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Ten Thousand Hours (Read 232 times)

bhearn


    It took me sixteen.....apparently took Meb a bit longer than that.

     

    I've hit PRs every year since I started running, in 2004. This year may be a challenge, though.

    MrH


       

      He has good genes but they've come to the fore after a couple of years of absolutely stellar training and dedication. Funny how that works.

       

      He's the High School Athlete of the Week in Running Times:

       

      http://www.runnersworld.com/high-school-profiles/andrew-hunter-sets-a-sophomore-record

      The process is the goal.

      Men heap together the mistakes of their lives, and create a monster they call Destiny.

         

        He has good genes but they've come to the fore after a couple of years of absolutely stellar training and dedication. Funny how that works.

         

        Funny you mention this. He's coached by his mom, who is using training methods advocated/promoted by Tinman (Tom Schwartz).  Occasionally, his mom will post his workouts on TheRunZone.com

         

        I think most HS kids would be underwhelmed with the amount of hard running he does. Most of his intervals/reps are done at a pace called CV pace (think 37 minute race pace which is relatively slow compared to the speed most kids do their intervals). For pure leg speed, the CV interval sessions are capped off with fast reps ranging from 100 to 200m.

         

        I mention this because so often (and I see this at with my son at his HS), the formula is nearly always "we must train harder...faster" Well, this isn't the formula that Andrew is using. His formula is "keep the ball rolling with sensible workouts. stay healthy. stay fresh. save your best performances for the races, not your practice sessions."  Pretty much the antithesis of what I see from many of the HS programs around me.

           

           

          The other thing that always strikes me (and in full disclosure, I've never made it all the way through "Outliers") is that he's basically looking at groups that are already pretty elite. In the case of the musicians they had already been accepted to a top music school. So basically his theory can be summed up as: Among those who posses the natural talent to be truly elite at something, those who practice the most come closest to their potential. Which is like ... duh.

           

           

          Good point and one that Gladwell skates right over without comment. I think that probably natural talent (which I believe does exist) selects you into that group, then you do the work.  For instance, If you have very little musical talent ( I've seen it) you could probably practice 20,000 hours and not get anywhere close to the top players.

          joescott


             keep the ball rolling with sensible workouts. stay healthy. stay fresh.

             

            Yeah.  This makes a lot of sense.  Hard to get better if you're out of the game!

            - Joe

            We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.

            MrH


               

              Funny you mention this. He's coached by his mom, who is using training methods advocated/promoted by Tinman (Tom Schwartz).  Occasionally, his mom will post his workouts on TheRunZone.com

               

              I think most HS kids would be underwhelmed with the amount of hard running he does. 

               

              Right, but the dedication I was referring too includes the discipline to consistently perform all the core and strength work, the diet, the rest/recovery regime. And getting the miles in during the crappy cold winter.

               

              Any fool can race hard during practice until they get hurt.

              The process is the goal.

              Men heap together the mistakes of their lives, and create a monster they call Destiny.

              jEfFgObLuE


              I've got a fever...

                 I think that probably natural talent (which I believe does exist) selects you into that group, then you do the work. 

                I think this is a great, succinct way of putting it.  Most people aren't going to put thousands of hours into something that they don't have a natural aptitude for.

                On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

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