Lukas Verzbicas and his triathlon training - is "less" more?

As a younger runner he probably can run well on "lower mileage" but he may have to increase at some point as he gets older.

I know of people who have improved their running by backing off and adding cycling and swimming. I'm a triathlete, (runner initially) and while I can run as fast as I used to with double the mileage and only running, the sports are widely different so I don't think you can be a better pure runner if you add cycling and running, as opposed to running as many miles as possible.

This is to say if you have the raw talent to run 13:30 or so for 5k I think you'd only reach that if you ran as much as that talent allowed, maybe adding swimming and biking to that highest total would help but subbing one for the other, I don't think so.

Does Lukas swim in high school. IF so what are his times like...

It might be what Lukas Verzbicas needs to stay healthy and sharp at this stage, but in general? Hmmm ... I can't think of a single world class East African runner who did triathlons as a teenager.

A little more overall athletic development might be what a few of the youngsters in the US need, though. I've always thought prospective US running talents who get into the sport at an early age should take winters off from organized running through the 10th grade and play soccer or basketball (or swimming?) for both a mental break and development of more general athleticism (muscular strength, coordination, etc.).

I just read an article where he stated that he swims 5 days a week for 2 hours. He's a triathlete first and foremost. The article also said his mom was the 1500 meter lithuanian record holder. I think he does a lot of working out in multiple sports but I don't think this is what makes him better than others, I just think he's one of those ridiculously talented individuals, who knows, maybe he could be running faster now if he ditched the other sports!

I'm not racist but African Americans are usually not good swimmers. I've swam for ten years and came across a couple swimmers who were african americans. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11172054

Webb - swimming background.

Mottram - apparently a very good junior triathlete.

How would swimming 2 hours a day hurt your running?

There were some declarations from a triathlete coach that said that Mottram could win the gold medal in triathlon in 2012, he was training with a group of them, and apparently he had a lot of potential in there.

Maybe not , but all of them played soccer from a very young age.

I agree on a balanced approach until high school. Time to learn to focus and become specific to the sport of running. Rest days , the pool works fine , maybe some plyo metric exercise , even a stationary bike.

Why is it that whenever one kid comes along (big like Solinsky, low mileage like any number of runners, triathlete like Lukas V, insane interval workouts like Webb) that all of a sudden people think it heralds some new era of training? What about every other foot locker champion, including the two other two-timers, who WERE NOT triathletes? Verzbicas has obviously found a formula that works for him, and that is great, but don't think that everyone should copy him.

Sunshine Desserts wrote:

It might be what Lukas Verzbicas needs to stay healthy and sharp at this stage, but in general? Hmmm ... I can't think of a single world class East African runner who did triathlons as a teenager.

White Americans are not East Africans. They certainly do not have EA genes, nor do they (generally) dope to the extent EA runners do. Why attempt to emulate them?

What can Verbiscac swim for an open 100m freestyle? an open 1500m freestyle?

My suspicion is that because a lot of his competition runs relatively "low" volume, and he still runs like 60 mpw + biking and swimming it still gives him an edge over his competition. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the guys he is racing against is doing 60-70 mpw. To get to the next level in college and beyond, though, he might have to run 80+ and cut back on the cross training. Considering his background with the other two sports and that aerobic fitness from them does carry over somewhat to running I can't see him eliminating them entirely from his training schedule anytime soon.

I think a lot of people get hung up on mileage, etc. when in fact there is no distinct "formula". Not everyone has to run 100 mpw to be successful. Some runners achieve the same results with less, and would not improve if they ran more either because they would be hurt because they are injury prone or just run down. Keep in mind Webb ran pretty much 60-70 mpw for all of his career with Raczko (not sure what he is running with Salazar now).

dean moriarty wrote:

How would swimming 2 hours a day hurt your running?

IT definitely depends on the athlete. I am sure it could help many runners, but hurt others. How could it hurt some? If you are not naturally very strong (good at recovering, lots if inherent endurance), and are exhausting yourself swimming, then you will be likely doing your running miles either at a much slower pace (lack of quality), or the combined running on top of the swimming will be exhausting you. Some athletes it might effect the nervous system/firing patterns of your legs, ie, the kicking motion of swimming is different than the running motion, and possibly some muscle confusion could develop, negatively effecting running stride.

Another question to ask would be: if swimming 2 hours a day can't hurt (as your question seems to suggest), then why isn't EVERY good runner doing it? Why hasn't salazar (the king of trying new training methods) implemented 2 hour swims for Webb, Ritz, and the like? And if Geb added 2 hour swims to his running training, would he be a 2:01 marathoner next year? I doubt it.

So it could help in ways, but for elites, it likely could hurt in more ways. I don't think Mottram would have won a bronze medal and run 12:55 and 3:48 if he had continued with tons of swimming on top of or in lieu of the running miles he did, do you? Or do you think he could have won the gold and run 12:48/3:46 if he had continued with 2 hour swims? And would have Webb run 3:53 in HS if he continued swimming tons in HS, instead of just focusing all his efforts on run training? The likely answer is no.

At a certain point, for athletes that can handle lots of running miles, SPECIFICITY is best. For those that can't handle lots of run miles, cross training can work by improving the overall aerobic fitness.

I think it's important to look at his total training volume compared to other high school athletes. I would estimate that he does between 12-15 hours a week of training between the three sports which gives him the edge on the other runners his age who only run 50 miles a week. Lukas is obviously an extremely talented runner but I am willing to say his success in high school is due to triathlon training.

Aerobic fitness is very important to run fast (obviously), and this is something that a lot of high schoolers lack. It is my personal belief that the stronger you are, the faster you will run at all middle distance and distance events, similar to Lydiard's theory. Lukas focuses on the triathlon during the offseason (summer and winter I believe), doing low volume of running and A LOT of biking and swimming. Although they don't specifically train the running muscles, for someone as proficient in the other two as Lukas Verzbicas I imagine he is doing very high quality aerobic work in the other two sports that most runners could not do due to lack of experience. Thus, he is able to actually get aerobic fitness gain from the other two sports.

Then, during the track/cross country season he focuses on running a little more and starts doing more running specific workouts, specifically speed workouts. This gets the peripheral system back into form, and he is already aerobically fit coming off a massive base from triathlon training. This allows him to be successful and get in shape quickly. He mentions this in some interview, but I forget where.

"You've got to keep working hard," Verzbicas said. "This is a big level of sports. You have to sacrifice. During the school year, I go to school, come home and eat, then I'm either running or biking for one hour, and five nights a week, I swim for two hours.

"Then I come back and do homework."

FROM ARTICLE

http://yourseason.suntimes.com/othersports/1669729,071609-triathlon-lukas-verzbicas.article

He said his biking was at 60 miles a week in another article and he never goes over 50 miles per week in running. He would be good at ITU triathlons (and olympics) where drafting is legal but would get crushed by superior cyclists in traditional triathlons.

I know of no pro triathlete who could run under 13:45, not because they aren't that talented but because to reach 100 percent in 1 sport you need to be as specifically fit for that sport as possible, something cross training works against when you're in the 13:xx range.

dean moriarty wrote:

How would swimming 2 hours a day hurt your running?

Have you ever tried swimming and then running?

I tried swimming 1500m/day once. About 30 mins/day. After 2 weeks, along w/ running, I was flattened. I was so tired I slept 12-14hrs for a week.

Swimming is deceptively tiring if you have not done any serious swim training in the past. Just like running....or biking....