Distance runners time investment versus that of sprinters? Distance
running, of all events in track, requires the LEAST amount of time
investment. Few sports besides running, if any, can one become one of
the best in the world on just two hours a day.
The sprinters put in a long day to get where they are. Give em credit.
malmo
Because of the work
> necessary (read "investment") to reach an elite level versus
> sprinters,
> they are more likely to have structured their life around
> their training,
> and leaving school for work was a much smaller adjustment vis-a-vis
> training and competition.
> With sprinters now able to make a living, the transition to
> work is in fact
> just a continuation of their sport. On the other hand, the number of
> masters sprinters is tiny in comparison to masters distance
> runners, where
> the old model still rules.
> I guess we've been fooled up to now about whether speed peaks before
> endurance by biased, tainted data.
> As for the Kenyans, I would not be surprised if they are not
> suffering
> early burnout from intense training. Our discussion about
> the York HS
> program has some applicabiltiy here.
> And as an added note, Webb is competitive with the African
> Juniors, no
> matter what their age. I believe his time would have been
> among the top 3
> Jrs 1500s in the world in 2000.
> BTW, if you look at the average of past distance world record
> holders, I
> think you'll find that at least after 1960 (the true modern
> era), they have
> been much younger than you might think. I'm skating without
> data here, but
> I think the following folks were under 25 when they set their
> WRs: Viren,
> Rono, Aouita, ElG, Morcelli, Cram, Coe, Geb, Komen (he was 21
> I believe!),
> Kimombwa.
>
> Richard McCann
> >Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 12:06:02 -0600 (MDT)
> >From: "P.F.Talbot" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Subject: Re: t-and-f: believe it or not
> >
> >Also, Shorter was 24 when he won Olympic Gold in the
> marathon correct
> >(and was 5th in the Olympic 10,000m)? He arguably improved
> little if
> >any after that time (though he did dominate the sport for
> years at his
> >peak).
> >
> >On Thu, 30 Aug 2001, Ed & Dana Parrot wrote:
> >
> > > > Hmm, let's see. 30-year-old Carl Lewis set his first
> record in the
> > > > 100,
> > > was succceeded by 27-year-old Leroy Burrell who was suceeded by
> > > 28-year-old Donovan Bailey. MJ set the 200 record at 28, the 400
> > > record (finally)
> > at 30.
> > > >
> > > > Meanwhile, Geb holds the 5K and 10K marks set when he was 25.
> > >
> > > And Komen before him was not exactly geriatric, either.
> Even if you
> > > don't believe the stated ages, the Africans are clearly
> having world
> > > class
> > success
> > > at the distance events well before age 25. I suspect if
> you look at
> > the top
> > > ten in any given year, there won't be that much age difference
> > > between sprinters and distance runners any more.
> > >
> > > The comparison IS made more difficult (actually
> impossible) by the
> > > fact
> > that
> > > we can't judge many of the Africans' ages accurately.
> But the last
> > > 15
> > years
> > > of sprinting has seen 25-30 become the peak age.
>
>
