Can I ever be good?

When people look at you, how old do they usually guess that you are?

you can be good i ran just a little bit faster than you my freshman year and as a sophomore I've run under 18 minutes and doing indoor and outdoor track is going to help you alot.

14. I am 5 feet 7 inches, and weigh 140 pounds and have no acne or facial hair.

Thedude55 wrote:

When people look at you, how old do they usually guess that you are?

No one can tell you how fast you will be. There is not some magic formula. Just train and see how it goes. Especially consider training over the summer and winter next time.

I want to know if I could ever make varsity or be know as fast, and how much effort it would take.

Of course you can make varsity, if you make it a priority. You're young and you have more than enough time.

As far as the second part of your question above, this is where you might run into trouble. Asking "how much effort it would take" implies you're only willing to invest so much.

If it's a low priority for you and you don't stick with the task, you can expect failure. If it's a high priority of yours and you can avoid or deal with distractions and setbacks, expect success. But don't expect things to be easy or wish that they were; the easy route is hardly satisfying. Go run right now and mull over how badly you want to achieve your goals.

Look, forget middle school. Forget freshman year for that matter. When I was a freshman I assumed everyone on the XC team would improve by the same amount every year. Not true at all. It's about your passion for the sport. If you only care enough to run 25 miles a week, you may be running in the 17s by your senior year. But if you work your way up to higher mileage (60 plus miles a week plus giving it all you've got in workouts), you'll pass up a lot of guys who have more natural talent than you. With the right work ethic you can be in the 15s for sure. It just depends how much you want it. In middle school I ran a 12:38 3k, and my freshman year I ran an 18:56 5K on a very fast course. Now I'm a freshman walk on at a D1 college and I just ran a 15:37 5K at altitude without peaking for it at all. You'll get there if you want it.

I can't really offer anything than my own personal experience.

Started off as a sophomore running 21:47.

One week later I ran 20:07.

Two weeks after that I ran 19:22.

Another two weeks and I ran 18:37.

Our coach did not like to push us in terms of volume due to the fear of injury and my training stagnated more than it should of. Our volume remained at about 20 - 25 miles a week for all four years. I think the reason I continued to improve was due to simply growing taller and stronger.

My junior PR was 17:11

My senior PR was 17:03. This PR was accompanied with compartment syndrome and mild fatigue symptoms which are now a major problem.

Freshmen college I ran 15:55 on an indoor track, having never touched the 16's in my life.

The potential is there, but you can't just give up because it's not coming to you right away. You need to put in the effort and hope you dont' have idiotic complications limiting your potential.

RunHS wrote:

When I was a freshman I assumed everyone on the XC team would improve by the same amount every year. Not true at all.

This - we had a guy who was a year younger than everyone else. As a 13-year old FR he ran a 64 quarter and a 2:36 half. Probably the worst runner on the team. As a Senior the dude got down to 53 and 1:56 and was either the best or second best on team - and he got even better in college (50 and 1:54 or so I heard). Meanwhile some of our better FR runners stalled and eventually quit.

I didn't break twenty minutes in a 5k my freshman or sophomore year, didn't break nineteen my junior year, and recently ran 16:12. Hell yeah you can get fast, you just gotta train all year and put in mileage. My problem that held me back for so long was that my coaches didn't believe in high mileage so I went and did stuff on my own this summer.

No

My first high school xc race - 21:17 on a rather easy course, but I only had maybe 3 weeks of training since I missed all of summer practice. Ended up having a PR of 16 flat by the end of hs on the state course. I didn't break 16 but I'll take the all-state honors. That's also having missed junior year indoor and outdoor track due to patellar tendinitis.

Anything can happen, but it'll depend on how much you really want it.

As a soph my first xc race was over 19 minutes. 2 years later I was state champion. The "secret" is running as much as you can without getting injured. To be great you have to approach running as a sport you train for the entire year. Get into a routine that includes a longish run (10 miles plus) once per week. Some weeks in HS I got up to 65 mpw, but if you simply train 40-50mpw through the entire year (and don't get injured) you'll see huge results.

learn to pace yourself better

Holy sh*t I've found my clone.

loloopeorpo wrote:

learn to pace yourself better

This. You ran your first mile split at about your PR mile pace you ran in the spring?

Yes, you can be good. It's too early to tell, just work hard, train don't strain. Do not over train.

I started out good, had a set back, then my soph year started my way up the hill to being the best in my area.

I wasn't good at what I wanted to be good at; could only run 10:23 in the 2mile. 15:40 though the 3 mile. Considering all my intervals were full recovery, per my coach, and mileage was 40mpw, looking back, that wasn't bad.

Something changed when in short order I went from 56.something in the 400 to 49.7, with zero sprint training, zero.

You just never know, I got good, not great. Any you know, genetics is the final factor on talent. It took years to appreciate how far I got; getting to compete internationally for a year, yet not qualifying for an Olympic Trials.

It took my post college running friends hounding me to get me to realize what an accomplishment it was to run varsity at Oregon for my 4 years on the team.

Oregon has a perfect mantra right now: "Enjoy The Process."

To paraphrase a someone who had the quote of the day some weeks back -- running is a niche sport -- and as such you are like a connoisseur, in a private reserve sport. Generally, it takes an intelligent, philosophical (the understanding of the relationship between pushing your own limits, doing your best, and the team aspect) young person to grasp and enjoy the sport and stick with it from your age on.

Enjoy the process, get as informed as you can about training -- and not over training. Always leave something on the track for the next session, to paraphrase the late great William Bowerman.

And, Good Luck!

My freshman 5k PR was 22 minutes. I'm in college now, and am in about 16:00/27 5k/8k shape. Never was the fastest, never will be. But given my sh**ty talent I'm rather pleased with how things have turned out.

There were guys on my team who ran low 18's their freshman year (almost 4min faster than me!) but never improved past 17 by their senior year.

It doesn't really matter how good you are as a freshman. My advice, if you are serious about improving, is to log consistent mileage during the off season. Shoot for 40-45mpw all summer going into your sophomore year. Run on grass or dirt trails if you have the option in order to avoid injury. If you can build up a good base during your HS years, I guarantee you will see a dramatic improvement in times across the board.

Don't quit. I ran 19:03 as a freshman, 16:12 as a senior. I have seen similar improvements in many of the high school runners I coach. You are at the age where you are likely to see the biggest year to year improvements. Don't be surprised if you are close to 17:00 next year.

Simple answer: yes. You can be good. Just be patient and do all the work your coach says you should.