Concerned Girl wrote:
for the record wrote:Now, he is 44 and can still run near 2:00 for 800. He recently has been running 19:00 for the few 5k's he runs. No way in hell he breaks 18:00 jumping in a road race. I don't think he has broken 18 in years and years (and barely ever). The other middle distance guys in this group, all in their early 40's, can't break 18:00 for 5k either. These are all pretty talented guys, not that old, that work fairly hard.
That's where you gave yourself away. 2 flat is a MUCH better time than 18 minutes, especially for a man in his mid 40s.
that was my point, 'bro. He's a very good runner and has even been a very good miler. But he's a middle distance guy (started off as 400/800), and breaking 18 is something he cannot do while focusing more on the 800, and with lack of natural endurance. I'll repeat: that was my point, that even people like him that are very good runners still can't break 18 sometimes. Either it's not their event, or they have gotten older, or they are not in good shape, etc.
As someone else pointed out, at most local road races, very few break 18 out of several hundred. And trust me, that top 25-40 usually consider themselves pretty good runners and take it fairly seriously. A lot of them probably post here.