Are high-school milers training more scientifically now than 35 years ago ?
	On June 27, 1965 Jim Ryun, an eighteen year old high school senior, ran a 3:55.3 mile, breaking the four-minute mile barrier and beating Olympic Champion Peter Snell. Amazingly, Ryun’s high school record remained unbroken for over 35 years. It was not until May 27, 2001 that Alan Webb from South Lakes HS in Reston VA, broke this record with a 3:53.43 mile. During this 35 year period only two other high school runners broke the four-minute mile barrier and both did it soon after Ryan ! Thus for a span of about 34 years, no high school milers even came close to breaking Ryun’s record or running a sub-four minute mile !!…why?
1965 '70' '75' '80' '85' '90' '95' '2000' 3:53.4 - Alan Webb, 2001 3:55.3 - Jim Ryun, 1965 3:59.4 - Tim Danielson, 1966 3:59.8 - Marty Liquori, 1967
Following his high school career, Alan Webb signed to run at the University of Michigan. Webb won the Big Ten Conference cross-country title in 2001 and was named the Big Ten's Athlete of the Year for cross country. He then sat out the 2002 indoor track season due to achilles tendonitis (over-distance training ????). At the 2002 National Outdoor Championships he finished fourth in the 1500 meters, running a time that was much slower than his high-school record. In June of 2002 Webb left the University of Michigan to again run under the guidance of his high school coach, Scott Raczko, who is thought to focus training on 'race specific speed' rather than high mileage. …"like in the old day " ?
Scientific training is progressive and 'specific'…meaning training at speeds faster than race pace.