What's the reason/s that high schoolers and collegiates are running so fast in the last couple of years.

Shoes, shoes, and shoes. And more ped use. But yes, shoes. If you don’t think it’s shoes, go to a college race and every single one of them will be in some type of cheat shoe.

His name tells me everything I would need to know about his intelligence. And yours.

They don't need access to "high-level" drugs. Any drug, obtainable off the internet, will do the job. You lost this argument long ago when it was indicated by antidoping that drugs are present in schools. Recreational drugs have long been in schools - for decades, in fact. It is utterly naive to think that performance-enhancing drugs won't be - and especially amongst incredibly ambitious athletes.

I'm 65 and I'm a fan of the shoes. I have and love carbon and nylon plated shoes.

When I think back to shoe technology when I was in high school I think that many young people think I'm exaggerating when I say that today's minimalist shoes are beefy compared to the bedroom slippers we ran in.

I was constantly injured in HS, it was a matter of could I run on it or not.

When shoes started to become more advanced I was able to run healthier.

With the new shoes for racing and training and track technology along with diet and post workout recovery knowledge it makes a big difference.

Add to that the phycological aspect that 4:20 isn't "fast" and we have this era.

I DO wish I had all of this at my disposal when I was there but I'm happy that these kids have this opportunity and it's exciting to watch.

As Ronald Reagan used to say- there you go again. For yourself- stop being an idiot. For the rest of the world- shut up.

You lost the argument at Ronald Reagan.

That's what the chemists think.

3 simple reasons.

1. The most important by far is the shoes. No coincidence that these crazy times happened with the advent of super spikes.

2 and 3 are closely related. Kids stopped thinking 4:20 was fast, and they started training like collegians. Both of these happened because of the rise of guys like Nico and L&L. Half the kids at Arcadia today wouldn't have broken 9 if they hadn't followed these guys' videos or followed Citius Mag, Runnerspace, etc. The celebrity of the top few high school runners has driven countless others to train like them and chase their times.

Interesting comments, but what I find more interesting is that very few mention parents. Parents who are willing to pay for those expensive shoes many of you mention, scout out running programs and schools where the athlete has a better chance of success, and lastly, make the sacrifices necessary for the child to travel to races such as Arcadia.

A couple months ago I spoke to a couple that's son ran in the state finals for cross country as a junior. It became obvious that they wanted more success for his senior year, as they contacted a coach at a nearby school making inquiries about transferring their son to that school.

You weren't alive in the Jim Ryun era, Prefontaine and the other guy who still holds the American mile record.

This is the best summary so far.

I remember my mother pay for my $18 running shoes in 1974 and saying that she couldn't believe she was spending that much on sneakers that I wasn't only going to wear to run in!

That's worth about $115 today. Even less expensive running shoes are $130-$150 and the plated are at $200 to almost $300.

So, yes, add in the parents' willingness to spend the money.

lactate testing brother..

we no longer have those old school coaches having you hammer down every rep.

It doesn’t work that way. If a HSer tries to train like a collegian, he’s still going to run like a HSer and all he would do is increase his chances of being injured. Even if he tried to do so, a 9:00 guy can’t train like an 8:40 runner as he can’t match the paces in workouts.

Yes, I certainly believe more HS and college kids are doping now. What else has changed in the last 20-30 years besides the shoes, social media, and internet?

The answer: easier access to better PEDs and how to use them, e.g. microdosing, TUE, TRT, EPO, etc. I can get some delivered online anonymously by this weekend.

So many of you have blinders on. I guess ignorance is bliss.

Yes, that's correct. How important do you think efficiency is for a 100m sprinter? Not at all: sprinting speed is determined by how much force you can transmit to the ground. You're not going to run out of energy within ten seconds.

For a marathoner, efficiency is everything. The speeds they're traveling at require so much less force that they're not limited by muscle power or force transmission; they're limited by fuel availability, so efficiency matters.

The two factors intersect for middle-distance runners. You can quibble about the exact ratios of aerobic/anaerobic energy and the importance of top-end speed, but the transition is somewhere around 800m. Spike designs with different geometries may still offer some mechanical advantage to sprinters, but efficiency becomes less and less relevant as you get to durations that can be fueled mostly anaerobically.

I disagree with this. I have a son who's in this elite 3200 category and I happen to coach and doping is against our values. I highly believe that most if not ALL of his competitors are clean They likely just train harder and smarter.

yep. the internet only works on 1500s and above... anyone who runs a shorter distance either doesn't use the internet or is immune to it's pull... plus nutrition, new training methods, non-old school coaches also only impact those who run 1500 and above,

that's what i've learned reading this thread

Shoes.
Next thread.