Every so often, Coach Ben answers your burning running questions. Here’s this week’s question:
Does anyone regret not starting to run at a young age? [I believe] I could have improved much more quickly and had a higher ceiling if I started at like 14.
The truth is that it doesn’t matter when you start running (unless you have Olympic dreams, then yeah, you need to start young-ish).
The truth is that it doesn’t matter when you start running (unless you have Olympic dreams, then yeah, you need to start young-ish).
But for non-elite runners, being fast is more about training and genetics, not age. Obviously, you slow down as you age but if started running at 14, it doesn’t mean you’ll be X times faster when you’re 30 than if you started running at 24. The great running coach Jack Daniels once said (and I’m paraphrasing): your running ability is at the intersection of your training and your genetics.
This is also why Jack Daniels said: Don’t compare yourself to other runners; focus on your own fitness and performance.
In other words, we can only change our training, not our genetics.
I think the runner asking this question is confusing running with skill sports like baseball, soccer, or skiing. In those cases, the later you start, the harder it is to catch up (although not impossible). Having coached my son’s little league baseball team, I can attest that the kids new to the game struggled much more than kids with some experience.
But even here, it can be overcome with deliberate practice (i.e. practicing the stuff your weak at vs practicing the stuff you’re good at). If you are striking out at bat, then spend more practice time on batting than fielding. The running equivalent is: do more speedwork if you want to get faster; if you tire out quickly, focus on long runs.
One last point about starting to run at an early age. I know many athletes who ran competitively in high school and college. Now in their 40s, many are regularly sidelined due to a history of injuries going back to high school. Runners who start in their 30s, 40s, and 50s don’t have the same history of running injuries and, with some strength training, can spend more time training and less time recovering from injuries.
TL:DR: Running at a younger age won’t give you a competitive advantage when you are older. It may even hamper your running mid-life if you have a long history of injuries.
