Why are people on here who don't know what they're talking about?

Question

Seriously, I've been answering questions, and some of the answers people are getting are driving me out of my mind! If you aren't a serious runner STOP ASKING QUESTIONS! Seriously!

"Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth."

"You need to focus on going really slow at first and then sprinting at the end, that will help your time."

"its pretty good. im 15 and i do like a 9:25 mile." -then you don't know what you're talking about!

"that would be considered VERY FAST!!!" -to a high school guy running a 5:50 minute mile. seriously, that's DECENT for a girl, and slow for a guy.

"NO running won't make your calves bigger." -then explain why all the serious runners on my XC team have good calves, we don't lift for our legs.

"yes, yes it will" --- "No... not at all." -answering the SAME QUESTION.

Seriously, this is a joke! I can find comical answers on all the questions!

Answer 1

well i guess it is kinda funny and i guess im partially to blame lol.  but you know out of a bunch of stupid answers comes a pretty good one, that is why this site is so succesful

Answer 2

I asked a question on what a good time to get on the 400 is for a female and got answers in the 2:00's. Thats a great 800 time, not 400! Also a girl said that she can run a 45 second 400??

Answer 3

I asked a question like yours a while ago.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Why can't people who aren't real runners stop advising others to run with weights?

No professional or serious runner/sprinter runs in ankle or wrists weights. They don't walk in them either. If they worked so well, wouldn't you think that every college and high school track team would be using them? The truth is that if you train in them, you will run slower in practice than without them. If you train slow, you will run slow.

Your body isn't meant to carry around extra weight while running. Running is a high impact activity. If you wear weights while running you're basically asking for injuries.

If you want to be fast, run fast! Sprint! There are no shortcuts. Do intervals at the track. Sprinting on a slight downhill will even help because it teaches your body to move fast. Plyometrics or weight training are also more effective.

It's time for fake runners to stop telling others to run with weights. To those who are new to running and are asking for advice, go to a running store and talk to real runners and they'll agree with what I say.

Answer 4

Some people answer questions that noone else will answer to get the 10 points..SAD!!

Answer 5

Think about a given population.  Half the answers are going to be below average no matter what.  Given that this is a population of people of all ages, you are going to get a lot of different answers.  Personally I come to the board to try to educate.  In my business, the thing that I come across the most is a lack of knowledge even from the professionals.  A soccer coach that has his athletes training for miles (I have even had Volleyball coaches that do mileage workouts to work on endurance.  Most coaches have a good idea about their sport but have little to know idea about the physiology of the body.  There is a big difference from knowing how to create plays and another one to get someone faster and more powerful

Even in your answers - the calves comment. If you run correctly, you use your calves to a minor degree.  The primary muscles are the glutes and hamstrings.  If you "run on your toes" as most coaches say you are supposed to, then you will give your calves a good workout.  Problem is that they are a relatively small muscle and if that fatigues during a workout, then you will slow down.  By running on the balls of your feet with minimal distance to the ground if you are  sprinter and lightly touching if you are distance, you are in a more efficient running pattern.  This was proved over 70 years ago and yet coaches butchered the results and just teach what they were taught.  

Actually the part that bothers me the most is that they need to separate sprinting and long distance running. Nothing is more frustrating than to have a question of "how can I work on my endurance for football/basketball/soccer/400m/etc/etc" and have 50 answers say Go Out and Run 10 miles.  This will result in a person working out the wrong muscle fibers and could result in them gettig slower.

Even some of the people asking questions are just looking for validation.  I have seen some really great scientific answers get ignored over something that someone really wants agreement with.

Some people won't learn. Know that most of the advice is going to be wrong, but it will done with good intentions.  If you are a good athlete, you should try to learn as much as you can.  Sports are just an extension of physics.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

I completely agree with you. What about people asking questions like, "Is 9.84 a good 100 time?" There is no way in h**l that you run a 9.84 100.

Answer 7

the trouble with us humans is whatever the question we all think our answers are right but i agree it can be very comical and frustrating especially when you hope to god some people dont take some answers as gospel or else boy would they be in trouble!

Answer 8

hey guesss what!?!   Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth !   psh

Answer 9

some people try to look smart. IDK!!

Answer 10

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 11

HAHA I'm a serious runner too, and someone wanted to know if they could take 4 minutes off their mile time (10 minutes to 6 minutes) and it's like NO WAY you'd be excepting too much of yourself you can't do it in such a short amount of time, and everyone esle is like OH YES YOU CAN, NO PROBLEM.

it makes laugh,

(:

Answer 12

I agree with every word you say. What is even worse though is that the Asker always chooses the person who says the things that they like.

"I run 5 miles in 45 minutes  can I get that time down to 30 minutes in 6 weeks?"

"That is a great goal to strive for you could certainly do it in 6 weeks duh!"

