ideas?
ideas?
more high altitude? Whats the highest city in the US?
Makes all kids run to school.
With lions chasing them and whatnot.
I think we need to re-think how we approach youth development. If you are 12-14 in Africa, you aren't scared to run long. If you are the same age in North America, coaches think you are doomed to burn out if you run longer than 8k. Instead, we get kids to run 400s and 800s (highly anaerobic)and then move them to longer distances when they are in their mid-late teens. Seems we might have this reversed.
What if we worked endurance (including cross training and only running on soft surfaces) between 11-13. We emphasize mile to five miles races (road, track and XC). Mix in some sprint drills and alactic work.
At 14-15, as anaerobic capacities develop, we shift racing distances downward to 400-mile. We focus more on strength, flexibility and speed.
At 16-18, the focus is more similar to a Lydiard build up. Race distances are specialized to the strengths of the athlete.
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Has it come to this? wrote:
I think we need to re-think how we approach youth development. If you are 12-14 in Africa, you aren't scared to run long. If you are the same age in North America, coaches think you are doomed to burn out if you run longer than 8k. Instead, we get kids to run 400s and 800s (highly anaerobic)and then move them to longer distances when they are in their mid-late teens. Seems we might have this reversed.
What if we worked endurance (including cross training and only running on soft surfaces) between 11-13. We emphasize mile to five miles races (road, track and XC). Mix in some sprint drills and alactic work.
At 14-15, as anaerobic capacities develop, we shift racing distances downward to 400-mile. We focus more on strength, flexibility and speed.
At 16-18, the focus is more similar to a Lydiard build up. Race distances are specialized to the strengths of the athlete.
Reverse it (Lydiard base first, starting at 11-13), with no racing until age 16, then you'll have something.
common wrote:
Has it come to this? wrote:I think we need to re-think how we approach youth development. If you are 12-14 in Africa, you aren't scared to run long. If you are the same age in North America, coaches think you are doomed to burn out if you run longer than 8k. Instead, we get kids to run 400s and 800s (highly anaerobic)and then move them to longer distances when they are in their mid-late teens. Seems we might have this reversed.
What if we worked endurance (including cross training and only running on soft surfaces) between 11-13. We emphasize mile to five miles races (road, track and XC). Mix in some sprint drills and alactic work.
At 14-15, as anaerobic capacities develop, we shift racing distances downward to 400-mile. We focus more on strength, flexibility and speed.
At 16-18, the focus is more similar to a Lydiard build up. Race distances are specialized to the strengths of the athlete.
Reverse it (Lydiard base first, starting at 11-13), with no racing until age 16, then you'll have something.
Stop training with slow as white boys. Also it's to many slow whites coaching.
With a stick while, they sleep.
In somewhat seriousness. Have the Americans ever tried teamwork? It seems like in big races American runners get separated a little, the top East Africans run a killing two or three laps to break the field and suddenly American runners are just running all alone for the entire 2nd half of a race.
If they can get past those inevitable killer surges the EAs do they could be surprisingly close. The East Africans seem to fall back into a reasonable pace, even they can't sustain it.
A bronze medal in the 10K seems very challenging but attainable in the near future for Americans.
PAChillin' wrote:
ideas?
A whip. Jk I love them. They're on my team. And they go to the weightroom all the time and lift LOW weight with a BUNCH or reps. Maybe thats why they beat us.
The Real Deal wrote:
more high altitude? Whats the highest city in the US?
I believe Albuquerque is the highest metropolitan area. Highest town is Glade Park-Gateway Colorado at nearly double the elevation of Albuquerque or Denver (>10,000 ft!)
Arrange to be born at high altitude and then have your parents feed you a low protein starchy diet so you'll be small and thin. Walk everywhere and never wear shoes. Drink only water. Abandon school and start running 3 times a day when you're 14. Have no prospect of ever owning a car or house or getting more than one wife unless you win big. Get a million guys like you to do the same. You'll have a handful of winners. Ready to sign up?
Only run events that are 400m and under
McBundy wrote:
Arrange to be born at high altitude and then have your parents feed you a low protein starchy diet so you'll be small and thin. Walk everywhere and never wear shoes. Drink only water. Abandon school and start running 3 times a day when you're 14. Have no prospect of ever owning a car or house or getting more than one wife unless you win big. Get a million guys like you to do the same. You'll have a handful of winners. Ready to sign up?
I'll disagree with you on the part that has to do with abandoning school at 13/14.
We have great runners (Songok, Cheruiyot vivian, Jepkosgei, Jelimo.........et al) who've completed their form four studies.
It has nothing to do with abandoning school.
NIhil.
In all seriousness, he is right. The biggest thing preventing us from running at that level is our best athletes play in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Their best athletes run.
Snakedoctor09 wrote:
In all seriousness, he is right. The biggest thing preventing us from running at that level is our best athletes play in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Their best athletes run.
I don't think Ochocinko Johnson (if that's his name) would break a 1:50 800m race. Neither would Amare Stoudamire.
Not that like, think about it. Of course Amare is too tall(he would be a thrower or something). But Chad is only 6'1", has natural athletic talent. Now, remove all sports from America. Unless Chad chooses soccer(which was first love), he is forced to run. Now repeat this process with all our American born athletes. There are a lot more natural athletes to work with and if 75% percent of them burn out, get injured, or just can't hit the times, we still have however many left that can run at or just below the international level.
stop eating American food! Europeans double their weight after couple of years here, Asian move here and their chance of getting breast cancer goes up 90%, any foreigner who moves here their chance of getting of getting a degenerative disease goes up triple! Premium athletes cannot continue to eat sub-premium fuel (junk food - which almost all food in America) and expect to get premium results!
Snakedoctor09 wrote:
In all seriousness, he is right. The biggest thing preventing us from running at that level is our best athletes play in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Their best athletes run.
The problem is a lot of athletes with running talent delude themselves into thinking they can play in the NFL, NBA, and MLB.
Also true. Crappy mainstream athletes due to a variety of reasons who could be stellar runners. Athletes who lack skill, but are athletic enough to make it far enough to fail professionally.
East Africans are better because that is their number 1 sport so their best athletes go there, and more people try to run. They still have 2:10-2:20 marathoners, but the super athletes we have playing on the fields or on the court are the guys they have on the roads and tracks. The training difference isn't that big, it's the talent comparison of those that take up running between 13-16 and start getting serious. It's the amount of people who take up running during those years. Here in America, it would be like a 1,000 person school with a 100+ person XC team on the guys side alone.