Could a US runner be successful on a Japanese Corporate Running Team?

bump again

Bump again. This guy is still over there as a new blog entry details.

link to new entry

http://www.presmustache.com/2010/12/saga-of-brian-seriff-part-one.html

This is incredible.

Having spent a lot of time here in Japan, and having observed how even the locals on high school, university and corporate teams are treated by their coaches, and how regimented the system is, I wouldn't want to join a team here even if given the chance.

The runner who joined a team here would need to accept "the Japanese way," which is the antithesis of my own fun-loving, spontaneous, devil-may-care way of life. You would not have any say in where you trained, what time you trained, where you lived, what races you run, etc.

That being said, I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for the runners here. Does this make any sense? Of course not.

Holy shit - Japan sounds more like North Korea or China - WTF?

Mazda Sucks wrote:

Holy shit - Japan sounds more like North Korea or China - WTF?

That is Japan....get in line, do what you are told, obey the rules, etc.

No dissent, no discussion, no negotiation.

there is a reason the place has the highest suicide rate in the world.

do they get good results? Absolutely. But what is the cost? They throw hundreds of 20yr olds at the half marathon in university, hoping to get a few 206-7 athletes. What about all the burnt out athletes? Who cares?

What about burnout/injured foreign runners? Who really cares? They can always ship in more.

this could get very interesting with his comments regarding Latimer, his former agent.

Latimer and Bank of Boulder.

Hopefully a little CSI can show true colors.

Nobby is dead on, we train incorrectly over here for the most part.[/quote]

There is no "right" way to train. It varies based on the individual. Check out El Gourrouj's training, then check out Peter Snell's training. Two great 1500 athletes. Check out Salah Hissou's training, then check out Lasse Viren's training. Two great 10k athletes.

The bigger question is why can't the U.S. have a similar corporate based running team structure.

The immediate answer would be that there isn't any money in it for them. However, if enough companies sponsored teams and built a league around it, the teams would get a fair amount of publicity. Home Depot received plenty of press with the work-train program for Olympic hopefuls.

Sponsoring 10 guys and 10 gals would not cost an organization that much (compared to other forms of advertising/sponsorships). It can probably be accomplished for around $750,000 a year total.

I'd be very interested in getting an investigation article from Brett Larner IJapan Running News) or other experts on the Japanese running culture. The "I discovered the cause for unintended acceleration" pings my crazy/paranoid radar, but the rest sounds legit.

666EnergyDrink wrote:

Having spent a lot of time here in Japan, and having observed how even the locals on high school, university and corporate teams are treated by their coaches, and how regimented the system is, I wouldn't want to join a team here even if given the chance.

The runner who joined a team here would need to accept "the Japanese way," which is the antithesis of my own fun-loving, spontaneous, devil-may-care way of life. You would not have any say in where you trained, what time you trained, where you lived, what races you run, etc.

That being said, I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for the runners here. Does this make any sense? Of course not.

It makes perfect sense. You're talking about deep cultural differences. It shouldn't surprise anyone that top-down discipline and regimentation produce considerable success in long-distance running. Sure it may look harsh to Westerners, but I know that Japanese athletes also have their share of fun and spontaneity.

Hey whoever is following this story shoul read this blog:

http://www.presmustache.com/2010/12/saga-of-brian-seriff-part-one.html

This is ridiculous. I feel deeply sorry for you Brian..

nobby is the bad guy?

I dont think Nobby is a/the bad guy. I think it means Nobby did as he was sayign and contacted people regarding Brian's issue and someone Mazda was made aware of the postings on letsrun.

Nobby is no bad guy, and if any good comes of this, part of it will likely be because nobby helped out in someway.

This is my perception. I certainly hope my words dont come back to bite me on the ass.

What I can tell you about the Japanese "system" is that there is a lot more going on than meets the eye.

You are not entirely correct. I do know Mr. Koide, and I have been to his house in Boulder. He wrote me a training schedule in 2003 and while I did not follow it to the letter, the general system of training that they use still influences me greatly today.

Jason

I think Nobby finked on Brian. Who would have told them about Letsrun? What other well-known Japanese with ties to Letsrun and to Japanese corporate teams do we know? My guess is that Nobby just thinks Brian is a stupid gaijin and he feels loyalty to his fellow Japanese.