Why do some runners train like a pro even if they only run a 15 or 16 minute 5k?

A little better than average wrote:

hobby1 wrote:

All that training is very time consuming and takes a lot of energy.

I stopped training really really hard when I realized that I was as fast as I was ever going to get in most races, and that was far from elite. Plus life outside my sport got a lot more interesting. I started coaching for instance. My kids got older. I train probably 6 hours a week now, stay in great shape, occasionally compete, and generally have a good “relationship” with my sport.

I also have time to put my energy into other things that I am much better at, or are important to the people around me.

I am always a little suspicious of middle-aged people who pour all their energy into some sort of athletic or training activity. It makes me wonder what they have eliminated from their lives to be able to spend so much time on a self-gratifying pursuit. I knew a man once in his 40s and 50s who lived for a few years off an inheritance, just so he could train. He was very good, but there was absolutely no chance of him earning a living or even real glory.

pathfinder wrote:

A little better than average wrote:

I stopped training really really hard when I realized that I was as fast as I was ever going to get in most races, and that was far from elite. Plus life outside my sport got a lot more interesting. I started coaching for instance. My kids got older. I train probably 6 hours a week now, stay in great shape, occasionally compete, and generally have a good “relationship” with my sport.

I also have time to put my energy into other things that I am much better at, or are important to the people around me.

I am always a little suspicious of middle-aged people who pour all their energy into some sort of athletic or training activity. It makes me wonder what they have eliminated from their lives to be able to spend so much time on a self-gratifying pursuit. I knew a man once in his 40s and 50s who lived for a few years off an inheritance, just so he could train. He was very good, but there was absolutely no chance of him earning a living or even real glory.

Are you suspicious that they value athletics or training activities in a way that is different than you?

roulette wheel wrote:

A little better than average wrote:

I stopped training really really hard when I realized that I was as fast as I was ever going to get in most races, and that was far from elite. Plus life outside my sport got a lot more interesting. I started coaching for instance. My kids got older. I train probably 6 hours a week now, stay in great shape, occasionally compete, and generally have a good “relationship” with my sport.

I also have time to put my energy into other things that I am much better at, or are important to the people around me.

I am always a little suspicious of middle-aged people who pour all their energy into some sort of athletic or training activity. It makes me wonder what they have eliminated from their lives to be able to spend so much time on a self-gratifying pursuit. I knew a man once in his 40s and 50s who lived for a few years off an inheritance, just so he could train. He was very good, but there was absolutely no chance of him earning a living or even real glory.

Some people can do it if they choose to have no kids and have an ok job with a flexible schedule! Some just want to push themselves as the clock winds down. There is no reason to be suspicious--they are not harming others with their actions!

35andstillgoin wrote:

I think it's fine to train as hard as possible to 25 and if you're not going to get anything significant out of it beyond that, you need to focus on the important stuff - career, family.
I still run 60-80mpw, but that's only when everything else is going well and is in balance. If work gets stressful, or I am having personal issues at home or with family, then running needs to drop off at least so it becomes a stress reliever not a stress giver.

Running should be the icing on the cake once you're past 25. If you can make it work with a job and family commitments, and you're not cutting corners, then great.

I see too many people who have neglected their spouses, kids, careers to run 31 mins or slower for 10k. At the end of the day it's a tough world out there and most people are going to have to work until they're in their 60s so you need a plan and some skills so you can do something you can tolerate and maybe enjoy for as long as possible.

z0 wrote:

roulette wheel wrote:

It sounds like your g/f is super-fast as well and a high-mileage runner. Running with dogs on a leash sounds hard too.

What leash? Ha, ha. . . she moved to a rural/mountain area and is on trails mostly on her property plus her mostly absent vacation home neighbors, while I'm in a place where e-collar is considered under ordinance to be "control by leash" and most all trail dogs that are regulars with their runners/mountain bikers are off leash (and actually well behaved) for that reason. Yes, high mileage or hours (since we are mostly on trails/mountains) was the only similarity of our training to pros. I don't even consider what we did training really. It's more a lifestyle of outdoor activity, and when I felt reasonably fit to contend in local races, I'd jump into them (but stopped a decade ago in my later 40s).

Anyway, my GF's friends, who were most of the other top women in the area, also trained nothing at all like pros. They get in their daily runs, but don't have planned out training programs. They had talent/were local stars in high school/maybe college though. Similar for most of the guys.

I'd say only a small proportion of the top local runners train like pros. They are the handful that also have sponsors as trail/mountain runners. Also, the local cross country skiers, who do hop into the local mountain races, are actually training like pros because they are Olympians/World team members, and they show it by kicking the local runners' (who don't train like pros) butts by sometimes large margins in the mountain races.

I guess I have a much, much higher standard for "pro training" than what my GF did as a college runner/skier for example, while some of you would consider typical high school or college training like pro training. I mean look at the jumps for people like Jessica Hull going from college to pro training. She wasn't training like a pro in college, and she was doing more in college or even high school than the 15-, 16-, 18-min 5K guys.

HRE wrote:

35andstillgoin wrote:

I think it's fine to train as hard as possible to 25 and if you're not going to get anything significant out of it beyond that, you need to focus on the important stuff - career, family.
I still run 60-80mpw, but that's only when everything else is going well and is in balance. If work gets stressful, or I am having personal issues at home or with family, then running needs to drop off at least so it becomes a stress reliever not a stress giver.

Running should be the icing on the cake once you're past 25. If you can make it work with a job and family commitments, and you're not cutting corners, then great.

I see too many people who have neglected their spouses, kids, careers to run 31 mins or slower for 10k. At the end of the day it's a tough world out there and most people are going to have to work until they're in their 60s so you need a plan and some skills so you can do something you can tolerate and maybe enjoy for as long as possible.

Looking back, I think one of the great things running seriously did for me was keeping me from getting caught up in taking a career seriously. Jobs have just been jobs, means for keeping alive and being able to do things I wanted to do, e.g., run, hang out with my family, travel, and so on. Of course you have to do that sort of work stuff somewhat but for so many people it seems to become the point of their lives. I'm glad something kept me from doing that.

fartass wrote:

A little better than average wrote:

I stopped training really really hard when I realized that I was as fast as I was ever going to get in most races, and that was far from elite. Plus life outside my sport got a lot more interesting. I started coaching for instance. My kids got older. I train probably 6 hours a week now, stay in great shape, occasionally compete, and generally have a good “relationship” with my sport.

I also have time to put my energy into other things that I am much better at, or are important to the people around me.

I am always a little suspicious of middle-aged people who pour all their energy into some sort of athletic or training activity. It makes me wonder what they have eliminated from their lives to be able to spend so much time on a self-gratifying pursuit. I knew a man once in his 40s and 50s who lived for a few years off an inheritance, just so he could train. He was very good, but there was absolutely no chance of him earning a living or even real glory.

The trick is not taking a break or stepping away from it for very long - otherwise it takes a lot longer coming back.

you can be suspicious all you want but I know a ton of guys in their 40s and 50s who can run 2:2x-2:59 and none of them are on drugs.

The only thing we've eliminated is being an overweight loser.

These same people have 2-3 kids, see them all the time and take them to programming etc, while also making like $200k-$1M+.

This is what a real man does.