Natural runners

shels4ever

This is coming from a chat last night that really P**ed me friends/Family of mine ran the Rahney 5 last year basically for a bet ,
I was last more then 9 mins behind the second last person. Were all doing it again this year and were talking about targets.

When I told them I planned to run 35 mins, they dismissed it and say that I was alway a natural runner . This really annoyed me to be honest as i've been busting my guts for hte last 6 months to get to a stage where I can prob beat 4 out of the 5 and maybe them all.

So how far does natural talent take you and how much of it is hard work?

christeb

Coming from an extremely uneducated point of view, I would say that the longer the distance, the more it comes down to hard work. Now don't get me wrong, of course people have to train for speed. I just think that you can be born with a natural amount speed whereas it's hard just to run 5 miles without a decent amount of training.

So in conclusion, I don't really know!!!

cfitz

Yeah I can see how that would be very annoying! Perhaps the best response would be:

"You're right. And you were always naturally useless."

shels4ever

cfitz wrote: »

Yeah I can see how that would be very annoying! Perhaps the best response would be:

"You're right. And you were always naturally useless."

Once i beat them ... I will

Running Bing

I wouldnt let it get to you if people think you are talented. I notice from other forums that when somebody is classed as a talented runner they get very defensive "Im not a talented runner I work my balls off" is usually the reply.

I think just because somebody may be talented doesnt mean they dont work hard.

Nobody thinks their talented though...wait until you see the 3 hour guys crawling out of the woodwork now saying they dont have a talented bone in their body;):D


I can honestly say I have not got an ounce of natural physical talent though. I do think I am pretty strong mentally (i.e.good at setting goals and sticking to them and pushing myself hard and to the best of my ability) and I feel I am pretty good naturally at pacing myself but running certainly does not come naturally to me and it will take many years of very hard work to get to a decent standard.

shels4ever

I think they are trying to get the excuses in early.

Krusty_Clown

I would take is as a compliment. Natural ability + hard work = :cool:
Just remind them of how much you have progressed since the previous race (after the race).

I get a lot of those types of comments too (from non-runners), despite only having been running for a short time. I know I just work hard.

Woddle

My question is how do you know if your a talented runner and I don't mind using myself as an example. I just got back into running this Feb and I was overweight. My race times have come down as a result of hard work and weight loss. Now I would like to think that I do have a talent for running and that if I work hard enough I could reach a pretty good standard. But how can you tell at this stage whether the likes of me have a talent or not. Running is different to most sports in this regard. I know I have a talent for football and golf and there the types of sports where after a long absence you could still go out with no training and perform well. Runing is not like this my first run in Feb was a mile in 9:30 and that was due to bad fitness. So hopefully if I keep working hard enough I'll find out that yes I do have a talent for running. We'll just have to wait and see. I would take it as a compliment and maybe the problem was you felt your friends/family were dismissing all your hard work by calling you talented.

MCOS

christeb wrote: »

Coming from an extremely uneducated point of view, I would say that the longer the distance, the more it comes down to hard work. Now don't get me wrong, of course people have to train for speed. I just think that you can be born with a natural amount speed whereas it's hard just to run 5 miles without a decent amount of training.

So in conclusion, I don't really know!!!

You could be on to something here! About a month before the DM I was on the track and just happened to fall into a 8*80sec session with the athletic club. I ran 7.5 of them with the coach and it was all faster than I can ever remember running since going for a try in the corner! I was literally choking for breath on the 8th rep and lost the coach about 200m into that one. At the line he announce to everyone that I was a 'natural runner'. I felt anything but and quite embarrassed. He then turned around to me and said 'build your base'. Haven't seen him since but I think it translated into the fact that I had some leg speed but not enough aerobic mileage done to convert to any kind of stamina, or he was taking the p!ss out of me?

Running Bing

I have heard it said that if you run a 100 metre and plug the times into a calculator like McMillan it will give you your potential as a runner as your unlikely to improve you 100 metre time much unless you drastically change your body composition.


Sounds like Bull**** to me but it could work for some people.

MCOS

Babybing wrote: »

I have heard it said that if you run a 100 metre and plug the times into a calculator like McMillan it will give you your potential as a runner as your unlikely to improve you 100 metre time much unless you drastically change your body composition.


Sounds like Bull**** to me but it could work for some people.

So on that basis, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell et al could be the ones to crack the 2 hour Marathon Mark some day :rolleyes:

shels4ever

I didn't like they way it sounded but thinking about it either way it doesnt matter. I am thinking that everyone has a natural running speed at which they are relaxed at.

tunney

A natural runner is someone who has a high vo2max, an excellent running economy, naturally lean and is biomechanically sound.

If you were a naturally talented runner you'd know it. I've met very few. Those I have met are a joy to watch running and racing.

cfitz

tunney wrote: »

A natural runner is someone who has a high vo2max, an excellent running economy, naturally lean and is biomechanically sound.

If you were a naturally talented runner you'd know it. I've met very few. Those I have met are a joy to watch running and racing.

I'm not sure 'naturally talented' needs to be so tightly defined. Surely someone like Paula Radcliffe must have been somewhat naturally talented - I don't think she matches all those criteria.

For someone who is a joy to watch, check out the video's of Brett Gotcher on the McMillanElite site. Don't know how good he's going to get but he sure got style.

thirtyfoot

Babybing wrote: »

I have heard it said that if you run a 100 metre and plug the times into a calculator like McMillan it will give you your potential as a runner as your unlikely to improve you 100 metre time much unless you drastically change your body composition.


