bill Aris - they do a lot of weightlifting.

Maybe that is the special sauce in what is working for this distance runner.

Salazar said Farah came into Thursday's meet after doing extensive strength training in Flagstaff, Arizona.

"I know he could feel it in his legs," Salazar said.

Farah, like Centrowitz, isn't sharp. And that is fine.

"I think if you're too sharp now, you won't be in August," Salazar said.

Mo likes to do High volume-High intensity training at High altitude with Hills and Heavy Squats…in Flagstaff, Arizona.

It is just a coincidence.

You're going to offend a lot of the anti-tri crowd on this board by making that suggestion. When I did triathlons after running D1 college track and cross country for four years it eased a lot of my over use injuries. Your legs and joints feel stronger, your aerobic base is there, and I even dropped some weight. Tri training is overall less taxing on the body and I can see how some people can race better than when they were doing running alone.

SkyRunner.Flagstaff.RunnerTeam wrote:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTf35Lpg8VQ/?taken-by=gomofarah

LOL at those pecs and deltoids on a guy running 100mpw. So obviously injecting Testosterone. Looks like Lance Armstrong did pre-cancer.

Well it's not like some triathlete is going to come along and run 8:29 for two miles in high school....

So true!

I've done it both ways. My best racing performances and training consistency was when I cross trained a few days per week.

Look how many elites struggle and take some TUE because they're destroying their bodies.

How many former elites have you heard say "I really wish I ran more miles or more quality?" Answer: NONE!

Training theory aside, that meet sounds like a great way to promote distance running, dancers, beer,music, dancers ,celebs. Let's face it watching a 10 k is pretty tedious to non-runners.

Like watching a NASCAR race without accidents.