Runners, is this Redditor larping (6’3 196lb man goes from 25 min to 16.34 5k in 6 months)

What was the crux of it?

Interestingly the prevalent trend on weightroom seems to be to stop overanalysing etc, but at the same time they seem awfully protective of their resident ‘evidence based’ members.

Totally possible if he lost the body weight.

Is Nick Bare not legit. The video of his mile seems to hold up. I can't say whether he's natural or not though.

My old college PR is 15:40. I maintained that or close to that for a few years after college, then others things took my time and energy and I got slower. I started training again and my first run back was 3 miles at around that pace. Less than 3 months later I time trialed a 5k on the track and was already comfortably back under 17.

This guy would have to be a world class talent in terms of all-around athletic ability, but it’s within the realm of possibility. He may also be reporting 3 miles as 5k, which makes it even more believable.

I don’t think most runners understand how naturally talented some non-runners can be.

he's already taken to calling people Nazis lol

themanontherun wrote:

My old college PR is 15:40. I maintained that or close to that for a few years after college, then others things took my time and energy and I got slower. I started training again and my first run back was 3 miles at around that pace. Less than 3 months later I time trialed a 5k on the track and was already comfortably back under 17.

This guy would have to be a world class talent in terms of all-around athletic ability, but it’s within the realm of possibility. He may also be reporting 3 miles as 5k, which makes it even more believable.

I don’t think most runners understand how naturally talented some non-runners can be.

The guy in question though is not someone with an old college PR of 15:40 who stopped training for a bit then got back into it. I haven't read the Reddit thread but it sounds like he had no serious training in terms of aerobic sports other than jogging a bit, until November 2019 he starts upping his distance beyond 5-10 miles/wk, in January 2019 hops on Higdon's advanced marathon plan which he completes with no trouble and is suddenly running a 16:34 5k, while weighing nearly 200 lbs (even for 6'3" that's pretty heavy for a runner) and simultaneously training seriously enough on weights to deadlift almost 600 pounds.

It's possible he's just really talented sure, but the "full of sh!t" theory is a lot more possible.

Haha, I missed the part early in this thread where he ran another 6:21 mile tacked on to his 16:34 5k time trial.

I'm really surprised anyone on here is taking the guy's claims seriously.

Yeah, I went over and took a look at his posts, I take it all back, he’s clearly full of BS.

This guy's followers seem to have this weird mantra of "JUST PUT IN HARD WORK FOR A YEAR LIKE HIM AND YOU CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING! ALL BOILS DOWN TO HARD WORK".

Like they realize physical exercise has limits, right? It's not like learning a language or hobby where you can just full throttle for hours and hours a day until you master it. Physical exertion requires rest and planning, otherwise you wind up with injury or detrimental results.

Some people are just that talented. Heard of the UK guy who went from chainsmoker-junk food binger to 2:10 marathoner at like age 30?

shootpost wrote:

So are the run times fake?

Or his he juicing?

Honestly probably both. I honestly think it would be difficult to do this while doping or whatever . The fact that people believe this is laughable . It took me 2 years to run in the 16s and I was already in shape. This guy might be one of the most ridiculous claims I have ever seen.

Name? I would love to read about this.

My take on nSuns is that he is just extremely uninformed. I don’t think he’s doing this maliciously or with ill intent.

His workout program on reddit is super popular. I’m sure that’s why everybody is backing him.

RunningNoob420 wrote:

My take on nSuns is that he is just extremely uninformed. I don’t think he’s doing this maliciously or with ill intent.

His only "proof" for his running times are screenshots of splits from his Garmin which do show a 16:3x for 5k. He has never entered in formal competition.

His workout program on reddit is super popular. I’m sure that’s why everybody is backing him.

He does a 5-3-1 and follows standard progressions for lifting, and his numbers border on believable, and are definitely possible if he has the background he says he does. But they'd still be pretty remarkable, and even more so combined with his supposed running times.

Here it is:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/31/great-britain-commonwealth-games-marathon-steve-way

Crazy story. Probably very rare for running talent, especially of his caliber, to go undiscovered for this long...but goes to show there are people like this. Also, I have no knowledge of this Reddit "trainer," so maybe my assumptions about him are wrong.

Also, my bad...he was 40 and a 2:15 marathoner. Still equally if not more impressive in my books

Illinois runs 3 miles not 5k. You need to add 40 seconds to Detweiller times to calculate an equivalent 5k.

A 16:35 5k is completely “average” or at least normal for a well trained 145 lb pound 17 year old with 4 years of high school training and scores of races under his belt. It’s not at all normal or even logical to think a 195 lb 30 something with no serious running background could achieve that time off of 6 months of scattered training.

If I posted that low rep high weight strength training was overrated and that I recently benched 300 lbs at 155 lbs/ 6-2” off of a training regimen of pushups and dips I would get called out for obvious bs. Particularly if my proof was a photo of a bench machine with the pin set at 300 lbs.

themanontherun wrote:

Yeah, I went over and took a look at his posts, I take it all back, he’s clearly full of BS.

+1

The 6:21 mile at the end of the 5k is the most blatant lie of all.

Anyone who runs a 5k at max effort is panting, doubled over, and/or collapsing into a heap at the end of the race. No way in hell you're running a 6:21 mile afterwards IF you actually raced it.

My guess is he just set up the treadmill and let it run while he was at the gym trying to pick up chicks.

bruh moment wrote:

Lmao, this entire post's comments are gold. People saying that deadlifting alone can make you a great runner, and more.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fitnesscirclejerk/comments/ght0ch/rejerk_advanced_running_debates_unsuns_running/?utm_term=34242363984&utm_medium=comment_embed&utm_source=embed&utm_name=null&utm_content=footer

LOL Ryan Hall gets mentioned in that thread! That's gold.

I haven't looked too closely at his posts, but if he's doing all of his running on a treadmill and using his GPS to measure distance, then there's no way that's even close to accurate as someone mentioned earlier. It's amazing how confident some reddit posters are that his times are completely legit though.

I love how every thread about jacked runners seems to skyrocket on letsrun. I feel like the latest generation of letsrunners must have Ryan Hall syndrome... loving running, but dreaming of getting jacked post-career.