And aerobic strength matters just as much. If someone does have the genetics to be a strength runner, running 90 mpw is not going to change anything.
I assume you meant "If someone doesn't have...".
In general, yes, I agree. People like to say speed can barely be trained. I don't entirely buy that. You can absolutely make speed improvements. You'll probably never turn a slowpoke into a sprint star. But you can turn someone kind of fast into someone really fast. Or someone kind of slow into someone kind of fast. One time I witnessed someone go from middling speed in early HS, think 11 mid to high 100m, to 10.3 in college. They put on a lot of muscle in the process. But that kid that can barely break 14 for a 100m will never sniff 10.xx.
With aerobic strength, I think you have more wiggle room. People in general have a bit more capacity for growth in that department. Of course some just have the genetics for it.
A “bit” more? Just about everyone on my HS XC team had better 400m speed than me, and some by a lot, but somehow, I could beat all of them by a minute or more in XC. Ryun ran a ton of mileage, but breaking 2:20 for the marathon would have been difficult for him.
I cant cope with this situation. Life ist unfair. Passionate runners like me dont get any recognition while blokes who dont even follow the sport and show any passion beat me
I was probably in the same boat at 32 as you are now. In my case I kept on with the 80-90 weeks because, a) I'd done a lot more mileage than that a few years earlier so it didn't seem like that much running, b) I kind of liked running that much, and c) I thought that if I ran much less than I was doing even more 40 miles a week types would beat me. If you really don't like running as much as you are doing, do less and just live with the results. If, like me, it would bother you knowing that you're losing to people you could beat if you trained more than they did then understand that you're doing what you have to do.
In general, yes, I agree. People like to say speed can barely be trained. I don't entirely buy that. You can absolutely make speed improvements. You'll probably never turn a slowpoke into a sprint star. But you can turn someone kind of fast into someone really fast. Or someone kind of slow into someone kind of fast. One time I witnessed someone go from middling speed in early HS, think 11 mid to high 100m, to 10.3 in college. They put on a lot of muscle in the process. But that kid that can barely break 14 for a 100m will never sniff 10.xx.
With aerobic strength, I think you have more wiggle room. People in general have a bit more capacity for growth in that department. Of course some just have the genetics for it.
A “bit” more? Just about everyone on my HS XC team had better 400m speed than me, and some by a lot, but somehow, I could beat all of them by a minute or more in XC. Ryun ran a ton of mileage, but breaking 2:20 for the marathon would have been difficult for him.
That's not the point. I could have mopped the floor with everyone on my XC team over 800m and down, yet they still beat me in cross country? Why? Because they trained for it.
All being faster means is that you potentially have a higher ceiling for longer events. It is not guaranteed by any means, but it starts to become a pre-requisite at a certain point.
A “bit” more? Just about everyone on my HS XC team had better 400m speed than me, and some by a lot, but somehow, I could beat all of them by a minute or more in XC. Ryun ran a ton of mileage, but breaking 2:20 for the marathon would have been difficult for him.
That's not the point. I could have mopped the floor with everyone on my XC team over 800m and down, yet they still beat me in cross country? Why? Because they trained for it.
All being faster means is that you potentially have a higher ceiling for longer events. It is not guaranteed by any means, but it starts to become a pre-requisite at a certain point.
There probably wasn’t a competitive track race that Salazar ever raced in, where he didn’t have the worst middle distance speed of anyone in the field, and all of them trained hard enough to maximize their strength. Doesn’t the runner with a genetic limit of a 80 VO2 max have, an advantage over one with a 65. In the TDF, can a sprinter train so that he can crank out a time trial as fast as the tour leaders.
I cant cope with this situation. Life ist unfair. Passionate runners like me dont get any recognition while blokes who dont even follow the sport and show any passion beat me
This isn't fair! Pound the table in frustration and then train your brains out to beat them next year. Or the next, or the year after that...
