My Chances in College

You'll be able to run somewhere.

Definitely reach out to some schools. Division 2-3 will be your best bet.

Okay

D.R.C. wrote:

So at the end of my junior year in high school, I only managed to run a 2:03 in the 800m and a 4:38 in the 1600m. My best 5k during Cross Country was 16:20. I have wanted to run in the NCAA in college, but I expected myself to run much better this year and it didn't happen. Would there be any point for me to complete NCAA Eligibility and contact coaches or am I just too slow for anyone to consider me?

Don't feel down about what you've accomplished. Those are very solid times that you can build on. You still have an entire year of high school running ahead of you.

Do the Summer of Malmo. Get yourself closer to 15-flat by the end of XC and see who reaches out during / after that season. Tell your coaches, parents, anyone who will listen to you about your goals and see what help they can be. Most importantly, have fun during the process. If you're not having fun you will not be successful in attaining your goals.

Email any coach/program you're interested in the next couple weeks! None of them will come to you but a surprising amount will listen and consider you.

As a junior in high school, I ran 2:01 and 4:35, so pretty much almost the same as you, and only ran a 17:26 5k which is more than a minute slower than yours (I progressed to a 2:00, 4:32, and 17:06 while injured, just to show that there's still room to improve). I currently run for a pretty good D3 team (second in our conference this year) and I managed to become the 7th man for xc and make it to our conference meet in outdoor as a freshman. It would 100% not be a waste to contact as many coaches as you want, because if I saw your results, I'd be trying to Facebook search you to recruit you myself. I'd say your best bet would be a wide range of D3 schools, so completing NCAA eligibility would be kind of pointless, but maybe a D2 program will take you. Good luck with everything.

Reach out to schools that interest you. I'd bet there are coaches that would take a chance on you. I know I would. If you are not overtrained and overraced in high school, I am sure there is room for improvement.

Listen to another old guy.

Ask for help, make a plan, stick to the plan.

I'm a fan of gym time over the summer. Just be sure you have someone showing you how to do the lifts with good form.

Run with passion and joy. You can do this.

If you really want to be a D1 runner, you might fit in with some marginal/mediocre programs.

I run for upper end D1 program and had similar times to you as a junior so its still possible for you to run in college. Most D1 coaches will not talk to you at all with your current times but what I would say is to make some big goals and see if you can reach them. If you can get to the mid 15s in XC or get down to 4:20 or 9:20 most D1 coaches will give you a spot (if you are considering D3 you will probably be fast enough next season). Those times might sound fast but it sounds like you have the talent to do it you just have to step your game up. You are going to want to increase your mileage and get on a serious training plan (like maybe something from Jack Daniels) with tempos, long runs, and fartleks if you are not already on that. Keep your grades up so you can get into the school you want to without running and then just start working hard! Build a good base this summer with 50-60 mpw at the peak of your training and then hit some good workouts and you will run fast during XC and track. Email some coaches but don't be discouraged if they don't respond back just keep working hard and you never know when you are going to breakthrough. Don't give up on your dream just yet you still have some time to run fast you don't have to decide a college until the end of April. Consider maybe running D3 but if your heart is in D1 go for it! Would love to hear how your season is going so just reply to my comment on this thread if you have any questions.

Thanks for the response and support. I want to run sub 15:30 in cross country this year, I feel confident I can do this because I am yet to have successful training over the summers, which is something I plan to do right this time. But I really need help with my summer training, my coach has only been coaching for a couple of years so his plans have not worked. What is the best thing I could do over the summer? Id go as far as to say id do anything, whatever it takes.

I don't have a fool-proof summer training plan I can give you because I don't know your background very well but I can give you pointers. Generally you want to take about 2 weeks off from training after track season and then start with lower mileage (25-30ish). Every week or to you should add 5-10 miles to your weekly mileage until reach your peak in late July/early August and then you might want to take a week of lower mileage before the season starts. You should not only be building base though, you also want to be doing other stuff like tempos, fartleks, striders, and definitely long runs. A solid week in the middle of summer should look something like this:

Monday: Maintance run with core afterwards (~8 miles)

Tuesday: Run with a 2-3 mile tempo in the middle (~9 miles)

Wednesday: Maintance run with core afterwards (~8 miles)

Thursday: Maintance run with 200m striders on a track (~8 miles)

Friday: Run with a 15-20 minute Farlek in the middle with core afterwards (~9 miles)

Saturday: Recovery run (~6 miles)

Sunday: Long Run (~12 miles)

You can adjust the exact mileage totals but generally most good high schoolers are running like 50-70 mpw as their highest total in early August. You can find other good plans by just using google (Jay Johnson and Jack Daniels have some good ones). But for the most part those are just the ingredients and its up to you (and your coach) to figure out the best recipe for you. You can take a few days off and run twice in one day (affectionately known as doubling) too but you want to be careful with that stuff because too much of either can be bad. Lastly here is a good link that also talks about summer training:

http://www.runnersworld.com/rt-web-exclusive/summer-training-for-high-school-runners

Good luck and happy running!