Quote Originally Posted by christopher leigh View Post
Theres a difference though.Famous athletes can tell you what works for them(pragmaticism), but many(not all) don't know WHY it works.

Its the job of science to tell us why.
I think most top athletes DO know why. No one gets to the top simply by bashing out training as and when they feel like it without a plan. I think it's more a case of (like we've BOTH said - agree ) top athletes usually have greater work capacities and make the error of assuming everyone else can do the same. "I only got where I did through hard work" you hear said, implying lesser runners must all be lazy.

Mind you, I did hear that Billy Bland deliberately ran his record BGR a week before his Wasdale record, just to prove that all the rules could be broken! I'm assuming this is true and apologise if just hearsay, but sometimes things like that CAN work. Fine tuning isn't all about putting on the knife edge, speedwork and all that. It can be about building endurance up to a peak, I would argue. Risky strategy though! Did HE know why it worked? I can see your point.