I'm curious...
I never ran more than a mile until my late 20's. Now it's basically my life and I'm trying to work towards being sort of locally competitive in 5K's.
Anyone else with a similar story? Successes? Epic failures?
It seems like the faster runners I meet have been doing it competitively since high school.
So I guess the real question is... Is it possible to be a competitive runner without the high school/college background and base mileage/training already built in?
I did not run in high school, and now I run for a division 2 university. I began my Junior year of college ( freshman eligibility )
Working Stiff wrote:
I'm curious...
I never ran more than a mile until my late 20's. Now it's basically my life and I'm trying to work towards being sort of locally competitive in 5K's.
Anyone else with a similar story? Successes? Epic failures?
It seems like the faster runners I meet have been doing it competitively since high school.
So I guess the real question is... Is it possible to be a competitive runner without the high school/college background and base mileage/training already built in?
Phil Coppess.
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_24250179/most-marathon-runners-dont-know-his-name-butI'm not that fast but I am at least locally competitive (24/F and run 18:40/38:56/85:48) and I didn't run at all in high school. I started freshman year of college.
I was already in shape from swimming, so my biggest mistake was taking things way too quickly. Pretty much as soon as I started I was running 40mpw, which I could actually handle alright, but as soon as I threw in a lot of quality (when I walked on the college team sophomore year) I got a stress fracture. I couldn't run at all at the start of that season and when I finally started getting back into it, I ran so poorly I got cut from the team.
I then spent the next year trying to walk back on the team. I did that by working really hard, getting hurt again, and repeating the cycle. I didn't get any faster.
Finally, my senior year of college I backed off and didn't race much and just focused on slowly building mileage. Once my mileage was higher, I cut it down a tiny bit and added workouts back in. Ran a few longer races, did alright.
During my fifth year I joined a club and started training hard again. This time, my body was actually ready for it. In a year, I dropped 5 minutes in my half-marathon and 1:20 in my 5K. I've been steadily improving since.
So my advice would be to treat the first four years of your running career like "high school." Take it slow, don't rush. But yeah it's totally possible. We have guys in our club who didn't even start until they were masters runners and they are damn good masters runners. You just have to be smart about it.
I played sports throughout grade school (did one year of track) and played tennis in HS and as a Freshman in college but did not REALLY started running or compete in road races until late in life and yet I will meet women who are faster than me (even qualify for trials) just off of couch to a 5k w/o prior athletic or running experience. Not sure what I did or didn't do? Always curious what I could have done to prove my potential abilities b/c I know I had them ..:)
Jack Foster of New Zealand started running at 32, was world class at 37 and finished 8th in the 72 Olympic marathon at 40
I never ran in high school or college and didn't start running until after I finished my education. I've run low 15's on the road and have a good shot breaking 15 flat this fall.
I don't know what you consider competitive locally because that varies by where you live. I would say I'm competitive on the lower end, but you've got to be at least 14:45 to really stand a chance of winning anything decent in my area.
Maybe that'll inspire you or maybe not. I do a lot more besides run (I wouldn't say I'm high mileage and for letsrun probably on the lower end) and rely a lot on inherent speed I had as a child (definitely in the fast twitch side for 5km and up).
letsrun archives wrote:
Phil Coppess.
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_24250179/most-marathon-runners-dont-know-his-name-but
Dude, in the article you posted a link to, it literally says:
"Growing up in a small town in Iowa as the youngest of nine kids and the son of a railroad worker, Coppess was a good high-school runner, with five state titles in track and cross country"...
So, in otherwords:
NOT Phil Coppess.
notaschoolrunner wrote:
I never ran in high school or college and didn't start running until after I finished my education. I've run low 15's on the road and have a good shot breaking 15 flat this fall.
I don't know what you consider competitive locally because that varies by where you live. I would say I'm competitive on the lower end, but you've got to be at least 14:45 to really stand a chance of winning anything decent in my area.
