As I have stepped away from competitive running

You're right. lots of really really bad attitudes in this sport and people who don't want to see others get better. I think a lot of the oldies who never ran great times find it much easier to talk about talent and genetic limitations as an excuse. When the reality is probably that they could have ran much faster with optimal training. This place sucks for advice because you could have been running for 4 months, but if you aren't already sub 17 then half the forum instantly writes you off as talentless, kind of comical really.

Tired of seeing people say that you need talent to run sub 16. Unpopular opinion on this forum but with enough years of consistency and smart training, I believe anybody can run under 15; likely faster. Best answer is you need to learn to take the forum with a pinch of salt (most people don't know what they are talking about) or just ignore it all together, don't let anon opinions get to you.

I had to quit strava for this reason. It's a race that never ends.

As an aside, someone on here said my 18 minute 5k was rubbish. What's funny is a 14 or 15 5k are much the same - none are sub elite and you certainly won't make a living off it.

I have to remind myself that this website is 95% losers who spend their life online.

Plenty of africans travelling around with 14 minute 5k PBs earning a living from running races every weekend.

Lol. Its an unpopular opinion because its nonsense. Nothing to do with jealousy either.

No they're not. Tens of thousands of men can run 14 minutes. It's crap. Here's a local race near me. All of those men who ran 14 minutes work full time regular jobs.

runcheshire.niftyentries.com

Mid Cheshire 5k (Summer) 2023 on Fri 25 Aug 2023

Final Results for Mid Cheshire 5k (Summer) 2023 on Fri 25 Aug 2023

Link:runcheshire.niftyentries.com/Results/M...

Youre posting UK races. There is no money in UK races the same like US races and besides, there is too much competition, too many fast runners.

I guess from your statements youve never raced in asia where all the money is and where the b level africans gravitate towards.

Take your head out of your arse. A 14 minute 5k is nothing special. NO ONE is making a living from that, lol.

I have a 16 minute 5k PB and i make enough from running races every week to get by. It is true i have another job but it doesnt pay much. i would still survive without it. The africans i see every week at the races are not that much faster than me. Maybe 31 or 32 minute 10kers. They dont have jobs they just race every sunday and in between stay in cheap rental rooms.

And thats a 16 minute 5k, a world away from 14 low. You guys in insular US need to get out more, theres a world out there youre completely clueless about.

Look at the national records of some countries. Some of them are not even in the 14s for 5k. So who is winning those races? Not the locals for sure. Its the africans that travel around from place to place, sending a quarter of what they earn home to family.

14 minutes is a hobbyjogger just as much as a 30 minute runner

In my 40+ years in this sport (athlete, coach, shoe company employee, RD), I have noticed that the athletes with the worst attitudes are the local hot shots. The 14-15 minute 5K runners, masters champions, and OTQ marathon guys act like God's gift to running, strut around like they have actually accomplished something, and are quick to bash slower runners, hobbyists, and talk sh*t about elites while complaining that they are not getting special treatment, comped entries, and sponsorships.

Truly elite athletes are pretty chill and easy to get along with. I have only encountered one or two pros that had an attitude and it was mild. In retrospect, one of them may have been on the spectrum which would explain his social demeanor. The masses are just out there having fun or taking on a challenge. They buy the shoes and pay the entry fees. Without them, this sport doesn't exist beyond schools and the pro ranks.

Just ignore them, it's a stupid thing to say. I don't know where it stands in percentile terms but it will be very near the top.

my personal experience small goals tend to get done while big dreams tend to frustrate. a kid who sets the goal of dropping 5 seconds, does it three times -- happy. a kid who sets the goal of dropping 20 seconds, drops 15 -- frustrated. same actual achievement. the difference is the goal structure and its emotional effect. i try to encourage people to chip away at their times pragmatically as opposed to wander off into dream land.

related point but i feel like indulging some kid in his 20 second dream can sometimes be an unearned ego pat. the kid right now runs 4:50. you are a 4:50 runner til you do better in a meet. "but what i did in practice...." have you done it in a meet yet? and i feel like some of them, despite being 4:50 runners, want someone on here to tell them they are a 4:30 person so they can tell themselves and perhaps others that. you haven't earned that. you tell a college recruiter you run one thing when you really have done another, they will discount you and anything else you have to say.

don't get me wrong, practice or splits can hint at bigger things. but go actualize those bigger things. i am a gamer. do it in a game. i am pro-achievement. but as in actually doing it. put in the work. then stay calm and smart on the day and put up the actual time.

it's probably i prefer the kids asking advice how to WORK on getting faster, as opposed to the TALKERS who in a kind of needy way want to give you some practice times, splits, other event times, and please please tell me how good i am. if you want to know "good," you run HS meets every week and get placement feedback. you know if you're varsity or JV, the top dog or the third guy on the event list, won every meet so far or battling for any points, whether you rank in the area or state or nation.

nah, a lot of the aspirational stuff is like i haven't actually run my goal time but treat me like it. that's talk. do the work. put down the time you want.

failing that, i at least prefer the ones giving practice times or splits or prior meet numbers, but then asking do you speculate from that, that i could use particular training. that's not bragging, that's i want to work. my experience short of a growth spurt, it's working on details and aspects of athleticism that earns you reduced time. so do the details.

I could have written this much better.

LR has always been this way. The crowd somehow picks different runners they like or dislike. It's not necessarily based on performance, but it is sometimes.

Been that way for 20 years. Won't change.

Don’t encourage slow people. 18 minutes is slow.

Good for you.

I notice this a lot in Irish Dancing as well. The dancers at the lower levels are chill, the ones who place at Oireachtas (Regionals), some at Nationals are nasty and competitive (especially the HS kids), but the truly elite ones generally know it's hard to really take the next step unless they can dance with Riverdance or other productions, etc. It's a sport that, like running, allows older runners in its space.