distance runners being slow is a myth brought up by teams with garbage distance culture. sprinters are certainly faster, but good distance runners are fast. often times the fastest kids on their high school teams, including sprinters.
it is nice to be acknowledged i guess. though it can be a double edged sword when the distance runner starts thinking he might be a sprinter!
Our sprinters were doing 200 repeats one day while the distance guys were doing 400s. Our top distance guy was running them down and passing some of them when they started close together. This was early in the season and the sprinters weren't in shape for repeats, but it is still a funny story.
distance runners being slow is a myth brought up by teams with garbage distance culture. sprinters are certainly faster, but good distance runners are fast. often times the fastest kids on their high school teams, including sprinters.
it is nice to be acknowledged i guess. though it can be a double edged sword when the distance runner starts thinking he might be a sprinter!
They aren't "often times the fastest kids on their high school teams" unless you have a garbage sprint group.
For the first three-eighths of a mile, it could have been just another ho-hum footrace between a bunch of guys named Smith and Jones—or, as it turned out,
In Ralph Doubell's book, he talks about some sprint sessions in Mexico City before the 1968 Olympics with eventual 200m silver medal winner Peter Norman. Doubell was right with Norman and even passing him on some of the repeats. Doubell won the 800m and tied the world record.
When I was on the track team, pretty much every sprinter I encountered had respect for the distance runners. They all knew they could do what we do and vice versa.
So all it took was a few minutes of chit chat with a sprinter and there goes all that BS abou sprinters, really guy?
When I ran track us sprinters had big respect for the weight men, the big guys. The little distance runners simply got in the way.
If you're a sprinter you're probably short. They all look up to guys like 6'2" Cooper. Look up to weight men? What's a weight man gonna do when a grizzly is chasing him? Distance runner can tire the bear out after a few miles. Weight guy is just dropping of exhaustion and succumbing to bear after 1000 feet.
So all it took was a few minutes of chit chat with a sprinter and there goes all that BS abou sprinters, really guy?
When I ran track us sprinters had big respect for the weight men, the big guys. The little distance runners simply got in the way.
If you're a sprinter you're probably short. They all look up to guys like 6'2" Cooper. Look up to weight men? What's a weight man gonna do when a grizzly is chasing him? Distance runner can tire the bear out after a few miles. Weight guy is just dropping of exhaustion and succumbing to bear after 1000 feet.
Nope, 6-2 packing 275 of muscle, got into progressive weight training my frosh year of HS. Graduated at 230.
Well, I see it as this. In high school, a lot of people join track that don't really care about the sport itself because it looks good on their college app, or they want a letterman jacket, etc.. These kinds of people will join the sprints because they view it as being easier than distance, but don't put a lot of work into their performance and as such don't respect the dedication that it takes to do either distance running or sprinting at a high level. My current teammates said this was the case for them at their high schools as well.
From my experience, at the collegiate level sprinters and distance runners respect each other because if you're on the track team at that point you're dedicated to the sport and have an understanding of what it takes to get out there every day, which makes you respect your teammates. I've had nothing but good interactions with the sprinters on my team and vice versa.
And this is what’s wrong with society. judging an entire group before ever talking to someone in said group. Good for you for finally experiencing this. You had a real conversation with a person face to face and learned a little today. If only all sides could have a convo while going on a jog lol.
After winning a dual meet 1600 back in high school, a sprinter that I'd never talked to before came up to me and complemented me on how fast and "talented" I was. As a 4:34 miler running 55-60 mpw that was mildly hilarious to me. But also a nice ego boost lol.
Usain Bolt. No one was talking about survivability or the size of a person. Besides, Adrenaline is a wonderful thing. You'll be surprised how fast those big guys run when being chased.
distance runners being slow is a myth brought up by teams with garbage distance culture. sprinters are certainly faster, but good distance runners are fast. often times the fastest kids on their high school teams, including sprinters.
it is nice to be acknowledged i guess. though it can be a double edged sword when the distance runner starts thinking he might be a sprinter!
They aren't "often times the fastest kids on their high school teams" unless you have a garbage sprint group.
maybe not in a 55 or 100, but it is very common for good distance/mid distance guys to be the strongest part of a good 4x4 at the high school level.
Our sprinters were doing 200 repeats one day while the distance guys were doing 400s. Our top distance guy was running them down and passing some of them when they started close together. This was early in the season and the sprinters weren't in shape for repeats, but it is still a funny story.
Unless you're talking about 2 or 3 reps off 25+ minutes recovery, it's probably because rep 200s aren't really a decent sprint session... they might be included for a bit of general tempo in general prep, but it's never going to be there forte - if they get to a stage where that is what they do really well, then they'll be underperforming in their actual event.
It's a bit like saying "our distance guys were doing a bounding session and some of the sprinters were going even further".
I agree. None of my high school's distance runners were fast fast, but the top ones could run 50-52 for a 4x400 split and probably run a low 12.x for a 100 if they trained starts. I think having this "speed reserve" allowed them to (in college) run 1:50 and 4:05
