How many years of training would it take a sedentary 18 year old male to break 16 minutes in the 5k?

All depends on talent. With talent, half a year. Without talent, never

david45 wrote:

How many years of training would it take a sedentary 18 year old male to break 16 minutes in the 5k?

Which sedentary 18 year old male are you talking about? Some could do it in weeks. Some never will.

Specifically? wrote:

david45 wrote:

How many years of training would it take a sedentary 18 year old male to break 16 minutes in the 5k?

Which sedentary 18 year old male are you talking about? Some could do it in weeks. Some never will.

he's talking about himself

The Predictor wrote:

Specifically? wrote:

Which sedentary 18 year old male are you talking about? Some could do it in weeks. Some never will.

he's talking about himself

And the question that nobody answers is how do I know if I have talent?

This needs to be reworded; How many years of shuffling around my backyard 5 days a week would it take for me to break 16 minutes in the 5k?

The answer is infinite. It won't happen.

david45 wrote:

The Predictor wrote:

he's talking about himself

And the question that nobody answers is how do I know if I have talent?

Can you come off the couch and run a sub-18? sub-17 5K? If the answer is no, which it is, you're not talented.

But most of us aren't talented like that anyway.

thiscupisnthaflfull wrote:

david45 wrote:

And the question that nobody answers is how do I know if I have talent?

Can you come off the couch and run a sub-18? sub-17 5K? If the answer is no, which it is, you're not talented.

But most of us aren't talented like that anyway.

One of the most depressing and sad parts of life is that your body determines your destiny. You can't fight genetics. I will never become a fast runner. It is hard to accept that.

david45 wrote:

thiscupisnthaflfull wrote:

Can you come off the couch and run a sub-18? sub-17 5K? If the answer is no, which it is, you're not talented.

But most of us aren't talented like that anyway.

One of the most depressing and sad parts of life is that your body determines your destiny. You can't fight genetics. I will never become a fast runner. It is hard to accept that.

It's not depressing at all. You're mentally weak, so you just give up and blame it on genetics. I'm nothing special. My first hs xc race was a 20 minute 4k. Fast forward all these years, some running on and off, consistent exercise post-hs, and I'm in the 19s for the 5k. Am I going to whine and cry about it? No. Why? Because I run for good health and enjoyment, and sign up for races to keep things from getting mundane.

thiscupisnthaflfull wrote:

david45 wrote:

One of the most depressing and sad parts of life is that your body determines your destiny. You can't fight genetics. I will never become a fast runner. It is hard to accept that.

It's not depressing at all. You're mentally weak, so you just give up and blame it on genetics. I'm nothing special. My first hs xc race was a 20 minute 4k. Fast forward all these years, some running on and off, consistent exercise post-hs, and I'm in the 19s for the 5k. Am I going to whine and cry about it? No. Why? Because I run for good health and enjoyment, and sign up for races to keep things from getting mundane.

I still always dream how different my life could be if I was a talented runner. I could have been the popular kid in high school.

david45 wrote:

thiscupisnthaflfull wrote:

It's not depressing at all. You're mentally weak, so you just give up and blame it on genetics. I'm nothing special. My first hs xc race was a 20 minute 4k. Fast forward all these years, some running on and off, consistent exercise post-hs, and I'm in the 19s for the 5k. Am I going to whine and cry about it? No. Why? Because I run for good health and enjoyment, and sign up for races to keep things from getting mundane.

I still always dream how different my life could be if I was a talented runner. I could have been the popular kid in high school.

With your personality, you wouldn't be popular no matter what you excel at.

david45 wrote:

thiscupisnthaflfull wrote:

It's not depressing at all. You're mentally weak, so you just give up and blame it on genetics. I'm nothing special. My first hs xc race was a 20 minute 4k. Fast forward all these years, some running on and off, consistent exercise post-hs, and I'm in the 19s for the 5k. Am I going to whine and cry about it? No. Why? Because I run for good health and enjoyment, and sign up for races to keep things from getting mundane.

I still always dream how different my life could be if I was a talented runner. I could have been the popular kid in high school.

If one of the most depressing and saddest thing you can think of is that you could have been the popular kid in school being a fast runner, then you are in for a lot of mindblowing moments ahead in life, buckle up buttercup!

