Do elites long distance runners do quality sessions on a treadmill?

why elites don't use treadmills as often as non-elites:

Some elite runners are able to move to a location with good weather when seasons change. No need for a treadmill if you spend your winters in southern california.

Elites are able to train mid-day instead of before or after work, so they don't need to run in the dark or when it is coldest.

worked for this guy - 2.13, 61.54

Doelites wrote:

But my main question is WHY NOT, not why yes. Why Kenyans and Ethiopians don’t.

there are three pretty obvious answers to this question.

1. it's a cultural thing. - if you watch a documentary about Ryan Hall training, or a film about how Meb Keflezighi won Boston, what you see is the loneliness of the long distance runner. a man alone with his fears, battling inner demons as he pounds out those long lonely miles and how he ultimately overcomes it all to become a champion.

if you watch any documentary about Kenyan runners what you see is forty of them going out for 20-mile runs together, and the slower ones drop off the back of the pack and get picked up in minibuses where they are proud of having run for a while with one of the greats. tomorrow they will be back and next week they will last for longer.

westerners do their track sessions in small compact groups of four or five hand-picked buddies, but videos of Kenyans training in Iten show twenty or more starting a session, some of whom are not even known to the leading runners much less picked by them, they are just hangers on, a scenario completely unknown in Oregon where the track is not available for public use, where the sessions are conducted in private and where journalists are not even allowed to use a stop watch.

the differences could not be more obvious.

but a treadmill can be used by only one person at a time. this is not the Kenyan way.

2. I have never been to Kenya but I suspect that they do not have the utilities infrastructure seen in Dakota or New Hampshire. maybe, they don't use treadmills because you have to plug them in to an electrical supply that many places outside of the larger cities do not have.

3. the reasons westerners give for using treadmills often revolve around the weather. I suspect there are not many snow storms in Kenya and not too many days where the temperature drops below freezing and the ground is covered in slippery ice and frost. maybe Kenyans don't use treadmills because they don't have to.

Cheers,

Kenyans don’t need treadmills since most don’t have to be at work at 8am in a city...including a 1 hour commute.

The treadmill is a time saver for those who live where it snows or where it’s dark before and after work.

Elites don’t need them because they have more free time than all of us.

I did a treadmill workout earlier. It was really tough. My legs are sore as hell. I dont see how it couldnt be effective

5 sets of

.125mi @ 12 mph

.125mi @ 7 mph

.125mi @ 12mph

.125mi @ 7mph

.25mi @ 12mph

.25mi @ 7mph

All at 3.5% grade

This was after running to work 6 miles. 10 hours of manual labor and running 6 miles home

Everyone one does it.

They just get angry if you mention it and they will cut you off if you press the issue.

Arrogance

I do my hard workouts on a treadmill. I run at 1% grade to offset no wind. And make sure to calibrate it correctly to mimic running outside.