This is crazy if it's true, his talent must be otherworldly! Or is it just a scare tactic? Or another benefit of the special sauce?
This is crazy if it's true, his talent must be otherworldly! Or is it just a scare tactic? Or another benefit of the special sauce?
Maybe he just came down to 35 mpw.
Opposite logic wrote:
Maybe he just came down to 35 mpw.
I don’t think so. He talks as if him doing 35 has been an increase and that it’s helping him. And Craig Engels gives him crap about only actually running 30mpw, so maybe 5 is on an alter G or something.
And it’s not like Julian is a low mileage coach. He had Craig up his mileage a bit this past year.
Why would he need more than that? He's only race about a mile distance. My high school PR of 4:16.04 was off 17-21 miles per week and I ain't no Brazier talent. 35 mpw is fine for an absolute pro if he manages his weight/nutrition/gym.
ThatAverageRunner wrote:
And it’s not like Julian is a low mileage coach. He had Craig up his mileage a bit this past year.
Sorry, who's Julian? I thought AlSal coached all NOP athletes?
moonshot wrote:
Why would he need more than that? He's only race about a mile distance. 35 mpw is fine for an absolute pro .
Jakob waste those 65 extra miles I guess.
At some level there is some stretching the truth here. I would have to bet he is doing a good amount of underwater treadmill running instead of the normal double like the rest of his peers. I would make the guess that all added up he is getting around high 50 low 60 mpw “worth” of work.
When you look at all runners nobody ever wants to say they are right in the middle that 45-70 mpw range. So what you get are people who so they run very little (like less the 40) or those who say (100 mpw plus).
Just my observation anyway.
He considers himself a 400/800 guy, but for whatever reason never races a 400.
Jim Spivey has posted his training on here and it was about 35/week.
Murphy was a never a high mileage guy. Probably ran 25 miles a week in HS and likely not that high right now.
I am willing to bet 35 miles is 35 miles as he stated in his Instagram post. He is supremely talented and a speed based 800m runner.
Engels hasn’t really bumped his mileage much. He’s in the 70’s which is what he was in college during base building. He would come down to 60’s during track season. He’s been holding 70’s more consistently from the sounds of it. I doubt he ever goes much higher during his career.
I see Justyn Knight says this will motivate him to get up to 35 miles a week.
Yes he only runs 35 mpw. But he's fast because just about everything he does is near 100% effort and there are more than 2 workouts in the week. More than two workouts is possible because the volume isn't very high. He is just incredibly fast and holds on long enough to get the job done in a 1500. His 3k would be terrible compared to his 1500, probably like 8:20. Meanwhile Craig Engles can run under 7:50 in a 3k because he runs more mileage while still running 1:44 and 3:35 for 800/1500.
Think of running 5 x 300 workouts all out, (2 or 3 x 500 )+ (4 x 150) extremely hard, each with a mile or two warm-up and then a 5-7 mile 'long run'... These shorter but high intensity workouts are what Brazier does, while people like Clayton Murphy do more volume and slightly less intensity. Both can get the job done in the 800/1500, but the latter will give you even more range up to 3k and possibly even 5k.
I'm not sure why this is a surprise. I was no elite 800 guy, but I always ran my best at around 35 miles a week when in racing season (maybe up to 45 max in the offseason). I generally had diminishing returns if I were pushing my mileage above that, either due to injury or sluggishness. I wasn't doing more than 2-3 workouts (including a race) a week, but it was hard to run much more than 5 miles on an off day when you were blasting (for me) 300m repeats in 36 sec. the day before or after. I imagine some of the workouts Brazier does may only net a few miles, but is on a whole different level of intensity than even say a 10x800m workout a 5k runner might do. Think of trying to do 10 afternoon miles after 8 sets of 3-5 rep squats close to failure in the morning (equating the intensity to what might be done in his workouts). On a molecular level there is just so much more intensity to what Brazier will do in a workout than Chelimo.
Past blast wrote:
He considers himself a 400/800 guy,
He does?
Bob Schul Country wrote:
Murphy was a never a high mileage guy. Probably ran 25 miles a week in HS and likely not that high right now.
At least 50mpw currently- 70 in "off season"/base.
Depends on the person but, by and large, mileage is overrated. I know several people who can run a sub 2 800 on 5 miles a week.
30-40 mpw is pretty normal for speed-based 800 runners. Brazier was only running 20 mpw under the Texas A&M coaches IIRC, so this would be a bump up for him, and I believe I also recall Rudisha saying that he ran his world record off of less than 40 most weeks. There are multiple valid ways to train for the 800, an endurance guy like Nick Symmonds might be better served off of 60-70 mpw, but there's no need for athletes with more of a 400 background to be doing that much mileage. Brazier can build the endurance that he needs to handle the rounds off of longer interval sessions, and by not running high mileage, he is able to stack a greater number of quality workouts. The fact that he was still able to run 3:37 without training like a miler shows just how talented he is.
osm wrote:
30-40 mpw is pretty normal for speed-based 800 runners. Brazier was only running 20 mpw under the Texas A&M coaches IIRC, so this would be a bump up for him, and I believe I also recall Rudisha saying that he ran his world record off of less than 40 most weeks. There are multiple valid ways to train for the 800, an endurance guy like Nick Symmonds might be better served off of 60-70 mpw, but there's no need for athletes with more of a 400 background to be doing that much mileage. Brazier can build the endurance that he needs to handle the rounds off of longer interval sessions, and by not running high mileage, he is able to stack a greater number of quality workouts. The fact that he was still able to run 3:37 without training like a miler shows just how talented he is.
All well stated, he has insane youth on his side too, only being 22 years old, you're firing on all cylinders and then some, factor in alien genetics and you have well..Donovan Brazier
Not surprising at all for a 400/800 athlete. I was also a half miler and the only time I got close 50 was when I tried my hand at cross country. Everyone is different, HM works for some, but not for others. When I was a H.S. coach, I routinely steered athletes like Brazier away from schools with competitive XC programs. Some coaches think because a kid ran a fast mile and was good at H.S. 5K cross that they have a strong aerobic systems. Even some 800/mile athletes have under developed aerobic systems. Oddly, some half milers can run a good mile, but they can't train for a mile. I think Stanford, Oregon and Arkansas for example ruined the careers of quite a few middle distance runners by wearing down their bodies with too much mileage. The ones who stayed in those programs for 3-4 years, sometimes never completely recovered. I always felt Wheating, Andrews where examples of athletes whose bodies got destroyed by the NCAA.