Identifying Talent: Fast times off of Low Mileage

400m-49.6800m- 1:551600m-4:24 (4:16 college, stress fracture)5k-16:09 (15:11college, 50/wk stress 10k road-32:56Half marathon-1:14:04Marathon-2:4440 miles per wk, max.; 30-35 averageI broke down in high school when I went to 35. I got destroyed in college when my coach tried 65-70. I break down now at 45-50. I'm talented, but can't use all of it because I'm not durable. Durability is a huge chunk of the 'talent pie'. So, I may not be that talented....

Seems to me we've got at least four ingredients of talent now:

- natural untrained ability.

- response to training.

- mental ability to put in the work.

- physical ability to withstand the work.

We could probably add mental ability to perform to your best level in competition also.

I still think that, overall, the best indicator of talent is the result of the race!

age38 wrote:

Seems to me we've got at least four ingredients of talent now:

- natural untrained ability.

- response to training.

- mental ability to put in the work.

- physical ability to withstand the work.

We could probably add mental ability to perform to your best level in competition also.

I still think that, overall, the best indicator of talent is the result of the race!

I agree with this list. As someone with inside info on a good D1 team, I'm struck by the fact that the 'physical ability to withstand the work' is so important.

The team in question has a lot of young men with 'natural untrained ability', good 'response to training' and the 'mental ability to put in the work' but they're just too fragile.

We have a guy who's not as 'talented' as some of the other guys, but has moved up the depth chart (from ~10th to ~4th) in one year because he's basically indestructible. He can pound out 100+ mpw and not even have an ache or pain.

I would argue that's he's talented. Maybe even more talented than his teammates.

actual talent here wrote:

I find it funny you seem to see 40-45 mpw as low mileage. I have never run more than 29 miles in one week and run16:4x consistently.

What do you run for 10K, HM, Marathon off of 29 miles?

Why so limited with miles?

Do you cross train?

age38 wrote:

Seems to me we've got at least four ingredients of talent now:

- natural untrained ability.

- response to training.

- mental ability to put in the work.

- physical ability to withstand the work.

We could probably add mental ability to perform to your best level in competition also.

I still think that, overall, the best indicator of talent is the result of the race!

I would add another: Proximity to optimal weight.

I remember being at my peak fitness and getting passed by a guy with a beer belly in the last quarter mile of a 5k race. I'm sure that if he was at optimal weight he would have been quite a bit faster.

I ran 2:04.6 for 800m off a month of training at the age of 15. Always got injured so never made any headway in the sport but I very much doubt that I had the ability to run properly fast. I did respond very, very well to training of any kind though so I guess that's a talent in itself.

I think most hobby-ish joggers lack the knowledge the properly structure increased mileage (or any mileage, really), and would end up injured.

Here's a fast time, low-mileage example:

I know a female who made two Junior National Teams for middle distance (and is now on to Senior Development Teams). The first team was the summer of high school graduating, in which a typical week was 25mpw that season, which was an increase from her earlier years of high school.

The second team was after first year university, and training with a different coach. I believe her mileage increased to about 40mpw for that, and her 3000m times improved a bunch, while her 800/1500m times didn't really change.