trollism wrote:
ukathleticscoach wrote:The average EA good level junior does 3 x the training of a uk junior (who are undetrained if they want to get to elite level). This group is an exception
In fairness, the average good level EA junior is a few years older than their similar aged European counterpart.
True ,even so if you look at the aw athlete profiles its laughable looking at some of the junior internationals training.
Plus the EA does a hell of lot more general running around and are not carted to the end of the block in a car!
Great if you want to avoid injury but the EA's (and US juniors) do a lot more miles than Brits. When you are down the track half the club coaches never even discuss training with the juniors apart from the 2 inteval sessions they do every wk
Steve Ovett started training twice a day aged 17. You see runners aged 21 over here still being molly coddled. You will get injured anyway at some stage you need to go for it in a big way
My piano teacher once said to me if you don't get the speed when you are young you never will. Look at how many hours int. pianists put it in at a young age. Running is no different if you want to get to the top and not just the top of an underperforming country. All training should be progressive, its a fine line between fitness and injury and its a brave coach who would put their athlete through what it takes