How 16-Year-Old Sam Ruthe Ran a 3:48 Mile — Coach Craig Kirkwood Breaks Down His 60–80km Training Weeks (#27)

**John Paton** (0:00)
Okay, I'm here today with Craig Kirkwood. Now, Craig is currently coaching Sam Ruthe, who is an absolute running prodigy. So Sam Ruthe became the youngest person to ever break the four-minute mile at the age of just 15 years. That was just last year. And recently, Sam Ruthe ran a 348-mile time, which is absolutely astonishing. Craig, welcome to the show.

**Craig Kirkwood** (0:27)
Yeah, thanks very much for having me.

**John Paton** (0:28)
So Craig, the current world record time for an indoor mile currently sits at three minutes and 45 seconds. What's it going to take for Sam to close the gap to that three-minute and 45-second time?

**Craig Kirkwood** (0:41)
Oh, that's quite a big question. It's going to take him a few more years of development, I would suspect. I think the chunks he's taken off his mile time in the last year has been extraordinary. But I think beyond kind of where he is at the moment, to that world record pace takes a bit more time. And a bit more specificity in terms of what we're doing. And probably training more like an adult than a 16 year old. And we're not, I'm particularly not in a hurry to rush that for his own kind of welfare.

**John Paton** (1:13)
Yeah, 100%. So yes, he's just 16 years of age. So gives a sense for when mile runners or middle distance runners tend to hit their peak.

**Craig Kirkwood** (1:23)
Yeah, mostly in their mid 20s. So once I've kind of got through their teenage years and matured as a pro and then started to learn their craft and really kind of know themselves and know how to train and kind of know what works for them is when they kind of start, you know, really operating at their best, which is a frightening prospect considering he's already, you know, considered one of the best in the world at 16 So he's got a long time to wait before he kind of gets into that realm, but I feel like his progression and his maturity in the sport could actually see him kind of get there sooner than that. So he might be one of these people who kind of matures and reaches the top of the world much sooner than that.

**John Paton** (2:03)
Yeah, no, I think it's super exciting. So again, just to put that 348 in context, that's the fastest time by an under 18 year old. It's 11th fastest time of all time. So he's absolutely running with the very best in the world at this point. So give us a sense for where he is in terms of his athletic development. So how is Sam training now and how does that compare to a fully mature mile runner or middle distance runner?

**Craig Kirkwood** (2:30)
Yeah, so I like to keep his mileage and the training that he does the same as any other 16 year old that I coach. And so that he's not actually doing any more than they would be doing. Sometimes he's operating a little bit faster in workouts, but that's just because he's a little bit better. And that's really the only difference. Any 16 year old in the world is probably doing a very limited amount of training just because of the time in the sport. And as they get older, they can handle a bit more load. So he's kind of in that realm. He's running probably in track season, about 60 to 70k a week. During the winter build, he was around 80km a week.
So yeah, I mean, there's heaps of room for growth there. He can quite legitimately get to 140, 150 before he'd really be reaching his peak.

**John Paton** (3:22)
Wow, yeah. So in terms of training volume, he's nowhere near that ultimate volume which he may reach. So yeah, I want to dive a little bit more into this topic of training volume, because I think it's something that amateur athletes focus on a lot. A lot of people are very focused on increasing that volume and see it as one of these key ways to improve.
So, what is your sense on that overall? Do you also believe that volume is one of the clearest paths towards improvements? And how do you decide when it's appropriate to increase that volume?

**Craig Kirkwood** (3:51)
Yeah, I think volume is important, but it also has to be tempered with, especially if you're talking amateur athletes or recreational runners, their ability and their time to be able to get that volume into their day might be very different from someone who's running as a professional, if you like, or an elite level. And so, yeah, doing volume for the sake of volume is not always the best answer. Progression needs to be done gradually. Otherwise, you're going to cause some kind of injuries or some kind of bone stress or something along those lines, which is never conducive to performance. If you can be consistent, it's way better than doing volume for the sake of volume.