What type of training does German Fernandez do?

face reality guys wrote:

there is no magic workout or program that separtes German from guys running 9:30 and 4:20. It's his natural born talent that is brought out by hard work.

no, there is no magic workout, but it's not just hard work that's making him good - it's smart, effective, efficient work (indicated by his massive improvement in short time). That's why we're wondering what he does - What is his smart work? So of course he is doing something different than the 930 or 420 guys. Could just be consistency, but it could be something about his training.

You guys all talk about talent. Yes you have to have a bit of talent, but 90% of success is plain-ol guts. The problem is most runners havent learned how to push themselves and hurt; and how to train effectively. If more kids got away from the TV and accepted pain, you would see Americans competeting wit the the Africans. The Africans can accept pain and tolerate it due to thier lifestyle.

Training- Too long to explain, but kids need to put it on the line in practice more, stretching, vitamins, good diet, medetation etc.

checker wrote:

Yes you have to have a bit of talent, but 90% of success is plain-ol guts.

Incorrect. 90% of success is plain-ol talent. The rest is guts and work. Some guys can break 14:00 for 5k off of 40-50 miles per week (I knew a few), and some will never get close even if they run 160 damn hard miles per week. Just as I would have never broken 4:00 (or 4:10 for that matter) for the mile (some guys could never break 5:00) no matter how hard I trained, though Alan Webb made it look easy in high school.

It's true that German has been plagued by injuries in HS, and hadn't really been able to train consistently 'til last year. He is now running significantly more volume, though-- I'm not sure about specifics, but there was an interview with him a little while ago in which he said that, leading up to his run at Jr. Worlds XC, he was running mileage consistently ~70mpw. Looks like that has paid off.

It says on the IAAF site that his birthday is 2/11/90. So if that info. is correct, he has turned 18 several months ago.

Aaaaaarrrmy training Sir!

Sagarin wrote:

checker wrote:

Yes you have to have a bit of talent, but 90% of success is plain-ol guts.

Incorrect. 90% of success is plain-ol talent. The rest is guts and work. Some guys can break 14:00 for 5k off of 40-50 miles per week (I knew a few), and some will never get close even if they run 160 damn hard miles per week. Just as I would have never broken 4:00 (or 4:10 for that matter) for the mile (some guys could never break 5:00) no matter how hard I trained, though Alan Webb made it look easy in high school.

I will add this though. A rather large part of the "talent" isn't the inherited physiological capabilities of potential max VO2 or running economy so much as it's the capability to sustain and adapt to ever higher training loads. Some people simply seem to break down at a certain level, and it has nothing to do with ramping up too fast, running too many intervals, etc, though that IS often the case. But, many a runner on here will get caught up in all these fanciful notions of emulating other runners, either by doing big mileage all in singles close to aerobic threshold, or adding doubles, or doing four or five tempo runs a week because it worked for the "other guy." And 90% of them will fail. It's always a delicate balance, and the nascent ability to sustain a heavy training load is the real talent. Not eveyone has it. Ryan Hall sure seems to. Ritz -- not so much.

Sagarin wrote:

Incorrect. 90% of success is plain-ol talent. The rest is guts and work. Some guys can break 14:00 for 5k off of 40-50 miles per week (I knew a few), and some will never get close even if they run 160 damn hard miles per week. Just as I would have never broken 4:00 (or 4:10 for that matter) for the mile (some guys could never break 5:00) no matter how hard I trained, though Alan Webb made it look easy in high school.

I disagree. Most of success is hard, smart training. The rest comes from the lows odds that you run with near perfect form. The lowest contribution comes from genetic/physical means. If you can't break 14:00 off of 160 miles per week, then you're obviously not doing the best training for yourself. 14:00 is plenty slow enough for ANYONE with a light, lean body to run. It just may take lots of consistency and time. Most of the guys that I know that can't run "fast" are guys who have no sprint speed which is one of the biggest limiting factors.

As far as you go...any normal human can break 5:00. Any normal human can break 4:00. It just takes the right work and technique (technique doesn't get stressed enough). Sagarin, what are your prs from 100m to 10k? Maybe you didn't have the sprint speed to run that fast. Maybe you didn't work on your endurance enough. What was your training history like over the years?

"Yes you have to have a bit of talent, but 90% of success is plain-ol guts."

