What is Japan doing differently in marathon training compared to the U.S.?

Your list gets shortened because these ones are not more american than their ID cards...

Khanouchi = morocco

Meb = eritrea

Salazar = cuba

Abdi = somalia

bye..

Tergat, Biwot, Kipsang are 180 - 182cm tall.

rptlan wrote:

Your list gets shortened because these ones are not more american than their ID cards...

Khanouchi = morocco

Meb = eritrea

Salazar = cuba

Abdi = somalia

bye..

Shorter = germany

Shorter was born a US citizen and is therefore different than the guys on that list.

HRE wrote:

Shorter was born a US citizen and is therefore different than the guys on that list.

They are all US citizens so they are equal under the laws of the US. Are you a racist?

High mileage and they race often.

Unlike the weak US top marathoners that think they can be like a Kenyan by just racing twice a year.

No go wrote:

Rupp=1.5 (.5 for olympic medal) Japan=0

Galen’s a great runner but he isn’t and wasn’t ever the second best or third best in the world.

Put the top 50 runners with Galen and I’d bet my house that he doesn’t get top three.

If he ever goes to Berlin or London and comes in first or second then I’d have to eat my words.

Anyway, having said that, clearly there isn’t the depth in America right now but I think by 2020, it will be back to 2008 level- two top ten contenders.

The link doesn't work anymore! So sad.

It's interesting to see the different training approaches between westerners and the Japanese.

It's not the training they do so much as the marathon is insanely popular in Japan. In comparison there is little interest in track & field. So a lot if not all their best distance runner focus on the marathon to the exclusion of anything else.

Les wrote:

It's not the training they do so much as the marathon is insanely popular in Japan. In comparison there is little interest in track & field. So a lot if not all their best distance runner focus on the marathon to the exclusion of anything else.

I thought they're also into the sprints? ?

1 They are not destroying their bodies or motivation during high school

2 More people in Japan have endurance genes, but they also have bad running legs so they will never be at the absolute top

Insular.

FinnJ wrote:

1 They are not destroying their bodies or motivation during high school

2 More people in Japan have endurance genes, but they also have bad running legs so they will never be at the absolute top

So, what happens if an athlete has good "endurance genes" but also have "bad running legs?" A higher rate of injuries perhaps?

Also mentality. Like Kenyans desire for money, Japanese fun off fear. They also have a big bullying culture. That fear of failure drives them to push that bit harder than say Jack Jones from Iowa who just wants to be on TV or a Nike sponsorship.

The Japanese have an "eggs thrown against the wall" mentality with how their collegiate teams are ran. A lot of Japanese probably don't know they even have stress injuries half the time because their ekiden teams rarely have athletic trainers on staff. Even if they do, they aren't nearly as educated about our sport as they are in the states. True grindhouse programs over there. They do produce great results though. I think the biggest difference is that they do a lot more marathon specific work then American's traditionally have done. The Japanese train for the 1/2 and full marathon distances essentially for 4+ years in college and then even more afterwards. A lot of it consists of long MP runs mixed in with a ton of 10k-1/2 M paced stuff. Lot of time trials are used. A lot of steady miles. They just put in work whereas a lot of American's are afraid to because if they break down they lose their contract. The Japanese contracts are tied in with a corporation and if they end up a bust their lively hood isn't ruined. They still get to be at a nice company working a desk job.

source: I have a coach who uses our track that works with the national team. Also, an athletic trainer at my school goes back to work with their team. He got his education here because it was more extensive. He will be back there for Tokyo 2020.