Stember runs 19:30

After a knee surgery, I took a year off, came back and ran for 2 months, strained my calf and then sat out a month, and ran a 5k in 18:25 in my first run in a month. At my best I was a 15:10 5k runner on the track and that was 10 years before. 19:30 is absolutely horrible. I'm pretty sure I could run that after a 5 year layoff and I'm nowhere near the talent of Stember.

A sh*tload of things can happen to your life, and body in over 5 years. And, its not just the physical stuff. His mindset might have changed a bit as well. Someone accustomed to running a 13 minute 5k, for example, probably isn't the same person they were mentally if all they run now is 17 minutes. Perhaps the fire died down.

BigTex wrote:

After a knee surgery, I took a year off, came back and ran for 2 months, strained my calf and then sat out a month, and ran a 5k in 18:25 in my first run in a month. At my best I was a 15:10 5k runner on the track and that was 10 years before. 19:30 is absolutely horrible. I'm pretty sure I could run that after a 5 year layoff and I'm nowhere near the talent of Stember.

I never ran that slowin my life. My slowest time was 1743 but now i run 1442 for 5k. SOFT

Who the hell cares? Ever since he tried to knock me over in the stands at the NCAA 2000 at Duke, I knew he was a douche and a self promoter. Don't know what the surprise is now. Dick in those days and phony now. Its all promotional BS for a forgettable person.

The question is, can he beat Jabe Jennings?

So is this proof he may have indulged in the vat of ergogenic aids in his time on the track?

it's okay wrote:

Anyone stop and think that maybe Stember doesn't care about running anymore? ... Hop off of stember...he's just a regular now...gettin lapped at the Y.

Hey, I didn't say that he should try to break 18 in a 5k.

He did. He set that goal.

And came nowhere close to accomplishing it.

Not that big a deal, but worthy of comment.

Especially since his failure caused a charity to miss out on some money it would otherwise have gotten. (though kudos to Stember for raising the money he did - more than me for sure)

Plus it was a very rare natural experiment in how hard is it to run an 18 minute 5k on just talent alone.

Reality check223 wrote:

GoJFKcougars wrote:

Plus it was a very rare natural experiment in how hard is it to run an 18 minute 5k on just talent alone.

how do you quantify or qualify "talent" for such an experiment?

Since he ran like 4:04 in high school, then later made the Olympics in the 1500, plus won a few national titles ... I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Stember counts as having "talent" for distance running. We could maybe argue about whether his talent was more for shorter distances than a 5k, but I think that is splitting hairs here.

If your point is that talent is hard to define apart from performance, then I agree. It's not a good variable in most cases. But I think it applies here.

Most basically, I think it's interesting to see what a former 3:52 mile guy can do in a 5k after being sedentary for some years. Just curious really.

At 43 years old, I ran 21:30 on absolutely no running for 3 years because of injury. I did work out on a stairmaster during that time. Before the injury, I was running 17:00.

When I was 14, 5'6" 160lbs and went out for the cross country team, i ran 45 seconds faster than him. and I was no olympian. What a hack.

El Guerrouj ran 36 minutes for a 10 kilometer road race four years after retirement.

http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=2/newsid=42836.html

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/01/sports-news-buffet-part-3.html

The world record is around 26:45 on the road.

If Stember were to train dedicate himself and train hard for about 6 months, you would probably see him run sub 16 for 5km.

Age 6F AR

19:44 Heather Garritson Fullerton, CA 05/09/87

http://www.runningusa.org/statistics/records

Agreed. Stember's an Olympian for life. But hey, you guys can beat his retirement charity run.

The thing is that if you are a 14:xx 5K guy and just stay in very modest shape, you can keep a lot of your fitness. I think a lot of us are just disappointed that he could let himself get in such bad shape. If he just kept working out a VERY manageable and normal 30 minutes/day he would run a hell of a lot faster than 19:30 on a road 5k.

bguyj2009 wrote:

A sh*tload of things can happen to your life, and body in over 5 years. And, its not just the physical stuff. His mindset might have changed a bit as well. Someone accustomed to running a 13 minute 5k, for example, probably isn't the same person they were mentally if all they run now is 17 minutes. Perhaps the fire died down.

BigTex wrote:

After a knee surgery, I took a year off, came back and ran for 2 months, strained my calf and then sat out a month, and ran a 5k in 18:25 in my first run in a month. At my best I was a 15:10 5k runner on the track and that was 10 years before. 19:30 is absolutely horrible. I'm pretty sure I could run that after a 5 year layoff and I'm nowhere near the talent of Stember.

straight up wrote:

Age 6F AR

19:44 Heather Garritson Fullerton, CA 05/09/87

http://www.runningusa.org/statistics/records

You see that?

So don't give that shit about how many years of training it takes to run a measly 19:30.

I mean, how many years of training could a 6 year old girl possibly have? Like 3 maybe? When did she start walking?

That is pretty bad. I actually think I can take Stember down.

With reference to the El Guerouj 36" 10km race 'comeback' -

Yes, and that race was in Nice, France. He started out fast (with the 30 minute boys) and held that for about 1k but then it was a slow fade. He weighed around 10kg more than his former racing weight.

Ghost in Saudi,

www.kfupm.edu.sa

, apply today

all he wants....

Perhaps he started 3 minutes behind the gun with a chip time of 16:30 and won his age group - after forging thru herds of walkers.