On the Derek Clayton thread, Malmo wrote: ?The human body is capable of amazing things. Just because you haven't tested the limits doesn't make your reality our reality. Get out and run some.? We?ve heard this before.
Great. In all honesty, I do agree that many runners are capable of more than they know, and many could be better if they trained harder/longer. Agreed. But you do know the corollary of your argument/statement, right? I would say to you: ?NOT all human bodies are capable of the same amazing things. Just because you have tested the limits AND THRIVED OFF OF PUSHING THE ENVELOPE doesn't make your reality is our reality.? And that is NOT a defeatist attitude, but a realistic one. Just because you, and Hodgie, and Clayton and many others could pound out weeks after weeks of high mileage, high intensity or both at the same time?..and KEEP GETTING STRONGER AND STRONGER AND THEN COME BACK FOR SOME MORE?.doesn?t mean most people can. Believe it.
Now I know you would prefer to think of yourself and your accomplishments in these terms: that they are mostly a product of your willpower and not your natural talent. And I know you think that if others who are/were way, way, more physiologically talented than you just had your psychological make-up, desire, will-power, refusal to give in to pain, and had your will-to-win, then they too could have run/could run as fast or faster than you (I?ve heard this line of reasoning from SO many old time runners).
I know that it makes you feel good to think that way, but I have a newsflash for you: It mostly ain?t true. Oh sure, there is some truth in there and some very talented runners are just lazy, and how does one really measure the will (we could discuss that one for hours )? But this attitude which I hear so often from distance runners of: ?I was not talented, but look at how great I became though sheer desire? is BS. Tell me this, what is the SINGLE greatest physiological talent a distance runner can have??? You know what it is. It is the ability to pound out high volumes and high intensities of training, recover beautifully, and COME BACK STRONGER FOR EVEN MORE. The ability to train hard and THRIVE off of that (not just survive it)?..the training threshold. So many runners do NOT get stronger or faster off of more and more training. They either get hurt (YES, running injuries are a HUGE Reality for many of us, and they end many careers), or they simply quickly reach a point of diminishing returns for their higher and higher efforts. Eventually these ?returns? become 0 or negative. And this occurs even with ?smart? build-up of mileage and intensity. IT HAPPENS. Just because it did not happen to you often does not mean it does not happen to others.. To paraphrase you: Your reality is not necessarily our reality.
FYI: I was a 4:14 HS miler, a state champion, and had more speed than you ever did. Does this mean I was ?more talented? ?? I don?t believe so. My natural endurance was terrible{I was more of an 800 runner}, and whenever I edged my miles above 50 per week, I would get hurt or sick. Hamstring, shins, knees, foot, etc, etc, etc. If I did some really intense training, I would get sick or injured QUICKLY. I NEVER could have trained at the levels you did. I was born fast, but apparently with a weak immune system, not much natural endurance, and very injury prone. I had a STRONG will to win. It was not meant to be. I would take YOUR physical talents over mine {not your mind/willpower/desire?mine was more than sufficient} any day. You should be both proud of your running, and VERY THANKFUL that you could train like you did. Trust me on that one. And I am not jealous or am I trying to cheat you out of your accomplishments by calling them ?lucky.? NO, I am simply saying: you had the best talent there is for a distance runner: high training threshold/fairly injury resistant. You then took those talents as high as you could. Congratulations. Just don?t deny the talent thing, and just remember that not every one can train the way you or the other ?greats? did. Most runners are not as good as you NOT simply because they did not ?want it enough? or train hard enough. Most are/were just not as naturally strong, and training resistant as you were. Those are the facts, plain and simple. So I will ?get out and run some? as you recommended, but it will not be as far or fast you used to normally do. And this will not because of lack of trying/desire my setting my limits too low.
But thanks for the advice nonetheless.