Scott Douglas asks, "Why Don’t More Elites Post Their Training Online?"

Anton Krupicka does.

SpleenlessDemas wrote:

rojo wrote:

Wikipedia if it was created now would be different. It would still be free but they'd create it with ads. It makes no sense that there aren't ads on there.

Same thing with a training log. It makes no sense to just give it away for free.

It makes no sense that you can't figure out what Wikipedia's mission is. Their stated mission is "to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally."

It functions on donations, which it solicits whenever it deems necessary. If it were beholden to advertisers, it would not be the same and it would have outside influences. Do you understand now, Rojo?

Let's say Nike was a big advertiser on Letsrun. Let's say 50% of ad revenue came from Nike ads. Letsrun says it's going to publish an expose on NOP. Nike says if you print the story, we'll pull all our advertising. More than one media outlet has caved under pressure from advertisers. A free press isn't really free in those situations.

I have to agree with Ritz. In a way your own personal training log/plan feels just that, personal. Even of everyone's logs were public knowledge I doubt a majority of pros would change much of anything about their own custom program.

Since we are talking about professionals that all have very individualized training plans the idea that if everyone just used the same training plan the most talented person would win doesn't make much sense to me. The person that responds best to that training plan would win, not necessarily the most talented. More likely it would just mean a lot of athletes with a ton of talent would waste it by not training in the manner most beneficial to them individually.

I'd imagine that most of the pros are under contract with their coaches not to share their training details.

I don't coach running, but I coach another endurance sport. For sure, at the high end, plans are pretty individualized. Even if 90% of the workouts are the same within a group, that 10% can vary widely. So if you're already a great kicker, and you're reading a plan for a pro who has no kick, you wouldn't be getting workouts that focus on your strengths and weaknesses.

More importantly, if you post an elite athlete's plan, you open the door to every swinging dick to chime in on what they think -- "That's stupid to do so much/so little volume/speed/tempo/strength." And it isn't productive. The athlete doesn't get any benefit from having a bunch of people second-guess their preparation, so why share it?

I usually like Scott's insight, but this seemed dated and not representative. There's a ton of pros sharing on Strava, Running 2 Win, and Athleticore. The Hanson's were one of the first groups I used to follow on Athleticore. I've never heard of Final Surge until this article, so that must be another one. Being able to wirelessly upload GPS data makes it easier than ever to track your training. I used to be a non-GPS, paper and pen notebook person. I started using Strava because w/a full-time job it became a pain remembering to write down my training (~using a calculator- remember those things?!) and the details. I got a GPS watch, it immediately and wirelessly uploads to Strava, and then I can add any details when I have the time. I like all the metrics and keeping track of things like shoe mileage. It's made life so much easier! It's also a great way to share what products you're using/sponsors-- sponsors usually have a social media element to their contracts. I think that "knowing the world is watching" holds you accountable and makes you a bit smarter about everything so you can continue to consistently train, race, be healthy, and take care of yourself. Just my two cents.

An elite runner once told me -- "everyone lies about their training, except me. No one believes me."

I mostly trained alone like I do today. When I trained with 1 or more others they usually trained with less mileage and less of whatever type of training it was like weights or swimming than what they claimed in public.

My most usual training week included 40 miles of running which was popular with my generation and other training in the pool, cycling and weights. I was in other programs too like stretching.

I don't want to say who but he told me that one of America's great marathoners decades ago did not really do all the mileage he claimed.

Marty McFly wrote:

Sometimes it feels like rojo has trouble with very basic thought processes. The reason Wikipedia is so immensely popular is in large part BECAUSE it is free. Do you think Wikipedia was the first ever encyclopedia? LOL

Get with the program rojo.

I am sorry. I do not agree with your statement.

It is not sometimes that rojo has trouble with basic thought processes.

It is all the time.

I like to use the term "ability to think" instead.

Rojo has problems with his ability to think…all the time.

(It is not just sometimes.)

OK?

My college coach told me to stop posting workouts online because it was like "sharing the secret recipe". Except we weren't doing anything all that special and, on the whole, the training wasn't particularly effective. Most people didn't get much better from where they were in HS and some got appreciably worse.

Elite training isn't rocket science (well...maybe for Alberto it is), and there is so much out there already that you aren't exposing the target audience (people who follow elite running closely) to anything completely unheard of.

FitzyXC wrote:

My college coach told me to stop posting workouts online because it was like "sharing the secret recipe". Except we weren't doing anything all that special and, on the whole, the training wasn't particularly effective. Most people didn't get much better from where they were in HS and some got appreciably worse.

Elite training isn't rocket science (well...maybe for Alberto it is), and there is so much out there already that you aren't exposing the target audience (people who follow elite running closely) to anything completely unheard of.

Exactly.

The best training line I have ever heard was by Frank Shorter.

Frank Shorter said…"Everyone wants to know "the secret" to training.

The secret is… there is no secret."

Bingo.

It sounds reasonable to keep it private, some people don't care to show all their cards all the time. Consider the athlete gets an injury they don't care to open up to comment or explanation.

Strava has a page for pro athletes. Mostly cyclists but some runners and triathletes. I guess some elites wouldn't be keen on showing blank days and weeks when they're injured.

I remember Brian Sell posting all his training online. His comments made quite entertaining reading: "some days you eat the bear, some days he eats you" and "Felt like we were running solid, but everybody was there, so I may just be out of shape."

With Strava it's pretty easy to post training online. Some elites may be shy about having their training available for scrutiny, not because they're worried about some sub-elite copying their training and beating them in the 2020 Olympic Trials.

I have always thought that elite sprint groups could clear up accusations of doping if they posted and somehow verified workouts. I think it would be valuable for distance coaches to post actual workouts. Many people don't realize how difficult training is for high level runners. This would help eliminate the social cross country programs.

A person wrote:

It sounds reasonable to keep it private, some people don't care to show all their cards all the time. Consider the athlete gets an injury they don't care to open up to comment or explanation.

Yeah, I would think that's the logic for an elite like Ritz. If you're trying to win races, you don't necessarily want your competitors to know exactly how fit you are. Not that I think many Kenyans would bother looking at Ritz's training log, of course...

Give me a beak, running is not that complicated training wise.

The information is out there.

Stan Croft wrote:

I have always thought that elite sprint groups could clear up accusations of doping if they posted and somehow verified workouts.

Doped and clean sprinters are doing the same work, it's not like random turds are injecting themselves and hopping into races without having done any work prior...they are systematic turds who have done a lot of work and a varying amount of dope.

Thankful as all get out wrote:

I believe that Pro runners don't put their stuff on line so they can create an aura of something special.

How many ex Hansons or McMillan athletes are currently providing coaching services based on just this?

I think every athlete in NAZ elite is a coach. Interestingly, Ben Rosario ran with both Hansons and McMillan.

Its because they are unable to do anything else, so they fall into coaching.

The sad case to point out is that just because you maybe ran fast or trained with an elite group that this would transfer over into being a good coach.

Reguritating old workouts and hoping for glory is sad.

NAZ elite is a good regional program, barley national class.

rojo wrote:

Wikipedia if it was created now would be different. It would still be free but they'd create it with ads. It makes no sense that there aren't ads on there.

That's quite an interesting opinion. Slightly scary.