If you are trying to run to revive "your chance" to be popular you are wasting your time. Spend time doing the things you like to do because you enjoy them. Go pick up surfing, go backpacking, learn to play instrument, join an local band, cook with your friends, go to grad school, take up dancing, help your local community, raise money for charity, teach kids something you are good at, become a ski bum. Don't waste your time and energy!

david45 wrote:

thiscupisnthaflfull wrote:

Can you come off the couch and run a sub-18? sub-17 5K? If the answer is no, which it is, you're not talented.

But most of us aren't talented like that anyway.

One of the most depressing and sad parts of life is that your body determines your destiny. You can't fight genetics. I will never become a fast runner. It is hard to accept that.

Of course you won't become a national or world level athlete without a talent but mostly the problem is that many like you don't have enough motivation to train. I'm not taking about training for a year or two. To change and adapt fibers it will take you 5-10 years of consistent and smart training.

I started running at age 24 as nobody unable to even break 25:00 for a 5k. But year after year I improved. With two years of training 22:44, then the next year 20:46, then year after 18:48 and after five years of consistent training 17:50. Then year after I was able to run sub-17 in perfect race which stood as my PB for three years. From there it's been slow with taking off few seconds per year if any. But just week ago I ran my PB after twelve years of consistent training in sub-16:30. I'm not planning to stop here as my goal is to break 16 before age 40

david45 wrote:

thiscupisnthaflfull wrote:

It's not depressing at all. You're mentally weak, so you just give up and blame it on genetics. I'm nothing special. My first hs xc race was a 20 minute 4k. Fast forward all these years, some running on and off, consistent exercise post-hs, and I'm in the 19s for the 5k. Am I going to whine and cry about it? No. Why? Because I run for good health and enjoyment, and sign up for races to keep things from getting mundane.

I still always dream how different my life could be if I was a talented runner. I could have been the popular kid in high school.

The fastest kid at my HS ran a sub 2 800. Almost no one outside the track team even knew his name.

If you ran a 1:59 or even a 1:54, you still wouldn't be popular at most high schools. Very few people care about XC or track.

If $10 trillion US was at stake, and the average 18 year old had the whole country involved, it would likely be done within 9 months. Optimal everything imaginable, unlimited resources, personalized genetic training plans, optimal doping, constant physiological monitoring, etc.

If $10 million US was at stake, it would likely be done within 12 months. Custom next% shoes for recovery runs, great coaches / personnel, optimal nutrition, near optimal training, genetic counseling, altitude training, good doping, psychological support, etc.

If the 18 year old had 99.99% percentile drive and intelligence, then around 18 months.

99.9% percentile - Around 2 years

99% percentile - Around 3 years

97% - Around 6 years

90% - Never

You? Never. Not because you have no talent. Just because you make excuses for failing. The poster from above is right, popularity would have and will continue to elude you with your personality.

We need to define sedentary? A high school quarterback that never goes for a jog outside of practice is not sedentary. Even a first baseman is not sedentary. A casual kid who plays tennis once in a while gets in some running.

Sedentary is a gamer that sits in his basement and plays Fortnite or whatever game is cool now for hours on end in between binge watching Netflix.

If we assume the person is 25-26 BMI or less, I’d say they can do it in 3 years with a bit of natural talent. I think there are some people that could never do it. Outside the most untapped naturally talented athlete, 6-9 months is nearly impossible.

Again, I’m not talking about an athlete in a different sport.

Stop pouting about your supposed genetics. It’s such a vague term and lame excuse.

Does it matter? Sure. You probably aren’t going to ever be a high quality college caliber athlete. But, jesus, there were multiple kids at my HS who ran faster than that in XC as freshmen every year. Age 14. That should absolutely not be a concern for you right now.

But, whatever, you’ll just keep pouting about whatever other non-factor you’re stuck on.

david45 wrote:

thiscupisnthaflfull wrote:

It's not depressing at all. You're mentally weak, so you just give up and blame it on genetics. I'm nothing special. My first hs xc race was a 20 minute 4k. Fast forward all these years, some running on and off, consistent exercise post-hs, and I'm in the 19s for the 5k. Am I going to whine and cry about it? No. Why? Because I run for good health and enjoyment, and sign up for races to keep things from getting mundane.

I still always dream how different my life could be if I was a talented runner. I could have been the popular kid in high school.

I doubt that very much. Everyone on LRC thinks you're a cvnt.