Is this legit on Marius Bakken's high school training?

Yep, that sounds like typical York training, although most kids don't do their intervals that fast.

How is that possible?? Where's the rest??

T.Loh wrote:

How is that possible?? Where's the rest??

There are times to rest. But if you don't need to rest you shouldn't bother. Western running went into the tank when it developed this fixation with rest.

Yeah, "Most kids don't do their intervals that fast". How about NOBODY could pull that shit off. Reading these weekly logs pisses me off, because if you could do that, then you should have been able to break 4:00 for a mile then, or 8:50 for 2 miles, and he couldn't. Of course now, he can run 13:09. I just don't understand these training weeks, with 5 incredibly hard days each week. You shouldn't be able to do that unless you are world class.

yeah. its bulshit. kid comes in with a 4:15 1500 meter pr and then runs:

Monday: 4x1 mile 30 sec. recovery. 4.45/4.43/4.45/4.18. 1x300 m. all out.

give me a f-ng break. thats not possible, we all know it. will someone on that york team please call bakken out on it?

He came from Norway, not from McDonald's USA where over half of population is overweight and stupid. Apparently the latter propagates this board.

Marius Bakken "I think it was 5x1 mile. I did the first 4 in 4.30-35 and the last one in 4.18 with about a minute rest. The next week I did 13.54 in the 3 mile on track.?

-(At York High School in 1995)

He ran 14:27 5k and 8:15 3k at age 17.

I was there. My my kids ran with Marius during his year at York, and every word Marius writes is true. He left York having run 4.07 in the 1600, 8.57 in the 3200 (in 45 degree temps with a 25 mph wind) and 1.51 in the 800. He medaled in all 3 events at the state meet, never had been done before in IL history. I will not call him out because he is telling gospel truth. Those are normal York workouts, believe it or not. Those who know will tell you true; those who don't want to believe or cannot believe, ts. And there are not 5 tough days in a row. Joe Newton is not stupid. I saw Marius run the 13.54 on the track.

Marius tells it true.

That profile is one in a new book due out in mid - late June. If you go to

www.joffroirunning.com/book.html

you can see the full list of the profiles covered in the book.

From what I understand this is the 1st book in a series on how different events train. The next book will be HS Girls Distance.

The guy who wrote the book, John Nepolitan(who by the way is not Joffroi) interviewed each of these athletes.

On the link there is a way to buy the book now.

Some of the idiotic responses on this thread are truly amazing. Anyone who raced against Bakken or just saw him run in high school would recognize these workouts as being something of which he clearly would be capable. Consider that Bakken ran in the World Championships when runners of his same year in school had just finished their junior year in college. Bakken made it to the finals of the WC. There are only 2 American who have ever gone faster and they are Bob Kennedy and Sydney Maree. He ran 13:11 when he was 22. Please name all the Americans who have run faster at that distance at that age. The answer is none. Given what he has accomplished to date and the young age at which it has been done, it shouldn't be all that surpising to read over his workouts.

It was also quite clear watching Bakken race in high school that his performance were only small indications of his potential. His 8:57 was run (4:31/4:26 with a 61 final quarter) at a dual meet in very windy conditions. Newton said afterwards he didn't think Bakken would be able to run much faster than 9:20 given the conditions and that he more than likely would have been in the low to mid 8:40s without the wind. His 4:07 was also run in a dual meet without competition.

Also, before getting to York, he didn't have nearly the intensity in his training. He hadn't run cross-country before. His PRs before coming to York were meaningless. The 4xmile in 4:45, 4:43, 4:45, 4:18 was profiled in a Chicago newspaper article. The people who witnessed the workout couldn't believe it.

Bakken is lying about his workouts about as much as he is lying about his 13:09 5000 PR.

Hey Morecelli: were you there when Marius ran that 8.57? I was. Do I know you? Man, that was such a cruddy day. It was blowing cold and rainy, and he still knocked off 8.57. Had Marius not tried the triple at the state meet, he would have run much faster in his other races, which he only ran to win, so his 3200 was a 9.14 and his 1600 was around 4.14, with his 800 1.53. And it was warm that day. Let's see how Chris Solinsky does with his triple coming up in WI.

