Motivational stories- semi elite runners

Scott Wietecha - Former 14:37 guy came back to run 63:1x for a half and 2:17 marathon on a bad day.

http://running.competitor.com/2013/01/news/patience-pays-off-5-questions-with-scott-wietecha_64539

Almost the same story as Garbade Disposal posted for me.

I never git it right till my mid/late 20s (I am 30 now). I overtrained time and time again. After graduation moved to the marathon and because I was a little afraid of the big miles ran all by feel - and BAM! First marathon sub 2.20 and almost every time PRed since then. So I went from a 14:2x also ran to one of the best runners in my country (I come from Europe). I have an outside shot at the 2016 Olympics despite not being pro.

Belive in yourself - find the right trainig for YOURSELF. I tende to look too much at others and what they did instead to go by feel.

Pikachu

Your story is inspiring and some of your previous training posts have been interesting so thanks for your contributions.

Did you reduce the amount of intense sessions that you were doing and basically run "steady" but not "slow" miles week in week out?

Good luck for making your national teams!

First of all: sorry that I have that many typos in my post...

I reduced the number of HARD sessions, right.

I do a lot more sessions that feel "ok" and not super hard than I did a cpuple of years ago. But to be honest: I know runners that train much harder and it works, too. I guess I found the right formula for me.

It's a little bit like Bob Hodge said in a post: Running is about self discovery. Think a little bit outside the box. It will help you.

And one thing is certain IMHO: In LD running there are more people that underachive because they leave their best races on the track in training sessions than there are people that underachive because they run too many "easy" or "moderate" miles. Better to do a little bit more fundamental training and stay healthy than kill yourself with borderline tempos or 400s, etc...

Pikachu

Wow. Thanks guys. This is inspiring stuff.

I was a 4:14 miler in High School. Was injured in college. I still run a steady 40mpw, but have not went after it again. Really trying to do that now.

"He was 30 years old and had never broken 15:00 in a 5K or run a 10,000m on the track."

http://www.runnersworld.com/masters-profiles/kevin-castille-the-unlikely-making-of-americas-top-masters-runner?page=single

you can't read this and not think "maybe it isn't too late to start training & reach my potential?".

as a guy who spent most his 20s "running but not training" & not taking very good care of myself, stories like this really keep me going & give me hope that i can have a big breakthrough if i string together several years of consistent training. i've set PRs at 800m-HM in the past 1.5yrs, turn 30 soon and am confident my best running is still ahead of me.

I ran 1:55, 4:30, and 17:00 in high school. Didn't run for a few years. Ran pr's of 1:53, 3:57 (4:16 mile equivalent), and 15:25 between the ages of 29 and 33.

It's not much but it's something.

bad as naomi russell wrote:

"you can't read this and not think "maybe it isn't too late to start training & reach my potential?".

it's never ever too late. Keep believing!

My brother ran 17:45 5k, 4:50 1600m, and a 10:40 3200m in HS.

At the end of college he ran 4:09 1500m, 8:50 3k, 15:27 5k, 25:48 8k, and 2:38 marathon. Pretty legit progress and some solid times. Put in the hard work and you can make thing happen.

My high school PRs were 2:12, 5:05, 10:19, and 17:10 for 5k xc.

My college PRs were 1:58, 4:20 indoor mile, 16:01 5000, 26:36 8k xc.

My post-collegiate PRs are 3:55 1500, 15:00 5000, and 1:10 half marathon.

I have improved at each level, but I am hoping to improve PRs much more across the board.

We have a masters athlete in my club that would fit the bill and at age 49 he's now hitting 2:07 in the 800. He's hella fast and won the Canadian Master's champions. A hair under 90% age graded calculation.

bad as naomi russell wrote:

"He was 30 years old and had never broken 15:00 in a 5K or run a 10,000m on the track."

http://www.runnersworld.com/masters-profiles/kevin-castille-the-unlikely-making-of-americas-top-masters-runner?page=single

you can't read this and not think "maybe it isn't too late to start training & reach my potential?".

as a guy who spent most his 20s "running but not training" & not taking very good care of myself, stories like this really keep me going & give me hope that i can have a big breakthrough if i string together several years of consistent training. i've set PRs at 800m-HM in the past 1.5yrs, turn 30 soon and am confident my best running is still ahead of me.

HA!

In the article:

The LetsRun message boards are full of anonymous suspicion.

Bumping this back up for some more stories.