Maybe that'll inspire you or maybe not. I do a lot more besides run (I wouldn't say I'm high mileage and for letsrun probably on the lower end) and rely a lot on inherent speed I had as a child (definitely in the fast twitch side for 5km and up).
Dude... what's your secret?! How much mileage do you run usually?
awesomeness wrote:
notaschoolrunner wrote:I never ran in high school or college and didn't start running until after I finished my education. I've run low 15's on the road and have a good shot breaking 15 flat this fall.
I don't know what you consider competitive locally because that varies by where you live. I would say I'm competitive on the lower end, but you've got to be at least 14:45 to really stand a chance of winning anything decent in my area.
Maybe that'll inspire you or maybe not. I do a lot more besides run (I wouldn't say I'm high mileage and for letsrun probably on the lower end) and rely a lot on inherent speed I had as a child (definitely in the fast twitch side for 5km and up).
Dude... what's your secret?! How much mileage do you run usually?
Same question
Silas Kiplagat didn't run in high school:
http://www.letsrun.com/2010/silas-kiplagat-0826.php
He was a soccer player.
Jamin is a pretty good runner (sub-15:30) and he didn't run in high school.
The guy who won the Colfax Marathon this year was mostly a soccer player in high school (he ran track, but never qualified for state) and didn't run in college.
For mileage I go up and down. I don't really try and hit numbers I run more when I'm feeling good and less when my legs feel like bricks. If I had to give a hard figure it would probably be around 50-60mpw.
There are way more knowledgeable people and threads on the this board to read if you want to know about training than anything I could offer. If you're interested I run by feel most of the time and that includes any work done at the track; ironically enough after Wejo posts in this thread I'd say his article on his running was the first thing I took to heart. I run easier than I like on recovery days (usually twice 7-8km to work and back) and push hard when I feel recovered.
When I do things I tend to try and put my heart into it for what it's worth. That includes trying to understand what I'm doing. I think that's more my 'secret' than anything else, although the word makes me uncomfortable because I don't see myself as that fast. Oh and I enjoy it immensely.
Check out 2.16 UK marathoner Steve Way, didn't start running until in his 30's, before which he says he consumed too much cigarettes and alcohol. Ran Commonwealth games this summer.
Unlike skill based sports, success in running is primarily based on the physiology you're born with so picking it up late is certainly possible.
I ran with Kelly Jaske in Portland several years ago and learned that she had picked up running after law school as something to do over her lunch hour. She found out she was pretty good at it and inched her way toward an eventual second place finish at the US half marathon championships. It was an amazing progression but it was based on latent natural talent and her incredible work ethic.
I started at 24 just after finishing my masters. I'm now 27 and run 14high/31flat for 5km/10km. Not crazy fast but I assume I'll have a chance at breaking 30 minutes for 10km in the next 2-3 years.
You can get fast even if you didn't run in high school or college but your at a disadvantage if your trying to compete with guys who did. But I mean if your doing it for fun and have an actual job it's just about doing your best. Running is my hobby not my profession you know.
There is something to be said about the 10000 hour rule. Those who have run competitively during HS/University have that many more miles in there legs. I'm kind of a mileage junkie personally so that's how I got myself somewhat caught up.
For instance the first year I started running I averaged 80 miles/week that year and went from 20 minutes to 16 for 5km in about 6 months. Now I generally run 120 miles/week during my base season during the winter where I'm normally just trying to get strong aerobically, I jump into the scattered indoor 1500/3000m but I'll keep the miles high. Then from April until November I'll be around 90 with 3 workouts a week.
You should know within the first year if you have some talent to get decently fast. And keep in my we are all talking about "relative" fitness. I mean I'm no world beater haha, 14 minute 5km's are good but not worth much in the grand scheme of things.
Have fun with it, train your energy systems systematically with proper periodization and enjoy/believe in the process as much as the outcome (the race itself).
Cheers
Dave
Don "Spiney" Norman never ran in high school or college. 2:11:08 marathoner. 4th at the 1985 NYC Marathon. 28:30 10k
Of course. In fact, in the masters age group, not having competed in school is often an advantage.