Lagat ran 3:26 on 6 days of running a week, 50-60 mpw.
But let's recall Lagat's childhood. He ran about 1.5 miles to school for the am session, another 1.5 miles home for lunch, another 1.5 miles back to school for the pm session, and finally another 1.5 miles home after school. And I believe he had chores on the farm before or after school and possibly both. He thus did quadruple running sessions as a kid. All at elevation, too, I believe.
I always laugh when I here LetsRun experts and most high school coaches, say "keep mileage low in high school so you don't burn out will develop more in college (because you are out of shape in high school doing 45 mpw). Very bad advice, because 95% of 800-2M kids can't even walk onto a D1 school, forget about getting a scholarship because they listened to that terrible advice.
I recommend to high school runners that they ignore the experts and high school coaches and listen to Jacob and "Run a lot" if you want to run in college at the D1 level.
in other sports, kids are encouraged to train hard and play as much as they can to acquire the skills and basic fundamentals of their sport at a young age, but in running letsrun armcoaches say its wrong to run a lot but multiple world champ, olympic champion jakob ingebrogsten says otherwise
I don’t know. Maybe today’s video game and cell phone-addicted kids would do well to go run more mileage, but when I was a kid, I was outside playing a running sport all the time… soccer, basketball, football, and PE at school. After school, on weekends. I also had a paper route on the bike.
So, I was training however informally, and I think that’s what helped me get so fast on relatively “low” mileage. I think that was true of a lot of kids back in the day. I mean, if you want to build a runner, have them play soccer & swim growing up starting in kindergarten.
I’m not sure about most kids training specifically for running at a young age. But having played lots of sports and engaged in a bunch of lateral and eccentric movements, sure, let them run high volume.
Has anyone mentioned that Jakob said "mileage" but meant "kilometerage"? I wonder if anybody commented on the fact that the rest of the world uses the metric system but America doesn't? Did any Americans reply that "we won WWII" so we don't have to use the "French system" or should I do that? Also, can I mention, since nobody has, that the metric system makes more sense. It would be cool if this whole thread could be about that instead of Jakob's training.
His mileage is a little over 100 miles per week, which is normal for competitors to run. Nothing unusual about that. When they get close to competition, they lower the mileage to be fresh.
I think it's pretty clear it's km he's referring to. But he does repeatedly use the word "mileage" which could be a little confusing to the easily confused.
I'm waiting for someone to use the term "Kilometerage".
I think it's pretty clear it's km he's referring to. But he does repeatedly use the word "mileage" which could be a little confusing to the easily confused.
I'm waiting for someone to use the term "Kilometerage".
in other sports, kids are encouraged to train hard and play as much as they can to acquire the skills and basic fundamentals of their sport at a young age, but in running letsrun armcoaches say its wrong to run a lot but multiple world champ, olympic champion jakob ingebrogsten says otherwise
This is true. Kids in swimming and club soccer come to mind.
I think it's pretty clear it's km he's referring to. But he does repeatedly use the word "mileage" which could be a little confusing to the easily confused.
What do they say in the Commonwealth countries? Do they talk about weekly kilometerage?
No it's just verbiage. When referring to how much volume of running you do - measured in kilometers, it was always referred to as "mileage". It's just terminology I'm sure plenty of similar occurrences happen in the english language across many different topics/contexts.
That is a lot of running though - 120 miles a week is very solid.
I don’t know. Maybe today’s video game and cell phone-addicted kids would do well to go run more mileage, but when I was a kid, I was outside playing a running sport all the time… soccer, basketball, football, and PE at school. After school, on weekends. I also had a paper route on the bike.
So, I was training however informally, and I think that’s what helped me get so fast on relatively “low” mileage. I think that was true of a lot of kids back in the day. I mean, if you want to build a runner, have them play soccer & swim growing up starting in kindergarten.
I’m not sure about most kids training specifically for running at a young age. But having played lots of sports and engaged in a bunch of lateral and eccentric movements, sure, let them run high volume.
I'll go out on a limb and say the accumulation of this stuff over the first 10-12 years accounts for a lot of what this board considers talent
Uh oh, a lot of people on here won't like this! A lot of people are afraid to run 70 miles in a week.
Mileage is probably the most important thing to get faster, in my opinion. Once you're running 'real mileage' then it starts to be a limiting factor and how your week is structured (workouts) becomes more important. Someone running 90 miles per week with mild workouts will run faster 5k and above than people running 30-50 miles per week. You will find some exceptions, but I'd bet my money that the fast person running 40 miles per week would run even faster once they get to 80+. And if you're training marathon it needs to be even higher.
Actually the large majority of people on here constantly push the high mileage thing. And of course for many people it is the right idea but not for everyone.
Lagat was faster, in pre- Super Shoe era, than Jakob and he ran half his mileage! [ cue Lagat haters.....3, 2, 1]
I recently linked to an article that no one seemed to care about about Abdirazek Mohamed running 30 miles a week for a few months during his first cross country season ever and then winning the High School National Championship! I mean sure if he started running 150 miles a week I am sure he would have set numerous World Records [ sarcasm] , however... maybe for a guy like that 70 would have been enough to really Thrive and shine? [But we'll never know because he quit running After High School].
Spivey, Padilla, Webb, Lagat, Hocker and many others have run very fast mile/ 5K's off of 50 to 60 miles per week. Fact. Could they have run faster if they ran more ? maybe. The point is one does not necessarily need a 100+ miles a week to run a very fast mile or even 5K.
[Okay I hope for at least 50 👎 's with that post!]
You do need 100+ mpw the way the 1500 is now raced by Jakob and others at championships, a gradual build of pressure from a long way out. The days of last lap or last 200 kicks to win these races are over.
His mileage is a little over 100 miles per week, which is normal for competitors to run. Nothing unusual about that. When they get close to competition, they lower the mileage to be fresh.
180 km is about 12 miles more than 100 miles per week.
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