Cam Levins just ran a 190 mile week

muscle imbalance wrote:

TLW wrote:

Farah runs 150 to 160 plus cross training. Definitely not an example you want to use if you are trying to downplay high mileage.

bullshit

he doesn't run anywhere near 150 - 160

While it's always interesting and useful to know what someone running really well does, you have to figure out what works for you. Levins isn't Farah.

Because I was so bad as a high school and early college runner, I figured out that in order to beat anyone I raced against I needed to run more than they did. I can think of only one guy I ever beat who trained as much or more than me.

It seems like Levins has figured out something along those lines and has moved closer and closer to the top guys by running more than they do.

All aboard the hype train. 12:50 next year folks, 12:50.

Killer speed. Killer mileage. Killer Cam.

Jerome Drayton ran up to 175 miles per week over 35 years ago - still the Canadian record-holder from 1975 in the marathon (2h10.09). Maybe this 190 is too much for a 10k runner, but whose to say that he won't move up in a year or two, and this is what works for him and he can handle it. The problem for many is that they simply can't handle the load. Peter Snell is reported to have run up to 130mpw, as an 800/1500m runner. Lots of ways to develop ability.

Unless he is planning to run sub-13.00 and sub-27.00, does it really matter what he runs for 5k/10k, and just because Rupp and Farah do, doesn't mean they will be great marathoners either - ask Tadesse how his marathon career is going, or Simon Bairu for that matter. He might just debut in the marathon at 2h08 or faster and not waste his time running over 2h10 (given that the best Africans are running 2h03-2h05). Maybe he doesn't want to be doing this at 30yo either, rather moving on to other pusuits in life, having seen what he could do and maximized his abilities in a shorter time-frame.

fly a kite wrote:

Peter Snell is reported to have run up to 130mpw, as an 800/1500m runner.

this is completely untrue

dsrunner wrote:

even as a single week, 190 miles is just plain silly.

doing the volume gets highly addictive plain and simple.

the biggest reason he would look to do more is that

he never approached his training from a quality orientation

so he knows no other moves to play.

the biggest barrier to sub 13/27 is speed side but here, also his reluctance to cap his volume at something moderate enough to allow for

quality work.

dsrunner represents everything that\'s wrong with the running world. any time in life somebody tries to do something that\'s outside the norm, there are less courageous people taking jabs at them trying to bring the idea down that maybe doing something very different can be a good thing.

what levins is doing is working, hence his constant pbs. and clearly, he has the speed to go sub 13 or sub 27. he can conservatively run an all out 400m in 50 seconds, which is on pace for a 10:25 5k. My point is only that having top end speed is overrated in distance events and that athletes strength is more important. In an actual 5k, where they\'re trying to hold onto 62s and 63s, top end speed doesn\'t really play a factor.

As for quality, who are you to say he isn\'t doing enough? After last cross season, he specifically talked about how he was fitting in more workouts than ever before and I would wager, he does more work at interval and tempo paces than anyone on this board calling him out. Now tell us an aspect of your life which you work hard at and I\'ll tell you how you need to approach it from a more \"quality orientation.\"

kkkkk wrote:

dsrunner wrote:

In the case of a mileage obsessed runner, increasing mental toughness might mean knowing when to stop.

I have no problem with the 37 mile day really (or periodizing some mega- mileage but the big picture here is this kid needs some new moves, some speed-side progression... assuming he's not after the Comrades record.

The guys he's chasing run sub 50sec for 400m, or 50' for 10 mile workouts, not 50 mile warmups.

Getting fit as hell makes more sense than getting tired as hell. Anybody can get tired; the real trick is getting tireless.

Beutiful post.

Not a beutiful post. It is a post written by someone that would be content with being a top 10 NCAA runner rather than someone who is willing to work hard to be a NCAA Champion.

Cam is a 2x NCAA champion and an Olympian at 2 distances (making it to the 5K finals). He is 23.

I think what he is doing is working just fine.

