The #1 factor determining your running ability is....

So what's the ideal physique for a runner, Kenenisa Bekele? 5' 8-1/2", 145lbs? How does 6'1" 160lb Chris Solinsky fit into the mix? 5'9" 130lb Hicham El Guerrouj? 5'5" 125lb Haile Gebrselassie? Looks like anyone between 5'5" 125lbs and 6'1" 160lbs is eligible to run 5000 under 13.

(2.12, 2.19, 1.88. 1.92 lbs per inch, respectively)

Call me weird, but I think your biomechanics have a big role. Efficient form not only makes running at a certain pace feel easier but it also allows you to train harder/more without breaking down. This cycles back to making those paces feel even easier through quality training. Fortunately, I'm a believer that to a certain degree you can enhance your form, just as you would be able to become better at say free throw shooting in basketball.

so u morons think that coming out of the womb everyone is equal... just a ball of clay waiting to be molded into an NFL linebacker or a world class distance runner, maybe even nuclear physicist, maybe a janitor.. it’s allll up to training and schoolin'.

The only difference between you and being a world class athlete is training?? Are you serious?????

Why not become an NBA player, those guys make good money.. oh wait! You're not 6'7 280 with a 40in vertical...

A quick google shows that Nate ran a 10:18 2 mile as a freshmen in HS (that is pretty decent) and had a pretty crappy sounding coach. It also sounds like Jenkins trained stupidly (i.e. if a 120 mpw is good 140 must be better) in college. Finally what type of PRs would you expect in the marathon from a 14:30 5k runner who is a distance runner (i.e. not a juiced up miler) after another 5 years of training. I would go with 2:15 to 2:25. You don't see more 2:15 runners because most of the 14:00 to 14:30 guys realize after college that it isn't worth it to put in 2 hours of training a day for the next 4 years to become a 2:15 runner.

body type (height, weight, proportions determinant of mechanical efficiency) and between the ears. different (but not too different) combinations can yield successful results, but theres a reason that a look up and down the all time lists will show a bunch of 5 foot nothing a hundred and nothing pound runners... and that elite runners on every level from high school to world class are guys who 90% of the time fit into a similar mold. The other 10% (Solinsky, Kennedy, Mottram, Teg) are few are far between..'talent' is always spoke of as some immeasureable superiority factor when its nothing more than what your body has grown in to and how it allows you to train. Will we ever see a Usain Bolt like freakish distance runner who's 6'5'' - 7'0'' and still is able to get the turnover and efficiency required to run sub 13/27?

Aquafina wrote:

so u morons think that coming out of the womb everyone is equal... just a ball of clay waiting to be molded into an NFL linebacker or a world class distance runner, maybe even nuclear physicist, maybe a janitor.. it’s allll up to training and schoolin'.

The only difference between you and being a world class athlete is training?? Are you serious?????

Why not become an NBA player, those guys make good money.. oh wait! You're not 6'7 280 with a 40in vertical...

Haha I'm sure some people believe that, but not me. However, I do believe that I may become a world class distance runner. I might not have the genetics for it, but there's only one way I know of to find out.

I'm not 6'7" 280 with a 40" vertical, but I am 5'9" 145lbs, and last time I checked, that's good for the AR in the mile.

1. The ability to push past pain.

2. Hard work

3. Sacrifice

4. Talent

Confidence comes from all these factors. With confidence, mentally, a person can be great.

It's been several decades, but I remember it well. Sports day at the local high school for kids who will be in high school in the following year. You entered several events, at your own choosing. No one had modern day youth sport training from age 6. Most of us had played a couple of years of basketball, football, or baseball on kids' teams, with one game and one or two practices per week. No one of us had ever run a mile. No one.

I entered the half mile run, along with about twenty kids who were fast in playing the other sports. We went out fast, not appreciating pace, but racing with every step. After we all tied up from a ridiculously fast first 220, with 660 to go, I just broke 3, after tying up with oxygen debt, with most of the kids behind me. The kid who won finished in 2:22, relatively unaffected by the crazy early pace. After the race, I congratulated him and asked him if he had trained, nope, never ran even close to that far in his life. That day, well in advance of any school in genetics, I wondered if it was something he was born with, as he didn't seem to have any preparation compared to the rest of us, who all blew up from the crazy early pace.