You are an idiot. So many on here dismiss natural talent as if it's a bad thing or an excuse. when you have guys running like this, or like most of the elites, they are TALENTED they have good genes. it's nothing to be ashamed of. But to sit there and think that they only think seprating Fernandez from the #7 guy on the team is just "plain ol guts" or some magic workout is just wrong wrong wrong wrong!

Does anyone know this kid's real age?

The IAAF site says that his birthday is 2/11/90. This would make him over 18.

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/country=USA/athcode=240381/index.html

However, if you look at the results from a race he ran on 2/4/2007, it says he is 17 years old. If his birthdate is 2/11/90, he should have been only 16 for the Davis Stampede (which happened a week before his 17th b-day).

http://www.changeofpace.com/2007_davis_stampede_results.html

http://www.changeofpace.com/race_times/2007/DS/hover.txt

Very confusing, but he's probably 18 or 19 years old.

Ez10Miler wrote:

"Yes you have to have a bit of talent, but 90% of success is plain-ol guts."

You are an idiot. So many on here dismiss natural talent as if it's a bad thing or an excuse. when you have guys running like this, or like most of the elites, they are TALENTED they have good genes. it's nothing to be ashamed of. But to sit there and think that they only think seprating Fernandez from the #7 guy on the team is just "plain ol guts" or some magic workout is just wrong wrong wrong wrong!

let's get to the bottom of this - what does talented mean?

To me, "talented" means the fact of possesing qualities or history that gives you a head start above your peers. This could be genetic or it could just be by chance. Things such as: already having great form before beginning official running training, history of playing other sports(especially soccer or swimming), and diet.

What does talented mean to you? and what characteristics about genes make you talented?

age discrepancy wrote:

Does anyone know this kid's real age?

The IAAF site says that his birthday is 2/11/90. This would make him over 18.

Dear friends, most people on Earth, outside of the USA, would interpret this as November 2nd, 1990. Remember that this is the IAAF site.

Thus, German is 17 until November.

Are the Davis Stampede results a typo? He is listed as being 17 years old on February 4, 2007. Maybe that's a typo or he's been 17 years old for over a year!

Even you name- EZ10Miler indicates your softness.

Get off your computer and get out there and hit the road.

Try HARD10miler next time. What do you know about training? Your training probably doesnt allow you to fully maximize your talent, thats why you dont understand others capabilities. I hope you dont coach!

Start believing in yourself !

His times are impressive, but I'm even more impressed by his physical grace. Watch that 3200 race again. The kid is running effortlessly, with amazingly relaxed arm carriage. Just a naturally fluid, powerful, and economical stride.

Watch from about 3 minutes in. The kids trying to keep up with him aren't even in the same race.

His arm carriage seems much more compact than Ryan Hall's, but when each runner gets in his groove, there's a certain common element.

checker

do you belive that the only difference between you and Fernandez is "belief in yourself" and the perfect interval work out??

You've seen too many movies dude.

Ez10Miler wrote:

"Yes you have to have a bit of talent, but 90% of success is plain-ol guts."

You are an idiot. So many on here dismiss natural talent as if it's a bad thing or an excuse. when you have guys running like this, or like most of the elites, they are TALENTED they have good genes. it's nothing to be ashamed of. But to sit there and think that they only think seprating Fernandez from the #7 guy on the team is just "plain ol guts" or some magic workout is just wrong wrong wrong wrong!

Talent or training?

Murray Halberg

Age 18 before Lydiard 4:41 mile, 10:22 2 mile

first year age 19 4:17 mile 9:37 2 mile

2nd year age 20 4:04 mile 9:09 2 mile

3rd year age 21 8:55 2 mile

4th year age 22 4:01 mile 8:51 2 mile

eventually he got down to 3:57.5 and 8:30 WR for 2 mile and was Olympic Champion in the 5000. He accomplished all this despite having a withered arm.

Taken from John Molvar’s Lydiard Thesis (1/04)

No, thats not all I believe- you must have a good well balanced diet, stretching, medetation, vitamins, massage. I started running 4 years ago and ran a 7:41 mile, Im now down to 5:45. This is due to my work ethic and factors above. Ive also included breathing exercises which might bring me under 5:30!!. If I grew up in Kenya who knows how good I would have been by now?

ps- last week I placed 3rd in a 5k in my age group. Thats no big deal, but I beat alot of guys who normally beat me, but my tough traing and guts finished them off.

Talent is way overrated. Americans are just not training as hard as others. Stop using genetics as an excuse for guts!

speaking of movies- Seriously, you need to rewatch Rocky and/or Chariots of fire. Get your fire back!!