What's WRONG with American Distance Running? THIS:

written like a true fanatic

few people have what we call a 'perfect stride' - Rupp, Geb, Hall from the waist down. Most very fast guys are a mess. Does Paula need this guy telling her how to run with better form?

Er, probably not.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong...

Do you honestly believe that it's about mechanics and form and that crap? Do you honestly believe that is what the east Africans do to make themselves great?

1) Mechanics Crap - So then, the best female marathoner in the world has great mechanics, right? Um, no.

2) Talent pool goes to sprinting crap - Do you even realize that distance running in top tier countries is the top shelf sport? Our talent doesn't go to sprinting. It gets dispersed to soccer, basketball, baseball, wrestling, etc., etc. etc....

3) Dynamic nature of running crap - I don't even to waste my time here... Do you not see that running is NOT a skill sport? It's endurance and lactate threshold and VO2 max and cellular adaptation and simple time spent honing these systems.

4) Overemphasis of distance training crap - Are you kidding me? Try this, train a newbie from day one using your sytem. Heck, train 20 of them... You will get absolutely nowhere. I promise you.

It is about miles and focus and physiology and heart and interest and intrinsic motivation and desire and solemness and guts and blood lactate and mitochondria and fuel and core strength and miles and strides and love of running and learned maturity and reflection and miles ALL before your four lame attempts to try to understand our sport. EVERY SINGLE ONE before what you offer.

My next question is... What are you trying to sell, Mjtran? Whatever it is, I don't want it.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Although he does have a point with a large percentage of distance runners have sloppy form, I think he gives way to little credit to the physiological aspect of training. Considering numbers 1, 3, and 4 are all pretty much the same thing (focusing on improving stride mechanics) it seems that the author believes that "what's wrong" with American distance running can be only due to stride mechanics and lack of talent. Lack of talent definitely has some grounds as running obviously isn't the most desirable professional sport in America, but 100% proper running form isn't the downfall of American running, even though it could be improved.

What else would you expect from a someone practicing the pseudoscience of physical therapy. He is just trying to drum up business.

i think this article is a breath of fresh air, sorry to use a cliche but i think that it is fits perfectly. lack of attention to form and biomechanics is a huge problem in distance running. people obesses about their weekly mileage, or whether to run 5 miles at 5:15 pace or 4 miles at 5:10 pace when in reality that does not have much affect on your mile time. people forget that running takes power and if you are not optimizing your body to provide the most power in your stride you are at a serious disadvantage. fast runners do all types of workouts and training. some like to do shorter faster workouts where some milers like to take a more distance oriented approach. do you ever find it funny that hs kids that play soccer can run 1:55 800s when they start running and they are beating the crap out of guy who runs all year. mechanics matter, soccer because of all the sprinting as well as kicking (hip extension) forces good mechanics. running 7 min pace for 15 miles doesn't. good runners have very good biomechanics and its not because of some secret workout that they are good runners

I went through 5 years of HS and ncaa d3 running with no coaching for my form. All I got were people telling me how I ran weird, different, wrong. After those 5 years teammates started to try to verbalize what was wrong (not very successfully). Once in a while I got a cue while I was running from the coach which helped a lot, but these were rare. Now I'm 6 years in and I spend every moment thinking about my form and just doing what feels right, which is sometimes very very wrong. It would be so much easier if I had someone showing me a video and giving me cues.

It's funny that I haven't started videoing myself by now. I thought of it a year or so ago but I just never got around to it.

I also should ask for the advice instead of waiting for someone to give it to me. But in the past I have asked for advice and it seems like I couldn't translate his words into actions. So now I don't really bother. Plus I would feel like I was imposing my methods on my coach if I asked him to give me direct feedback while I was doing strides or something... I don't know. Next time I come home from college I'll try to tape myself doing some strides.

closed minded wrote:

do you ever find it funny that hs kids that play soccer can run 1:55 800s when they start running and they are beating the crap out of guy who runs all year.

Actually, no, I've never seen that happen. And I would find it even more funny to see a soccer player try to run a marathon and collapse at the top of the 12% grade hill.

Has anyone out there been coached for form, made changes, and wound up faster?

If this guy is so sure mechanics are the most important factor. He should tell everyone how correct mechanics are instead of blantering on about how its the same as pouring oil over and over into a leaking engine.

This will likely elicit an intense emotional reaction because it touches too close to home!

