I specifically remember someone who won a major marathon decades ago maybe 80's or 90's who did his speed work at the beginning of the macrocycle and the highest volume close to the race.
I tried googling it but AI was caught making stuff up.
I specifically remember someone who won a major marathon decades ago maybe 80's or 90's who did his speed work at the beginning of the macrocycle and the highest volume close to the race.
I tried googling it but AI was caught making stuff up.
A runner is not like a house. You need to build the base first.
That is a thread killer! I am guessing you meant that "A runner is not like a house." My point is that most kids work on speed first by playing sports that demand it as children. I also know coaches who continued on that schedule for as long as possible for young kids, because once you run lots of long, hard intervals it tends to kill your top speed.
Steve Spence famously inverted his marathon training by building speed early and pushing volume and distance later in the training block. Instead of the traditional method of building a massive base of long runs first, he honed his speed during the summer road-race season, and then turned almost exclusively to massive mileage and endurance close to race day. [1, 2] This inverted approach is widely credited with helping him peak for his bronze-medal performance at the 1991 World Championships: [1, 2, 3, 4] Early Block (Speed): Spence focused on shorter, faster road races to establish baseline speed. He worked on running efficiency without taxing his legs with marathon-length distances. [1] Later Block (Volume and Distance): He inverted the last 12 weeks of his plan. Spence logged massive, grueling mileage blocks (averaging 125 to 135 miles per week), with his highest mileage and longest runs placed just two to three weeks before the race. [1, 2, 3]
When I coached distance in the 90's I finally had a great distance runner.
The states were over almost a month before the footlocker national qualifier. There were no team nationals and footlocker took only 8 spots.
I tried long intervals to prepare for the event and he had his first bad race.
The next year I had my second great runner. This time he increased his miles from the state meet until the national qualifier and missed by 1 second. My third great runner the next year increased miles from states until the championship and also missed by 1 second.
At this time the state had not had a boy qualifier in a long time.
worst case scenario, you’re 80% slow twitch. If that’s you, then you can still enlarge those muscles and grease the groove on those pathways to learn how to move and explode.
Then you’re going to be like 25%% FT 75% ST and better at firing them after lifting and form drills and humility for a year or two
Steve Spence famously inverted his marathon training by building speed early and pushing volume and distance later in the training block. Instead of the traditional method of building a massive base of long runs first, he honed his speed during the summer road-race season, and then turned almost exclusively to massive mileage and endurance close to race day. [1, 2] This inverted approach is widely credited with helping him peak for his bronze-medal performance at the 1991 World Championships: [1, 2, 3, 4] Early Block (Speed): Spence focused on shorter, faster road races to establish baseline speed. He worked on running efficiency without taxing his legs with marathon-length distances. [1] Later Block (Volume and Distance): He inverted the last 12 weeks of his plan. Spence logged massive, grueling mileage blocks (averaging 125 to 135 miles per week), with his highest mileage and longest runs placed just two to three weeks before the race. [1, 2, 3]
It would be interesting to see if he carried any of that over to his coaching.
Steve Spence famously inverted his marathon training by building speed early and pushing volume and distance later in the training block. Instead of the traditional method of building a massive base of long runs first, he honed his speed during the summer road-race season, and then turned almost exclusively to massive mileage and endurance close to race day. [1, 2] This inverted approach is widely credited with helping him peak for his bronze-medal performance at the 1991 World Championships: [1, 2, 3, 4] Early Block (Speed): Spence focused on shorter, faster road races to establish baseline speed. He worked on running efficiency without taxing his legs with marathon-length distances. [1] Later Block (Volume and Distance): He inverted the last 12 weeks of his plan. Spence logged massive, grueling mileage blocks (averaging 125 to 135 miles per week), with his highest mileage and longest runs placed just two to three weeks before the race. [1, 2, 3]
Steve Spence famously inverted his marathon training by building speed early and pushing volume and distance later in the training block. Instead of the traditional method of building a massive base of long runs first, he honed his speed during the summer road-race season, and then turned almost exclusively to massive mileage and endurance close to race day. [1, 2] This inverted approach is widely credited with helping him peak for his bronze-medal performance at the 1991 World Championships: [1, 2, 3, 4] Early Block (Speed): Spence focused on shorter, faster road races to establish baseline speed. He worked on running efficiency without taxing his legs with marathon-length distances. [1] Later Block (Volume and Distance): He inverted the last 12 weeks of his plan. Spence logged massive, grueling mileage blocks (averaging 125 to 135 miles per week), with his highest mileage and longest runs placed just two to three weeks before the race. [1, 2, 3]
I think Charlie Spedding did something similar before his OG marathon bronze.
Interval training does not improve leg speed; drills, running short distances of less than 200 meters, and hill workouts are more likely to do that. I found out in the 1970s that if I improved my top speed it would make running easier at any speed, yet interval training is also necessary to build the ability to buffer acid.
When I coached distance in the 90's I finally had a great distance runner.
The states were over almost a month before the footlocker national qualifier. There were no team nationals and footlocker took only 8 spots.
I tried long intervals to prepare for the event and he had his first bad race.
The next year I had my second great runner. This time he increased his miles from the state meet until the national qualifier and missed by 1 second. My third great runner the next year increased miles from states until the championship and also missed by 1 second.
At this time the state had not had a boy qualifier in a long time.
You are only getting downvotes because we have posters here who didn't pay attention to running (they were too young) until 2004.
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