Sounds like Bull**** to me but it could work for some people.

Thats sound a bit dodgy purely because you are putting a 100m time into a distance running calculator.

There are many way to improve your 100m time and in fact there are possibly more relative variants on the body composition of elite 100 runners than elite 10k runners - Ben Johnson to Usain Bolt! Look at most elite 10k'ers and they are below average height, skinny calves and schoolgirl hips.

On the natural runners thing, its subjective and I wouldn't be insulted if someone said you are a natural, its more of a compliment in my eyes. I would say that there are certain thresholds that if someone from an early age was trained properly, lived well, ate well and developed well could reach but there are certain levels that the vast majority will never reach (olympic medalist for example).

In an Irish example take Paul Hession. Not a natural you could say and at schools level every tom, dick and harry in the country might beat him. But through hardwork, mental strength and smartness is now in the top 10-15 sprinters in the world, unheard of for an Irish person. Strange running technique but through top coaching has got the most out of his body and relative to his strength is a great technician. Take James Nolan, a prodigious talent and junior with flair and when running oozed class and was a natural runner. Now for various reasons, he never fully fulfilled his potential despite having a great career. Then take Mark Carroll. Great underage talent but great work ethic. Mixture of both and probably our greatest distance runner in relation to his range of events. Of the 3 who was probably the most likely to win an Olympic medal and you could say it was probably Nolan as he had that inate talent or was a natural runner but it won't work without the other bits. I see natural runners every week of the year, problem is the majority aren't in athletics (and wasted because of that!!). The Kenyan men (but not their women) are pretty natural when you see them in the flesh or the Ethiopean women (moreso than their men) and especially when the bell rings and Dibaba rips out a 58 sec last lap of her 10k on her way to a sub 30 and makes it look like a stroll in the park, thats a natural runner. Asafa Powell in a relay leg is pretty impressive too and a lesson in how to run (very fast) and maybe Seb Coe or Juantorena I would regard as naturals. Bit of as ramble, sorry.

Running Bing

Tingle wrote: »

I see natural runners every week of the year, problem is the majority aren't in athletics (and wasted because of that!!).

So true, its only now I think back to school and some of the fella's I played football with...they seemed to be made for running and could go like bullets and had incredible stamina but they were never encouraged to try athletics and it was all football. Would've been interesting to see what they could've done with the right encouragement and coaching.

hunnymonster

Babybing wrote: »

So true, its only now I think back to school and some of the fella's I played football with...they seemed to be made for running and could go like bullets and had incredible stamina but they were never encouraged to try athletics and it was all football. Would've been interesting to see what they could've done with the right encouragement and coaching.

It doesn't get any better beyond school. The uni I work at announced it's sports scholarships last night
GAA 38
Athletics 4
it's the same with results. The Camogie team win against a field of cows and it's headline news in the university. Someone wins an national championship in athletics or triathlon, nada.

Running Bing

hunnymonster wrote: »

It doesn't get any better beyond school. The uni I work at announced it's sports scholarships last night
GAA 38
Athletics 4
it's the same with results. The Camogie team win against a field of cows and it's headline news in the university. Someone wins an national championship in athletics or triathlon, nada.

Wow, pretty damning.

and then people wonder why we're not more competitive at the Olympics:rolleyes:

Seres

hunnymonster wrote: »

It doesn't get any better beyond school. The uni I work at announced it's sports scholarships last night
GAA 38
Athletics 4
it's the same with results. The Camogie team win against a field of cows and it's headline news in the university. Someone wins an national championship in athletics or triathlon, nada.

I have to say that used to annoy me in school , all the lads were encouraged to play fooeball and there where lots of resources there for that , and for the girls ??????
what a great way to encourage health living , hoepfully this narrow minded attitude has changed some what since iwas at school
also my brothers went to boarding school which was heavily involved in Garlic footeball , and the boys that werent interested or any good were sidelined and the good footeball got all the priviledges !

Krusty_Clown

Seres wrote: »

heavily involved in Garlic footeball

Freudian slip, or do you think the French are the puppet-masters, running everything behind the scenes?

MCOS

I think the 'natural runner' is the one who's form is beautiful to watch...

shels4ever

MCOS wrote: »

I think the 'natural runner' is the one who's form is beautiful to watch...

I wonder has it had GAIT analysis done..

cfitz

If Bolt's arms were as long as his legs he'd school that cheetah.

griffin100

It doesn't get any better beyond school. The uni I work at announced it's sports scholarships last night
GAA 38
Athletics 4
it's the same with results. The Camogie team win against a field of cows and it's headline news in the university. Someone wins an national championship in athletics or triathlon, nada.

The uni I work in doesn't even have a triathlon club, although we are getting a 50m due to start construction next year:D

hunnymonster

Don't believe it until they cut the Ribbon. I used to work in another uni and they were getting a 50 m pool, right up to the point that they dug the foundations - for only 25 m. There isn't a single 50 m pool in the whole of Cork which annoys me no end.

griffin100

Don't believe it until they cut the Ribbon. I used to work in another uni and they were getting a 50 m pool, right up to the point that they dug the foundations - for only 25 m. There isn't a single 50 m pool in the whole of Cork which annoys me no end.

The plans are on my desk and have been approved as good to go by me amongst others and the request for tenders goes out in January with construction schedueled to start second quater next year. Its about as definite as it can be:D

hunnymonster

can I have your job?

griffin100

can I have your job?

I will obviously have to test out the facilities on a daily basis during the commissioning phase before the public get access. My job does have some perks:)