Just merely by getting older have you improved? Not from better training, more mileage, etc. Just mere age.
Just merely by getting older have you improved? Not from better training, more mileage, etc. Just mere age.
Yes. I barely ran from the ages of 19-23 and dropped more than 20 seconds from my 1500.
I trained for about 10 days when I was 25 and ran 5 seconds faster over 800 than I did as a teenager.
I was not inactive, I just didn't do any running.
There is no such thing as getting better just from ageing. You either train or you don't.
Sure, I did.
I also got stronger when I was about 25. Wasn't doing anything different, exercise-wise; I just got noticeably stronger. It was kind of neat.
I have improved in countless ways as I aged. I run slower than I used to, but one of the many ways I have improved is increased awareness of what's important and what's not.So yes there is much to look forward to. You will improve in ways you don't understand yet.
AJJ wrote:
Just merely by getting older have you improved? Not from better training, more mileage, etc. Just mere age.
kibitzer wrote:
Sure, I did.
I also got stronger when I was about 25. Wasn't doing anything different, exercise-wise; I just got noticeably stronger. It was kind of neat.
You probably just got heavier thus more leverage. Either that or you had been overtraining/undereating prior to 25. Or I suppose maybe you just did get magically stronger.
Define "dramatically".
AJJ wrote:
Just merely by getting older have you improved? Not from better training, more mileage, etc. Just mere age.
Well there is a guy on my XC team who was stagnant in the 18 to 18:45 range for 2 YEARS (sophomore and junior).... and BOOm he drops a 16:58 on the first meet.
He told me that there was no dramatic increase in training... sophomore summer (35 mpw) junior summer (40-45 mpw) and senior summer (45-55 mpw).
Sure happens all the time.
Not everybody is fully mature at 18 years old, I was 24 before I started to go through what my wife calls "second puberty"
All of a sudden I got hairy as wolverine bum crack, grew a forest of chest hair, and couldnt get my shirts over my shoulders.. Before then my 10km time had been 37mins at best. Within a year it dropped to 33:50.
Thats not to say I was still a kid at 18 years old, I was my adult height by then and had a man sized shlong. I guess I just hadn't filled out.
AJJ wrote:
Just merely by getting older have you improved? Not from better training, more mileage, etc. Just mere age.
This can be the case if you are a late bloomer (hit puberty late) like i did, I looked like an old freshman/sophomore almost all of highschool (senior PBs of 1600:4:48, 3200:10:28, 5000: 16:44) with approx 60 mpw and consistent training and my PBs moved steadily down all 4 years.
I ran maybe 30-40 mpw over the summer before going into college with no workouts just easy runs because i was taking a nice break. During this time I got alot "older" in i matured alot physically and ran a mile time trial about a week before i went to college with a local racing club and ran 4:34 off low mileage with no workouts purely from the fact that I matured physically.
Grad Ceremonies wrote:
Well there is a guy on my XC team who was stagnant in the 18 to 18:45 range for 2 YEARS (sophomore and junior).... and BOOm he drops a 16:58 on the first meet.
He told me that there was no dramatic increase in training... sophomore summer (35 mpw) junior summer (40-45 mpw) and senior summer (45-55 mpw).
If you are stuck at a time for 2 years, then you are doing something wrong. He obviously changed what he was doing wrong and started improving again.
errjf wrote:
Grad Ceremonies wrote:Well there is a guy on my XC team who was stagnant in the 18 to 18:45 range for 2 YEARS (sophomore and junior).... and BOOm he drops a 16:58 on the first meet.
He told me that there was no dramatic increase in training... sophomore summer (35 mpw) junior summer (40-45 mpw) and senior summer (45-55 mpw).
If you are stuck at a time for 2 years, then you are doing something wrong. He obviously changed what he was doing wrong and started improving again.
And he got older and stronger. It happens with guys.
I noticed in my first year of college that I got a little bit stronger naturally and more "manly". The fact is most men physically mature at a small rate all the way until 25. For some this maturing process is very pronounced (second puberty) for others it's nearly imperceptible.
Scott Bauhs ran 4:16/9:06ish in high school.
In college he grew a couple inches, and his times went like
14:55ish
14:20ish/29:40ish
13:4x/28:55ish/3:45 1500
13:30/27:48/sub 4 mile
Part due to excellent coaching, part due to never getting hurt, part due to late blooming.
We are talking about just getting older, not training being responsible for improvement.
Still an unusually high rate of improvement, during a period he was growing. Sorry for contributing something slightly off the exact question.
Hard to say just due to "getting older", as improvement would imply you were training/running pre and post 18
Anyhow, I know I was a late developer, physically, and I improved considerably beyond 18 yo. I actually improved much after college as well.
HS 10:14 3200m
post college sub 8:40
Yes, at age 17 I was playing hockey and smoking half a pack
of cigarettes a day.
At 22 I was playing basketball in 2 leagues and quit smoking
at 2 packs a day.
A dramatic improvement.
You keep thinking that, buddy.
Speed Killlz wrote:
Sure happens all the time.
Not everybody is fully mature at 18 years old, I was 24 before I started to go through what my wife calls "second puberty"
All of a sudden I got hairy as wolverine bum crack, grew a forest of chest hair, and couldnt get my shirts over my shoulders.. Before then my 10km time had been 37mins at best. Within a year it dropped to 33:50.
Thats not to say I was still a kid at 18 years old, I was my adult height by then and had a man sized shlong. I guess I just hadn't filled out.
I was an 18 minute guy in HS and didn't run in college. Got an office job at age 23 and started training again. Broke 16 mins at age 24. Same height and weight.
Probably better training. But one could argue that prime age allowed for better training.