Stanford has a very mileage / aerobic program. Hence why they don’t run well in the mile and why John Lester took off in his junior year. The twins will be fine. Stop getting your panties in a twist from one low key opener. They are young ( no pun intended ) and have never run high mileage.
Now let’s stop finding BS reason to hate athletes and coaches.
Stanford has a very mileage / aerobic program. Hence why they don’t run well in the mile and why John Lester took off in his junior year. The twins will be fine. Stop getting your panties in a twist from one low key opener. They are young ( no pun intended ) and have never run high mileage.
Now let’s stop finding BS reason to hate athletes and coaches.
Grow up everyone and move on
You are correct.
However . . . worthwhile noting that at the UW Indoor Preview last year, Stanford results in the mile were as follow: Ky winning in 3:55, Cole second in 3:56, Thomas Boyden third in 3:57, and John Lester sixth in 3:58.
Unfortunately, a few weeks later, Cole & Thomas got injured . . . Cole didn't return until mid-outdoors . . . while Thomas didn't return at all.
Lester, in the meantime, ran a 1:46/800 SR and made it to NCAAs but not the finals . . . then got injured and did not compete outdoor.
Hicks and Robinson both made it to NCAA indoors . . . but ran well below their expectations.
Mentioned all this because, last year indoors, appears Santos did have them doing more speed-related training . . . which backfired in injuries and poor performances.
From what has been mentioned in various articles and podcasts, changes began last October following the Nuttycombe Invite . . . apparently the team & Santos had a "Come to Jesus" meeting regarding their recent terrible team races . . . resulting in training program changes which led to a Pac-12 championship and a decent 8th place finish at NCAAs.
So, yes, training has changed for the men's distance program . . . UW Indoor Preview results yesterday were pretty much what would be expected from these athletes racing just six days following winter break . . . we should be seeing results more in line with their abilities in a couple weeks at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic . . .
I am blown away by how far these two have fallen. With the portal, NILs and social media earnings they can quickly reverse this by going to NAU tout suite. Who needs Stanfurd?
Stanford has a very mileage / aerobic program. Hence why they don’t run well in the mile and why John Lester took off in his junior year. The twins will be fine. Stop getting your panties in a twist from one low key opener. They are young ( no pun intended ) and have never run high mileage.
Now let’s stop finding BS reason to hate athletes and coaches.
Grow up everyone and move on
You are correct.
However . . . worthwhile noting that at the UW Indoor Preview last year, Stanford results in the mile were as follow: Ky winning in 3:55, Cole second in 3:56, Thomas Boyden third in 3:57, and John Lester sixth in 3:58.
Unfortunately, a few weeks later, Cole & Thomas got injured . . . Cole didn't return until mid-outdoors . . . while Thomas didn't return at all.
Lester, in the meantime, ran a 1:46/800 SR and made it to NCAAs but not the finals . . . then got injured and did not compete outdoor.
Hicks and Robinson both made it to NCAA indoors . . . but ran well below their expectations.
Mentioned all this because, last year indoors, appears Santos did have them doing more speed-related training . . . which backfired in injuries and poor performances.
From what has been mentioned in various articles and podcasts, changes began last October following the Nuttycombe Invite . . . apparently the team & Santos had a "Come to Jesus" meeting regarding their recent terrible team races . . . resulting in training program changes which led to a Pac-12 championship and a decent 8th place finish at NCAAs.
So, yes, training has changed for the men's distance program . . . UW Indoor Preview results yesterday were pretty much what would be expected from these athletes racing just six days following winter break . . . we should be seeing results more in line with their abilities in a couple weeks at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic . . .
I think it’s also key to actually watch the race. The brothers clearly went to the back of the pack from the gun and settled in. That’s not indicative of 2 people racing to win or get a really fast time. Looks to me like they had a plan to get a good hard effort in , in more than one race and that’s what they did. I doubt they have much experience on an indoor track and it something to get used to. The bounce, tight turns etc. if I were their coach I’d be happy with this experience for them then build up from there. My kids coach had them run UW just to feel what chaos it could be and to get acclimated to that type of racing.
