Why are the Japanese high school runners so fast?

Lots of miles & threshold work, less volume & frequency of 5k pace & faster sessions.

This is also why they are mediocre in middle distance events.

Drugs.

Fukushima Daiichi perhaps?

The coaches know what they are doing and the kids actually listen and train. Diet is certainly better as a whole. Kids dont come on the Japanese version of Letsrun and ask if their coach's training plan is stupid.

So, I posted this on another thread regarding the Japanese HS times, and I still haven't seen a good explanation.

According to that same blog post, the CU men's XC team averages 14:08 for 5K - a mere 3 seconds per man faster than a bunch of high schoolers. And the Michigan St. women's XC team, also NCAA champions, averages 9:22 for 3K, 9 seconds slower than the best Japanese HS team.

That doesn't make sense. Usually, if things look too good to be true, they are. Training, culture, genetics, coaches, all-star HS teams - none of these explanations are adequate. Are the times for the Japanese teams are incorrect? Or are the times for the U.S. collegiates are incorrect? Or could Japanese HS teams come to the U.S. and compete for an NCAA title every year - or in the women's race, absolutely DOMINATE? Are the HS kids actually 20?

^This

Are you saying that they are on drugs or don´t know their age, like some f*cking 3rd world runners? Jesus f*cking Christ...

oldenuf wrote:

That doesn't make sense.

Why doesn't it make sense?

It is the radiation dummy.

Plus they are tiny and have minimal wind resistance.

angry willy wrote:

The coaches know what they are doing and the kids actually listen and train. Diet is certainly better as a whole. Kids dont come on the Japanese version of Letsrun and ask if their coach's training plan is stupid.

Hee hee.

We are saying that the numbers put forth make no sense. Where do these "elite" hs runners go after hs? The retirement home?

Typically the marathon it seems

Why are explanations like training, coaches, culture, etc. inadequate?

It implies that the Japanese have such a superior training environment that their high schoolers are four years ahead of ours. Yet that correlation doesn't hold for much longer once they graduate high school.

Old Man Winter wrote:

It implies that the Japanese have such a superior training environment that their high schoolers are four years ahead of ours. Yet that correlation doesn't hold for much longer once they graduate high school.

^This

Ekiden and marathon in Japan are huge. Some 300,000 people tried to sign up for the Tokyo marathon last year. Ekiden run from town to town with spectators lining the routes five-deep. In this kind of environment the bar is set much higher for a 14 year old kid than a 16-17min 3 mile time. They're aiming for 1:14xx-1:19xx half marathons and the like, and you can't shortcut that kind of effort with talent or speed. Interestingly, the above is also the reason there are relatively few fast milers/800m runners in Japan.

Implications are usually uncertain but I believe that their high schoolers are ahead of ours. They run, as far as I've heard in many places, many more miles than our kids normally do. But, as has been pointed out here in many threads, once they graduate from high school they move on to Eikedens, half marathons and marathons and really don't do much more than dabble at the distances our college runners do.

The Japanese are fully mature at 16 years old

/EOY/

HRE wrote:

Why are explanations like training, coaches, culture, etc. inadequate?

because that only explains white people like Rupp.

I posted this once before to make a point about fat people, now a point about skinny people

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2228rank.html

Polynesia and Arab countries are among the fattest, then the US, then most of Europe, all well over 25% obese

waaaay down the list is Japan, the 157th fattest country at 5% obesity, just ahead of Kenya at 4.7%. Ethiopia is dead last at 1.1% obese.

Chances are with 33% obese people in the US, the vast majority of the remainder are also too big to amount to much at distance running. Top distance runners mostly have the light, wispy frames that result from a lifetime of eating few calories. Americans eat too much in childhood to have much chance.