How do you know if you have talent?

At the very least, some serious training will make you a lot faster. You don't need anything more than 58 second 400 speed to run a low 15 minute 5k, but if that's all you got, then you need to run a LOT of miles.

There's really no way to determine it without going for it and putting in some serious training. You never know unless you try.

I was a 5:03 1600m and 53 400m runner at your age with very similar training. I developed into a 15:20 5000m runner by the time I was 19.

You train your ass off for the next ten years. Then, you like at the times you've run, think of the sacrifices you've made, and realize that it wasn't worth it; you just weren't meant to be a runner, and now you've lost what could have been the best years of your life. Or, perhaps, you are the next Brian Sell, grow an impressive moustache, and are the coolest dude in Dental school. You don't know until you try.

Clearly you are not running enough mileage. If you have talent, which you may, your low mileage would explain why you have not run faster than 5:30 for the mile. By the time I was 17, I had run 4:41 for the mile. But guess what? My mileage was closer to 50 mpw.

By the way, I have never run faster than 57 for 400 meters but I have run a 4:06 (full) mile and 14:18 5k. My 800 was only 1:57. You don't need to be a speed demon to run well at mile and up. All you need is to be able to hold very close to your top speed for a long, long time. That's where the mileage and training come in.

If you run a 5:30 mile off of 15-20 mpw then I would say you aren't exactly oozing with talent. But the great thing about distance running is that hard work and committment will take you places, even if you aren't immensely talented. Generally speaking, the longer the distance, the less talent plays a role in whether or not you excel. Being a good marathoner, for instance, has less to do with talent and more to do with how hard you're willing to work and how many years you're willing to committ to it.

There are plenty of examples of guys who weren't that great in high school and didn't get a scholarship to run in college, but who stuck with it anyways and actually became pretty damned good. I don't know if you'll be one of those guys or not, but you'll never know till you try.

If you consider trying to really find out how good you are as even possibly wasting your time, then it is wasting your time because you are in it for the wrong reasons. Don't bother.

You most likely do not have great talent. Mid level talent (4:15 as a HSer) guys run 5:15ish of 10mpw in middle school.

High level talent, considerably faster.

HOWEVER as someone said thats whats great about distance running... you may very well have hidden talent that defies the basic rules of thumb so go for it if you love running!

i ran 430 in highschool, off about 25 per week. Idont consider myself talented.

Ah, if only there was a reality TV show called "American Runners Got Talent"....

...Now who could be the judges?

icecap wrote:

How does one know if they have any real talent?

There should be a blue dot on the inside of your left thigh. If there is, that means you have talent.

You wouldnt be asking this question if you had it. And in case your still confused... you dont.

No talent: can't get under a 6 minute mile no matter how much you run

Average guy: 5:30 mile off of 40MPW

Moderate talent: 5:15 mile off of 20MPW

World-class talent: sub 5:00 mile without any training

So you don't have much talent, but you're a bit better than an average guy plucked from the street.

As a basis for comparison to yourself:

Alistair Cragg who is a world class talent ran around 25mpw at the same age as you and ran 3:46 for 1500m. His basic speed was good but not great at 400m (53s).

Based on what you provided I would suggest that you dont have enough speed or efficiency to be a top class distance runner.

Talent categories (based on 25mpw at age 17)

World class:

3:48 1500m

National class:

4:00 1500m

State class:

4:10 1500m

Average:

4:30 1500m

Below average:

4:50 1500m

Poor:

5:00+ 1500m

You fit very much into the average class.

icecap, if you enjoy running go for it. don't listen to people about "sacrifices". still see your friends as much as possible, have a full life, etc. you'll find ways. just stay healthy and run. your talent may be how you respond to serious training, resistance to injury or something like that.

Ft it helps, I would say I have about average talent and I ran 58 and 4:40 (1500) aged 14 off about 10-15mpw. That 5:30 mile is pretty weak, but there's no real way of telling how much you might respond to more training. Since for you the 'next level' is doing reasonably well in high school competition, sure there's no reason you can't reach it. There's no harm in dreaming, but if you set yourself challenging but attainable goals (eg. break 5 for the mile) and carry on improving and enjoying yourself then there's no way being dedicated could be a waste of time. You're only wasting your time if you don't get any satisfaction from what you're doing.

I would suggest increasing your mileage to something like 30-35mpw (basically try to run 6 days a week) and see where that takes you. Going overboard with the training will only lead to injury and disappointment.

*'Ft' should be 'If'

Pointer out of talent wrote:

Talent categories (based on 25mpw at age 17)

Average:

4:30 1500m

No way an average guy running 25 MPW at age 17 would be running near 4:30 for the 1500. Just look at any high school track team. Count the number of sub 5 milers and divide that by the number of distance guys on the team. I'd be surprised if it goes above 10-15%.

Also, most of them are running higher mileage (in the 40s), not 25MPW.

Maybe 4 guys out of 15 on my HS track team couldn't break 5 and we weren't all that great.

There was a long thread a while ago that asked whether most guys WITH OPTIMAL TRAINING could run a sub 5 mile. It divided into two groups: those who said most guys (60-70%) could do it and those who said only a 2-10% of the population could do so.

I'm in the group who believes that most people could do it, but only with optimal training. Give everyone a 25MPW running schedule and a year of experience and I'd be surprised if more than 10% could get that sub 5 mile. The average would probably be around 5:30.

Wait. Here's that thread:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1819792