70 mpw + youth could very easily get someone to a 1:32 half and 6:40/mi long runs in 9 months, without juicing. Juicing is not necessary for that, in someone of average talent.
He could be juicing. I suppose that's possible. But nothing you've written indicates that steroids would be necessary to produce those times in a 21-year-old who finally decided to train hard.
What most posters here don't get, because they are largely basing their perspective on this on their own experiences, is that you've seen an athlete of no talent suddenly acquire talent - which includes an ability to train much harder and at a greater pace. Those with very little ability do not suddenly acquire the ability to train like those who do. If they do make that kind of improvement it would be expected to take quite a long time in a lesser athlete. Your instincts are probably sound.
If a 21 year old is doping to run a 1:32 half marathon, I don't know what to tell you. The more likely scenario is he started running more than they do in gym class and is now reaping the benefits. Now he certainly could be doping, but not based off of times he isn't. If he ducks under 1:15 soon, then I'd reconsider my stance.
I know I guy that took synthroid- which is easy to get. He was as a 4:45 miler in highschool, training his butt off, could barely break a 16:40 min 5k in college sophomore year. Started taking it senior year (because he found a doctor who finally said it might “stabilize” his hormones lol) (overtraining does that) and 3 years later runs 2:15 marathon. Like bruh. Weak people have thyroid problems after over training because they are weaker and human, that’s the point. Slow kids deserve to run slow. Fast kids beat them because of genetics and work, how it should be. Ugh
who needs EPO when Synthroid is better?
It’s awful. Ruined my idea of the sport. He’s delusional to the point he says his hormones were off and it brings him to baseline and this is how fast he’d be if he was like “everyone else”. Baseline lol. I can’t even look at him. Normal people train and their immune system fluctuates. That’s when you train less. He always overtrained running 100 mile weeks and still running slow af. I mean darn it, this guy could barely break a 27min 8k and now he’s qualifying for the Olympic trials like some movie dream. I used to run and come on here a lot and now I don’t. I was a 4:32 guy in highschool, I’d probably be a 2:12 marathoner with some synthroid. I’d rather lift,maybe I’ll take steroids soon because why not everyone does.
If you’re in college and someone dramatically starts PRing everyday, continues to improve each season, and is never tired running 90+ mile weeks, and is annoying…….cheater. I can’t even. Running was ruined. I got to see first hand how fast drugs can make you. Sure he still trains a lot and does doubles but wouldn’t we all if we knew we could go from being a 4:40miler/16:50 5k guy to running 14:10 in the 5k or 28:50 in the 10k.
Like he went from a nobody to D1 “talent” within 16 months lmao. he still can’t run a fast 800m thank goodness but his endurance is ridiculous
i mean you know sports are over when we can barely keep men staying in mens sports and slow weak runners become olympians. Synthroid is one hell of a drug.
good thing is his girlfriend is still ugly and masculine- so thank god Synthroid can’t give you game or id lose it lol. running seems to attract delusional OCD religious incel types who use running to block out real life, if you give them
This is a huge load of crap. If the times dropped that dramatically he did in fact have a bad thyroid. If they dropped 8-10 seconds per mile then you might have a point.
You're shocked that someone doubled their mileage and is now running faster in distance racing?
This is just helping prove that if you want to run faster in distance racing, running more is a pretty sure thing that will help. Most people don't run enough to optimize their potential.
It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. Some people are just better suited to very long distance. I had a buddy who probably couldn't break 20 seconds in a 100 meter, but he could run 100 miles.
Second point is, are his amazing long runs documented, or are they self-reported? There are an amazing number of bull crap slingers in any physical realm, whether it's a flabby guy who claims he ran a 4-minute mile in college or a skinny guy who says he can bench press 315.
I think many people are missing the point. OP is not saying 1:32 half is suspicious. He is saying a 1:32 guy doing 15-18 mile long runs at 6:40 is suspicious. That's 20 sec faster than his HM pace. How did he make that much progress in several weeks?
I think many people are missing the point. OP is not saying 1:32 half is suspicious. He is saying a 1:32 guy doing 15-18 mile long runs at 6:40 is suspicious. That's 20 sec faster than his HM pace. How did he make that much progress in several weeks?