That's not the point. I could have mopped the floor with everyone on my XC team over 800m and down, yet they still beat me in cross country? Why? Because they trained for it.
All being faster means is that you potentially have a higher ceiling for longer events. It is not guaranteed by any means, but it starts to become a pre-requisite at a certain point.
There probably wasn’t a competitive track race that Salazar ever raced in, where he didn’t have the worst middle distance speed of anyone in the field, and all of them trained hard enough to maximize their strength. Doesn’t the runner with a genetic limit of a 80 VO2 max have, an advantage over one with a 65. In the TDF, can a sprinter train so that he can crank out a time trial as fast as the tour leaders.
You might as well ask if Usain Bolt could become an elite marathoner. Obviously he wouldn't stand a chance. You NEED aerobic strength. But it's totally possible that you are limited by speed. OP said he can run 13.8 but can break 15:00 for a 5K. That means they might not be capable of sub 60. That's not a good place to be if you want to keep lowering that 5K. OP is facing a bottleneck, and a big part is that is brought on by lack of speed here.
Speed does not create endurance, but a lack of speed can limit your potential in longer events.
There probably wasn’t a competitive track race that Salazar ever raced in, where he didn’t have the worst middle distance speed of anyone in the field, and all of them trained hard enough to maximize their strength. Doesn’t the runner with a genetic limit of a 80 VO2 max have, an advantage over one with a 65. In the TDF, can a sprinter train so that he can crank out a time trial as fast as the tour leaders.
You might as well ask if Usain Bolt could become an elite marathoner. Obviously he wouldn't stand a chance. You NEED aerobic strength. But it's totally possible that you are limited by speed. OP said he can run 13.8 but can break 15:00 for a 5K. That means they might not be capable of sub 60. That's not a good place to be if you want to keep lowering that 5K. OP is facing a bottleneck, and a big part is that is brought on by lack of speed here.
Speed does not create endurance, but a lack of speed can limit your potential in longer events.
Sure, but they’re equally important. Some people have one, some have neither, and the extremely blessed, have both.
I enjoy running in itself and I am curious about discovering what works and what doesn't.
I run 30-35 mpw, or 4-5 hours and my PBs are 17 and 36 for 5k and 10k.
This week I will start in the front group at the great Manchester run (fast paced runners group) just behind the elites because my predicted time is 36-38 minutes. That is pretty cool in itself.
Folks in their 30s think all they have to do is log miles to get faster. Sometimes they do threshold intervals...but too often the mid 30s crowd neglects harder, v02 max stuff and speed intervals....then they wonder why they can't run faster than 4:50 in the mile...
Run fewer miles, do some hard intervals, put hair on your chest. Anyone can slog around for 14 miles per day - that's not impressive or hard.
I enjoy running in itself and I am curious about discovering what works and what doesn't.
I run 30-35 mpw, or 4-5 hours and my PBs are 17 and 36 for 5k and 10k.
This week I will start in the front group at the great Manchester run (fast paced runners group) just behind the elites because my predicted time is 36-38 minutes. That is pretty cool in itself.
Now that I think about it, the last time I did the great Manchester run in 2022, I was pictured behind Stewart Mcswayn near Old Trafford. He must have been injured and doing it as some kind of training run. Another cool momento.
I cant cope with this situation. Life ist unfair. Passionate runners like me dont get any recognition while blokes who dont even follow the sport and show any passion beat me
As I have 'preached' so,so many times here ; It's not mainly about how many miles you run, more important how you run your miles to get the very best individual results. I'm sure you can run much faster with half the load of miles you are doing today.🇸🇪🧙🏼♂️🇸🇪
I cant cope with this situation. Life ist unfair. Passionate runners like me dont get any recognition while blokes who dont even follow the sport and show any passion beat me
If this is a real post, the sadder part is that you have not learned that running is a genetically-limited sport. Hobbs Kessler ran 3:34 off 18 months of serious training.
99.99999999999999% will never run that time even if they 180 years to train.
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