Why can't sprinters understand...

They do understand. And they don't care. Why should they? They have more fun, are far more popular, and get more money, women and glory for what they do. And if you could sprint with success... You would.

Because you don't. Sad but true. At least not compared to any good sprinters.

I doubt it very much you do. Obviously you don't know any good sprinters.

in hs its definitly true and just ignorant football player mentality on the part of the sprinters

once you get to college and your dealing wih full time track athletes he workload and actual time spent practicing evens out and some events spent quite a few more hours practicing than distance runners

however no sprinter or field guy will ever experience the pain at the end of a distance race or hard interval workout...theres really nothing that compares

but to say that we work harder isnt exactly accurate

hmmm..... wrote:

however no sprinter or field guy will ever experience the pain at the end of a distance race or hard interval workout...theres really nothing that compares

Wrong.

Maybe you're right, but here's the thing:

From a division 1, male, collegiate level,

1. Most sprinters take a day off a week, while most distance runners take at most a day off a month;

2. If you compare the amount of days a year a distance runner trains to the amount a sprinter trains, it's really no contest. Many sprinters I know barely do anything over the summer and are still competitive, while the summer is usually a distance runner's largest amount of training;

3. I know most sprinters would shake their head when they read this, but I really don't think you could compare a 10-mile run (usually considered an "easy run" for distance) to a sprinter's workout.

Mtn Dew wrote:

hmmm..... wrote:

however no sprinter or field guy will ever experience the pain at the end of a distance race or hard interval workout...theres really nothing that compares

Wrong.

well what does compare then??

cuz as a distance guys iv run all out 100s, 200s, 400s, 800s, every distance race on the track, and done the same workout the sprinters do (on certain speed builder days...and i go to a d1 school) and nothing below 1500 requires a fraction of the mental toughness and pain tolerance as the closing laps of hard long distance race

so...enlighten me? though your opinion means jack if youve never run a distance race

but like i said before, sprinters do put in as much or more hard work and dedication as we do at the collegiate level...they just miss this one element

In college everyone on the team had to run a 3.5 mile time trial early on in the season.

You are being myopic.

confused... wrote:

2. If you compare the amount of days a year a distance runner trains to the amount a sprinter trains, it's really no contest. Many sprinters I know barely do anything over the summer and are still competitive, while the summer is usually a distance runner's largest amount of training;

Well, you see, distance runners have a competitive season in the fall that they are getting ready for over the summer. This argument is like saying that football players work harder than baseball players because football players are getting ready for the season over the summer and baseball players aren't.

ok ya but that's part of my point; distance trains more often than sprinters. many take a total of 2 weeks off of running a year.

I think if you spent a month with John Smith your view would change by a lot.

I don't think a ten mile run comes near the level of a sprinter's workout. Distance running requires the least amount of time investment of any sport I know of. Yet distance runners (at least what I read here) are always belly-aching about not enough time.

because they don't have to. they don't have to know what it means to endure the pain of a fast 10k or a hard interval workout. why? because they are faster than you. you can't hang in the 100, 200, or 400 so instead you must run mile after grueling mile builing your aerobic fitness so you can showcase that sub-par sprint speed in distance events. If you had competitive sprint speed, you would have nothing to do with distance running. Why run all those miles and endure all that pain if you can smoke people in 100m?

What are the distance runners who don't run xc doing over the summer? probably about the same thing that the sprinters are doing.

okay fair enough

though one thing that still doesnt cover is that the pain tolerance of a distance runner is an acquired skill...it takes experience to learn to push yourself over the length of a distance race

from what i ve seen, when sprinters run time trials like this they tend to run them like hs freshmen...a blazing start, followed by a dog slow middle section once they realize it aleady hurts and they have a long way to go, and a blazing finish induced by the sandbagging middle laps

more experienced runners learn to accept this pain through the middle of the race and push themselves further, its a gained skill as important as the gained fitness from mileage over the years

so i dont think a once a year time trial is going to give you the experience im really talking about but theres always exceptions

but like i said, if im being myopic...enlighten me...what do you do that hurts as much as the last 5 laps of a PR 10000?

i do know that every decathlete iv ever known has hated the 1500 by far more than any other of their 10 events

That's what makes distance exiting...anyone can run 100 meters, but not everyone (including most sprinters) can come close to running 6 miles on a track.

"i do know that every decathlete iv ever known has hated the 1500 by far more than any other of their 10 events"

best supporting argument ever.

unc distance runner wrote:

That's what makes distance exiting...anyone can run 100 meters, but not everyone (including most sprinters) can come close to running 6 miles on a track.

You've got it bass-ackwards. Oprah Winfrey can run six miles on the track.

"What are the distance runners who don't run xc doing over the summer? probably about the same thing that the sprinters are doing."

From what I know, most collegiate distance runners have to run cross country.

Decathletes hate the 1500m b/c it's the longest event at the end of a long 36 hours and they don't train for it really.

Short, fast intervals with short rest hurt like hell. Distance guys don't do intervals at the speeds sprinters do.

But really, you're not a sprinter so you really don't know what it's like. I wasn't a sprinter either though. Neither of us are able to make statements about how hard it is to do something we don't do. However, I won't go out and tell a sprinter he doesn't know what pain is or any crap along those lines.