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I was 35 when I was able to run 10k in 47m on my first season after I lost 26 kg the previous year. This is about about 7:30 minutes per mile. I was also able t

I was 35 when I was able to run 10k in 47m on my first season after I lost 26 kg the previous year. This is about about 7:30 minutes per mile. I was also able to run 5k in 21:03 (about 6:47) and at the end of the season a marathon in 4:12:00 (~9:35). I wouldn't consider myself athletic and definitely not "conditioned athlete". I had no prior history of running or taking up any sports of any kind. Actually, I would be spending very few days doing anything else than sitting straight by the computer, lying down to read a book or standing in the kitchen cooking something. But I quickly learned to like running and I would push myself to run faster, harder, longer and further and I ran about 900 miles between March and October of my first running season with most of the volume in second half as I was ramping up on distance. At the peak I was doing say three 10k days in the middle of the week and then a 20-24k on the weekend every two weeks.

zeroonetwothree 4y ago
You ran 900 miles in 6 months but don’t consider yourself athletic? Um ok you might want to revise that evaluation.
- gnuj3 4y ago
  He just wants others to tell him that he is.
  - twawaaay 4y ago
    No, I just want to say that probably most of healthy people (well, at the very least men) can, with a bit of preparation, achieve the above mentioned result with no prior history of doing any serious sports. It would require some effort but it is doable in 6 months. Why does everybody assume this is vanity?
    - notacoward 4y ago
      The numbers simply don't agree with you. Instead of repeating myself, I'll just cite my other comment in this thread (including link to RunRepeat). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32900865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32900865
      - jeltz 4y ago
        That does not contradict with what he said. If you average 8 km per day I think most men and quite many women would be able to run a 45 minute 10k. You just need to be willing to put in that much hard work and not be obese.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
        notacoward 4y ago
        Both I and the person I was responding to cited numbers and you come back with "I think"? Really? Here are the results from the Peachtree Road Race, which is the largest 10K in the US. Only 1036/34877 (3%) of participants finished in under 45:00. https://www.athlinks.com/event/115192/results/Event/1016777/Course/2241401/Results https://www.athlinks.com/event/115192/results/Event/1016777/... Second largest is Dick's Sporting Goods Bolder Boulder: 1202/27997 (4%). https://www.athlinks.com/event/6172/results/Event/1020677/Course/2261965/Results https://www.athlinks.com/event/6172/results/Event/1020677/Co... Third largest is the Cooper River Bridge Run: 549/16053 (3%). https://www.athlinks.com/event/9036/results/Event/1013345/Course/2246370/Results https://www.athlinks.com/event/9036/results/Event/1013345/Co... Clearly, getting under 45:00 takes a lot more than just "hard work and not be obese" - some combination of youth, talent, and years of grinding it out harder even than most other runners. No, not 8km every day; that's a bit of a tell for lack of direct experience or expertise. I know only a handful of people - including myself but excluding many marathoners - who average even half that beyond a brief (month or two) pre-race training period, and all of us take days off. Any training guide will explain why. 45:00 for 10km is something that most people will never achieve, even with practice and even if they are considered very fit by any reasonable measure. FOr those who can do it, kudos, but let's not hold it up as a meaningful standard.
        twawaaay 4y ago
        I think you might be looking wrong at how big an accomplishment it is to be in top 3 or 4% of random sample of people in a field where a lot of people do it recreationally. All running events I took part look more or less like this -- there is a line of a dozen or two dozen "serious" people and then there is hundreds or thousands of people that are just doing it for fun. If you put a random sample of drivers on a track, the person that is half percentile from the top result would still be an amateur with poor result by any possible standard. Or, think in terms of Settlers of Catan. If you've red any strategy tutorial on how you should properly play it to win the game you are probably in the top 0.1% of players. Does it make you special? Does it make you a professional player? Most certainly not... I think it is true for a lot of fields, including running, that if you are trying at all, putting any effort, you immediately jump to top percent or two of all participants.
    - mdtusz 4y ago
      The problem is that you said you're not athletic or not a conditioned athlete, then described exactly what it takes to become a conditioned athletic person - dedication to training and putting in the mileage. Anyone that can run a half marathon every weekend and 30km+ during the week is almost by definition athletic. Yes, nearly anyone can achieve this with the dedication it takes, but that doesn't change the fact you're being overly humble about your own athleticism. It's like someone saying "I'm not an engineer, and am not particularly good at math or physics, but I studied 3 days a week and got an engineering degree and now I work at an engineering firm and can solve most math and physics problems."
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  - notacoward 4y ago
    The longer this thread continues, the more I think you're right.
- bena 4y ago
  Yeah, that's an average of about 5 miles a day.
  - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
    That doesn't seem too long of a run until you realize it would need to be every day without rest days.
    - anthonypasq 4y ago
      humans are remarkably good at running. Granted this was in high school, but I went from huffing and puffing a 3 mile jog to being able to go for leisurely 8 mile runs within a couple months.
      - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
        If you do 8 miles every day my hat is off to you, I find I'm happiest only running 4 days a week.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]

zeroonetwothree 4y ago

You ran 900 miles in 6 months but don’t consider yourself athletic? Um ok you might want to revise that evaluation.

