It is well documented that the top American distance runners of the present era are less successful competitively than those of 20 to 30 years ago. One of the reasons for this is the increased competition--when prize money for road races and track meets became officially condoned in the 1980s, there was greater incentive for foreign runners to participate, and this resulted in a higher standard of competition. This is not the whole story, though, because the top U.S. distance runners today are also slower than those of the previous era. I contend that one of the main reasons for this decline is the emergence of eight important myths, repeated over and over in running books and magazines. I believe that these myths undermine American distance running competitiveness.

Myth #1: Tempo runs are the only way to increase a runner's anaerobic threshold.
The anaerobic threshold, the level at which the athlete goes from burning oxygen to burning stored glycogen, is one of the most important determinants of distance running success. For example, Frank Shorter won an Olympic Gold medal in the marathon despite having a fairly mediocre VO2 max, because his anaerobic threshold was very high. Research studies have shown that tempo runs can improve the anaerobic threshold. From this, coaches have seemingly universally accepted the idea that tempo runs are therefore the only way to increase the anaerobic threshold, which is incorrect. Other research studies have shown that conventional interval training also increases the anaerobic threshold. Using this idea, I once trained an athlete to eleventh place in the Olympic Marathon Trials without ever scheduling a tempo run. Tempo runs are fine, but not if they keep the athlete from doing the fast work necessary to develop mechanical efficiency.

Myth #2: Weight training is essential for the distance runner.
Total body fitness is a mantra that is repeated by almost all coaches. It is true that good muscle tone is essential, and muscular weaknesses (e.g., abdominal weakness) must be rectified to avoid injury. Nevertheless, it is possible to do far too much. For example, Alan Webb, the great young 1500 meter runner, acknowledged that he just got too big in his upper body last year, and vowed to back off on his strength work. Todd Williams had a similar problem that contributed to his decline in the 1990s. Adding unnecessary muscle means adding unnecessary weight, and should avoided by every serious distance runner. If you do not believe this, pick up any running magazine and see what the Ethiopians, Kenyans, and Japanese look like. Generally speaking, they have fine muscle tone, but very little muscle mass. Their muscle tone has mostly come from running.

Myth #3: Runners should do a long run only every other week.
The idea is that long runs are tiring, and runners should avoid so much tiring work so that they can remain fresh. Unfortunately, the idea is wrong. Runners who do a long run every week develop greater endurance than those who do not, and are fresher at the end of races. Again we can see the folly of this myth by examining what the top runners from other countries are doing. For example, the Kenyans often do several long runs in a week, and top marathoners such as World Record holder Paul Tergat often do runs of up to 30 miles. In Tergat's case, the 20 miles he runs every other week is his easy run.

Myth #4: It is possible to achieve top fitness on low mileage.
Research studies have shown that a runner doing about 30 miles per week can achieve about ninety percent of the fitness that a runner can achieve doing 100 to 150 miles per week. The scientists, and the running press, then interpret this as meaning that all of that excess mileage is essentially a waste of time. For the average recreational runner that may be true, but for a top-level competitor, that extra ten percent of conditioning can be the difference between being competitive in the neighborhood and being world class. Again, the Kenyans show the way with their high mileage training regimens.

Myth #5: World-class running requires world-class stretching.
World-class stretching is great if you are trying out for the Olympic stretching team. For running, the value of stretching is highly overrated. Most studies have shown no difference in injury incidence for distance runners who stretch and runners who don't. (Important note--this is not true at all for sprinting and middle distance running, where stretching actually is essential.) Other studies have shown that stretching after running, when the muscles are warm, is better than stretching before running. The best approach is probably to do a little bit of stretching, concentrating on the muscles that are especially tight, but being careful not to overdo it, because stretching can itself be a cause of injury.

Myth #6: You have to use performance enhancing drugs to be any good.
If that is true, why were the American distance runners of the 1980s, who raced before drugs like EPO were available, faster than the runners today? The truth is, if Frank Shorter, who won the 1972 Olympic Marathon, were transported in a time machine to the present day, he could probably beat all of our current top marathoners, based on a comparison of times--and by all accounts, Shorter was clean.

Myth #7: To run fast, you have to lengthen your stride.
Research shows that the fastest runners also have the longest stride length. From this fact, many people erroneously conclude that the secret to running fast is lengthening the stride length. The causality is backward. Running fast will cause the stride length to naturally increase, but lengthening the stride artificially will just lead to overstriding and inefficiency. It is better to work on tempo than to work on stride lengthening.

Myth #8: You can't be a top runner and hold a real job.
Running at the top level inevitably demands two-a-day training, and it is hard to do that and still get to the office. Or so I thought, anyway, until I saw my friend Thom Burleson, who had run in the same small college conference as me, work hard to become a top runner. Thom was working in a bakery as his day job, and the bakery required him to be in at 5 am to prepare the day's breads and pastries. That did not deter Thom. He simply got up at 3:45am every morning so he would be sure to get in his morning run! It paid off, as Thom, a mediocre high school runner and a merely good college runner, eventually ran 5000 meters on the track in 13:17 and ran on national teams.

Runners need to separate truth from myth. It is important to question the "truths" that running authors repeat over and over, and see what the best runners really do. By best runners, I mean the best runners in the world, not the best American runners, who, with only a few exceptions, have proven that they are on the wrong path.

Roland Rust coaches a handful of dedicated runners. (His coaching resume can be found here.) He also compiles the Washington Running Report runner rankings. Roland can be contacted at rrust9@comcast.net.