Note: This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Part 1 looks into Steve Scott’s training during the later stages of his career. By this stage, Steve had already amassed a huge level of aerobic endurance and strength. Stay tuned to Runner’s Tribe for Steve Scott’s training during his earlier days.
Free Sources:
- Steve Scott & Marc Bloom, Steve Scott the Miler Macmillan (1997)
- Tony Benson and Irv Ray, Run with the Best (2001).
- Steve Scott 1981-1982 Training logs.
- IAAF.
- DOB: 5th May 1956, Upland, California, United States.
Personal Bests
- 800m: 1:45.05
- 1500m: 3:31.76
- Mile: 3:47.69
- 2000m: 4:58.6
- 3000m: 7:36.69
- 5000m: 13:30.39
Career Highlight
- World Championship 1500m Silver, Helsinki, 1983.
- 1977 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships Division-I 1500-meter title
Steve Scott is one of the greatest milers in American history. The silver medallist in the 1500 metre at the 1983 Helsinki World Championships, Scott still holds the U.S. indoor record in the 2000 meters (4:58.6-1981). He held the American outdoor mile record for more than 26 years and is also the former American indoor record holder for the mile. Track & Field News ranked Scott number 1 in the U.S.A for 10 different years, and 11 times during his career he was ranked in the top ten in the world by T&FN.
Scott’s career spanned from his high school and college days in the late 1970’s all the way through to May 1994 when Steve was diagnosed with testicular cancer, he made a full recovery.
Amazingly, Scott ran the sub-4:00 minute mile on 137 occasions in his career, more than any other runner in history. Here we dive into the training of this great American miler.
Note: This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Part 1 looks into Steve Scott’s training during the later stages of his career. By this stage, Steve had already amassed a huge level of aerobic endurance and strength. Stay tuned to Runner’s Tribe for Steve Scott’s training during his earlier days.
VIDEO: Steve Scott, 3:49.68, U.S. record, July 11, 1981, Dream Mile (third place)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Judros7sw5o
The Over trainer
Steve’s training during his peak younger years will be outlined in part 2 of this two articles series. However, during these younger years Scott overtrained and was finding that his endurance capacity was continually being damaged by training too hard during the pre-competition training period. At this stage of his career, Scott believed that the harder he trained, the faster he would become and the longer he would be able to remain a 3:47 miler. The over training resulted in frustration, stagnation and injuries.
During the later stage of his career, under the guidance of Irv Ray, Steve spent most of his training concentrating on both aerobic endurance and 400m speed and he significantly reduced the volume of intense anaerobic running.
Training Phases
Steve’s training was broken down into three distinct phases
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