Longest run for MD runner

From craig's blog:

400m- 52.0ir (2009)

800m- 1:54.12i (2009)

1500m- 3:52.4 (2008)

Mile- 4:08.61i (2010)

3000m- 8:24.94i (2009)

5000m- 14:49i (2008)

One thing to note is craig's comment - "Typical mileage for me this past off-season was about 85-95 (after building up from about 75 the year before, ~65 the year before that, etc)".

Since most pr's listed above are from 2008 and 2009, those would based off his 65 mpw and 75 mpw summers. We haven't seen what he will do off of 85-95 mpw since it is still only February.

i think guys from Maryland should run as far as it takes for them to get out of that sh!t hole state

Phil G Rosenstein from Maryland finished 51st place in the 2008 Badwater. That's 135 miles, gotta be one of the longest runs ever by a marylander.

So you are saying Geb was a middle distance runner because he ran a fast 1500.

X-Runner wrote:

So you are saying Geb was a middle distance runner because he ran a fast 1500.

Well, he ran 60.7 second 400s for a 12:39 5k, which is a hell of a lot faster than you probably run in the 800. And he sure wasn't futzing around at 40 miles a week.

X-Runner wrote:

So you are saying Geb was a middle distance runner because he ran a fast 1500.

It's an arbitrary label. He was a runner who ran a fast 1500. I think the OP's question is more about racing fast, not narrowly defining what a MD runner is.

I've run 1:50 for 800, and due to numerous injuries I don't go much over 50 miles a week while in season. After 4 stress fractures it's just not worth the chance of breaking myself. So I think you can still be successful off of lower mileage but higher intensity stuff. I did a lot of speed related work, but my long run last year was probably only a little over 10 maybe 11 miles once or twice during the season.

Iv'e run 54.8 400m pace for 800m but that is besides the point.

Geb was a distance runner because that was his best event and he trained to be a distance runner.

So when the OP specifies 800m/1500m he means that focus on that event to base their training on.

If you want to make a point about middle distance runners doing long runs use El G or someone who focused on MD.

I'll even make the assumption that Geb would have run sub 3:30 if he trained specifically for that instead of using 1500m races as speed work. Obviously he made the right choice for his featured events.

Now at 1:49/3:42 my longest run ever was 12 miles.

Maybe I short-changed myself on my potential but I trusted my coach who happened to have coached some world class middle distance runners including the 1987 men's 1500 World Champion, the NCAA 800m record holder and last year's women's bronze medalist at 1500m.

John Cook is a good coach, but his way is not the only way. Nor is Geb's way the only way. My original post was in response to the "lol", which implied that a 20 mile run was ridiculous. It's not. High mileage can and has worked for middle distance runners before. You can even run a world class mile despite focusing most of your training at 5k/10k, which Geb has shown.

That's terrific that you got to work with a world class coach and seem to have no regrets about your career. Despite your positive experience, I would still advise aspiring middle distance runners that they should run longer than 12 miles - once they have built up to it and as part of a carefully planned program of course.