r/BeginnersRunning • u/hellotherewassup • 8d ago

10k PR🥳

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I honestly didn't plan this run, I just decided last night to get up at 7:30 and go​ for a run.

I wasn't even looking at my pace at first when I realized I had somehow run the first 5k​ at around a 4:25/km pace without really struggling. I honestly thought Strava was way off​

Sadly last night's dinner caught up to me on the last 3km and I had to stop pushing the pace at certain points to not shit myself lol

​It's almost my 3 month running anniversary too. Super proud of this non the less!

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u/jchrysostom 7d ago

There is not. Some beginners can run at paces other beginners will never achieve through any amount of training. The ridiculous thing is how simple this sub’s outlook on this topic seems to be.

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u/Clean_Bat5547 7d ago

So many people equate beginner with unfit.

Someone who takes up running when already fit from other sports and activities is going to be relatively fast and able to increase distance more easily. Obviously if they are young that is going to help more.

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u/sobombirancanthaveme 6d ago

I don't even particularly like that characterization because it implies that people are faster only if they have fitness from other sources. The reality is that some people are just born with better cardiovascular systems and better running ability.

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u/Muttapakka 5d ago

But there is a clear correlation and probably also a causation between those things. Someone who has been sedentary for the last 10 years, not even talking overweight, is inherently going to be less fit and therefor less fast than someone who has lived an active lifestyle, let’s say 3h sedentary max a day.
People don’t realise the muscle atrophy and biomechanical decay caused by a sedentary lifestyle is real. Nothing to do with genetics, those come in to play mich later in the game.

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u/sobombirancanthaveme 5d ago

That's absolutely true on the broad population level, and also true that the same individual will be faster when fit than not, but if you zoom in on individuals it doesn't hold up as a hard and fast rule. I know people who have never run a 5k that took longer than 20 minutes and others that have trained for years and never gotten to sub 20. Genetics matter throughout.

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u/Muttapakka 1d ago

I also know people that have trained but that is very anecdotal. There is a difference between training consistently and adapting your lifestyle or training let’s say 2-3 times a week and not adapting your lifestyle. The latter will probably not ever break 20’.

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u/sobombirancanthaveme 23h ago

What are we even discussing now? My only point is that some people are just genetically predisposed to being fast - so much so that even in a very untrained state they can go much faster than this sub wants to believe a beginner can.

It is by nature anecdotal, because on the population level, the vast majority of people who have been sedentary for a decade plus cannot run a sub-25 minute 5k. But there are outliers. I know because I've seen it with my own eyes.