Average high schooler looking for advice

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Thoughts: A) Talk to your coach about your concerns. B) If you did 80 over the winter, then maybe it isn't the mileage you need more of to improve. Consider what else your training may be missing.

1) Talk to your new coach for training advice

2) Run for fun... don't let your PRs define you

Maybe the high mileage approach isn't the right one for you. I know many posters on here will constantly say "Work harder, bump up your mileage" but that outlook doesn't work for everyone. Maybe switch your training up a little

I question many of your assumptions.

1. PRs of 2:05, 4:30 and 9:45 off of 80 mpw do not have to mean you are a strength runner. They do mean you have trained your strength more. How many miles per week, on average over the last year, do you run between 5:30 and 5:50 pace?

2. While you may have reasonable biomechanics, the fact that you have run yourself into both anemia and mono may not bode well for a high mileage future. You really need watch your sleeping pattern and volume this fall. Get enough rest or else.

3. Are you training seriously or are you covering 80 mpw? To be training, you have to be practicing running many different paces, every week. You must run strides at sub 60 pace, you need a few 200s at 4:30 pace, you need to run 5 or 6 1k's at 5:20 pace, you need 5 mile runs in 30 min, you need longish runs at 7:15 pace. The next week try 5 slightly different paces for slightly different distance. Variety leads to good training.

4. "...though that milage dropped seriously once actual track season came..." It is hard to pull this off and still achieve good training.

Like others have suggested, you need to contact your future coach and follow their advice. You need to get ready for the new training. It may be very different from what you have done in HS. Have an open mind and throw yourself into new types of training. Your identity as a runner is still changing rapidly in college. Do not lock yourself into what you did and who you were in HS.

Bodhisattva,

Dude, you are pretty much exactly where I was when I graduated from HS - 4:30 (in a relay), 9:48, 2:03.

I had terrible training advice though...you have the world at your fingertips with regard to training advice (internet).

BUT, I will echo what the others have said...since you are going to a self-described "top-tier" DIII program, it seems the coach there might know a thing or two. You should get your training advice from him or her.

Drop the obsession with the training log. I can't imagine running 80mpw and getting a 9:45 in return. That's a bad ROI. You need to get faster, or maybe become an ultra runner.

I would focus on strength. I would plan to run in school for 5 years, not 3. Make sure to red shirt. In the off season lots of easy miles and hills and listen to your coach when in season. There could be lots of success for you in XC Steeple, marathons and maybe ultras down the road.

There are lots of tough runners who came from modest hs careers. Stay healthy and committed and you git 10-15 great years of running ahead of you.