You can't say Brosnan develops athletes with speed when Lex never ran an 800 in high school and Leo ran only two 800s with his PR at 1:58.18.
Somehow Ky Robinson had the best kick in the NCAA last year, he's not complaining about Santos's speed development.
If you look at all of Brosnan's athletes, the vast majority underachieve in college. To anytime with a brain, that reflects negatively on Brosnan.
Didn't Leo run 1:50/3:39? And Colin ran 1:48. Aaron ran 1:48/8:01 as a 16 year old and still doesn't get enough notice imo. Idk why Lex never ran an 800, but I do know they all did the same training, and that training got the other guys to 1:48/1:48/1:50. I also know Brosnan does develop speed. Watched a bunch of interviews with him a couple years ago, and I think in their 10-day cycle, they did 1 day that was pure speed development. He said it was good for HSers to develop their basic speed, helped improve their form, and it's a lot easier mentally than regular workouts because the kids love to run fast and have long rests.
His kids also do well in college. You can't expect everyone to improve, especially coming from a program as strong as NP, but Nico has been one of the best in the country, and improved a ton, for 3 years now. His track season was a bit off last year, but that 7:37/13:22 double in December was insane. Colin had a bad XC and indoor season, but started looking great outdoors, and just ran a 49.3 PR. Aaron ran 49.5 the other day, a .5s PR from HS. Idk what training they've been doing during XC that resulted in a .5s 400m PR in Aaron's indoor opener, but I'm excited to see what it does to their 800 times.
I agree with you about Santos, though. Ky Robinson won the 5k/10k double at NCAAs, and Hicks came 2nd in the 10k and won XC in a kick to Nico Young and Drew Bosley. I guess he doesn't have any great milers (only 3:55/3:56/3:57 underclassmen in their opener last year), but I don't see anyone calling out Andy Powell for not doing enough double-thresholds and long runs. UW had 7 guys under 3:54, but only scored 1 point between the 3k/5k.
You’re right I would call it Amazing in one year. Actually unbelievable too, for what he was handed.
I spoke to Brosnan at the USTFCCCA convention last year for about an hour. This dude lives training. He’s not just throwing spaghetti on the wall and sees what sticks. He’s definitely unauthodoxed in certain ways. My assessment is he’s kind of scientific, outside the box and passionate. I have noticed Most top coaches I want to hear from won’t do clinics and seminar's and Brosnan is one of them. I don’t know if Brosnan and Mike Smith are similar, but there is a reason he got the results he did. I’ve actually found lot of his ideas helpful with my own teams training.
I've never understood the Brosnan hate. I can kinda understand how if you squinted, some of the stuff he did could look self-centered, but it was super clear to me that he is unbelievably passionate about running. In some interview, he said he was sleeping 4 hours a night, because he was holding early morning practice for varsity kids, then was a teacher all day, then held practice again in the afternoon, then would go home and research/adjust his training methods. I fully believe that he is all in on running. Because of that, I don't ascribe any malintent to his actions. He has very good intentions (making the sport better, making America a distance powerhouse, getting the best from his athletes), and he hasn't had bad outcomes from them (aside from the getting fired from UCLA thing).
I think a perfect day for Brosnan would be one where he coached athletes in the morning, got coffee with a great coach, and then talked to them about training for 20 hours. Workouts, progression, times, the physical effects on the body, the best recovery methods, warm ups, cool downs, stretches, drills, the best foods, etc, then eat, sleep, and repeat.
I also have a lot of respect for him doubling down on his takes. Like "4:20 isn't fast" got a ton of backlash, but in the 4 years since, there has been a complete mindset change at the HS level, and it's just expected that you're gonna be well under 4 if you're the best HSer.
I also have a lot of respect for him doubling down on his takes. Like "4:20 isn't fast" got a ton of backlash, but in the 4 years since, there has been a complete mindset change at the HS level, and it's just expected that you're gonna be well under 4 if you're the best HSer.
Brosnan had nothing to do with how fast high school running is in 2024. Newbury Park is really bad now so he didn't even have a lasting effect on the mindset of his own school.
The biggest changes have been super shoes, the abundance of private coaches, Strava, and an infinite amount of training science that can be found online by the coaches or athletes.