Team mate doesn’t do anything and runs 15:19

He still got in trouble, but that was addressed privately and it was minor.

I know of a guy who ran a hilly half marathon at elevation on a whim and ran a 1:11. He played basketball now and then, was in his mid-20s, and wore high tops.

Jakob wouldn't run 14 on no training. He has been trained from a very early age and he has been running 80-100 mpw since he was 12 or 14, and you're just ignoring all of that training and pointing to his results as indicative of his talent when in fact it is the way and volume he was trained with two pro runners and great facilities from an early age that have produced this kind of runner. That is exactly what his couch potato of a father proved by training each of three of his sons (the other two grown ones were good too but dropped out of the training early, as did his daughter, who still managed to run 18 for 5k at 14 or 15, on the road) to European championships, and by training other Norwegians to major improvements. The training system and coaching ability to get athletes to do the training are far more important than basic ability, whatever that means. That is why you get one high school producing a team at one time that might well have beaten an all-time all-star team of American high school athletes--at least if you scored top four only in xc--and produced six 8:40s two milers within four years. Talent's just a metaphysical concept with no real definition.

Not saying it's your case but sandbagging for team stuff and doing extra alone can happen. I had both HS and college teammates do this. In HS I overheard a private coach tell someone the kid was working out at nights with his club team. In college, I caught the kid (different kid) doing intervals at midnight on rec fields in complete darkness on my way back from a party or something. And in both cases the kids would no-show or screw around during regular practice and act so aloof - like you'd never suspect they were that into it.

Both individuals I'd classify as psychopaths as they got older.

sorry to break it to you but genetics is the overwhelming determinant of ability. sure you need to train to get there but genes determine thr ballpark where your physical abilities fall.

I remember reading that Adam Goucher only ran 40 mpw in high school. Super shoes and all, and with all the other talent to come through Colorado, he still has the fastest Colorado XC time that’s not on a downhill course.

This ^

I ran with extraordinarily fast kids at the age of 11, 14, 15 and 16, then was the one at 17, and held on longer than any of them.

15:19 is not fast. Talented runners are hitting 14:19 on almost no training.

If you're close with him then try to ask about his early years growing up and also share with us. I would be very surprised if he didn't have an active childhood with some sports growing up . In majority of cases, talent is developed during childhood.

This exactly why I laugh every time someone on these boards thinks that Michael Phelps, Lebron James, or Usain Bolt can’t break 5:00 for a mile, or Messi can’t run sub 16 without specific training, etc. The best athletes in the world can’t achieve moderate success because they haven’t trained specifically for it? Give me a break.

Some runners like to think that running moderately fast involves more skill and training than it actually requires. What it really requires is natural talent.

A teammate of mine was friends with a relatively successful guy from another conference. We ate dinner with him the night before both our teams were competing at an indoor meet, I was running the3k and he was in the 5k. Guy ordered a fat lasagna “starter”, chicken wings entree, burger entree & fries for dinner and sipped 4 glasses of red wine. Topped it off with a loaded sundae at dessert. Him & my teammate stayed out walking the town & apparently hit 3 local clubs until they got kicked out at 4am. I genuinely couldn’t believe the sheer disregard of any “preparation” for a race by a guy of his caliber. Guy literally could not have given himself a worse lead up to a race. Meanwhile I’m eating a salad and bowl of pasta to carb-load and in bed at like 10pm visualizing an 8:20 PR

He dropped a sub 13:45 5k the following day and absolutely smoked my measly 8:25 3K time on his 3K split en route to his 5k finish. From that point on I bought into the notion that some people are just freaks of nature, I can only hope to compete to be my own best & shouldn’t compare myself. That’s just life. Some people are born with all the tools. Kinda pissed me off that he squandered all his talent with complete disregard for what he was capable of.

Just be thankful for the talent you do have and don’t worry about others. I ran with a kid that literally died for the sport. He ate right, took care of himself, and trained hard. It took him till his senior year to break 5. He graduated with a 4:57 pr. I didn’t try hard in high school and was a 4:30 guy. I ended up running in college and getting down to 4:10 for the mile and 1:52 for the 800. Most of the people who had the same college Prs as me were running 1:55 and 4:22 in high school. I didn’t get a scholarship at my school until my junior year.

Moral of the story is that if you are able to run fast off of talent alone, but don’t try at all you are only screwing yourself. I screwed myself out of a decent amount of money for college by not trying in high school. My advice to you is to not worry about your teammate and just focus on you. I know it can be frustrating but look at it this way, at the end of the day one of you can look in the mirror and not wonder how fast you could’ve run.

I was thinking about this a little more and it struck me that the OP's post is a little, understated, overstated...something. For one thing, forty miles a week is not "nothing." It's fairly respectable mileage for a high school kid. One of my sons had a teammate who ran a bit less than that and managed either 15:04 or 15:14, not sure which. And doing only a third of the workouts in my opinion may have helped. I think most high school kids, who usually race a lot, do too many workouts and would be faster with fewer.

And really, I think the prevalence of 5 km road races may have given a lot of people an elevated idea of how good a time like 15:19 is. You see your local 5 kms being won in 16:00-17:00 something and it's easy to get wowed by a low 15:00. It is a very, very, good time but not mind blowingly good and something many people can manage on forty miles a week.

This anecdote is 1000% false. The post generally is right though.

here Knight talks about it, he ran it on a measured, certified CATF light gravel path while wearing a light parka

Don’t leave us in suspense. How did the 4:57 kid die for the sport?

A nephew of mine ran a 58.xx in the 8th grade while only playing baseball and football. He was tall and lanky but baseball was at the same time as track. I think he had the build and skills to have been descent if he would have went for track.

in gym class.

Figuratively