Jacked / Built distance runners of the past

*their

I lift 4-5 times a week and have done so for years. I also run 20-25 mpw. If you lift heavy weight, you might be able to emulate a Prefontaine, Goucher, or Solinsky build, but you’ll look small to anyone who lifts. Keeping weight on past 30 mpw is a big challenge.

WaitUntilYouHoist wrote:

I lift 4-5 times a week and have done so for years. I also run 20-25 mpw. If you lift heavy weight, you might be able to emulate a Prefontaine, Goucher, or Solinsky build, but you’ll look small to anyone who lifts. Keeping weight on past 30 mpw is a big challenge.

Solinsky was naturally heavy. He was even heavier in HS (175 lbs), had 165 lbs through college and 157 lbs when he got his 10k PR. He ran 100 mpw all the time, but got injured when he tried 120 mpw (his hamstring got completely torn off, career-ending injury). He was known for running fast on each day tho, his easy pace was sub 6 miles and even Tegenkamp and his other training partners had to avoid him on their easy days. Chris could just take so much fast pounding, nothing would ever break him down he was injury-free most of his career until 120 mpw weeks finally did him in after a decade of this insanity.

Craig "THE BUSTER" Mottram was also quite heavy, but trained much more reasonably, keeping his easy days REALLY easy and even training with girls usually on easy days that would even drop him sometimes. For some reason, it always took time for him to get rolling on easy days.

None of them was really successful in the marathon, there are limits to what you can achieve with a high BMI, but they were among the very best 5k/10k runners we ever had.

Also Solinsky and Mottram both didn't lift heavy weights. Mottram said he got too sore from it and it interfered with his running, and all Solinsky did in HS was 500 situps and 75 pushups 2x a week. That gave him enough core strength to run 100 mile weeks at very fast pace.

Informative post, interesting about those two. Solinsky especially has always been an anomaly to me

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

He ran 100 mpw all the time, but got injured when he tried 120 mpw (his hamstring got completely torn off, career-ending injury).

Why is this lie still being spread? He ripped his hamstring when he fell down the stairs in his own home after tripping over his dog

Good post, but I never said anything about what those guys did to have those physiques. Just that a presumable ectomorph runner would need to lift heavy to have a chance at emulating their builds.

Solinkso wrote:

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

He ran 100 mpw all the time, but got injured when he tried 120 mpw (his hamstring got completely torn off, career-ending injury).

Why is this lie still being spread? He ripped his hamstring when he fell down the stairs in his own home after tripping over his dog

He was training through his injury for months before the dog incident. It was merely the tipping point which pushed it over the limit. Basically he had chronic left hamstring strain which became an avulsion after tripping.

I still wonder what he could have achieved had he not tried 120 mile weeks as 165 lbs athlete and sticked to 90-100 mile weeks with some cross-training (alter G, bike, swim, etc).

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

He ran 100 mpw all the time, but got injured when he tried 120 mpw (his hamstring got completely torn off, career-ending injury).

Solinkso wrote:

Why is this lie still being spread? He ripped his hamstring when he fell down the stairs in his own home after tripping over his dog

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

He was training through his injury for months before the dog incident. It was merely the tipping point which pushed it over the limit. Basically he had chronic left hamstring strain which became an avulsion after tripping.

Wrong. How could he possibly train through the injury for months before it even happened.

You don't make any sense.

Quoting:

The hamstring started giving him problems. He saw it as just another obstacle to run through and ignored the pain. Two weeks before the 2011 World Championships, the hamstring had enough. Three of the four major muscles tore off his pelvic bone.

"It's kind of a sad story," Solinsky said. "We were at a training camp. My wife and my dog were there. I tripped over my dog coming down the stairs and caught myself, but I felt something pop in my leg.

"I think it was going to happen sooner or later."

Source:

http://archive.jsonline.com/sports/etc/chris-solinskys-hamstring-brings-him-a-major-pain-pg58mfe-150114415.html/

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

I still wonder what he could have achieved had he not tried 120 mile weeks as 165 lbs athlete and sticked to 90-100 mile weeks with some cross-training (alter G, bike, swim, etc).

FWIW, I've found cross-training on the bike with a bit of swimming thrown in has done wonders for my hips & hamstrings.

Protein_etc wrote:

How was it that guys like Pre and Rod Dixon were able to train like distance runners and still look strong? Did they not run high mileage? Were there daily lives significantly more grueling than the pros of today, necessitating a more physical lifestyle?

Do I just gotta eat more BEEF? (Currently running over 100mpw)

Um, what?

Zev wrote:

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

I still wonder what he could have achieved had he not tried 120 mile weeks as 165 lbs athlete and sticked to 90-100 mile weeks with some cross-training (alter G, bike, swim, etc).

FWIW, I've found cross-training on the bike with a bit of swimming thrown in has done wonders for my hips & hamstrings.

Same, I was pretty sedentary when I started running, so got injured quickly and picked up cycling. Never once had problems with my quads and hips, and all my runner friends wonder how I got such developed quads.

Unfortunately cycling doesn't help much for lower leg injuries like shin splints and stress fractures in the feet, for these areas it's even dangerous as cycling can make you very fit without having the lower legs/feet to absorb the impact (Armstrong had severe shin splints when he started running, despite world-class quads).

If you want to see a strongly built distance runner from the past, do a search on Herb Lindsay.

How could anyone leave out Snell?

Armstronglivs wrote:

How could anyone leave out Snell?

Snell was middle-distance.

Distance means 5000m and up.

Armstronglivs wrote:

How could anyone leave out Snell?

Hardly a distance runner but you're also avoiding the issue that the only way an athlete can run high volume while maintaining the mass Snell did is with drugs.

Snell still trained under Lydiard and did 20+ mile runs during base phase. He was just naturally muscular.

Prairie Dawg wrote:

Snell still trained under Lydiard and did 20+ mile runs during base phase. He was just naturally muscular.

Still impossible without 'help".