Meb Keflezghi's response to the lack of sub 2:10 american distance runners "they take their easy days too easy."

Hfjdjdhdh wrote:

Easy days easy seems to work fine for Kipchoge, Kamworor, and many other Kenyans.

But what do they know?

Zactly... wrote:

What most folks don't get is that every one is different.... no exact or magic way to be great.

I know guys who hammered every day ... mega miles. I know guys who took easy days easy and ran far fewer miles.... gotta find what works for you.

Btw, what's "wrong" and why there aren't American sub 2:10 guys is more about socio-economics than anything else... far less about how slow/fast your easy days are

This talk about " every one is different" must come to an end when we talk about running improvement and best ways to reach your optimal performance. There is no evidence of such a claim.

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

Zactly... wrote:

What most folks don't get is that every one is different.... no exact or magic way to be great.

I know guys who hammered every day ... mega miles. I know guys who took easy days easy and ran far fewer miles.... gotta find what works for you.

Btw, what's "wrong" and why there aren't American sub 2:10 guys is more about socio-economics than anything else... far less about how slow/fast your easy days are

This talk about " every one is different" must come to an end when we talk about running improvement and best ways to reach your optimal performance. There is no evidence of such a claim.

Ever heard of genetics?

Elliptidon't wrote:

So the elliptigo guy is telling us we need to run faster on easy days. Classic. Maybe if he ran more on easy days and not used an elliptigo, he would have run faster.

Stupid comment. Meb didn't start using the Elliptigo until very late in his career when he no longer could recover enough/stay injury free on the big mileage. You obviously have not followed his career or Larsen's coaching philosophy. If you want to learn something watch "City Slickers can't Touch Me" available from Amazon.

Hfjdjdhdh wrote:

Easy days easy seems to work fine for Kipchoge, Kamworor, and many other Kenyans.

Kipchoge's easy days are not that easy. He is running quite slowly for him, but doing 25-30km on many of those easy days.

old Toad who ran a lot of miles wrote:

Elliptidon't wrote:

So the elliptigo guy is telling us we need to run faster on easy days. Classic. Maybe if he ran more on easy days and not used an elliptigo, he would have run faster.

Stupid comment. Meb didn't start using the Elliptigo until very late in his career when he no longer could recover enough/stay injury free on the big mileage. You obviously have not followed his career or Larsen's coaching philosophy. If you want to learn something watch "City Slickers can't Touch Me" available from Amazon.

So you're saying Coach Bob never told you to go for a jog? Not run, but jog.

the podcast wrote:

Somewhere between 18 and 24 minutes.

Armstrong looks fit. however, and Ryan Hall looks absolutely terrible.

Somewhere recently here someone claimed Ryan's new flabby look is one that women desire. I doubt it.

This is the list US marathoners should be looking at, we should have 10 guys per year running these times. Sure, Martin and Culpepper were very talented but not on the level of a Ritzenhein.

12. David Morris—2:09:32, Chicago Marathon, 1999

13. Jerry Lawson—2:09:35, Chicago Marathon, 1997

14. Ken Martin—2:09:38, New York City Marathon, 1989

15. Alan Culpepper—2:09:41, Chicago Marathon, 2002

Elliptidon't wrote:

old Toad who ran a lot of miles wrote:

Stupid comment. Meb didn't start using the Elliptigo until very late in his career when he no longer could recover enough/stay injury free on the big mileage. You obviously have not followed his career or Larsen's coaching philosophy. If you want to learn something watch "City Slickers can't Touch Me" available from Amazon.

So you're saying Coach Bob never told you to go for a jog? Not run, but jog.

Go Griffs! Be true to your school!

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

Zactly... wrote:

What most folks don't get is that every one is different.... no exact or magic way to be great.

I know guys who hammered every day ... mega miles. I know guys who took easy days easy and ran far fewer miles.... gotta find what works for you.

Btw, what's "wrong" and why there aren't American sub 2:10 guys is more about socio-economics than anything else... far less about how slow/fast your easy days are

This talk about " every one is different" must come to an end when we talk about running improvement and best ways to reach your optimal performance. There is no evidence of such a claim.

There is no evidence to the claim "that everyone is different?" Huh?

And here I thought you were a world class coach...

old Toad who ran a lot of miles wrote:

Elliptidon't wrote:

So the elliptigo guy is telling us we need to run faster on easy days. Classic. Maybe if he ran more on easy days and not used an elliptigo, he would have run faster.

