clm, i’m missing your point. are you inferring that since Kenyans don’t excel in triathlon, we should ignore their expertise in running?
IMHO, running fast is running fast, whether someone rode a bike beforehand or not.
Barry,
Do you think they should drop their arms or raise them?
I’m pretty sure that those pics were from in and out 200’s, done @ 31secs…
Completely agree.
Current protocol is the “you don’t race that fast at XYZ distance, so why bother training that fast?”
Screw that crap. When I saw that Simon Q.; Simon L. and Mark Allen were doing the track I would have in college, I decided to start running 8x400, 6x800, etc. again… Of course, I’m not doing 10x400 in 64; about 10 secs slower. 
A good run can net so much time even in Olympic distance race; it just floors me when I see swim/bike splits that are out this world followed by a pedestrian run; these folks obviously have the engine.
A good run can net so much time even in Olympic distance race; it just floors me when I see swim/bike splits that are out this world followed by a pedestrian run; these folks obviously have the engine.
so true…I know Fleck has been on this soapbox for a while, but it bears repeating.
Knowing what I know about Joel, he just doesn’t give a shit about where the arms are. He worries about the important stuff, and that’s one of the things that makes him a great…uh… a pretty decent coach! 
you can’t judge from one picture whether or not they are running with low arms. In looking at the full sequence you can see that there is a very full range of motion with the arms on almost all of the runners in the pictures. Keeping in mind that the actual workout was 32 x 200, all done at a very fast pace, I would expect that at the speed they were running there would be a lot of range in the arm swing to generate more lift and stride length for the runners. had they been running mile repeats I would expect that the arm swing would be a lot different and more compact and economical.
A good run can net so much time even in Olympic distance race; it just floors me when I see swim/bike splits that are out this world followed by a pedestrian run; these folks obviously have the engine.
I think that people would be impressed and surprised with the volume of running that these guys are putting in at certain times of the year sometime up to 90 minutes to 2 hours for single runs. Scan through Simon’s blog - most of it is there. They are also doing this sort of work regularly as well.
As for the tans or the lack there of, it’s Canada and it’s Victoria! What more can I say. No one ever won a race because they had a great tan!
you can’t judge from one picture whether or not they are running with low arms. In looking at the full sequence you can see that there is a very full range of motion with the arms on almost all of the runners in the pictures. Keeping in mind that the actual workout was 32 x 200, all done at a very fast pace, I would expect that at the speed they were running there would be a lot of range in the arm swing to generate more lift and stride length for the runners. had they been running mile repeats I would expect that the arm swing would be a lot different and more compact and economical.
You are probably right. I aslo have to keep in mind that 4:04 pace is especially fast for those guys (for me as well) compared to an elite runner who can cruise through those intervals more effortlessly.
Barry,
Do you think they should drop their arms or raise them?
As Mike pointed out, they are running pretty fast in those pictures, so I’m sure their arm swing is fine. It just struck me funny when I looked at the photo and they all hand one hand particularly low. Typically if you are running at 2 mile race pace or slower, you don’t usually want to drop your forearms below parallel. Some one posted an elite picture (I forget who) where you do see a downward facing forarm, but in general he keeps his arms pretty high (typical among a lot of Africans…due to weak upper bodies?..maybe??).
The main idea is that the arms should stay relaxed, fairly compact, and most imprtantly swing front to back, not side to side.
Though Paulo and I disagree on thi sissue, I will contend that running form falls lower on the list of priorities than a lot of other aspects of running, but I won’t say that it is meaningless. Elite triathlete typically have what I would consider poor form compared to elite runners, but they have so many other things to work on and so many fewer miles under their belts that it doesn’t surpise me. Its almost like comparing the way an elite baseball or football player runs compared to an elite sprinter. Sprinters don’t have to spend time learning to catch balls…so they work on their form to eak out the last 2% of their ability.
The only reason I commented was because the picture just struck me a little funny, that’s all.
How many Kenyans have won the triathlon gold medal? Or won any triathon ever for that matter?
Running is running, and they tend to do that pretty well.