"growing up on the farm has been a huge asset to my career" - Elle Purrier

Having that physical labor background would absolutely help your development as a runner (or really any athlete). Now just being a farmer isn’t going to get you to running a 9:10 2 mile but it will build the base for the fitness and training needed to run very fast later in life.

We live in a modern western society so it will be tough but if we had our children playing outside & doing outdoor labor (preferably barefoot or with minimal shoe covering as much as possible) for a few hours every day I think we would see a healthier population and more elite athletes such as Elle popping up.

Yeah total body strength/speed and endurance work as a child could definitely not only give the person a head start on competition but also an advantage overall. By that I dont mean having your child weightlifting but just having an opportunity for them to be active. Playing a variety of sports, running around, doing chores the odd time that involve strength.

“Farm strength” is absolutely an advantage... For a couple of summers during college, I worked in landscaping. Every day was hauling rocks, digging holes, planting shrubs, pushing wheelbarrows of dirt and rock.. for 8 hours a day. A lot of that work is aerobically taxing. I was so tired from work, I rarely ran more than 25 miles per week those summers. Nevertheless, I came into fall XC in better shape than when the previous track season finished. That type of physical work definitely translates to improved running fitness.

Obligatory Solinsky reference.

Nurmi and Ritola, two of the flying finns, worked hard at labor jobs beside their running. Good role models as well as Purrier.

"[I]f we had our children playing outside & doing outdoor labor (preferably barefoot or with minimal shoe covering as much as possible) for a few hours every day I think we would see a healthier population and more elite athletes such as Elle popping up."

You'd also see your neighbors ratting you out to Children and Youth Services, or whatever your local child protective agency is called. The modern world what it is.

How’s her respiratory system?

This quote from Purrier is from 2019 btw.

In any case, it's hard to directly correlate such things to running performance. How much of her good results is talent/ability, and how much comes from the farming background?

Is the average farmer very good at running? Then yes, if statistically significant, it might have a huge impact. But I doubt that.

For me, Purrier is a highly talented runner and extremely hard worker, who happened to do some farming activities early in her life. She could have played soccer instead, or swim instead, or weightlift, and probably still have a similar development.

Ummm, ever heard of Page Morgan?

Um, Jim Ryun...

Working on a farm as a child gets you two things:

1. Physical exertion and subsequent strength

2. Early morning work ethic

Item 1, kids can acquire just by being active (playing outside, soccer, basketball, street hockey, early teens: doing push-ups/pull-ups, etc)

Item 2 is the key mental component. The required decision that you're getting out of bed early to do physical work (not cartoons, video games, etc) is what is most valuable IMO. This creates grit - and grit turns a physically-adept runner in a champion. For non-farm people, I believe this can be replicated with compulsory morning running/workout sessions.

I say this as someone who would spend a month every summer on his grandfather's farm - although, I wouldn't kid you, not a farm with the same scale as other's I've read about.

It’s not just the physical aspect but the mental one too. Getting up at 5AM to go out into a cold smelly dirty barn everyday is going to make you mentally disciplined. Which of course carries over to the grind of training at a high level.

In contrast most of our society is incredibly comfortable. Forget about morning chores, parents drive their kids to school or even the bus stop! God forbid your kid stands out in the cold for 5 minutes waiting for a bus. Imagine if these kids had to milk a cow every morning lol

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

For me, Purrier is a highly talented runner and extremely hard worker, who happened to do some farming activities early in her life. She could have played soccer instead, or swim instead, or weightlift, and probably still have a similar development.

I believe that the discipline imposed upon her by her farm chores carried over into other pursuits, including running. The physical aspect didn't hurt either not only strengthening her but also mentally preparing her for the challenge of training.

I worked on farms all my life. It helps but it doesn't create talent.

If you read between the lines of the article below then you have a general idea why the fitness of Americans have been on decline for the past several decades. The author obviously is a Lefty and is part of the mindset that everyone deserves a participation medal as standards have been lowered and the consequences are clear to see — a population that is obese and physically incapable of performing basic exercises.

https://www.vox.com/2015/4/24/8489501/presidential-fitness-test

I grew up fat/near obese. I finally decided to do something about it in middle school and discovered running at 14. I sucked in high school. I had friends who grew up active, one whose parents started her in running at like age 5. 4 years all state on terrible training for her in high school (the school decided that all teams, including xc, wouldn't leave campus for practices). Letting kids get fat before the age of 18 should be considered child abuse.

I wanted to add Hobbs Kessler, the prodigious miling HS talent, has a strong rock-climbing background. His family has a wall at his residence for him to practice. This indicates strong upper body, core strength, strong coordination. Dedicated climbers are ripped from forearm strength to abs to strong upper bodies.

I'd imagine those extra intangibles could have helped him make the leap into those speeds where full body efficiency, while running, is a must. End of the day, running is about economy of speed.

Craig Virgin too

Goucher hurt his back busting up rocks in Wetmore's yard and was never the same.

Eh, plenty of fat people work on farms