What type of training does German Fernandez do?

Honestly.. wrote:

You're an idiot. If everyone and anyone could break 4:00 then it wouldn't such a fabled time.

it's not that fabled anymore. it's a big deal, but much less than it used to be. plus, part of the 4:00 glory is cause it's such a round number. in all honesty, a kid who runs a 3:59 is just as good as the guy who runs 4:01

another thing to think about: no one broke 4:00 before Bannister. Does that mean that Bannister was the 1st talented person in the history of the mile? Many people did it after he did it. What's the connection? They realized how to train and what it took to get in that condition which is many years of work.

[quote]darkness wrote:

Ummmm ... no.

He ran 4:22 as a freshman off of ZERO systemaic training.

/quote]

that doesnt mean that he's Jesus. He's a very active guy. He was just fortunate enough to be doing that kind/amount of physical activity before his freshman year. Think Geb running back and forth to school as a kid. That's not systematic training either, but it certainly made him what he is today. He didn't come out of the womb running fast. He worked for it, just like every good runner does.

30 miles a week = talent wrote:

When you can basically walk off the street and run a 15:14 5k in XC your training really has nothing to do with it. The most important factor would be what your mommy and daddy did 15 years ago.

simpy amazing wrote:

My God. He was a 9:08 3200 guy and had never run a summer in his life. That's scary good.

These 2 posts should have been the end of the thread.

And for what is worth Sagarin, surprise, surprise, but we are 100% on the same page on this issue (especially on your point about how the greatest talent of all is the talent of being able to take a beating in training and then recovering splendidly to come back for more and more. Training threshhold).

But maybe we are both wrong and that 5:40 miler who believes in himself will someday "medetate" and vitamin his way to breaking 5:00. Or maybe that 180 lb 4:20 miler will some day drop 20 lbs and run 4:15. That'll show us that talent is a myth.

Sir Lance-alot wrote:

[quote]30 miles a week = talent wrote:

When you can basically walk off the street and run a 15:14 5k in XC your training really has nothing to do with it. The most important factor would be what your mommy and daddy did 15 years ago.

simpy amazing wrote:

My God. He was a 9:08 3200 guy and had never run a summer in his life. That's scary good.

he didn't "basically walk off the street". he had been doing many sports for a while. Basketball AND soccer? Anyone doing that HAS to have a great aerobic engine and some speed too.

checker wrote:

No, thats not all I believe- you must have a good well balanced diet, stretching, medetation, vitamins, massage. I started running 4 years ago and ran a 7:41 mile, Im now down to 5:45. This is due to my work ethic and factors above. Ive also included breathing exercises which might bring me under 5:30!!. If I grew up in Kenya who knows how good I would have been by now?

ps- last week I placed 3rd in a 5k in my age group. Thats no big deal, but I beat alot of guys who normally beat me, but my tough traing and guts finished them off.

Talent is way overrated. Americans are just not training as hard as others. Stop using genetics as an excuse for guts!

speaking of movies- Seriously, you need to rewatch Rocky and/or Chariots of fire. Get your fire back!!

My comments below assume that you are either a male under the age of 60 or a female under the age of 50:

I seriously hope you are trolling.

Train 2 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year (ok, if you want to take down time every 3-4 months like the Hansons do that's probably alright).

There is a certain level that anybody with a basic runners' build can get to. For an open male, this level is about: 15:00 for the 5k, 31:00 for the 10k, 67:00 for the half-marathon, and 2:20 for the marathon. Anybody with a runners' build can accomplish those goals (or the equivalent for their age/gender group) if they train properly.

Then you can weigh in on the training vs. genetics discussion. But if you are running a 5:45 mile then I guarantee you have no idea what it's like to train close to hard. Hence you have no idea whether you are being limited by training or genetics.

If you just have the goal of being a recreational runner, that's fine; 5:45 is definitely better than most rec. runners can do, and it will probably get you some age group awards. But again, in that case you have no say in the training vs. genetics discussion.

Basketball and soccer don't get you close to 15:14 condition. Most basketball and soccer players can't break 17 in their first full season, many not even 18. To run 15:14 in your first season requires a special talent.

As for the guy who says everyone can run 15:00, 31:00 and 67:00 if they just train consistently, let me guess, that's about what you ran? I know plenty of guys who were considered good high school and college runners, ran their 100 mile weeks for several years with two hard workouts per week, tempos and long runs and they never quite reached those times. Just because your hard work produced those times does not mean that the same work load will produce the same result in less talented runners.

?????????? wrote:

25x200 in 30 with 30 seconds rest? 3x2k with the mile in 4:30 and then 59 for the last 400?

Do you have a link to those.

Water Rat wrote:

Basketball and soccer don't get you close to 15:14 condition. Most basketball and soccer players can't break 17 in their first full season, many not even 18. To run 15:14 in your first season requires a special talent.

As for the guy who says everyone can run 15:00, 31:00 and 67:00 if they just train consistently, let me guess, that's about what you ran? I know plenty of guys who were considered good high school and college runners, ran their 100 mile weeks for several years with two hard workouts per week, tempos and long runs and they never quite reached those times. Just because your hard work produced those times does not mean that the same work load will produce the same result in less talented runners.

no, basketball or soccer alone won't get you to 15:14, but if one alone can get someone to 17:xx, then the addition of the other has to give you a great engine. Then, the addition of some specific running training and boom - 15:14.

Also, if your guys are doing 100 miles a week for several years and not even reaching 15 minutes for a 5k or 31 minutes for a 10k, then their training is definately off. You can work as hard as you want to, but if you don't work CORRECTLY then you're not going anywhere.