When speaking of talent it is important to first define what talent is.
Talent can come in many different forms when related to running. There are anatomical t=advantages that help. Obviously a skinny 5 foot 8 guy is going to be a better runner than a huger 6 foot 5 muscled athlete your probably more suited for football. So that's one form of talent
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Then there are obvious physiological advantages such as:
- You could have more motor neurons in your muscles which could give you a good kick and potentially make you a good 800m runner
-You could have a higher natural vo2max, which makes you better overall but much more so in the longer events
-you could have a high lactate threshold, this again makes you better overall but makes a bigger impact on shorter events such as 1500
-You could have a better metabolism which helps with endurance and helps with the loooonnngggg distances such as half marathon or marathon.
These are the obvious ones that we think of and these four talents can be trained and increased. But they are not the only talents. Here are some others that we don't think of as often
-Ability to recover, makes it so you can do more harder workouts more frequently, Prefontaine had a huge natural ability to recover.
-ability to improve faster, Jim Ryun started off running very poorly. His first one mile time was 5:38 and his two mile time was 11:51. He only made the team in the two mile. He obviously improved. When he stopped running in the 1970's for a while his vo2max was tested and it was very low, but he was able to improve it very drastically in just two years
-ability to take a higher workload. If you can't run 100 miles a week you will typically not be able to run professionally or even well in college. Typically, if you cant run 55-60 miles a week in high school, depending on the event, you will never make. There are always exceptions.
-running economy. Your running economy is basically how much energy/oxygen your body demands for a particular speed. Joaquim Cruz had a very good running economy at 800m speed but did not have good running economy above and below that. As another example Jack Daniels, who used to compete in the modern pentathlon, had a rival who had the same speed as him. His competitor had a higher vo2max but a lower running economy and Daniels was basically the opposite. You can have a high vo2max but a terrible running economy and you won't be crap.
Most of these less thought of talents cant really be improved that much, aside from running economy. On the other hand the opposite can be said about the four most thought of talents.
-Motor Neurons-Motor Neurons are the neurological particles in your muscles that get signals from your nerves that in turn causes your muscle to contract or relax. The more neurons you have the more forcibly your muscle can contract. The theory behind having more neurons in your muscle being beneficial for distance running is that the more motor neurons your have the less hard your body has to work in order to get more a more powerful stride. This is primarily being utilized by the NOP. This can be improved by doing multiple different things. Examples: doing runs over hilly course, short sprints at max speed either on flat ground or hill, and weightlifting with high weight low rep.
-Vo2max-There are multiple different ways to improve this.
The most common is running from 800m-1 mile at your vo2max pace. You can also just run. If you run at an easy pace or a moderate pace this improves your aerobic ability tremendously, but only for so much. You can also train at altitude, which improves red blood cell count which then improves your vo2.
-Lactate Threshold-This term has been used in many different ways and all are different things. There is Lactic Power which is how much lactate your body produces, think 400-800. Most people think that lactic acid is bad. This is actually not true, it is actually a very good, if not the most important, form of fuel your body uses when running faster. The bad part is your bodies inability to process the hydrogen that is left over from your bodies burning of lactic acid. This is where the burning sensation comes from. This is improved with intervals of 400m-600m with 1-3 reps with 12/15 mins of rest. There is also lactic capacity which is your bodies ability to withstand high amounts of lactic acid, think 800-1500. This is improved by using intervals of 400m-600m for 3-5 reps at 800m pace or slightly faster than 800m pace with 6/8 minutes of recovery. There is also lactic speed endurance which is your bodies ability to go fast while under high lactic acid, think 1500-3000. This is improved with intervals of 400m-800m with 6-10 reps at 1500m pace to 3000m pace with 2:00/4:00 min of rec. Then there is lactic endurance which is the ability to run for a long time with high amounts of lactic acid, think 5000-10000.This is improved with intervals for the different events. For 5000m do intervals of 600-2000m with 10-3 reps at slightly faster to slightly slower than 5000m pace with 1:30/5:00 min of rec. For 10000m do intervals of 600m-2000m with reps of 15-4 at or slightly faster than 10000m pace with rest of 1:30/4 min pace. Then there is lactate threshold, think half marathon. Your lactate threshold is the pace/speed where your body starts producing lactic acid faster than your body can clear the hydrogen atoms that are left over. By running at this pace your essentially increase your endurance. This is best improved with a continuous fartlek style workout totaling 6-8 miles with 400m-1000m at, slightly slower, or slightly faster than half marathon pace and 1200m-600m at a pace that is 40 sec-20 sec per mile slower than half-marathon pace. Each "faster slower" interval needs to total 1600m. All of these thing have some influence on lactate threshold.
-running economy-standard intervals at the pace your want to race will improve the running economy for that particular race. Strides 100m-150m strides totaling 1 mile with 1 min rest is a great workout for improving and strengthening stride length. Strides are the best for 1500/mile in my opinion. Also running on hills, either hill sprints, hill intervals, or hill runs. Race relevant weightlifting is also very important. This means that your muscles need to contract the way they do when you run. Your quads need to contract eccentrically, your glutes and hamstrings need to contract concentrically. Also working on your bio-mechanics by doing stability exercise for your hip, ankle, and knee.
Other talents such as recovery that cannot be improved with working out. Weightlifting can help with durability but mainly with stability or bone density but that's pretty much it. Other talents are improved with healthy life style, diet, and supplements.
Any questions?