Let's talk about Jane Hedengren's professional approach to training from a young age.

But this just helps level the playing field a little with the East Africans. Kipyegon, Chebet, Gidey, etc were all world jr champions whose talent was identified at a young age where distance running is a national sport. And they had access to top coaching, competition and training partners to facilitate developing their talent.

yikes... John is not a mad scientist trying to create the perfect runner in his lab. hes a dad who emphasises more than anything else that his kids have fun and truly enjoy what they do and that they care for others in the process. all that is very important to him and to Jane who has always been mature for her age and is certainly old enough to appreciate that now. if any of his kids didnt enjoy running they wouldnt be running. fortunately for him (and for us) Jane loves to compete and loves to push herself and will continue to do so at BYU and with any luck into a professional career. and her dad does what any good dad would do, he leans on his expertise to help his kids maintain their joy for the sport and minimize any difficulties. but he doesnt assume to know her ceiling or where her motivation will be in 5 or 10 years. so none of us should pretend to know that either. lets just watch and let the kid run.

I wasn’t saying she was injury prone. I was responding to the post that said she was injury prone.

How do you determine if an injury is a normal part of the sport or some sort of training issue? On some level, aren’t all injuries training issues? I’m not blaming anyone, just saying that’s the real challenge in coaching; training at a level to maximize performance without causing injury.

en.wikipedia.org

John D. Hedengren

John D. Hedengren (born July 3, 1977) is an American chemical engineer, professor at Brigham Young University, and researcher known for his work in process control, dynamic optimization, and machine learning applications in e...

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byucougars.com

Five former Cougars inducted into BYU Athletic Hall of Fame

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Interesting background

The wasn’t my intention in pointing out his background. All of the things you said highlight what I am getting at: John has known what he is doing all along. He isn’t the overbearing parent pushing his kid to do more and more despite their own wishes. He is using their own motivation to guide them safely to success while using his own ingenuity to help them do things correctly.

So what about all the high school boys who ran sub 4 minute miles the last few years, are they at risk of burnout from elite training -OR- just Jane H? 🤔

elle purier st pierre is the model for a woman to peak in her mid 20s.

Her HS mile:4:50. 5k:17:50.

she made multiple national teams.

boys have a different development curve than girls. they don't have a time where their body changes and they slow down. Girls do...some get out of it faster, some don't.

Says you. Plenty of girls have followed, and will continue to follow, different trajectories. Elle also ran in high school pre-super shoes. It’s silly to think her career is still the model using her times.

Not a coached runner and somewhat new to this forum but watching Jane on video I was reminded of the form of Gaylen Rupp running against Mo Farah in the closing of some road race I saw a few years ago. Correction and comments appreciated.

Why is the Purrier route the model? It's just one model.

Many ways to skin a cat.

It doesn't really matter if you start running many years before high school or not.

For example, senior Makenna Herbst used to just run spring track. She didn't run in the summer or the fall until summer 2024. This is the first year she decided to train year round. And with only 7 or 8 months of hard training she just ran the 8th fastest indoor 800 in history at New Balance. If you have a lot of talent, like both Makenna Herbst and Jane Hedengren do, you don't need to start training hard in 4th or 5th grade.

Not to glaze John anymore but he’s a big deal in the chemical engineering world, process control specifically. Probably one of the top professors on the ascent and he has really strong industry connections as well. I had the same advisor as him at UT many years after the fact and it was a worlds collide moment when I connected the running side with the chem e side.

It's 99% talent. That 6th grade girl who just ran a mile in 4:57 is named Angie Alder. Her mom was an Olympian.

Even if Angie Alder hadn't started running until 9th grade, she would still be an outstanding high school runner because she has great genes.

Give me a break. There are dozens of high school girls every year that run those times, and only 1% of them will ever make an Olympic or World Championship team. Yes, every once in a while someone suddenly blossoms in their 20's, but that doesn't make that rare instance a "model".

Let's not and say we did.

This is bs. That would only work with inputs. We have no evidence base that any form leads to injury. There are no " hot spots". If there are he should publish this work in Nature, or Science.

That's very true that girls Plateau but it's also extremely interesting that some don't and many of the girls of plateau do not have body changes that are disadvantageos. some do but many don't. I considered it the greatest mystery in all of running.