Just Another LRC Idiot wrote:
Mileage makes champs wrote:That won't work for slow twitch runners who need higher mileage at a slower pace. While fast twitch runners need less miles at a faster pace.
I think Whitlock was a fast twitch runner (former mid-d guy) who ran high mileage at a slower pace.
Gene Dykes is probably a slow twitch runner who runs lower mileage than Whitlock (although his mileage is still high for a guy in his 70s) at a faster pace.
This is a common misconception that slow-twitch runner = high, slow mileage and fast-twitch runner is low, fast mileage.
I again bring in the cases of Portuguese 5/10k superstars Mamede (heavily FT, 48s low 400m speed) and Lopes (never broke 54s).
They had the same coach but totally different training. Did mileage differ? Not much. The difference was the type of training and intensity.
Mamede would run super-slow easy mileage, never faster than 6:30/mi. He didn't want to recruit his FT fibers on easy runs. Lopes was running much faster and longer. Him being ST actually allows him to do that.
Tempo runs? Lopes would go on crazy 20/30/40 min tempos and no one would have been able to hang with him. Well maybe Mamede could, but he would have not been able to train the day after. Mamede barely trained tempos, but they were a big staple in Lopes training.
Intervals? Mamede did them extremely fast, much faster than Lopes. He either did very short but slow jog recoveries (~30s for 200s, ~45s for 400s) if he wanted to work at his LT and did very long standing rest/walk recoveries when working on longer intervals (like 5x1k or 4x2k) at very fast speeds. Lopes did the intervals a lot slower (5-6s/400m), and used much longer recoveries, often walking 2 mins between each 400m.
What else was different about them? Lopes was always in great shape, very consistent performances. He beat Mamede in like 93 out of 100 races. But if Mamede was peaked properly, he was unstoppable. He beat Lopes in the 10k WR race, fully peaked he was able to hang with Lopes and then just absolutely exploded the last 300m. His performances however were very inconsistent, he gained shape quickly but also lost it quickly, typical for a FT runner.
A more modern example would be Webb vs Ritz. They were both roughly similar in 5k/10k. In events like an 800 or mile, Webb would just blast away and destroy Ritz. He simply doesn't have enough FT fibers to keep up with a FT monster like Webb. On the other hand, there was no way in hell Webb could have ever kept up with Ritz on a Half or Full Marathon. Where would Ryan Hall or Alberto Salazar fit in? Extremely ST, even more than Ritz.
Should Webb and Ritz/Hall train the same for a 10k? No, individualization is needed.