Interesting discussion even to someone who doesn't follow high school running hardly at all. I quote the post below for reasons that will become obvious. There have been a few ideas mentioned that might be relevant, the difference between popular training ideas in the '70s and '80s as compared to now not the least of them. What I feel is missing from the discussion, but confirms the original poster's observation is road times. First, notice what has happened at the very top level (international pro competition): Fairly long distance times (longer than 10km most significantly) have gotten faster while track times have stayed similar since the turn of the century era. In fact, as you get into the mid-distances, the times haven't come down all that much in a few decades - at least compared to marathon times. Nate Jenkins has commented on this and I hope this mention will drive some of you to his writings. Many suggest that this dissimilarity is partially due to the financial opportunities on the roads as compared to the track. Jenkins states - and it is difficult to argue - that effective marathon-specific training has only been understood and caught on in recent decades, and has finally been practiced in a widespread way this decade. All that having been said, teenage road times are far behind where they were 30 years ago. I refer to the Lynn Jennings post as an example, but it is not really hard to ascertain that American teens have, predictably, been getting gradually faster at events in the 1500-5000 range but have actually slowed dramatically at 10k and up since the original running boom. Look at T&F News' American High School Record list. Boys 10,000 certainly stands out; contrast with the fairly recent records of Cain's generation. It is worth noting that high mileage was normal way back when a lot of the longer records were set, and just as we see now at the pro level, marathons and road racing in general were very popular among the masses. I was trying to hit 80 a week in my mid-teens but couldn't quite - and I was one who certainly isn't mentioned in record lists. Even those who didn't run at all were fans of Shorter et al and my dad would drive either me or a bunch of us from school to races including marathons. People thought it was cool in the aftermath of US medals in '72, '76, and of course the LA Olympics. Back to the start of the thread. As was pointed out, it is indeed remarkable that as mid-D and various track times have gotten faster - just as one would expect - the effect has been less as the event gets longer. OP points out 800 to 5k as enough to notice this trend. I am pointing out that 800 to half marathon or even more so, marathon, is noticeably more dramatic. Again, just like the OP I refer to US teenagers as the international elite world shows and equally dramatic and exactly opposite trend. To reiterate, the world has gotten faster at the marathon, half, and less so, the popular track distances. American high schoolers have gotten faster at shorter track distances but not longer track, cross, and road events. Great topic. Interesting and ironic.
bromha ha wrote:
Well, back in the 70's you had Lynn Jennings running 4:38 for a full mile indoors, also 10:10 for a full 2 mile that same season, did not run any fast times outdoors that year because she decided to jump in the Boston Marathon and run 2:43 instead.
Also, Joanna Forman ran 2:04 for 800 in Mass., Darlene Beckford ran 4:41 for a full mile around the same time.
Kim Gallagher down in PA ran pretty fast for everything.
Running has more depth these days, along with more opportunities to run against the best comp. Not to mention, better tracks everywhere, better shoes/spikes etc..