Cam Blevins will end up dead in Mexico no doubt!

mega mileage wrote:

why on earth is he running that much?

was 150 not cutting it anymore?

christ

you'd have to think the quality work isn't that high

____________________________________________________________

I was just waiting for someone to question his workload. Listen, other than the gold and silver medalists, i believe only one other non-African runner was better than him in the 10,000m. There have been 1000s of runners in North America doing "sensible" training in the past 25 years but never were able to reach the heights of Levins. Sometimes you have to take a chance if you want to be the best, rather than settling for mediocrity.

Galen Rupp Number on Fan wrote:

LOGIC has no place in a discussion about Sam "madman" Levins. He is beyond a fool- if stupid 200 mile weeks were a good idea Galen Rupp- at the moment the best runner in North America- and Mo Farah- best runner in the world outside of North America- would be doing it too! They AREN'T. For three reasons:

(1) More talent in their left quads than Sam Levins has in his entire body and,

(2) They recognize the benefits of INTENSITY not long slow slogging like Mr Cam(e) 'almost last at the olympics' levins, and

(3) They have real lives. Mr Rupp has a beautiful wife and life, and Mo Farah is just a great guy. None of this Skyfall watching BS!

___________________________________________________________

Cam Levins is the second best runner in North America you fool.

Canada Coach wrote:

I was just waiting for someone to question his workload. Listen, other than the gold and silver medalists, i believe only one other non-African runner was better than him in the 10,000m. There have been 1000s of runners in North America doing "sensible" training in the past 25 years but never were able to reach the heights of Levins. Sometimes you have to take a chance if you want to be the best, rather than settling for mediocrity.

Or you can train sensibly and improve year to year instead of going from the already extremely high volume of 160 to 190.

I don't understand why people are giving him a pass saying it is necessary to "take a risk" and so he must run insane mileage. His volume was already incredibly high. Focusing more on quality is what he should be looking to do. 160 was enough volume.

muscle imbalance wrote:

TLW wrote:

Farah runs 150 to 160 plus cross training. Definitely not an example you want to use if you are trying to downplay high mileage.

bullshit

he doesn't run anywhere near 150 - 160

Alberto Salazar says he does 140-150. Are you AS?

Then you don't know what you're talking about.

from the source. wrote:

Alberto Salazar says he does 140-150. Are you AS?

Then you don't know what you're talking about.

Give a quote where Alberto Salazar says he does 140-150. Are you AS?

Then give a quote or I'll assume you don't know what you're talking about.

I'm not sure why you have a hard time believing a double Olympic Gold Medalists runs between 140-160 miles per week.

I was under the impression that it was common knowledge that Farah was doing this training. Would you believe that he does his mileage at 5:45 pace or does that blow your mind too?

He said in an interview after he won that running 120 miles a week is what helped him to get to where he was. I have also heard Salazar say that Mo runs 130 miles a week. So I would assume he runs between 120-130. I have also heard that Galen runs less and around 110.

Most interviews I've read say Mo runs 110-120. I believe I read one that said 130, never heard anything higher than that mentioned.

Because he has already done better than 99.9% of the low mileage North Americans who think they can get somewhere on it. If his knee blows up tomorrow, he has still had more success than you idiots who think you know something. Maybe if he trained "sensibly", he would have been behind American heroes like Tegenkamp and Retzenhein with one lap to go. But he wasn't because Levins has balls. He shows that in training and he showed that in the Olympic 10000 final.

The lesson here is that if you train average like everyone else, you'll be left in the crowd. If you want to be the best, take a chance and do something different, as well as train hard.

190 miles in a week? Mike Morton almost ran that much in a day a few months ago.

Not at the pace Levins runs.

muscle imbalance wrote:

from the source. wrote:

Alberto Salazar says he does 140-150. Are you AS?

Then you don't know what you're talking about.

Give a quote where Alberto Salazar says he does 140-150. Are you AS?

Then give a quote or I'll assume you don't know what you're talking about.

look for it yourself, genius.

it's been on this site multiple times. all you have to do is move your fingers a bit and find it.