According to runeveryday.com there are four people that have run for more than 40 years. The longest active streak is Mark Covert, who began his streak on July 23, 1968 and has been running everyday since! Wikipedia has an interesting article on Ron Hill who has been running everyday since December 1964. That is nearly 46 years!

I think that the most amazing thing about Hill’s streak is that this streak includes a period during which he was a very competitive runner. In fact, in 1970, he ran a 2:10:30 at the Boston Marathon. The training necessary to run this fast is extraordinary and it is unbelievable that he never had to take a day off due to injury.

This brings me to a word of caution about streaks. I guarantee you that Hill has run injured many times during the last 46 years. Due to sheer luck and great genetics he has been able to heal from these injuries despite refusing to take a break. If you are thinking about starting a running streak, or are currently in the middle of the streak, please be careful about keeping the streak alive. Running on a sore achilles can result in a torn achilles, and training on a pulled or strained hamstring can damage that muscle for life. The bottom line is to be smart and don’t allow your streak to put your running career in jeopardy.

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Anton’s blog is called Riding the Wind. Throughout the blog, he posts his daily and weekly training mileage. Out of curiosity, I reviewed his weekly mileage in the four months leading up to the race, which was: 197, 208, 167, and 184. The entries for some of the days during this stretch are just amazing and hardly seem possible. For example, on May 27th, he ran 25 miles in the morning and 8 miles in the evening. Wow! Perhaps even more incredible is that he ran 184 miles in the week before one of the most important races of the year.

Even though Anton’s weekly mileage totals are staggering and obviously worked for him, I just don’t know if they would be beneficial for all runners. Most experts seem to agree that high mileage is good, but there is a point at which it can have diminishing returns. In my personal running history, I have run much better races at 70-75 miles a week than when I was trying to run 90-100 miles a week. I could feel my body start to break down past 100 miles and invariably became injured.

The bottom line is that having a high mileage training program is essential for developing the heart and lungs and teaching the body to burn fat. However, it is important not to get sucked into the idea that more mileage always means faster race times. As evidence of this, I took a look at the log of the winner of this year’s Western States, Geoff Roes. Geoff’s weekly mileage leading up to the race was: 93, 89, 109, and 63. These totals are basically half of what Anton ran, but Geoff ran faster on race day. Obviously, Geoff’s inherent running talent probably has a lot to do with that, but the fact remains that relatively small mileage did not prevent him from winning the race.

Therefore, keep a simple rule in mind: Even through it is tempting to compare your training totals with other runners, a runner must confidence in his or her own training plan, focus on high quality workouts over simple quantity, and listen to the body.

Photo courtesy of Richard Webb

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Perhaps the most shocking thing about this race is that Solinsky is primarily a 5k runner. In fact, Saturday’s race was the first 10k that he had ever run and, after the race, he emphasized that he is still focused on the 5k this season.

One of the things that really interests me about this incredible run is the similarity of Solinsky’s training before his race to that of Dathan Ritzenhein when he set his American 5k record last year. As a reminder, Ritzenhein ran 12:56 on August 28, 2009. In the months before setting that record, Dathan focused on 10k and marathon training. This training included a 2:10 marathon in April and a 10k at the world championships (coming in 6th). He put in an enormous amount of miles in training for these long races, and only ran a few 5k workouts before his record run.

Similar to Ritzenhein, Solinsky has been focusing on over-distance training. His training group includes Simon Bairu and Tim Nelson, who are both training for the marathon. According to his post-race interview, Solinsky has run the marathon workouts with these guys, while adding a few shorter workouts on his own.

The point of all of this is that the best way to run fast races is to run a large amount of miles and develop a huge aerobic base. The idea that a runner can reach his or her potential by running low mileage and hard workouts is simply wrong. I think this is a very beneficial concept for recreational runners as it provides a template for how to run your best – focus on aerobic base training and threshold workouts (such as tempo runs) mixed with the occasional interval workout is the most efficient way to train for races.

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Surprisingly, cross country has been run at the Olympics in the past. There were cross country races in 1912, 1920, and 1924. However, the sport was dropped from the 1928 games because organizers felt that it was not “suitable” for summer competition. The impetus was that more than half of the runners in the 1924 race dropped out due to unusually hot weather and poisonous fumes from a nearby factory.

Since those Games, cross country has been proposed as a possible addition to the Olympic program, but rejected multiple times. The primary reason appears to be fear of diluting the track distance races. Some has floated the idea of including cross country running in the Winter Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee has consistently stated that Winter Olympic events must be competed on ice or snow. However, that might not be a problem.

When asked in 2009 about including cross country in the Olympic Games, Lamine Diack, who is president of the IAAF, stated, “The IOC have now written to us to ask our advice and we have told them that we are in favor of it. We are prepared to organize cross country in the Winter Olympics. It would be a good move for our sport.” There you have it – cross country might get in as a Winter Olympic sport. Therefore, it appears that there might actually be a cross country race in the 2014 Olympics. Sounds like the world’s best runners better start training in snowshoes.

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Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of elite running is when drug cheaters steal medals and prize money from runners who play by the rules. Fortunately, track and field governing bodies have began cracking down on athletes who use performance enhancing drugs. The foundation of this effort is the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which has drafted strict rules on procedures and punishments for athletes who fail drug tests. WADA is funded jointly by the International Olympic Committee and national governments.

Thanks to more aggressive testing, athletes like Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, and Regina Jacobs have all been suspended for failed drug tests. Now, a new name can be added to the list: Rashid Ramzi.

Ramzi was the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1500m. With amazing turnover and seemingly limitless energy, Ramzi was unstoppable in Beijing…now we know why. Ramzi tested positive for CERA, an advanced version of the endurance-boosting hormone, EPO. Due to this failed test, Ramzi’s gold medal will be stripped, and he will not be able to run in the 2012 Olympics. It is so good to know that WADA appears to be keeping up with new substances used by drug cheaters. We can only hope that Ramzi’s punishment serves as a powerful warning to other runners who would think about using performance enhancing drugs.

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In the months before setting the record, Dathan focused on 10k and marathon training. He ran a 2:10 marathon in April and ran in the 10k at the world championships (coming in 6th). He put in an enormous amount of miles in training for these long races, and only ran a few 5k workouts before his record run.

The point is this: The best way to run fast for races from the mile to the 5k is to build a large base of mileage before running fast workouts. The common trap many runners fall into is to skip the base building and jumping right into interval workouts. In doing so, runners rob themselves of the chance to truly realize their potential.

It is important to put in at least 3-4 months of high mileage before transitioning into the sharpening phase that involves track workouts. In other words, runners who have patience to steadily increase mileage and increase their aerobic fitness will reap the rewards when it comes time to race.

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