Slower Miler wrote:
What kind of training did this man do from his freshman to sophomore year?
If anyone could give a sample of what Ryun did to drop that much time that would be great.
The main thing that Ryun did was pick the right grandparents. Not something that you have much control over, at this point. There's ultimately no substitute for innate talent.
The other big thing he did was pick the right high school and coach...also not an option available to most (and he did it by accident). Bob Timmons was one of the truly great high school coaches.
Ryun didn't start high school until his soph year. Freshman year he did junior high track, running maybe a couple miles (total) a week. Ditto the summer between frosh and soph years, when he was training for the 440 in the Junior Olympics. His ambition, entering high school, was to be a 440 man and maybe letter as a senior.
During the course of just his soph year, he went from a 5:38 mile in the first team time trial (in cross-country season) to sub-4:10 in AAU competition the following summer.
As for you, S.M.: try to hook up with a knowledgeable and sympathetic coach--if not through your school, then maybe through clubs in your area. Some examples of JR's high school training are posted earlier in this thread, but without proper coaching and a rationale for the workouts, they could be worse than useless--actually dangerous to you. (And any HS kid who trains himself is coaching an idiot--experience speaks.)
The main thing is to keep your great enthusiasm for running, and to see it as a lifetime thing. That way, you'll make progress for many, many years.
Good luck.