Starting to run at age 19- too late to become elite?

To be completely honest with you OP, you are already a fit and healthy sportsperson, and yet you only managed a 26:30 5k. If anything this is a below average time for someone like you.

For example, I have a brother who had never done any sport before. He had a little bit of fitness as our parents took him on long walks now and again. He ran a 22:30 5K at age 15 off 0 training. That is far far more impressive than you, and that's still not particularly fast.

To put it bluntly, you just don't have the genetic talent.

JHK02 wrote:

To sum it up:

I’ve been wondering what a dude like me could achieve on a competitive level in running (especially distances of 5km and more).

As a novice, you need a coach and/or a training plan. You're currently a coach so I don't have to explain the benefits of a coach. One thing I would suggest is that you focus first on the 5k. Marathon training starting as a novice runner will probably get you injured. Over half of novices get injured in those 18-week-marathon training plans.

First, you need to get your muscles, tendons, and ligaments stronger for running. That will take 3 weeks to get a training effect on the muscles, but tendons and ligaments take longer... say, 3 months or so. Until then, you should work on building up your weekly miles... a hard day followed by an easy day. Hard is defined as long or fast. Easy is defined as conversational pace, off, or cross training. For example, you might run days of 6 miles, 3, 6, 3, 8, off, cross-train... repeat. That would give you 26 miles/week. Since you're young, you might be able to accelerate this schedule.

Again, get a coach. Work with him/her for 6 months or so until you get a feel for running. Then, you can decide if you want to use a coach full-time.

Oh, and I'm not a coach. I've coached others, but it doesn't interest me. Check with your local running groups and running stores and ask around.

I’m glad you have aspirations and it’s a great thing to have.

But to be realistic, your chance of becoming elite is very very very slim.

Its like when a little kid dreams of becoming a NBA player when they grow up. It’s cute. But chances are pretty slim even if the kid dedicates his life to basketball at a young age.

It seems like running is more about hard work compared to other sports. However, in running, it’s no different. You need elite talent combined with hard work to become elite. So, if you are in the 99.99% of people, you are eliminated from becoming elite runner at birth.

However, having said all of this, it’s still great to see how great of a runner you can be. It’s the journey that makes it great and trying to achieve your goals. So, if you love running, keep at it.

Spiney Norman

https://more.arrs.run/runner/4390

With your swim experience and starting running now, you should consider triathlon. Odds are that you probably have a better chance at being a competitive triathlete than a competitive runner.

Start training and running races and see where it goes. As long as you're steadily getting faster, there's no telling how far you can go. See you out there on the roads!

Definitely not too late to be a great runner; it comes down talent, as there are plenty of examples of success who start at that age. Very common for Kenyans to begin training seriously in their late teens.

The big impediment is that racing in the US is not set up for someone to begin as late as you. Scholarships, access to races, support...those things are going to be very tough to come by at your age. Not impossible though,

Train consistently and you will be amazed by how much you improve. It's not too late if you start right this minute.

I agree with British Guy on this. The frustrating aspect of running is that hard work isn't enough to reach the elite level. If you wanted to become an expert at guitar, you could get there through lessons + years and years of concentrated daily practice. Running is not this way. We are each born with a different genetic limit to our running abilities.

The hard truth is that elite runners typically know early into training that something is different about their ability. A good example is the story of Justyn Knight. He started training by running in gym class in high school. The class then did a 5K race to test their ability, and Knight ran a 15:15 in the 10th grade. Mind you this was his first race. He had no traditional running training which included speed workouts, etc. This shows he was simply born with a different genetic potential for running.

You can achieve a lot in this sport through hard work, but you must face the fact that if you're not running relatively impressive times within the first year of training, your potential to become elite is nearly 0%.

Definitely not too late and you may have a longer career by not pounding your knees while you were still growing. I started running serious after a 20 year hiatus at age 40. I was overweight and ran a 30+ minute 5K my first race after running a couple of weeks. That was late September, in mid-May I ran a 19:19 5K so in 8.5 months coming off very low fitness at 40.

I'm not going to judge your first races given you are a novice but you should be able to get to sub 20 within 6 to 7 months and if you don't then you may want to rethink your training or your natural running ability.

The key is training. If you can commit to 35 to 40 MPW you should be able to get to an 18 minute 5K within a year, whether you go faster depends on how hard you train.

With those times, there is no chance you will ever be elite. However, that doesn't mean you can't be quite good, and you will likely improve a lot in a short period of time.

But elites run 28-29 minute 10ks, and high 12's - 13 min 5ks. That takes extraordinary genetics and hard work to achieve. Don't beat yourself up that you won't make it. But you should keep striving to improve.

Nah taking PEDs is not an option for me.

Anyway I’m currently absolutely out of shape and I do think that it is kinda weird that there isn’t too much of a difference between my 5km 10km time (or is it normal that way? I don’t know but I thought that my 5k should be faster).

Maybe it is a lack of experience

JHK02 wrote:

You‘ll probably call it stupid but first thing I did when I started was running 10km for which I needed 55min. 5km took me 26:30 (I’d also like to try the half and full marathon later on).

Setting aside the theoretical discussion, those times are not promising.

MelRnr wrote:

With your swim experience and starting running now, you should consider triathlon. Odds are that you probably have a better chance at being a competitive triathlete than a competitive runner.

This is probably the best answer. Combined what're good at (swimming) with what you're interested in, running.

Swim run is apparently a sport so no need for a bike even.

Some folks wrote 20min 5k, but honestly, at your age and swim background I would have expected 18minutes as a first go. You have competition experience, you should know how to execute a "full send". I don't think 20min is even a ladies ag podium until you get into the 40 or 50yr olds.

Try doing two miles instead of the whole 5k and see how that goes. Find someone to run it with

Other thought is just hop in a 5k. Then you will have an immediate local ranking of your ability. Then you can make the decision to invest the training time or just make it a hobby or something in-between, like local pro or whatever.

Ummm… ever hear of Dean Karnazes and his 30 mile midnight run at age 30?

The best thing to do is to focus on the things you can control like consistent training, consistent sleep, diet, and learning to listen to your body. Race a bunch of different distances and find out what you like and what your strengths and weaknesses are. Through trial and error you will learn what your body is capable of and can build multi-year mileage targets and race goals. You will be surprised what can be achieved through consistent hard work. Don't worry about genetic ability or lack thereof, just focus on making each day the best it can be.

Not too late. Not even close.

There are many examples of runners who reached elite levels, starting serious training at a late age. Sinead Diver, started running at 33, placed 10th in the Olympic Marathon at 44, 2:24 marathon best.

All these examples have elite genetics for running. You have run 26 for 5k off no running training which doesn't demonstrate elite genetics.

With the right training/coaching you can improve a lot. If you enjoy running, give it a go and see where you are in five or ten years.