Started running a little over a year ago and since then I've been hitting like 30 mile weeks. Did 4 races this year all elevation heavy trail races and one marathon just cause. In one race there were 60 entrants and i placed 16th after not running for 2 weeks (last minute decision).
Think I can win some local races eventually?
No. You don't run enough or with any consistency.
"Front of the midpack"... Give us your times and we'll tell you the truth.
Basically I suck wrote:
Started running a little over a year ago and since then I've been hitting like 30 mile weeks. Did 4 races this year all elevation heavy trail races and one marathon just cause. In one race there were 60 entrants and i placed 16th after not running for 2 weeks (last minute decision).
Think I can win some local races eventually?
If it was d1 nationals, I'd say yes, you show true potential. If it was a local race, we have no idea without seeing your times
Wherever you are after one year of training, you should be significantly better after two years of training. This is assuming that you are consistent with your running.
As others have (not so nicely) said, your training is pretty minimal so far, but that's fine and expected for beginners. As you run more, you should be able to increase your training load while still recovering from your draining efforts and reaping their benefits. Good runners don't run high mileage and hard workouts just to look good in their training logs -- they do that to race faster.
Basically, there's not really any way to tell how well you might do in the future, but it's certainly a lot better than you've done so far. That's one of the fun parts about the early years of running.
Good luck, and enjoy it!
Basically I suck wrote:
Started running a little over a year ago and since then I've been hitting like 30 mile weeks. Did 4 races this year all elevation heavy trail races and one marathon just cause. In one race there were 60 entrants and i placed 16th after not running for 2 weeks (last minute decision).
Think I can win some local races eventually?
Lmao. Love the name.
"...I've been hitting like 30 mile weeks." Either you have or have not. Is it minimum 30 or maximum 30? You ran a marathon on ~30mpw? We'd love to know your finishing time on that one. Placing 16/60 is not horrible but without knowing the field was it elementary kids or retirement home or college jocks or a color run, it's hard to comment about it.
I ran a marathon on 12 miles a week to be honest. Registered in January for a marathon in June. I put out 2 actually training weeks about a month before the marathon and kinda just ran once twice a week before then. "Training" weeks were 35 and 32 miles respectively.
I ran it in 4:38 and ramped up my training after that to between 25-30 miles a week for the rest of the year.
It was a trail marathon BTW if that makes a difference. I'm new to this whole running community thing.
for a trail runner this isn't really the place to post about your running
there are some amusing training threads and anytime some big trail running news or race results happen there are usually some good discussions... other than that this place will tell you that you really suck until you can run 16 min 5k and such. Even then you're still a hobby jogger until you are the best in your state or are training for the olympics. But if you however are training to beat someone at your office 5k then you will get support no matter how slow you are as long as you beat that other guy.
Basically I suck wrote:
I ran a marathon on 12 miles a week to be honest. Registered in January for a marathon in June. I put out 2 actually training weeks about a month before the marathon and kinda just ran once twice a week before then. .
All right, we have a winner. This beats the guy who ran 16 miles a week.
Basically I suck wrote:
I ran a marathon on 12 miles a week to be honest. Registered in January for a marathon in June. I put out 2 actually training weeks about a month before the marathon and kinda just ran once twice a week before then. "Training" weeks were 35 and 32 miles respectively.
I ran it in 4:38 and ramped up my training after that to between 25-30 miles a week for the rest of the year.
It was a trail marathon BTW if that makes a difference. I'm new to this whole running community thing.
You didn't run a marathon. You walked it. Or at least most of it. Odds are you won't be good even if you train, but who knows.
OF COURSE you can win a local race. Just find the least competitive local race and win the 5k in 21:00. You'll be a hero for a day on your social media to people who have never run before or who don't understand running. It's really not about winning, bud. It's about trying to improve upon your own times and knowing where you stand in the pecking order of running. I won a local 5k a few years ago in 18:45... and I didn't post about it, because in the world of running, that's a pretty crap time. Sure, it got me a homemade apple pie and the 24:00 min chubby girls were impressed, but it means absolutely nothing. Just keep improving, if you enjoy running, increase your mileage, you'll see better results.
I barely run 30 miles a week and win quite a few races. Last win was a hilly 25k trail race.
It's not about how many miles, it's about how you run them and the intensity.
OP can definitely win a race if he trains consistently and improves.
Don't worry about the comments of others here. They are just scared and afraid to run hills like are on most trail races. You probably saw how that little 200 ft hill at the Manchester Turkey Trot DESTROYED Rupp.
Basically I suck wrote:
Started running a little over a year ago and since then I've been hitting like 30 mile weeks. Did 4 races this year all elevation heavy trail races and one marathon just cause. In one race there were 60 entrants and i placed 16th after not running for 2 weeks (last minute decision).
Think I can win some local races eventually?
Basically you're the definition of the ultimate hobby jogger. Poor training, mistaking a taper for no training, inflated sense of results. You have caught the hobby jogger disease.
Deflate that ego and enjoy running until/if you're regularly racing in the top 3. Then enjoy competing, that's also fun!
I don't know. Depends how strong the field is in your local area. Try slowly and gradually increasing your weekly mileage to 60 miles a week.