Why do American men distance runners suck?

You Assmericans believe in talent and that is your setback.

Kenyans' belief in talent is an encouragement to them.

The damn difference is that, Assmericans don't believe they possess the "Talent", Kenyans do.

troll

Americans are too well fed. We need to go the way of boxing and have weight divisions. When you are 110 pounds..hey! What American athlete is 110 pounds? Oh yeah....jockeys.

Highly schooled runner wrote:

You Assmericans believe in talent and that is your setback.

Kenyans' belief in talent is an encouragement to them.

The damn difference is that, Assmericans don't believe they possess the "Talent", Kenyans do.

EXACTLY. Everyone posting here talking aobut genetics is talking bull. Most American runners have the gentics to be great runners, but they waste their talent, and have very little self belief.

americans shouldnt complain anymore. As a european i can see that america has some of the best now time whise.

I mean when in the 70's - 80's so many americans ran 13:10 and 13:04,...

If it has nothing to do with genetics, why has the non-african world not produced any sub 27 min 10k runners ? Nobody outside africa has any self belief, and none have tried hard enough. Only africans believe or are tough enough ?

I am not for one moment suggesting it is all genetics, but it just as clearly isnt all self belief.

US distance is vastly improved in the last couple of years. However, American football takes funds away from other international sports that the US needs to be competitive in.

Right now there is nobody in Europe as good as Webb, Lincoln, Robison, and Teg.

Africans are genitically superior. End of story.

doug225550 wrote:

if meb and kk dont count then why does the german born frank shorter?

I bet it had something to do with the color of his skin...

I think that the person who started this thread is really asking why WHITE male runners have sucked lately, as opposed to the 70's.

yeah no kidding...tim broe and bob kennedy...those guys sure do suck ass

Get off the born at altitude and live at altitude kick. Any simpe-minded person knows it is a matter of how close to the equator you live, not altiude

In my opinion:

"As the spirit wanes, the form appears." Bukowski

Our guiding lights (old coaches) base their workout regime on old techniques with a few exceptions, and these new guides adopt methodology from coaches that are getting results currently around the world. They too need to be careful not to be locked into methodology as prescribed.

Many young and gifted athletes give away their dream for early glory and let pressure from the American running community ruin their focus. Americans can be too caught up in the drama and prestige, instead of thinking of their own progress in the moment, now.

Too many artificial limitations set and so I believe US elite athletes become locked in by the pressure to measure up to a close world defining level instead of their own particular process.

The coaching answer lies in people whom know physiology, but are not rigorous in the application of it. Mental training means not getting overly serious as a person and recovering in a way that restores energy to all working systems and creative faculties.

A teacher will help a creative person bring out the best that is inherent in them. A teacher will know when it's time to put away the medium in order for that athlete to restore the joy that makes things happen.

Objectivity will follow if enthusiasm allows. Do not lose sight of that which gets your spirit to hammer and it will not help just to measure up. The work that evolves comes from the past but maintains uniqueness and freshness in process that should be discovered, rather than copied.

Tim broe and Bob Kennedy do suck... compared to the Kenyians. If PRE were around, and in his youth, today he'd find a way to beat them. Why don't the current American hopefuls have this same drive, ambition and training ethics.

Fisen wrote:

By the way: it´s a misconception that distance running is the national sport in Kenya. The big sport in Kenya, like in most non-US countries, is soccer.

Not true. Running is bigger than soccer in Kenya - and Ethiopia. Soccer is bigger than running in Morocco and Algeria.

Look at what Americans value in our society. Who gets attention from the ladies? Running is neither sexy nor lucrative in our culture. Nobody likes the sport in the US. The lack of interest in T&F is the main reason I go to boards such as this so can find other fans and see what their thoughts are in the sport. I have nobody to talk to in person about T&F.

In East Africa, $80K is a princely sum and well worth a Kenyan's or Ethiopan's efforts to pursue a career in distance running. In America, you might as well get a degree in engineering, pharamacy, physical therapy, or business administration etc.. if you want to make that kind of money. About the 'sexy' part, who wants to look like a skeleton? I know that there will be some women who will say that like men who have a runners build, but for everyone of them, there are lots of others who go for the hulking types found in football and baseball.

tri4ever wrote:

Tim broe and Bob Kennedy do suck... compared to the Kenyians. If PRE were around, and in his youth, today he'd find a way to beat them. Why don't the current American hopefuls have this same drive, ambition and training ethics.

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Training Ethic: What do you mean and specifically and how do you know this to be true?

Drive: Drive is a subjective sense of yearning. Sometimes drive can be lethal to anyone creating a project if it is miss directed. Again, what bases for this argument?

Ambition: Kind of like drive with a potential to corrupt training and will poison desire, drive, ambition and training ethic if mis used.

The process is excessively complex to explain it away in terms that you argue. The men that you use to base your argument have run very fast. I am sure, even without knowing them, that drive, ambition and work ethic were most probably not missing. It seems absurd to assume otherwise.

By the way, Pre, while arguably very, very tough, still had been beaten in Europe and he did not metal in the games, not for lack of character or anything else. Pre was young and developing and perhaps would have risen to the top; however, this would be conjecture.

It is an insult to these athletes that work and focuses their energy so hard to be world-beaters to claim the things that you do, in such an offhand tone to be true.

Perhaps taking time to study in order to develop insight to develop ideas into what you are saying may reorganize the way people consider training or re consider the art of motivation and may be more productive than this thoughtless argument.

Yours seems like misdirected negativity and misunderstanding for the wrong bunch of men. Take pause and re think your argument. There is much more going on than your idle speculation assumes.

I think our current runners do have the desire, determination, and every other psychological and training quality needed to be successful, but it just may be that we do not have the proper individuals involved (or enough of them). The men and women who are doing their best for us right now, may actually be doing more than you would find going on in some other countries, but you still need to get the right people (which also means more people) out there doing it.

People crap on about how africans run to school and back everyday, but I have heard from a number of sources that mosty this is complete bullshit - the Mottram doco he even says that Kenyans "catch a bus"!

The other thing people bring up is altitude. Ok, I admit there may be some advantage (by growing up your entire life at altitude).

But here is the most obvious point that everyone seems to bypass:

In Africa running is seen as a way out of poverty! There are lots of runners with lots of determination because if you can run well overseas you can get rich!

The GDP per capita in these countries is very very low, and winning a big US road race can make them very very well off in their home countries.

If westerners had to run to get out of poverty then we would see some incredible depth in out distance running too!

Have you been to north africa ? the pressures there are not as great as in Kenya, but the way of life is different. So there is no social resistance to taking short cuts. Need I say more ?