"growing up on the farm has been a huge asset to my career" - Elle Purrier

Easily but could they “hang” with me on a 2 mile run with me being nice and only doing 7:30s? Probably not

farm to track wrote:

It would be interesting to see whether you could hang with some of those sloppy-looking farmers for a few days of work.

That said, you're missing the point, which is that farm work is excellent general physical preparation for running, any any other sport. If you spend your summers working, you don't need to post on LR asking about "core", etc.

You're doing the same thing: thinking there is something magical, pure, and noble about hard physical work as opposed to "working out". Why would you dismiss someone as somehow inferior for asking about exercises to improve their core strength? If they do it, and it works, then great! Why the fetish for manual labor? Been watching Rocky IV a lot? Is a person instrinsically "better" if they acquire their strength digging ditches over the summer rather than working out in a weight room? And presumably they are also more simple and honest, and always able to respond to your questions with deceptively clever bits of homespun wisdom. Would it help if they drive around in a dusty, beat-up old pickup truck?

I actually grew up on a farm until the age of 8 and can without a doubt say it aided in my running career. I didn't do back breaking work from a young age or anything, but I was almost always outside running around and being active. I never had one stress fracture my entire career either (despite running up to 150mpw) and attribute that to the nutrition and farm fresh stuff I ate growing up.

I've been thinking about that recently too farming could be the best type of recovery and or cross training.

Something outside in the fresh air for hours at a time that's different than running where do you use all of your body in different ways.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: we need to get the Amish into running.

We'd have world-class runners from 1500m-10,000m & XC after no more than four years of development - I guarantee this.

These people simply work harder than everyone else. Elle's experience (along with Jim Ryun and wrestler Rulon Gardner (wiki: He attributes his strength to the physical labor that he performed growing up and working on the family's dairy farm.[4])) prove this out.

Only incidental connection between farming and running success.

But there are some good running farmers. Lets not forget potato farmer Tim Cheruiyot.

Cliff Young was another running potato farmer.

Kipchoge lived on a farm and has been descrbe as a farmer.

Former marathon record holder Dennis Kimetto was (and is) a farmer.

But ask Dick Beardsley how conducive farming is to running...

And Purrier really improved when she turned pro, added more miles which burned off some of the dairy farm milk fat.

Ellie Purrier proves conservatives do it better!

Routine and sustained physical movement from a young age is a big part of athletic success. Good genetics alone isn't nearly enough. That Norwegian guy with the highest VO2 max ever measured never won much. Good genes + years of hard work + mental toughness = (possible) world class success. It shouldn't be surprising that little suburban kids who get driven everywhere and rarely go outside never become good athletes (and at least some of them, just playing the numbers game, would have good enough genetics). Farm kids (who happen to have good genes) have their work ethic honed by hard chores over many years. Nothing is a guarantee, but that recipe increases the odds.

Maybe she knows the price of soy or corn, unlike Joni Ernst

OldManRunners wrote:

"throughout high school, she would rise at 5 a.m. to milk the cows and do other chores—throwing hay bales, taking care of pigs, shoveling out the barn."

"Coming out of high school, she never ran more than 30 miles a week. But she was strong as a horse from the intense physical labor put in each day."

Plenty of East Africans grew up on a farm doing chores like this. Have we had it wrong all along? Maybe it's not about the mega mileage as a kid but the total body strength work in the early formative years that can prove beneficial to later success?

Does being "farm strong" early in your life correlate to running success later in life? Elle's case seems to suggest it does. She looks strong and she is strong.

You lost me at "every morning." F that! She didn't get to sleep in which stunted her growth and potential.

college roomie grew up on a farm. He was an early riser, got his 'chores' done on time. A great runner? Not so much..

Pushing the lawn mower around ~2 acres of Alabama "jungle" helped me immensely. About the time that I finished up mowing the far side of the yard, it was time to start on the other side. Maybe there is some PED benefit from fire ant bites? ;-)

Makes you a bit stronger, but doesnt give you a VO2 max of 85. It's like people who are 102 saying they drank a shot of jack everyday. More likely the genes.

What’s the big deal?

Millions of Americans have grown up on a farm.

For that matter…millions across the world have grown up on a farm.

Big deal.

Growing up on the farm means an earlier death.