Stupid comment. Meb didn't start using the Elliptigo until very late in his career when he no longer could recover enough/stay injury free on the big mileage.

This is exactly the point. Maybe Meb couldn’t stay injury free and recover enough isn’t the big mileage but because he ran his easy days too fast.

Ghmvfjnfh wrote:

old Toad who ran a lot of miles wrote:

Stupid comment. Meb didn't start using the Elliptigo until very late in his career when he no longer could recover enough/stay injury free on the big mileage.

This is exactly the point. Maybe Meb couldn’t stay injury free and recover enough isn’t the big mileage but because he ran his easy days too fast.

I think some people are forgetting that he ran at a world class level for a long time and his career was twice as long as most.

Ghmvfjnfh wrote:

old Toad who ran a lot of miles wrote:

Stupid comment. Meb didn't start using the Elliptigo until very late in his career when he no longer could recover enough/stay injury free on the big mileage.

This is exactly the point. Maybe Meb couldn’t stay injury free and recover enough isn’t the big mileage but because he ran his easy days too fast.

Maybe. But it could also be because he was old? What was Ryan Halls fastest marathon post 35? What about WeJo? Obviously trying to draw conclusions from small sample sizes is stupid.

Without seeing a couple full cycles of training it is hard to draw much conclusions. We often hear about the 10 miles in 54 mins or 90 mins and don't hear that those we one time events.

Ghmvfjnfh wrote:

old Toad who ran a lot of miles wrote:

Stupid comment. Meb didn't start using the Elliptigo until very late in his career when he no longer could recover enough/stay injury free on the big mileage.

This is exactly the point. Maybe Meb couldn’t stay injury free and recover enough isn’t the big mileage but because he ran his easy days too fast.

You can find plenty of guys who were done in or at least hampered by injuries who ran plenty slowly too. Who trained more easily than Bob Deines and his career ended with an injury. It's pretty common on this board to mention Shorter as a guy who ran really easily on his easy days and he too was done in with injuries.

You are absolutely correct. Meb was able to win races. And he beat Hall. Nuff said!

cotton shirt wrote:

Fake News said: Most avid runners who aren't that serious but know a little about elite running know who meb is. He's like the only elite US marathoner in recent years who has been on regular tv commercials.

I hope you are sitting down because this might come as something of a shock to you, but running is a sport in countries other than the United States, there are runners in other countries too, and not everyone watches American television adverts.

at practice today I asked a bunch of regular runners (there were 25 people altogether) if they could tell me who Meb Keflizighi or Ryan Hall are. one of them said, "isn't Ryan Hall that comedian who does the Oscars?"

cheers.

You big European running folks have not produced much of anything in the Marathon over the past 20 years.

YMMV wrote:

I'm not sure who he is talking about, but for a 2:08 guy, finishing an easy run with a few 6:00 miles should be non-controversial. It scales to mid-8's for 3:00 runner. And of course those runs are mostly slower anyway.

Agreed. He said he’ll run the last few miles at 6:10...6:15. He also said “ not every day”. This is in no way running too hard on your easy days. He’s probably talking about the guys who will hardly ever dip below 7:00 pace unless it’s a workout day. These guys have this irrational fear that 6:50 pace will cause them to spontaneously blow up or be ‘overtrained’.

Basically he’s saying, Elite guys can all start at 7:00 pace.. sometimes they’ll feel tired and just keep it there, but if they feel alright, it’s fine to naturally get down to get 6:00 (and that it’s sometimes beneficial to do that instead of always sticking at 7:00-8:00 pace).

The point is- every day is different and non-workout days shouldn’t always be super super slow. People seemed to be obsessed with taking it easy and sometimes they just need to chill out and run. Running 1:20 per mile Slower than Threshold for a few miles isn’t going to kill you, but it may give you some aerobic suppprt and is definelty more biomechanically similar than slogging around 3:00 slower the Threshold.

huh????? wrote:

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

This talk about " every one is different" must come to an end when we talk about running improvement and best ways to reach your optimal performance. There is no evidence of such a claim.

There is no evidence to the claim "that everyone is different?" Huh?

And here I thought you were a world class coach...

JS is a moron.

Need an inexpensive treadmill wrote:

You are absolutely correct. Meb was able to win races. And he beat Hall. Nuff said!

Meb was a great runner is a great guy, but that doesn't mean everything that come out of his mouth makes any sense. I read his two books, and the biographical one was a good read. OTOH Meb for Mortals wasn't very useful and didn't make me think he was the kind of athlete who would make a good coach.