How many years or months of training did it take you to break 20 in the 5k?

3 years of cycling, a bit of running once in a while. Broke 20:00 in my first ever 5k, at age 30, and have never broken it since, despite a lot more running. Sucks being slow.

high school xc coach wrote:

high school xc coach wrote:

Go look at the list of around 320 D1 track programs. look at the stats for those teams. and then come back and tell me those programs are giving good money to sub 16 cross kids. you are very insecure for somebody who is supposedly such a successful coach

*are not giving...

There may be 12-15 distance runners on a typical D1 team. Top guys are running low 14s. Those guys might be getting a half scholarship. MAYBE the top 3-4 distance guys get any money at all. It is very typical for the 4th through 12th runners ro be walk ons with zero money. Every single one of the 12 is a mid to low 15 guy.

I tjink you are delusional. Insucrue? What the heck are you smoking? I'm just living in realville, looney.

Please Stop wrote:

high school xc coach wrote:

*are not giving...

There may be 12-15 distance runners on a typical D1 team. Top guys are running low 14s. Those guys might be getting a half scholarship. MAYBE the top 3-4 distance guys get any money at all. It is very typical for the 4th through 12th runners ro be walk ons with zero money. Every single one of the 12 is a mid to low 15 guy.

I tjink you are delusional. Insucrue? What the heck are you smoking? I'm just living in realville, looney.

Sub 16 is barely walk on material on most programs. And with only 12.5 scholarships for the while track team, you bet i know that sub 16 guys arent getting "good money". Most arent getting any money.

2 months at the age 14

DirtyT wrote:

2 months at the age 14

How is that possible? I am 18, male, ran for almost a year, and still can't run a 5k in under 27 minutes

Many kids can run 17 minutes on no training just on natural talent.

Took me 7 months to run 19:42, then ran 19:02 2 weeks after

I started training for 5Ks freshman year and ran sub 20:00 sophomore year

superior guy wrote:

Many kids can run 17 minutes on no training just on natural talent.

So they can be on varsity immediately in high school?

david45 wrote:

DirtyT wrote:

2 months at the age 14

How is that possible? I am 18, male, ran for almost a year, and still can't run a 5k in under 27 minutes

That's because you spend more energy lamenting on letsrun than you do actually training on the road.

Miles of trials, my man. Trials of miles.

No. Top 5 were all sub 16.

superior guy wrote:

No. Top 5 were all sub 16.

How is that possible? Most high schools don't have that many talented students

No, most don't. But ours does. There is rarely a year that we don't have 15 guys under 17 and 5 under 16. We have at least 50 under 20 and cut the rest.

Wow, you guys make me feel like I won the lottery with my full scholarship, last year 2001. Times have changed, but it is what it is.. times are altitude impact. Here was high school -

State XC, 6th and 7th place (15:17 school record; 2nd best time 15:21)

State 3200m, 2nd, 4th, 12th place (9:36)

State 4 x 800m, 6th and 8th place

Steeplechase - state record holder for U16

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Bottom 1%? You've never been near a distance race in your life, have you?

The runners at the local 5k's don't train for 8 year seriously with decent/high mileage, workouts and optimized life for running. So the times range from 15-35 minutes. Some of them, despite not training run sub 20. So yea, training hard for 8 years, optimizing life for running and doing workouts and running each day and finally breaking 20 after 9 years of this training (as a guy) probably qualifies for the bottom 1% talent-wise.

Most people never have the dedication to train hard for 8 years, but if they did, they could probably run sub 20 after just 5 years or something of solid training.

Phil, I know im not talented, but you are definitely way off with the 1% thing. I ran track in high school for one year, and i was solidly a mid pack guy within my team, which is to say I was not a point scorer, but i was better than several kids. Also, I could have gone sub 20 within 5 years. Probably much sooner. It was never a goal of mine. Mostly because I realize it is not really a good time for a man. I think optimally, maybe I could run 18. But the workouts, diet, etc. that it would take are not worth it to attain something that is so mediocre. I run enough to help keep me in tune with the sport. I run enough that when the mood strikes me and I think the kids need a shake up, I can go out and run 7 or 8 miles at 7:15 to 7:30 pace.

Please Stop wrote:

Please Stop wrote:

There may be 12-15 distance runners on a typical D1 team. Top guys are running low 14s. Those guys might be getting a half scholarship. MAYBE the top 3-4 distance guys get any money at all. It is very typical for the 4th through 12th runners ro be walk ons with zero money. Every single one of the 12 is a mid to low 15 guy.

I tjink you are delusional. Insucrue? What the heck are you smoking? I'm just living in realville, looney.

Sub 16 is barely walk on material on most programs. And with only 12.5 scholarships for the while track team, you bet i know that sub 16 guys arent getting "good money". Most arent getting any money.

Fact. I have a kid who has a 15:40s PR in xc who is getting 9k per year from a D1 school. Please stop.

superior guy wrote:

No, most don't. But ours does. There is rarely a year that we don't have 15 guys under 17 and 5 under 16. We have at least 50 under 20 and cut the rest.

That sucks for people who aren't natural runners

david45 wrote:

superior guy wrote:

No, most don't. But ours does. There is rarely a year that we don't have 15 guys under 17 and 5 under 16. We have at least 50 under 20 and cut the rest.

That sucks for people who aren't natural runners

Not really. Most people who aren't natural runners are totally fine with it. They find something they are good at to place their efforts.

high school xc coach wrote:

Phil, I know im not talented, but you are definitely way off with the 1% thing. I ran track in high school for one year, and i was solidly a mid pack guy within my team, which is to say I was not a point scorer, but i was better than several kids.

Sounds like you were a 50% talent. Phil always wants to sound authoritative, but he usually misses the mark.