Parker Valby/Natalie Cook - what am I missing?

I dont know, you could have also said theres no way she becomes a double national XC champ and a 15:25 5K record holder by running <20 mpw and cross training. but she did. and anyway she might never be able to achieve that whether she is cross training or running. so you cant really say that would be only because she doesnt run enough. plus isnt it kind of irrelevant though because her parents have said when she gets to college she WILL be increasing her mileage? My guess is that doesnt mean they throw her into the OKC high mileage club in September but its unlikely she will be swimming her way to the Big 12 finals. Just gotta figure out what that means for her exactly.

By the way, was she the only one that did anything like that on her team? Coach Cook has quite the impressive stable down there. I mean they put the first three girls across the line in BOTH the 1600 and the 3200 at the state finals with four different girls. So its not all Cook and her magic genetics. He must be doing something right. So does he also coach the twins and the other girls with a higher amount of cardio than normal? has he stumbled across some magic formula that everyone will be using 5 years from now? maybe not the extreme of what Natalie did this past year but differently than we have been thinking about it before? Inquiring minds...

I don't know. But they have a strong program there. Alex Maier came out of Flower Mound, no?

I hear you, but the reason Cook won't run 14:40 is because she doesn't have the raw speed needed to do so.

that's sub-4 1500 territory. which in turn implies right around 2-flat for 800 and around sub-55 400.

i don't see that happening no matter what sort of training she does.

I don't know either runner, but I wouldn't be surprised that Parker Valby is telly the truth about her mileage. I heard she was a high mileage runner before having injury problems, so probably has quite a strong base that has carried her through this time of limited running. She is known to be a very hard worker, so is probably cross training a lot. If she minimizes anything, it would be the amount of cross training she is doing, which is probably a whole bunch.

Eh I think people really underrate how good of shape you can get in from the elliptical, which Valby and Cook both do a ton.

I couldn’t run for 3 months with a calf tear but was able to elliptical and basically did it at the same intensity for the same time as I would have been running and when I got back at it I had barely lost any fitness, actually PR’d in the half about one month after starting to run again, while still doing a couple days a week on the elliptical

Parker Valby runs 20+ miles a day when she was healthy.

Post- injury Valby and Cook may not be running as much as others but they are still exerting high amount of effort on a different type of training. The aerobic training works and gives them better fitness, but so does running. Focusing more on aerobic training will result to having slower turnover as those who train more on track.

Also, having to run less is an advantage but that is not something that works always.

Valby's body physic shouts intense training, although maybe age could also play a role as she does not look like she's the same age as Tuohy. One thing I observed are the veins on her arms, forehead and legs... it means that she runs and trains pretty hard, harder than Tuohy in my opinion and if not then that is age.

no, it means she is really lean

For us older runners, this idea of 3-4 quality days and cross on the others is getting increasing focus from a lot of coaches . in addition, most of the triathletes I know are running 1-2 days max and then still running excellent half and full marathon times

Schweizer 4:00/14:26 so you are incorrect.

Actually, she is significantly thinner than in high school. However, she is now a collegiate runner, with high level nutrition, coaches, strength program and training.