I understand the basic merits of running the extra distance, aerobic capacity etc. my question is more along the lines of, HS athletes in other countries run 70/80k's a week yet run faster times in HS than US athletes, so why the mileage/km's obsession?
What other countries have kids running 70 kilometers a week and have better runners than the US? Because the africans sure as hell aren't running 70k a week.
I run very few kilometers a week. We only run kilometers in races. The rest of the time we run miles. In a week with one XC race, I might run 5 kilometers and 50-60 miles. So no 100 kilometer weeks for me. Rarely even a week with more than 10 kilometers.
Actually it's this site that is obsessed with mega-miles, Lydiard style training. They always point out such and such runner improved because he/she increased their base volume (and stopped lifting weights or cut back on plyometrics). This guy improved because he was doing "marathon training" (Ritz, Solinsky).
This site hardly ever points out that a runner improved because he/she cut back on their volume or put more emphasis on speed work, strength work, etc-which can certainly be the case for milers/1500 runners (and is the distance more relevant to high school runners-there are no 5k's and 10k's at high school meets).
This site does not look favorably on the 80's style of training of Frank Horwill, Peter Coe, Sam Bell, Peter Tegen that emphasized speed and speed endurance and eschewed "junk miles". There is a feeling that this philosophy caused the "dark age" of high school distance running of the 80's and 90's when the linear progression/improvement of times & depth from the 60's and 70's seemed to have stopped.
But most importantly with the internet, running has become a way for a teen to become "popular" (the "Webbmaster", "AJ's army"). Race results are everywhere. Back in the olden days you were lucky if your results got printed in the newspaper and you were able to get a hold of that newspaper on the day it came out. Plus saying you did a ton of miles sounds impressive on their social network sites.
My personal feeling is that in order to "fit in" in this internet running community you have to at least SAY you are doing a lot of miles. My gut feeling is that the training of most high schools are very similar to what was done in the 1980's. Speaking to the kids at all comers meets, most of them hardly go longer than 10 miles on their "long run".
just wondering... wrote:
I understand the basic merits of running the extra distance, aerobic capacity etc. my question is more along the lines of, HS athletes in other countries run 70/80k's a week yet run faster times in HS than US athletes, so why the mileage/km's obsession?
maybe because they realize the low mileage crap of the 90's didn't produce.
Australia ring any bells?
check the most recent world youth results.
I know for a fact that australia's only 1:47 18yr old does less than 60k's a week.
so flogging kids in HS and getting them to run 100km+ weeks is a good idea? so stress fractures are just part of the deal? A number of US athletes end up with stress fractures straight out of HS, unless i've missed somewhere that stress fractures assist aerobic development or something of the sort?
Hey do as few miles as you want, just don't complain when the best your country has to offer gets lapped in the 10k.
still places the aussie's in the same 'middle of the pack' area that the american's end up in, the mileage obsession doesn't appear to have helped any americans win major championship races over 10k.
just wondering... wrote:
Australia ring any bells?
check the most recent world youth results.
I know for a fact that australia's only 1:47 18yr old does less than 60k's a week.
Yeah, the US had good 800m runners in the crappy 90s too.
Because high mileage works really well, especially if you're not very talented
Australia has nobody in the distance races; the US has several. Where are you going with this?
nobody in distance races?
gregson/riseley?
I was simply asking why americans pursue the high mileage at a young age 'eggs against the wall' theory when it obviously doesn't provide consistent results and more often than not results in injury.
just wondering... wrote:
nobody in distance races?
gregson/riseley?
I was simply asking why americans pursue the high mileage at a young age 'eggs against the wall' theory when it obviously doesn't provide consistent results and more often than not results in injury.
You do realize that Gregson is running over 100 miles (160km) a week right?
*nods* yes, however he wasn't doing that until after HS.
The combination of high mileage plus 50+ competitions plus lots of speed workouts is the problem.
Gebrselassie says he ran 20k per day since he was a little kid (with no workouts and no races for years)
just wondering... wrote:
more often than not results in injury.
Why do you think this?
100k per week is solid but not overdoing it for a committed high school junior/senior with running experience. Running 100k over the summer before XC would be fine and help make for a stronger team. 100k weeks for a high school 800 meter runner is pretty unlikely, and mileage for an 800 meter runner doesn't have to be as high as for 5k and longer.
High School Runner wrote:
I run very few kilometers a week. We only run kilometers in races. The rest of the time we run miles. In a week with one XC race, I might run 5 kilometers and 50-60 miles. So no 100 kilometer weeks for me. Rarely even a week with more than 10 kilometers.
You run more kilometers than miles per week if you don't/didn't know the conversion! So you are incorrect sir! Why range in kilometers from 80.45 - 96.54 per week? Why not round to 80-95 or 100?
just wondering... wrote:
Australia ring any bells?
check the most recent world youth results.
I know for a fact that australia's only 1:47 18yr old does less than 60k's a week.
Sorry, how is that different than US runners? How many miles was Elijah Greer running? Even webb who was more a miler at 147/353 in HS topped out at around 50 miles per week. JJ ran what? like 15-20 miles per week in HS? Robbie Andrews? There are a lot of 800 runners who run millage like that.