Yann Schrub, 27:49.64/10,000, French cc champion, only trains once a day, 5-6 times per week

Ghost1 wrote:

https://youtu.be/VLSM16LvVN0

Video of the long course French cross country championships Sunday, November 14, 2021. Winner, Dr Yann Schrub.

Training 5-7 sessions per week can be at least as effective compared to train 13-14 sessions per week. However we compare, both options can only reach maximum individual endurance. Logically it`s easy to think that the more sessions you perform , the faster it`s possible to reach this optimal individual endurance level. But in practice, it doesn`t really function that way. Training just 5-7 sessions per week provides more recovery that is a prerequisite for the supercompensation that takes the runner further in development. Another advantage is that the risk of injury is reduced ( provided that the 5-7 sessions do not exceed the maximum load that the individual can withstand in terms of quality ) .

If we do a simple mathematical calculation to show how many training sessions 5-7 and 13-14 sessions per week give after 5 years / 10 years of training, we get the following sums ;

5 years training = 1300- 1820 sessions with 5-7 sessions per week and 3380- 3640 sessions with 13-14 sessions per week.

10 years training= 2600- 3640 sessions with 5-7 sessions per week and 6760 - 7280 sessions with 13-14 sessions per week .

If we then assume a higher efficiency ( effort / rest ) with 5-7 sessions per week and reduced risk of injury / overtraining, we may end up in a practical final summary that the two options are quite similar with both advantages and disadvantages that outweigh. In view of this reasoning , one can end up in a final reflection where the option of 5-7 training sessions a week has, among other things, a substantial advantage in clearly less time to reach at least the same end goal, more time for the rest of your life! :)

Very interesting.

Pity it doesn't work for Sammy.

I agree with you about recovery and injury reduction but I also think that running doubles can be a benefit to some people who are able to adapt to doubles.

Flashback to my time in London in the mid 70s. There was a runner by the name of Mike Fuller (Hercules Wimbledon), basically ran very fast for 30 minutes twice a day at lunchtime and in the evening. He would do a long run on a Sunday of 10 miles but all the other runs were fast half hour runs, twice a day in his lunch break, from his job at the Royal College of Music in central London, (next to Hyde Park), and then in the evening when he would go to the famous Lauriston Cottage, in Wimbledon SW 19. This worked for him and he ran the following times in the mid-70s which were quite honorable. 355, 813, 1417, 2922, and 1:44 (20miles). Mike never obtained a driving license so he bombed around London on a scooter which enabled him to circumnavigate the famous London traffic, from his home in Tooting Bec (Foulser rd.), to his workplace in central London and then bomb down to Wimbledon after work, again on the scooter. Those were the days.

But to reinforce your theory, in the club in Wimbledon, there was our leading runner, Bob Holt, who only ran once a day around 60 miles a week and who achieve very honorable times of 351, 759, 1348, 2839, 48:00 (10m) and 2:16:00. The latter for the marathon in October 1975 in his debut in Harlow. For that marathon for three months before the marathon he exceptionally doubled up three times a week running an extra 5 miles in the morning from his home in Clapham Junction.

those are rookie numbers wrote:

Medical students are on their feet all day walking several miles. That's stress on their bodies people don't really think about as far as training is concerned. Me personally, even though I don't run as much with my current job(on my feet all day walking several miles). I'm still running PBs, probably because when you include the mileage from walking I'm covering similar mileage as before.

Carolina Wikström from Sweden works full time as a medical doctor and she runs 170-180 km/week and has a 2,26 PB.

well,, wrote:

those are rookie numbers wrote:

Medical students are on their feet all day walking several miles. That's stress on their bodies people don't really think about as far as training is concerned. Me personally, even though I don't run as much with my current job(on my feet all day walking several miles). I'm still running PBs, probably because when you include the mileage from walking I'm covering similar mileage as before.

Carolina Wikström from Sweden works full time as a medical doctor and she runs 170-180 km/week and has a 2,26 PB.

Thank you for your update about this famous Swedish runner who is a medical doctor and yet finds the time to train 170 to 180 km/week. If she is a general doctor and she has seven hours a day at work it is doable. Depending on her specialty again it’s doable.

The challenge for high level runners who become medical doctors is the early years, especially during their last years of training to become medical doctors when they have to do very many hours of internship in the hospitals, sometimes for 24 hours at a time in most countries, on call.

In France, once doctors are qualified they can more or less work the hours that suit them and compared with the past there are very few home calls where the doctors go to the patient’s house. That is a thing of the past in France and I suspect in other countries as well. In France, the issue is attracting general practitioners to rural areas and small villages where they do not want to work. Some of those rural area villages and small towns become medical deserts.

Very fine looking lady as well, although that is not really relevant to her running performance. For a small country, Sweden produces a lot of good runners.