Run-Down Forums

Distance_Guru · Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2002 2:30 pm Post subject:

How does a 13:25 guy get to a 12:40 in the 5k, I suppose it would be the same way that a guy his same age would go from being a 10.3 to a 9.8 in the 100m. He gets a good coach and then works his tale off. Either that or he gets a pharmasist with no ethics. Either way he simply must get faster, in order for the number to get close enough for him to have a shot.

The senario I gave for a guy sticking his nose in with runners with much faster times would more than likely be for a young athlete, either in high school or college. Usually it is someone that simply hasn't had the compotition to run what they are capable of. For a post college athlete they almost always have already had enough compotition to find out what they can do. But never underestimate an athletes ability to lie to themselves and believe that they can do the impossible.
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Time is the fire in which we burn

Paul · Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2002 4:22 am Post subject:

Micah, thanks for stating much more elequently than I did, what I was trying to say about connecting with athletes much more successful than ourselves.
Paul

Micah Ward · Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2002 2:31 pm Post subject:

You're welcome. I find that if I talk long enough I occasionally come up with something reasonably intellingent.

Dan · Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2002 5:18 pm Post subject:

A point I just raised in the sprint forum may be applicable here. Is it really necessary to get a handful of guys running at the elite (sub-13, for example) level? Sure, the larger the base, the higher the pyramid can be built... But look at Canada's sprint crew. The number of standout male sprinters over the years can be counted on one hand, yet 4 of them were among the best ever. Not great resources to speak of, and very little depth.

The same could possibly be argued of the Ethiopians, but not quite to the same extreme. They have nowhere near the depth of Kenya, usually only having one or two elites in any given event up until maybe the past 2 years. However, their lone representative usually ends up #1...

Maybe another way to look at is to put everything we've got into those few individuals who stand a real chance instead of trying to get a bunch of jokers to that level? That brings us to how to identify talent, which the former Eastern Bloc made a science of (and carefully documented). Wink

Dan

Distance_Guru · Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2002 5:48 pm Post subject:

It's an interesting thought. In the US I still lean towards the pyramid shaped performance, because of our economy and methods of developing distance runners. In Ethiopia, I don't think that distance running has caughr on to the same extent as it has in Kenya, so the overall numbers of great runners isn't there, although this is just a theory, I haven't seen anything on Ethiopians like the "Train Hard, Win Easy" book about the Kenyans. In the US just about everyone has had some exposure to track and field and with all of our college teams and running clubs we are almost destined to produce a large number of "middle" level runners. Now do we need these or not to produce several (4-5) sub 13 5k runners, I don't know. I do know that unless there is a total over haul of the way that sports -college scholarships and the college athletic system- with special developement camps and leagues we will have these "middle" level runners.
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Time is the fire in which we burn

Conway · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2002 8:17 am Post subject:

Actually I think that in this country we may have to build distance runnign from the top down ...

Trickle Down Track and field ...

Get your Bob Kennedy and Goucher and Culpepper together to wrok and train ... Feed off each other ... Push each other forward ... Get Ryan Hall, Don Sage and Webb together ... And pair them up wiht a quality coach ... Let the coach work with a group of 3 or 4 at a time ...

I think that could work, the only problem in this country being things like ego and logistics ... And money ...

Distance_Guru · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2002 11:03 am Post subject:

That is a great way of looking at our problem and an excellent solution. Just one problem, it would require an entire restructuring of the American system. Not that I'm oppossed to that, I'm just not sure how plausable it is.
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Time is the fire in which we burn

Paul · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2002 11:32 am Post subject:

Don't Culpepper and Goucher train together, at least occasionally?? They did a few years ago.
Paul

Distance_Guru · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2002 11:36 am Post subject:

I'm not sure, I know Goucher is still in Boulder training with Wettmore but, for some reason I think Culpepper has moved, although I'm not sure about that one.
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Time is the fire in which we burn

Dan · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2002 12:19 pm Post subject:

It sounded like Culpepper stayed in Boulder but left that particular training group.

Dan

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