Answer 13

I'm a serious track athlete and I'll tell you that, though I do agree with what you're saying, you need to comes to terms with it. It's wrong that runners who don't know what they're talking about are answering questions like they know, but the fact of the matter is, unless they ask then they'll never get more knowlegable. It just turns into a cycle when you compare the amound of knowledgable people who answer questions to those who dont know.

Answer 14

I totally agree with gfuzat !!!!  There are alot of misinformation out there...

and there are some good advice out there that was lost to some uneducated answers, some are entertaining, and some real bizarre.

I am on here because I am passionate about running and have the experience, and like to see young kids develope that into their adult years.

Answer 15

I was thinking about this today too.. some of the answers are are utterly ridiculous. The problem is we have kids answering questions... we were all young once and thought we knew everything. Running advice from a 13 or 14 year old is probably not going to be sound advice.

All you/we can do is give a better answer and hope that not only the question asker listens, but hopefully those who answer it wrong will listen. Many people seem to list their age/grade, so hopefully the askers are able to weed through the nonsense accordingly.

If you seek being around a more knowledgeable base, I suggest you find a dedicated running forum. There's many out there.. They're a good place to go before and after being here, just to put your mind at ease.

Answer 16

Well, I'm not a runner, but I know the answer to that one.  Because advice is worth exactly what you pay for it.

Answer 17

This is not a forum for experts. Anyone can just throw in their two cents. I usually answer questions on running that are within my area of knowledge, but if I don't know the answere I wont fake it and pretend that I do, so I know where you are coming from. BUT be humble too. Not everyone is at the level of fitness that you might be at, and for people like me who took up running two years ago at the age of 47, 9:25 for a mile isn't fast but it IS a respectable time. I try to lift up and encourage anyone that has decided totake up running as a way of life, like I have done, and not as a 3 week fad. Just do like most of us do, and learn to disern between the bull c**p and the good advice. Waddle on!

Answer 18

i wouldnt reli care whether they know EXACTLY what they are talking about, jsut nice to know for a fact that they had some tiem to give advice.

Answer 19

they arnt real runners the probably Googled it, just for worthless points

Answer 20

Yeahh... that is annoying when people just answer questions to get points or try to sound all professionaly. But I guess everyone has an opinion and their coaches might be telling them different things then yours is.

Answer 21

No more soup for you!

Actually, the answer is because this isn't even really a "running" community. It's a general question and answer "community" where anyone can throw out their two cents on anything. It's free. And I think it's got a lot of folk who are still in their teens and don't have as much experience as they'll accumulate later in life.

There are boards out there that are more limited to running topics and nothing but, and though you'll still get a variety of quality, they do tend to be more frequented by "real" runners and not people seeing what the topic of the minute is for them to throw out 2 cents and get 2 points, etc.

Answer 22

I have the same problem with other sections.  Though people have good intentions, it's like.... I only want answers from people who are knowledgeable on the topic. You know??

Answer 23

Yeah, laughable some of the answers. The only real concern I have is that someone could follow up on someones suggestion of training and really do damage to their body. Like a whole lot of fast reps or long distances.

I always find there is not enough background information from the questioner:- like how much training are they doing now, age, male/female etc then you get a better idea to be able to give some help & advice.

Answer 24

LOL i know exactly what you are talking about.

a couple more i found:

to someone wanting to train for a 5k : "run more than 1 mile so when your 5k race comes, it will feel like nothing"

to someone asking about joining an xc team - "rhythm breathing is key!!! also try and think of something else really hard like "whats for dinner tonight" and go into deep thought while running a steady pace to forget about how tired your getting.  also a very good strong sprint at the beginning to get out of the starting pack" - wtf???

to another potential beginner xc runner asking what a good way to train is: "INTERVALS!!! it's what my xc team does."

and my personal favorite, by an answerer of the same question, "try to run 200 meters 4 times a day im a cross country runner it really helps but be sure to drink lots"

crazy stuff.  i really hate the ones where people ask what a good training schedule is for a beginner, and the answerer pretty much says exactly what there's is, even if they are at 40-50 miles a week and have incorporated speed workouts in their schedule.  i guess they "sound" like good answers, so the beginners just choose as best answer w/o knowing.

Answer 25

" "Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth." "

.................................. =)

No. seriously? I have actually caught myself breathing a little bit like that on a run where I am just relaxed. I breath in through my nose a little, but I am still breathing in through my mouth mostly. Relax a little.

And to answer your question: Like most community websites People can post their Opinions. Some opinions are taken as factual and that's where people make the mistake of answering a question under a false statement, and where questioner's make the mistake in believing the false statement.

Answer 26

i feel the same way. I like to counter-act the less informed answers by pointing out to the asker what exactly is incorrect about other answers so that they know why not to take that particular advice and also so that if the ignorant answerers ever look back at the question they may learn something as well.

all the people that tell others to "breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth" kills me though. it is ridiculous how many people believe that particular myth, have they ever tried to run a race while breathing in their nose and out their mouth? not too easy, or effective