I just went through the onboarding for the Wahoo app assignment of my “Running 3DP” which they explain here:
Overall, it seems ok, but I need to look at it a bit more. I’ll admit I was dismayed to see my results put me as a “Miler,” and it’s not that I think it’s the wrong category (again, I need to examine this more), but I just dislike the label. I run in metric doing mostly 5km and 10km efforts, and otherwise I’m doing 400m loops on a track. I want the world to move to international standards, not have an Imperial label from previous millennia.
The runner types are “Speedster, Miler, Climber, Tempo Ace, All-Rounder, and Marathoner” and if pressed, I suppose “Marathoner” works well enough, even if I think it’s a stupid uneven distance in both imperial and metric (just run 50km and call it a day if you want to go long). But the Miler label is inane and surely, we can come up with something better?
Not sure, otherwise I would have given a suggestion. I need to study the entire system and think a bit. But “Miler” means nothing to me. They could call it Snickerdoodle and it would have equal relevance. Even “kilometer-er” doesn’t tell me much as a label. Here’s what it looks like for me:
I don’t recall hearing “Tempo Ace” before, as an example, and I just did a quick search on the term. Using DuckDuckGO and the term like this:
“tempo ace” running
I only get three results, this thread is the first, the other two are non-running related. While I’ve been running for decades I’ve a bit of a lone wolf I suppose and don’t have in person running clubs I converse with, so don’t have anecdotal experience of calling someone one kind of runner versus another. It does look that at least some of these terms were made up. Even if “miler” is a common American term, I’d be surprised if it was used in the overall international community. Note the Wahoo onboarding asked about 5km, 10km, half and marathon times. It didn’t ask for my “mile pace” and I’d have been annoyed if it did.
Here’s my understanding of a list of running events as would be used in Olympics, etc. up to Marathon length as that’s the last category Wahoo uses (sorry, Ultra people), and ignoring things like “steeplechase,” “hurdles,” and “relays” for just running by a single person.
Sprints:
100m
200m
400m
Middle Distance:
800m
1500m
Long Distance:
5000m
10,000m
Road Events:
Half-Marathon
Marathon
So perhaps “Middle Distance Specialist” might be a better term for “Miler”?
Maybe my issue with the term ‘Miler’ would be
I don’t see ‘Miler’ as someone who specializes in middle distance running
I see a Miler as someone who specialized in Ultra distance running, ie. the race distance 100 miles, AKA ‘a Miler’
Being that the term could be used for either, it would be nice to see a different term used.
After some initial excitement over the whole 4/3 DP thing, I pay less attention to any of it as time goes by and just run/ride by feel. Between SYSTM and Garmin Connect I’ve been labeled a rouleur, climber, endurance specialist, etc and, really, what does it matter [not a question]. I get the miler issue but then again I’m american and hence imp. Despite that I like to live my life in kilometers and celsius. Variety is the spice of life.
As a former runner and a distance runner in more recent times, I don’t mind the names even if I don’t fully agree with them. Maybe they could be improved. But I’m not sure they would ever be perfect for everyone in every category. As long as you get the idea that’s really all that’s needed.
Even when looking at different disciplines and contexts they could be viewed differently. When I ran track in HS anyone running a mile or longer (1500m/1600m or 3000m) was a distance runner. But viewed in Olympic track the mile (1,500m) is a much different animal to the 5k or 10k. And the 800m is neither sprint nor distance and is almost a discipline unto itself.
And 5k can be too short for 10k runners but too long for “milers” (1500m). And is a 10k also a good marathoner or half marathoner? Are marathoner’s also good ultra distance runners?
Even tho this is just as messy and I’m sure plenty would argue, if I had to group them into 4 categories I would probably categorize them this way:
800m or less - Sprinter
1500m to 10k - middle-distance
Half and full marathon - “long” distance
Longer than a marathon - ultra distance
But really there are all kinds of runners and you could break it up into all kinds of ways.
100/200m - pure sprinters
400/800m - distance sprinters
1500m - “milers” (1600m approximates a mile)
5k/10k - middle distance runners
Half and full marathon - “long” distance runners
Longer than a marathon - ultra distance runners
Is anything really “correct”? No. They’re all just ways of trying to create some kind of organization that can be recognized.
Feel free to argue with my categories and suggest alternatives or names.
And under further thought I could rearrange them again like this and they would still make sense.
400m or less - Sprinter
800m to 5k - middle-distance
10k thru full marathon - “long” distance
Longer than a marathon - ultra distance
And even that’s not perfect. Nothing really will be.
When comparing the Cycling 4DP to Running 4DP it’s like apples to oranges. But to make it closer it could be something like this.
40m = NM (usually less than 10 sec) sprint
400m = AC (around 1 minute-ish) repeated sprints
1500m = MAP (anywhere from 4min-15min) short but lengthy v02 efforts
10k = FTP (anywhere from 30min-2 hour) endurance pace
I could go round and round. Because speed is so variable between pros and amateurs and beginners.
