Why is it that kids or even young high school kids that are running great times never run past their teens

Jakob is 20 and he's still running.https://www.letsrun.com/forum/terms-of-service

covid45 wrote:

Jakob is 20 and he's still running.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/terms-of-service

Most kids in the USA. Let's say 9.5 out of 10 kids running great times at 12 aren't running a step at 30, muchless 25.

So you are claiming that the hundreds of Americans who break 14 in the 5k every year were all slow when they were 14?

run run run wrote:

So you are claiming that the hundreds of Americans who break 14 in the 5k every year were all slow when they were 14?

No, but most didn't start running till 14 or something. It's a FACT!! Ask the Garrison kids. You might find an odd example of a kid running good in Summer track, like Teddy Mitchell, but they are very few.

run run run wrote:

So you are claiming that the hundreds of Americans who break 14 in the 5k every year were all slow when they were 14?

100s of kids running sub 14 in the USA?? Not!!

Burnout

Interest in sex/partying/drinking/recreational drugs

Young phenoms that dominate early will often quit when others catch up to them and erode their confidence

Social media pressures/critiques/insults/gossip

Puberty and body changes

Escaping the grasp of an abusive/zealous/vicarious living parent ( Ex. - The Garrisons)

Injuries

Genetic limitations

High volumes of hard paced training can cause the heart walls to thicken limiting how large the heart can get and its stroke volume - the hard charging young athlete that races every workout peaks in their early teens as a result

Kid goes from excellent, knowledgeable, and focused club coach to "Babysitter" high school coach without coaching acumen and/or unable to give individual attention to the athlete

A lot of sports are like this. I know so many people who were swimmers, gymnasts. football platers (soccer) in high school yet they give up in late teens or in their 20s. In high school sport is laid out for you, you can just pick and the lesson is there or the after school activity. When you're an adult you have to arrange and pay for it yourself, travel to a location. Many people are working long hours and sport is a luxury to them. This doesn't apply so much to running as you can run from home, but still with races and so on. I just think there is a massive drop off in all sports around that age.

Ummm, ever heard of Jordan Hasay?

The attrition rate for runners is very high.

Most people I guess have 4-8 years TOPs before they plateau. The runner that continues to improve year after year is the anomaly not the norm.

A lot has to do with what it took to get to where they're at. You have guys running 9:00 2mi never running more than 30mi a week. You have guys running the same but it took them getting up to 80-90 a week.

We are not all equally talented. No matter what cool t-shirt slogan you had in HS.....talent beats hard work when all is said and done.

I think most of us have about 4 really good years of training in us. There are always exceptions, but that tends to hold true.

Most fast guys in HS don't get much faster in college. A mediocre HS who blossoms in College rarely gets any better after.

Alan

I’d be interested to see stats (if available) on how this compares to other sports. Since running can be done alone it is possible to continue through and beyond the teen years but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that those who give it up at a competitive level isn’t that different the numbers of teens who give up on football, basketball, baseball, etc. as they grow up.

Not kids dummy. The OP is making a false assertion that every fast kid burns out before adulthood. The way to verify is to look st the hundreds of Americans who break 14 and trace their running history. I guarantee that the majority of Americans who break 14 in a given year were running fast when they were 14. It is ridiculous how somebody can make a false statement and so many LR posters jump on the bandwagon. This one is not only untrue, it is completely opposite of what is true.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that most of these kids who run super-fast at a young age aren't as talented as their early success indicates. Maybe they run fast through some combination of early development, hard-work, and aggressive coaching/parenting. But more talented runners catch up and pass them later.

A great example of this...Kevin Havel of Illinois. Trained hard from a relatively young age, and ran 4:31 for the mile in 8th grade. It was almost ridiculous how much better he was than everyone else at that age. Instantly one of the best runners in a loaded state when he got to high school. And he accomplished impressive things...breaking 9 and finishing 7th at Footlocker. But as an upper-classman, he had clearly been passed up by a couple more talented runners (namely Evan Jager and Chris Derrick) who were really beginning to hit their stride. Same thing continued in college, and eventually he was just one of the pack.

But to his credit he never gave up making the most of his talent, and recently ran 2:15 at Chicago, which is probably way faster than most child-prodigies ever run.

I think the main reason could be that they just lost interest in running.

Since they won when they were young, they only can get worse. That might be a problem too.

When I was younger, there were always these young 14-16 year olds who ran good marathon times and where described in the local media as the next Olympians. But that never happened.

I think people overestimate the length of time you can improve.

Lifetime runners are different. For some years they get better, for a couple more years they try to beat that and then they just try to flatten the curve getting slower.

That's where I am at with 56.

Actually, your anecdotal example is not the rule. A lot of kids that run fast at 10, 11 or 12 turn into pretty fast adults. All kids are different.

But when evaluating young runners, you have to temper your evaluation with whether a kid is running fast off of talent or mileage. Kids that are running fast off of talent have lots of room to improve. Kids that are running fast because their coach has them running college level mileage in junior high will plateau a lot earlier. My kids ran in a junior high meet yesterday and got 3rd and 4th respectively (they are 6th graders). The two seventh graders that beat them (and dozens of girls they beat) run for a coach that has them running 30-40 Miles per week. I’m not overly concerned because my daughters run about 10 Miles per week and play soccer. There will be plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to increase mileage later, but right now they are having fun and learning how to run.

Rupp fan wrote:

Ummm, ever heard of Jordan Hasay?

I did say 9.5 out of 10 don't.

joedirt wrote:

Actually, your anecdotal example is not the rule. A lot of kids that run fast at 10, 11 or 12 turn into pretty fast adults. All kids are different.

For everyone you name l have 9 or so that back up my claim. In fact most are fat.

run run run wrote:

Not kids dummy. The OP is making a false assertion that every fast kid burns out before adulthood. The way to verify is to look st the hundreds of Americans who break 14 and trace their running history. I guarantee that the majority of Americans who break 14 in a given year were running fast when they were 14. It is ridiculous how somebody can make a false statement and so many LR posters jump on the bandwagon. This one is not only untrue, it is completely opposite of what is true.

You must be a dad saying this. Facts back it up. I said most, so don't give me an example of one or two, most. I am sorry if that hurts your feelings for your daughter or son, but it's the facts.

PHJ just about covered it