Steve Scott's Complete Training Log 1981-1982

Now that Scott's training logs are posted there is no excuses left for US milers. They either follow scott's example are continue in their current state of mediocrity.

"When did a 3:54 mile become a good time"

- Jim Spivey

September 2003 on T&F news message board.

has anyone read in scott's book where he talks about high milage in high school? pretty funny how he only ran like 30 mile weeks, and has such a long fruitful career, and guys who were running like 100mi weeks that beat him in h.s. were never heard from again.

If you talk to him he will say that the problem with American runners today is that they don't run enough in their youth. True, he never did more than 40 or 50mpw in high school, but he did a lot of catching up in college.

The HSers around him doing higher volume and then disappearing were probably not progressively trained.

He would also say that much of our available talent pool is being eroded by youth soccer programs. What is more fun to an 8 year old kid, running by yourself in the woods for a logn time or getting to run around a field with a bunch of your friends kicking a ball?

When is Runners World going to change their name to "A jogging magazine for people who don't even know who Haile Gebrselassie is."

After all, what serious middle distance/long distance racing/training fan is going to read it?

I wonder why Runners World is so lacking in valuable information. Are coaches and athletes unwilling to share information about how they train, or is Runners World just not interested in putting in the effort to obtain information about how people train?

If they take the later approach because they believe that going after training information isn't going to help them sell, they might reconsider. The only thing I do with their magazine is quickly read the interesting parts (if any) either at a library or at a magazine rack. If they consistently had good information I would subscribe.

I figure that on a monthly basis they should have at least one detailed training article about a current elite athlete or a group of athletes (such as a college team); one training article about an athlete from the past; and a detailed scientific update for people who are interested in the science of running (written by somebody who knows about things such as HIF-1 and VEGF).

Here is something worth noting.

The fastest American miler ever (Steve Scott) didn't find it necessary to do speed training almost every day of the week.

The fastest miler on the planet (Hicham El Gherouj) doesn't find it necessary to do speed training almost every day of the week. Anyway, not if you go by his competitive season training examples that can be found on the internet. He alternated speed/pace days with overdistance days.

Therefore, it seems as if it isn't necessary to do speed training almost every day of the week as Coe and Ovett used to do when they got close to or were in their racing season.

I believe that lots of speed training has its benefits but makes it so that you have to reduce your overall volume and therefore you can't continue to do frequent 10-15 mile runs as Steve Scott did. Or in other words, you trade speed/anaerobic fitness for some of your aerobic fitness.

Going by the limited amount of information I have, I believe that 3:43 miler and Olympic champion Noah Ngeny doesn't find it necessary to do speed training almost everyday.

Does anybody know about Steve Cram and Bernard Lagat? Which approach do they take (or took, in Cram's case)?

Trackhead, obviously you have some personal contact with Scott, so I can't really dispute what you have to say. However, it's interesting to note that in "Steve Scott- The Miler", Scott writes the following:

"Back then, California high schools turned out droves of great distancemen, but few of them continued their success in college; most kids were burnt out from excessive running before they could possibly reach their potential. In high school, they trained upwards of 15 miles a day, wringing every ounce of strength from their young legs. Coaches, seduced by the high milegae that was given credence by professional marathon runners, either didn't know any better or didn't care.

I doubt I ever ran more than 40 miles a week at Upland. Loney knew what was right and did not want to push his runners to their breaking points. I trace my longevity in this sport to not being a teenage phenom on the fast track from the get-go."

Ah, upon a second reading, I see that what you said, Trackhead, basically echos the excerpt from Scott's book that I posted. My apologies.

I questioned him on that exact quote and he clarified it to me as, "just don't overdo it on anything." Intensity, volume, whatever. If a high schooler does too much volume to quickly, burnout is distinct possibility. The same can be said with intensity.

He's not saying "kids should run x amount of miles per week in HS" because everyone's starting from a different place. It doesn't make sense to have a runner who has never run before start putting in 4,000 mile years. I think the key here is "progressive volume" -- start wherever you start but work on (gradually) increasing that volume.

Especially with Steve, he didn't start running cross country until his junior year (he had been swayed from baseball as a sophomore, and comitted as a runner after watching Dave Wottle win the 800m in '72). And furthermore, even at 40mpw, Steve (as most HSers in his day) was not sitting at home on the computer or watching cable or playing video games. He was out running around, being active, which in its own way, is aerobic activity too. Modern American youngsters have many more non-physical distractions.

It should be mentioned that Scott also says in his book that he wasn't a very dedicated runner in high school (never ran on weekends). Guys like Serna and Hulst peaked in high school but Scott probably had more talent than them, anyway, it just took longer to emerge.

Pulling this out from way back now that track season is on the horizon once again. One of the best threads I've seen on Letsrun...enjoy!

actually its Pete Heesen (not Hessein)who was my high school teammate at Bishop Mcdevitt in Philly...Pete went to East Stroudsburg and became a very good steplechaser...and yes, lives currently in the Allentown area (although originally, like I, an Ardsley boy!)

MF

mike fanelli wrote:

(although originally, like I, an Ardsley boy!)

MF

Ardsley? I can decide whether that's a good thing or bad?

malmo wrote:

mike fanelli wrote:

(although originally, like I, an Ardsley boy!)

MF

Ardsley? I can decide whether that's a good thing or bad?

Malmo,

You probably actually know Pete H from back then..our other good HS teammate (better than Pete), was Mark Gilman...we probably ran against you MD boys up in Van Cortland in 71,72,73...at any rate, Ardsley (the Philly one, not the NY one)was a fairly rough hood back in the day and our elementary school turned out some decent runners, Heesen, my brother Gary, John Burns (a villanova stud in the late 70s early 80s)...and we were all within just a couple of years of each other...at any rate this has very litte to do with Steve Scott and his training other than that Pete absorbed a whole lotta training punishment as part of the Sub 4 squad AND he acquired some pretty decent steeple marks as a fuction of that work.

MF

As I recall, Pete was a regular training companion of Steve's. Didn't they do a lot of 10 and 15 mile runs together?

What times did Pete reach?

The whole '81-2 log is available at Bob Hodge's website, too.

What race performances did Pete Heesen achieve during the time frame when he regularly trained with Steve Scott? Pete was a road racer, right?

Another question: anyone know what Steve Scott consider's his best race? And, Why" A little insight would be nice. Seeing it from his perscpective might be interesting for many runners and coaches.

Just weeks away from turning 50, I don't seem to have the same recall that I did some 20 years ago when this was all taking place but I want to say that Pete Heesen ran about 8:40 for the steeple way back then...on our high school team he was our number two guy at around 9:25 (Pete graduated from Bishop McDevitt in 1973)

MF

Mike:

I know Pete lived out west when running at his best level. How is he doing? Have you seen him since graduating from Bishop McDevitt?

Also, have you met Steve Scott? If you have, did he share ideas about competing and training with you?