I have no idea, but taking PEDs to run slightly under 7:00 mile pace doesn't really seem reasonable to me. But I've been wrong before!
Huge jumps are possible (not to an elite level though) when you are young. Your teammate is 21 years old. Pretty young.
Absolutely.
Not everyone is physically mature when they finish high school, especially guys. It is totally plausible that this guy has better muscle to weight ratio at 21 than he did at 18, and may very well be taller, etc. Couple that with real training, and I would hope for significant progress. He may have ramped the mileage up quickly, but mileage is only one component of training stress. Maybe he kept the intensity in check, and is now upping that accordingly since he is comfortable with the mileage.
I think many people are missing the point. OP is not saying 1:32 half is suspicious. He is saying a 1:32 guy doing 15-18 mile long runs at 6:40 is suspicious. That's 20 sec faster than his HM pace. How did he make that much progress in several weeks?
I have no idea, but taking PEDs to run slightly under 7:00 mile pace doesn't really seem reasonable to me. But I've been wrong before!
Uh... do you think long run @ 6:40 pace is the end of his "progress"? He went from 1:32 half to running 15-18 miles 20 sec faster than his HM pace several weeks later, and then he stops there?
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
Absolutely he is juicing. Far more PED use in hobby joggers than at the elite level since there is no PED testing for slow runners. Very easy to order SARMS, testosterone, or EPO over the internet. Distract him while in the bathroom and grab some of his urine for a sample and take it to a lab.
What most posters here don't get, because they are largely basing their perspective on this on their own experiences, is that you've seen an athlete of no talent suddenly acquire talent - which includes an ability to train much harder and at a greater pace. Those with very little ability do not suddenly acquire the ability to train like those who do. If they do make that kind of improvement it would be expected to take quite a long time in a lesser athlete. Your instincts are probably sound.
9 months is not "suddenly", and running a 1:32 is not "acquiring talent". A more suspicious profile is someone who has already been running for a long time, in a proper program, at a high level suddenly makes a jump.
I think most replies are ignoring the fact that he ran a 1:32 marathon (6:58-7:00 pace), and then 3-4 weeks later has been running 15-18 mile long runs at 10-15 seconds faster per mile. I am not suspicious of his half, I am suspicious of the recent training.
There’s a guy (21 years old) in my run club that has improved significantly in the last 9 months to the point that multiple people in the club have become suspicious of his recent training.
While at first inspired by his recent dedication and improvement, his fitness has grown so rapidly I, and several others have began to question the legitimacy of his recent success.
I don’t believe he is just a hidden gem that is more talented than the average hobby jogger as his high school PR was 20:30 off of 30 mpw before retiring from training after graduation due to injury issues.
About 9 months ago, he began to take interest in ultra marathons (he read David Goggins) after very little running over the last couple years (maybe a 30 minute run once every week or so week) he increased his mileage to 70 mpw in about 5 weeks from 0. Since then he has improved at a pretty standard rate and never had any injuries despite the huge increase of mileage. In the beginning of august he ran a 1:32 half marathon which he said was the greatest race he ever had. The whole club was really impressed with this performance and he had undoubtedly worked incredibly hard to have gotten to that point from where he had started.
Fast forward to now, his last three long runs have been between 15-18 miles at 6:40-6:55 pace. Is there anyway he could have improved that much in such a short span? I know it’s still hobby jogging time but these LRs are far more impressive than anything he had done in a race setting or training just weeks before and he had run 4 years in high school so it’s not like he was new to the sport and had untapped talent.
Is this progress really possible? Am I just a someone that has plateaued and is bitter? Is David Goggins the key to distance running? Are people really juicing at this level?
Bah, perfectly fine. Just the sudden increase may result in injury, unless he is very methodical about it. Every human is an experiment of one, when it comes to progressions like this.
I know a guy who off running once per week (to his girlfriend's place) could run a 33-minute 10K and he did several times. But he would hardly improve with serious training.
Some people I know need a big base period to improve and very little quality work. I know others who need very little base and quite a bit more quality than average.....