gnuj3 4y ago
He just wants others to tell him that he is.
- twawaaay 4y ago
  No, I just want to say that probably most of healthy people (well, at the very least men) can, with a bit of preparation, achieve the above mentioned result with no prior history of doing any serious sports. It would require some effort but it is doable in 6 months. Why does everybody assume this is vanity?
  - notacoward 4y ago
    The numbers simply don't agree with you. Instead of repeating myself, I'll just cite my other comment in this thread (including link to RunRepeat). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32900865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32900865
    - jeltz 4y ago
      That does not contradict with what he said. If you average 8 km per day I think most men and quite many women would be able to run a 45 minute 10k. You just need to be willing to put in that much hard work and not be obese.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - notacoward 4y ago
        Both I and the person I was responding to cited numbers and you come back with "I think"? Really? Here are the results from the Peachtree Road Race, which is the largest 10K in the US. Only 1036/34877 (3%) of participants finished in under 45:00. https://www.athlinks.com/event/115192/results/Event/1016777/Course/2241401/Results https://www.athlinks.com/event/115192/results/Event/1016777/... Second largest is Dick's Sporting Goods Bolder Boulder: 1202/27997 (4%). https://www.athlinks.com/event/6172/results/Event/1020677/Course/2261965/Results https://www.athlinks.com/event/6172/results/Event/1020677/Co... Third largest is the Cooper River Bridge Run: 549/16053 (3%). https://www.athlinks.com/event/9036/results/Event/1013345/Course/2246370/Results https://www.athlinks.com/event/9036/results/Event/1013345/Co... Clearly, getting under 45:00 takes a lot more than just "hard work and not be obese" - some combination of youth, talent, and years of grinding it out harder even than most other runners. No, not 8km every day; that's a bit of a tell for lack of direct experience or expertise. I know only a handful of people - including myself but excluding many marathoners - who average even half that beyond a brief (month or two) pre-race training period, and all of us take days off. Any training guide will explain why. 45:00 for 10km is something that most people will never achieve, even with practice and even if they are considered very fit by any reasonable measure. FOr those who can do it, kudos, but let's not hold it up as a meaningful standard.
        twawaaay 4y ago
        I think you might be looking wrong at how big an accomplishment it is to be in top 3 or 4% of random sample of people in a field where a lot of people do it recreationally. All running events I took part look more or less like this -- there is a line of a dozen or two dozen "serious" people and then there is hundreds or thousands of people that are just doing it for fun. If you put a random sample of drivers on a track, the person that is half percentile from the top result would still be an amateur with poor result by any possible standard. Or, think in terms of Settlers of Catan. If you've red any strategy tutorial on how you should properly play it to win the game you are probably in the top 0.1% of players. Does it make you special? Does it make you a professional player? Most certainly not... I think it is true for a lot of fields, including running, that if you are trying at all, putting any effort, you immediately jump to top percent or two of all participants.
  - mdtusz 4y ago
    The problem is that you said you're not athletic or not a conditioned athlete, then described exactly what it takes to become a conditioned athletic person - dedication to training and putting in the mileage. Anyone that can run a half marathon every weekend and 30km+ during the week is almost by definition athletic. Yes, nearly anyone can achieve this with the dedication it takes, but that doesn't change the fact you're being overly humble about your own athleticism. It's like someone saying "I'm not an engineer, and am not particularly good at math or physics, but I studied 3 days a week and got an engineering degree and now I work at an engineering firm and can solve most math and physics problems."
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- notacoward 4y ago
  The longer this thread continues, the more I think you're right.
bena 4y ago
Yeah, that's an average of about 5 miles a day.
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  That doesn't seem too long of a run until you realize it would need to be every day without rest days.
  - anthonypasq 4y ago
    humans are remarkably good at running. Granted this was in high school, but I went from huffing and puffing a 3 mile jog to being able to go for leisurely 8 mile runs within a couple months.
    - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
      If you do 8 miles every day my hat is off to you, I find I'm happiest only running 4 days a week.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]