A few months later, I started high school and joined the cross country team. The star of the team was his older brother, who was a 9:30 two miler. Ah ha, I thought, 40 years ago, it's inherited. The kid brother who ran the untrained 2:22 never ran track, just continued with football. Most of us in that race went on to better his 2:22 with training. He never raced that far again. He had the talent, we trained more and became faster.

All of that being said, there is great joy and accomplishment in training yourself, regardless of your level of ability, to better and better times. Breaking 6:00 in the mile for the first time, then 5:30, then 5:00, then maybe 4:30 are great milestones in self mastery. It doesn't matter if you will never break 4:00, let alone 3:45. The great lessons and great joys from running come from making something out of yourself that you couldn't do earlier.

#1 factor in determining ability: genetics

#1 factor in determining your best time: training

You will not become a world class runner. Go ahead train harder and smarter than Web and post back here in three years. Let us know how far under 4 you are

Bad example of, likely, a legitimate recorded time of Ryun's ....

but nevertheless ... not realistic because he most probably

was just dicking around .... just went out and jagged for fun

or out of necessity (PE) ..., some random distance ... (random to

him that is).

The Truth is .... the Jim Ryun had more natural GENETIC ability

vis a vis Running ... then 999,999 out of a million Americans,

Kenyans, Brits or Russians. Ryun soon, ( as in a few years or

less) was able to run a sub 47 _ 400 meters ... that is all genetics

Sister. He had more speed then any one you have ever met .. unless you

go to a big track club in a large city that has lots of sprinters.

Fact 2 is .... Ryun could have run the 400 meters in most States and

made it to the State Championship and won many of them.

Noooooo, young One ..... Jim Ryun was never NEVER a 2:55 - 800 meter

runner .... in fact ... when he ran .... (whatever it is you are referring to),

there was no such thing as the "800 Meter Run" ... in Kansas .... they still

run theh 880 yard run there. Back in the day .... in Kansas .... they didn't

even know what a Meter was.

In 10th grade .... after Jim had trained for 1 month ... he was already capable

of going under 2 minutes.

OK?

10/10Best post on this thread. My sentiments exactly.

slartibartfast 2 wrote:

Most amazingly absurd thread ever!

Love it.

But for real, LRC posters believe that the #1 influence on your ability is how close you are to being Kenyan or Ethiopian.

That is all.

Sit a bunch of white boys who have too much money to train hard and too much laziness to even rest properly and you you get the LRC posters.

Stop whining about being white and disadvantaged and train well and rest well and see what you can do or STFU.

Simple.

Idiotic mindless drivle on LRC is soooo damn entertaining.

Could all of you bench press 225 lb if you train hard enough?

Last time I checked, there were enough races to suit runners with different characteristics, so your bench press analogy is way off the mark.

Since Male WR's are faster than Female WR's does that mean that men train harder than women, or have better coaching. How can you say that it is all in training and coaching? Of course there are some traits that you are born with that give you the opportunity to reach a certain goal.

cabana wrote:

Last time I checked, there were enough races to suit runners with different characteristics, so your bench press analogy is way off the mark.

potential to bench wrote:

Could all of you bench press 225 lb if you train hard enough?

255 isn't a particularly big number, so the average person might be able to reach that. No way the average person can get to 300 lbs.

slartibartfast 2 wrote:

Sit a bunch of white boys who have too much money to train hard and too much laziness to even rest properly and you you get the LRC posters.

This sentence does not make any sense. How can you have too much money to train hard and too much laziness to rest properly...what?

Idiotic mindless drivel on LRC is soooo damn entertaining.

Length of your penis.

quenton wrote:

The Truth is .... the Jim Ryun had more natural GENETIC ability

vis a vis Running ... then 999,999 out of a million Americans,

Kenyans, Brits or Russians

Meaning, I presume, that there were 60 Brits and 300 Americans with more talent than him? Is that what you intended to say?