Prove me wrong: Running isn't genetic oriented as people make it out to be.

Here's a good example of someone with zero speed, a guy I ran with. Had zero explosive ability, just bad genetics. He trained hard and ran way more than me. He had years of training under his belt with steady improvement and lifting and all that. He baaaarely broke 5:00 and 16:00. I have no idea what his 400PR is but I's guess it would be like 60–62. Meanwhile, I ran less but had a lot more speed. I could go under 5:00 for reps. I broke 16:00 just to see if I could.

Speed kills. It's a prerequisite to faster distance times. Pretending otherwise is to just deny physiology.

Of course it's genetic. Try getting Hammer thrower Camryn Rogers to a 16:00 5K. Now try to get Jordan Hasay to throw the hammer 200 feet.

Correction: I started running as a freshman in *high school*, not college

It's 80% genetic and 20% are trainable.

Keep in mind that anybody who shows up for school running training is already part of that small group.

One data point:

Guy I know's dad and sister were competitive college runners. In his mid twenties he trains 30 to 40 mpw for 9 weeks and then runs a 2:39 thon for his first competitive race ever. Not an East African either.

How much do you know about that guy, do you know If he has medical issues? He could have asthma, low iron ? So many unknown factors. It’s also important to note that training “hard” doesn’t work for everyone. You might be a low quality mileage guy but that doesn’t work for everyone. Did he find his optimal training zone ? With out these questions it’s hard to determine. Butt it could be that he seriously lacked talent but it’s hard to say without knowing the full picture

Samoans and other Polynesian will never lead the world as distance runners. I do think mental toughness is underrated though.

I think it's safe to say that for every athletic event...at some point...genetics is going to become a limiting factor.
Same for football, the 400, the marthon, etc, etc, etc. (Though I do think genetics will limit your speed faster than will endurance based events).

But no one truly knows how far they can go until they train as hard as they can. But top level genetics+hard work is what makes a world class athlete.

A kid at my school broke 4 last year. He trained the least on the team. Some kids put in hard work for 4 years while this kid did very little. Some kids didn't break 5:30.

SRY. The SRY gene - short for "sex-determining region Y gene" - is found on the Y chromosome in nearly all humans with a Y chromosome.

The SRY gene produces a protein that acts as a "transcription factor." The means it attaches (binds) to specific regions of DNA in cells and helps control the activity of other genes.

The protein that comes from the SRY gene starts the processes that cause a fetus to develop male gonads (testes).

The Y chromosome has many other genes that probably make a difference in running too.

genome.gov

Y Chromosome

Among the 24 chromosomes that make up the human genome, the Y chromosome is unique for its highly repetitive structure. Scientists are studying the Y and its unusual features to better understand human health and disease.

Open link

Everyone knows somebody way over 6ft tall and under 5ft tall. Everyone knows people who are very big and people who are beanpoles. Some peoply are quick, some are slow.

Those are large genetic differences. Running is exactly the same. Everyone has run on a team where athletes got wildly different results from the same training. Training will get a person to their own genetic limit which varies widely.

Does anyone really think a HS 4:40 miler who actually trained for that is going to challenge for an olympic medal one day? Ridiculous.

Yep. In the vast majority of high schools in America, the runners on the team do basically the same workouts and the same mileage and yet there's one great guy on the team and others who suck hard. If genetics had NOTHING to do with running, then we could all be as fast as the world record runners just by doing the same workouts as them.

This is a very stupid thread.

Bollocks. When I was 16 I ran 170-180km/week for 10 weeks one summer. My best times, even after rest and recovery, were 408/906 15/3. You cannot escape your talent limits. You can try, and push it further, but then you risk injury in the short term and potential damage to your endocrine system in the long term (me).

You should study the sport a bit more to improve your bullsh*ting ability.

Sigh…

Why is it that there are still people on here who fail to appreciate what racing horse and dog breeders have known for decades, if not centuries.

Of course genetics matter…far more than training…otherwise why would so much emphasis be put on breeding and blood lines? Race horses are trained in a similar fashion, yet more often than not, it’s the true thoroughbreds that come out on top.

Don't believe me? Then try and train any old nag to win the Derby…

This is true. It's why if you coach long enough you will have that athlete that basically falls out of the sky and joins your team with basically no training or experience who is already faster than your top runners. I have had a couple of these runners amongst several hundred.

The good news is that you can develop those other less gifted athletes to be successful to reach whatever potential they have which few do. But it can be discouraging when the opinion might be that they are not putting in a hard enough effort, not effectively training, or even are just not as tough as those front runners.

Then name the effing gene or genes. It's not 1990 anymore, they know specifically what gene makes you sneeze too much, which gene gives you extra nose hairs, everything about genetic influence.

So if you can't name the gene, shut up and go find it. Simple as swabbing DNA of a bunch of elite runners.

who are you kidding? A gene everyone has makes some faster than others? Men faster than women, sure, big deal.

Genetics don’t as much when you aren’t looking for top shelf performances. The thing about XC is you don’t need a ton of talent to have a good team. Running low 16 min 5ks is the talent level probably like 25% of the male student body has. But getting those kids out and running 60mpw for a couple years is hard. And no amount of training is going to turn most of those kids into 15:00 runners. The talent pyramid has a very sharp drop off.