All the swami has to do - and it really must be as easy as he suggests - is to get a dozen or so athletes himself, much like Arthur Lydiard did 50/60 years ago, employ his superior understanding to the unlocking of distance talent and bring home 2 or 3 Olympic medals or a few world records and all will be convinced as to the soundness of his ideas.

Well, forget the medals and records, just go out and teach some runners how to stride with more power and hip flexion for 5000 meters (That's it, Johnny, higher knee lift and a real vigorous arm drive!) and the results will speak for themselves.

Alyson Felix is the smoothest runner I can think of. Have her spin out a quick mile. After all, she's got talent, superb mechanics, and great all round strength and flexibility. Do you think she can break 5:00 for a mile, though?

Are you thinking "Kenya" or "East Africa"? Because Ethiopia is in East Africa and they have a very strong emphasis on form. It is no coincidence that Bekele looks like a sprinter at the end of a 10,000m. That is practiced.

I can understand your skepticism of this guys ideas. However, you are doing exactly what you are blaming him of - being close minded to training theory. I agree with you that physiology is the major factor in running well. But, you are going to the extreme of saying that mechanics and form don't matter. REALLY? Efficiency fits right in with the hows and whys of physiology... better running mechanics can make a runner more efficient.

The PT talks about a basketball player or a golfer working on improving inefficiencies in form and practicing over and over and over. Ever heard of muscle memory. You say that this does not apply to running. A runner with poor form is practicing poor form and committing it to muscle memory over and over and over every time they put in the miles.

Very touching - however...

Line up two runners with the same V02max, heart, intrinsic motivation, etc. If one has poor, inefficient form and the other has good, efficient form, who is going to have better running economy at the same pace over the same distance? Who is going to win?

He's absolutely correct, and every middle school and high school coach should read this.

You think that the kids wth good mechanics don't get sorted into the sprint group in middle school track? Do you really think that more than 20% of middle school track coaches have any idea of what they're doing?

When kids begin competing in track and field and cross country, usually in middle school, do they often do mechanics-oriented drills? Do they do the short reps that help instill good form?

Do high school track coaches spend time teaching them good mechanics, spending time individually with each middle distance or distance runner (like they do, say, with their hurdlers)? Do most high school track coaches give enough of a damn to know what the hell they're doing?

The answer to each of the above questions is "no".

The current world record holders in the marathon exhibit horrible form. Geb is a severe pronator and Radcliffe's form horrifies the "experts". However, there are no points for style. Zatopek, who ran like a man who had been stabbed in the chest, said: "I'm sorry I cannot smile and run fast at the same time." What's REALLY srong with American Distance running is that there are way too many "experts" who dont know what they are talking about.

Let me add that I think the REAL problem with American distance running (as if our distance running is not the best it's been in 3 decades) is the reliance on the school systems to develop our athletes.

I have no use for the vast majority of high school coaches, because they generally do not care enough about their coaching to consider it a profession. They do not develop professionally by learning as much as they can. Instead, the vast majority pass on whatever was done to them in high school or college. And in their defense, their real profession is generally in the classroom, which takes an enormous amount of time and attention if you plan on teaching well.

When we re-orient toward a club approach to athletics--which I am convinced will happen eventually--we will place athletes in a system that specialized enough and knowledgeable enough that they will get the training that will make more of them great.

For what it's worth, Paula Radcliffe has exceptional mechanics from the waist down. The head-bobbing is a bit of a turn off but from the waist down she's nearly perfect.

I think that working on your form and doing form drills are a good thing but at the same time I don't think you can claim this to be what is wrong with American distance running. I am extremely bow legged and have horrible form but I was still able to run fairly fast 4:05 mile. I also believe that through enough running your body naturally fixes a lot of the problems you have to be more efficient. The key here is training hard enough to put stress on your body so if does this.

D2 FAN MAN wrote:

I think that working on your form and doing form drills are a good thing but at the same time I don't think you can claim this to be what is wrong with American distance running. I am extremely bow legged and have horrible form but I was still able to run fairly fast 4:05 mile. I also believe that through enough running your body naturally fixes a lot of the problems you have to be more efficient. The key here is training hard enough to put stress on your body so if does this.

I just want to second this. I have excellent form, but only ran a fairly slow 4:05 mile; this guy has terrible form but ran a fast 4:05 mile. Clearly mechanics has nothing to do with proper training.

...unless with better mechanics you might have run 3:59.