Trivia Question - Guess How Many Japanese Men Have Broken 62 This Yr for 13.1? And How Many Americans?
Go ahead and guess for the Japanese.
Ok.
23 so far.
24 if Kawauchi does it at the world half.
http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/2012/10/kawauchi-at-world-half-my-goal-is-61.html
And for the US.
4.
Ritz 60:57
Bauhs 61:30
Puskedra 61:36
Meb 61:41
Already a thread about this:
Anyone have the numbers for each nation's total (I mean ever)
Now, I don't want to be confused with Letsrun's favorite LA troll but:
Athletics medals at the 2012 Summer Games
Japan - 1
USA - 29
Distance and mid-distance medals at the 2012 Summer Games
Japan - 0
USA - 2
23 sub 1:02 >>>>> 4 sub 1:02
Soon to be
24 sub 1:02 >>>>> 4 sub 1:02
24/4 = 6:1
American distance runners are getting a real whipping.
That's about 1110 points on the IAAF tables:
How many Americans, and how many Japanese runners, ran 28:15 (the equivalent 10,000m time on the track) or 13:28 (ditto, 5,000m)?
I think the real issue is just that the US distance resurgence hasn't extended to the marathon or half marathon on the men's side. Sure we have had some very impressive performances by guys like Meb, Hall and Ritz(half) but there is zero depth.
The mens trials in Houston showed as much depth as we have ever had.
The womens trials ln Houston had greater depth than any marathon ever.
Here is why we don't see more fast American times.
1. There are too many gd halfs and marathons in the US. The competition has been so diluted that the lower tier pros never face each other, getting a fast time through pushing each other.
This is not the case in Japan.
2. Not enough prize money and appearance fees, especially from the low tier races. Races are allowed to act like $2000 for the winner all the way down to $500 for 5th place is a great prize for 6 months of work. Most of our halfs and marathons offer prize purses that are about 20x too low.
The difference basically is commitment. A US runner gets out of school doesn't get a great contract for a mediocre collegiate career and stops.
Dozens of Japanese runners get a full time job, utilize their degree and train their asses off until they get to their goal or nearly die trying.
It's like they all have the mentality of LR's own Eddy Lee!
Anyone able to figure out the ages of these Japanese runners? Those guys often turn to the roads earlier than our guys, during college even.
I imagine we have quite a few collegiate runners that could approach 62' if they focused on that instead the 1500m/5k/10k for four years.
A shame more of our top level collegiates don't stick with competitive running beyond college.
MFattie wrote:
The difference basically is commitment. A US runner gets out of school doesn't get a great contract for a mediocre collegiate career and stops.
Dozens of Japanese runners get a full time job, utilize their degree and train their asses off until they get to their goal or nearly die trying.
It's like they all have the mentality of LR's own Eddy Lee!
--
Agreed , most US runner's though would be lucky just to get free shoes and maybe a bonus program. Japan has a strong club/company sponsorship program that allows structure and support way beyond anything in the US.
Go to the IAAF site.
How many of each country ran the A standard in the 10,000 (27:45)
8 Americans, 0 Japanese.
It is an interesting statistical anomaly how Japan seems to have so much greater depth at the HM than the US, and yet has fewer (internationally) race-winning competitors.
I suppose there could be some sort of "cultural" explanation, or maybe the top Japanese just don't leave Japan to compete in the top races. (Is that even true?)
But if we have a trained statistician on this board, I'd love to hear their interpretation of the data: wider base, yet lower peak.
Clearly we have runners capable of running under 62 for 13.1 as any sub 2:10 or any sub-28 runner is likely capable. But in the U.S., they are probably focusing more on the 10K or the Marathon and not the 13.1. I suspect in Japan, the 13.1 has been able to attract the best runners more regularly.
Who gives a fat turd. The Japanese pretty much focus exclusively on the marathon and the half (and the roads in general). They suck for the most part at 10K and are pathetic, given their population, at anything 5K or shorter. News flash: They can generally kick our asses at ultras as well. It's their thing; their cultural ethos all but demands suffering for hours on end. So be it. If that's what they wanna do, more power to 'em. But anyone who thinks this makes any kind of statement about US vs Japan in distance running is a damn silly stupidass fooolish moronic idiotic mindless brainless sap without much intelligence.
More can be learned from this. Even though the Japanese are less talented they put in a lot mileage and run some pretty good times for the half and the marathon. In the U.S. we probably have over 200 people that if were under the Japanese system of high mileage could produce those times in the half and marathon. But it may also speak to our lack of competitive running available after college. Many of our college guys that could run a 29 minute 10000m that could go on to running fast half and marathon times don't have these relay and corporate teams or races available in the U.S.
Japanese aren't insane Los Angeles peoples which awards 18 T&F medals from London 2012.
But we wish and we dream we can be awesome is true.
Japanese enjoy the marathons and half and ekiden.
Japanese care about 10k & track only might run some to visit interesting parts of the world.
The difference is that Japan is an impoverished country and from their childhood these Japanese boys run barefoot 4-8 miles to school and back, and often again for lunch too. And they grow up at altitude and eat a diet mainly based on vegetables.
Oh wait.....