Anyway, you tell it true. People who do not know York and Newton always cannot believe what his workouts are like. You ask my kids, both of whom are now coaching track and xc themselves at age almost 23, what they think of Newton and he figures in their life ahead of everyone but mom and dad. My one son, in his first year of coaching in a tiny town in IA just qualifed 2 runners for the state meet (1600, 3200), from a team of 7 athletes total (they triple lots of events in small town Iowa). Newton's influence.

I wonder what people would think if they found out that Newton ran 25x400 with 1 minute intervals every Monday in xc season, with 3 mile warm ups and 3 mile cool downs following 10x100? And 130 kids ran that each Monday without complaint. 4x1 mile? Yep, they ran that once per season as well.

Greenliner,

Wasn't there for the 8:57. Just remember hearing about it. I was Bakken's year at LT. So, I remember your kids although they were a couple years younger. Newton yelling "Come on twin!"

At state Bakken was actually 9:07, 1:53, 4:12. In the 3200, he hit the last lap in right around 7:50, looking back the last 400 as he jogged in a 77 to conserve energy. The 800 was more of a tactical mistake. He simply didn't go out hard enough and had poor position. 1600 was incredible 4:12 (2:11/2:01). He opened it up with a 63 3rd lap and was flying with a 58 final 400. I think that triple performance did leave him incredibly drained and hindered him from being able to pop off a really fast post-season race.

I had said it before and I said it many times after the state meet that Bakken was going to be in the Olympic 5000 one day. I just thought it would be 2004, not 2000 when he made his first trip.

Right you are on the times. See what happens when you get old like me? Memory goes once you hit 50. Yes, when Marius ran the International Prep Invite after state he was only around 4th in the 800. And hey, it was an LT runner who took Marius in the 800. LT always did have great middle distance guys. Marius put up with more shit than anyone should have to. Lots of people think Newton recruited him. Truth is, a local minister, Jim Gross, helped bring Marius to York (Jim's son was called Tree by Newton since he was so tall), and that was because he had heard that this foreign exchange student wanted to run while in the US. He suggested York as a result and the rest was history. We figured him for the Oly 5k even though he initially wanted to run the 800 because he felt he could never compete with the Kenyans.

Newton still can't tell my twins apart. But I saw the old man last week in Wheaton Warrenville, and he asked after them, got their addresses and dropped them each a note. Marius made it to the Olys. Sage is next. Hope all has gone well with you.

I have read Joe Newton's book (Coaching High School Cross-Country Successfully) and tore through the first two-thirds - Lots of great ideas for high school coaches on building team spirit, recruiting, etc. Then I got to his training cycles and was flabbergasted. It was unlike anything I had ever seen (or have seen, frankly) for training. No hard/easy pattern, fartleks that had about 30 different pickups, and intervals almost everyday. I was an ok high school runner (4:29/9:58) and I figured there was no way I could have lived through that. But, his results certainly speak for themselves. I would love to hear more from former York runners, especially about what happened to them after high school.

Those are my kids on page 65 of Newton's book, and that's Marius on page 64. If you want to hear from former York runners, send me your email address and I'll pass it on to my kids for them to get in touch. I am at

Dana5140@aol.com

.

Some kind of training, huh? When people see that training program, they simply cannot believe it. And remember, 120+kids per year did all that. We figure my kids did well over 10,000 miles through HS.

His workouts are all legitament and I guarantee that everything else on my site and all the other profiles in the book are completly real too.

OK, my last post was stupid because it makes it sound like I don't believe that Marius did those workouts. I know that he did, that he was and is a special runner. I guess what annoys me is the stories of good, not great, runners doing these kinds of weeks, but not being able to run the times that such workouts would indicate. It seems like those runners shouldn't have been going hard 5 times in a week. I also wonder how people could string weeks like this together without breaking down.

Hard training is only impressive if it is followed by great performances. If the performances do not correlate with the training, then some hard questions need to be asked.

And I realize that we're talking about a very successful program here, one that did indeed yield lots of great performances. But I wonder how many casualties there were along the way, guys who would have been great in college but were ruined.

And remember, 120+kids per year did all that. We figure my kids did well over 10,000 miles through HS. >>

This is the only thing I question about my good friend Greenliner's post. I've heard Newton himself say that freshmen don't run anywhere near this much.