16 year old girl runs 2:02 for 800 running in her 2nd race ever

Exactly what I was thinking...swimming is like cycling - a lot more training volume is needed and the body recovers so much quicker...

Why is her 5K so slow?

Averagebum wrote:

Why is her 5K so slow?

Because she's doesn't run any 5k races. The time listed is three years old and from a recreational park run.

I see :)

just someone else wrote:

If we trained our distances runners like we do our swimmers from an early age we would be the best in the world at it. Swimmers are training harder than most college runners by the time they are 10. They have 2-3 hr workouts in the morning and then another 2-3 hr workout in the afternoon 5 days a week. Then they will have a 3 hr workout Saturday morning and possibly Sunday off. I was swimming about 40 miles a week from a very young age, which required about 25 hrs of swimming a week plus all the supplemental.

I know swimming and running are two different sports and the training is different because of the stress on the body, but we do not have a distance running training system in place that even comes close to swimming in this country.

yeah you cant really run for 6 hours a day, especially at a young age. it just doesnt work that way. doing tons of lifting and core isnt really beneficial either. some is, but not everyday. you could do cross training stuff like biking and swimming i suppose, but thats only beneficial up to a point. and if all our kids were running, biking, and swimming for 6 hours a day, we would not have a better running program because everyone would go to triathlon.

running is not as simple as "they work harder". lifestyle is a major difference, but what about all those east africans that come to america at a young age and dominate? they are living american lifestyles and training with american training programs, yet still dominating. how do you explain that? if anything, they simply have better mechanics, which gives them a greater training capacity, allowing them to work harder without getting injured.

So the ability to train harder without getting injured is exclusive to east africans?

Of course those kids who come over from east africa are more committed to running, with the added bonus that they get a good education. They are the best prospect of very large families, they are bound to have a better attitude and lifestyel than rich white kids.

Rainy day wrote:

2nd race.....no genetic advantage there. Kenyans just work harder.

Beautiful sarcasm.

+1

Excellent reply. Consider this a reiteration of this rebuttal in this debate.

"16" in Africa is 20+ in the rest of the world. And by "2nd race ever" in Africa it is really 2nd of the month in the rest of the world.

So you are saying Kenyans don't train harder?

Because that would be stupid. An athlete is only as good as his/her training.

Solinsky broker the US record at 10K in his 2nd race at 10K. Did he have some genetic advantage? Jager just won the US national champs in his 4th or 5th steeple. Genetic advantage? So, this girl has been trianign her whole life without actually knowing it. For her, it was just a commute to school, chores after school and recreation. Or it couls be genetic advantage. Whatever makes you feel better about your yourself.

If that is the case, where were all the other 16-year old hard working Kenyans in this race?

If that is the case, where were all the other 16-year old hard working Kenyans in this race?

Rainy day wrote:

2nd race.....no genetic advantage there. Kenyans just work harder.

now her coach said she is 19. http://www.iaaf.org/news/newsid=65542.html

The high school age swim club where I swim trains roughly 1-1.5 hours each weekday. The best swimmers sometimes swim another hour in the morning, but definitely not every morning. They do train hard for sure. However, that is a far cry from 6 hours a day, every day. And the best girl, a 17 year old, just swam in the Olympic Trials.

My favorite part of the article:

“Lane?” Niyonsaba posed back, when journalists’ sought to know why she chose to run in lane two, exposing her naivety.

Priceless

just someone else wrote:

If we trained our distances runners like we do our swimmers from an early age we would be the best in the world at it. Swimmers are training harder than most college runners by the time they are 10. They have 2-3 hr workouts in the morning and then another 2-3 hr workout in the afternoon 5 days a week. Then they will have a 3 hr workout Saturday morning and possibly Sunday off. I was swimming about 40 miles a week from a very young age, which required about 25 hrs of swimming a week plus all the supplemental.

I know swimming and running are two different sports and the training is different because of the stress on the body, but we do not have a distance running training system in place that even comes close to swimming in this country.

Are there a large number of children really training at this intensity? Really? I'm skeptical, but will admit I don't follow swimming at all.

A co-worker's daughter is into competitive swimming (a high school freshman). She has been swimming on one of the club teams here for as long as I've known the guy (5 years). She doesn't swim on the school team because they "aren't good enough" (type of thing). And this is a city on the West Coast with a pretty competitive swimming environment. She's traveling up and down the West Coast for races and even competed at the US National meet last year (I think in an age group event). Anyway, she is as committed as anyone in her club (and it's a serious club) and they practice 3-5 days a week for about 1 hour (no doubles). I'm not saying that's the benchmark (like I said, I don't follow swimming and this is my only connection), but that seems to be a lot more reasonable to me. Even then, I'm not sure that's something I'd let my children be involved with.

just someone else wrote:

If we trained our distances runners like we do our swimmers from an early age we would be the best in the world at it. Swimmers are training harder than most college runners by the time they are 10. They have 2-3 hr workouts in the morning and then another 2-3 hr workout in the afternoon 5 days a week. Then they will have a 3 hr workout Saturday morning and possibly Sunday off. I was swimming about 40 miles a week from a very young age, which required about 25 hrs of swimming a week plus all the supplemental.

I know swimming and running are two different sports and the training is different because of the stress on the body, but we do not have a distance running training system in place that even comes close to swimming in this country.

100% true. If someone makes a kid train at a young age, everyone on here says they'll burn out or that they are being abused. But all of the same people cheer on the 14-16 year old gymnastic and iceskaters who have been abused in training since barely after they were able to walk. If runners went through the same thing that our gymnastics and ice skating teams did we'd be insanely good. (i'm not advocating for that)

walking/jogging to school like the africans do, and therefore,it has the drive, the work ethic, and the athletes to excel at distance running too, IF WE HAD THE TALEN TO GET IT DONE. We don't have the talent to beat the east africans (oh sure, once in a blue moon), so we don't. End of story.'

Garbage the US has a handful of full time athletes most of whom tried to combine studying with training p. Kenya and Ethiopia have hundreds of full time athlete

America is obsessed in winning sports nobody else takes seriously and sprints, the basis of which is doping. You are one of those people actually who cannot stand the fact your country is being beaten at something and has to make excuses