What time should my hurdler daughter be running for 5K cc?

True, 27 minutes isn't impressive but if you've been only running at an 8 or 9 minute pace don't expect much. In a month that 27 minute time will be her tempo pace. She's probably scared and clueless running anything long, typical of a sprinter.

100m hurdling ability says nothing about distance running ability. If she has a good coach, attitude and work ethic, her times will drop. As for now, on a harder course it can be anything from +1 to +5 minutes. You have not given any details about her training, age, progression etc...no way to tell.

27m is slow, but still a better pace than Centro.

"She attends the workouts.."

How many days did she run between June 15 and the start of practice or August 15?

DNS because short hurdlers shouldn't do XC.

Sounds like she is a pretty good hurdler! But even though she is a good athlete, she may not have distance skill. Pretty wide range to expect a good 100 meter hurdler to also be a good 5k XC runner. She will certainly improve as the season goes. Just let her have fun and be part of the team. It will be good conditioning for the spring track season.

Did she run just under 14 for the 100 hurdles or for the 100 meters?

How much of a PR was it?

YTVBYGas98y$#@g wrote:

Did she run just under 14 for the 100 hurdles or for the 100 meters?

This makes a massive difference in how athletic and fast she is. A high 13s in the 100m is average for a high school girl, it wouldn't make most league finals. A high 13s for 100m hurdles is a state qualifier in almost every state.

YTVBYGas98y$#@g wrote:

Did she run just under 14 for the 100 hurdles or for the 100 meters?

How much of a PR was it?

That was for 100 meters to give speed context.

The upper classman girls who run under 13 go to state.

She's probably about 6th fastest on the team.

The top six girls on the CC team are on either side of 19 min.

I wouldn't expect her to be that fast shouldn't athletic ability produce something at least 2 or 3 minutes slower than the fastest girls?

Running XC is more about grit and desire than athletic ability. Does she have the grit to run in pain?

I have seen some of the best sprinters in our Province completely unable to run a 4 km XC race.

Sprinting and XC are two totally different skills and they are not related.

Athletic ability doesn't produce anything during HS XC. It only makes things possible. Then you have to do the work.

My guess is the top 6 girls run year round and cover at least 2000 miles during a year. They take no more than 3 weeks off.

All that practicing produces better times.

Figuring out how to run a well paced race produces better times.

Practicing with the girls she is just behind in races rather than her, slower, friends produces better times.

A lot of sensible responses, especially the last two.

I suppose I was analogizing too much from a male perspective, having observed that a speedy, team sport player like a back in football or an outfielder in baseball, is usually able to run 17 or 18 minutes for 5k with training, about 2 or 3 minutes slower than well trained, talented CC runners, which is a huge gap but not nearly as bulging as 19 minutes versus 27+ minutes.

One if these events is the wrong event for her. Either she has the fast-twitch tendencies of a sprinter or the slow-twitch tendencies of a distance runner. Everyone fits somewhere on the spectrum which makes them ideal to run 1-2 events that are next to each other on that range.

Hurdles that are also 5k specialists don't exist in nature.

I'd say don't worry about her 5k times. If she's just running in prep for track season then she just needs the aerobic work. But you might find an alternative to XC if hurdling is really her game. I don't think that slow aerobic running is doing her much good for an event that has very little aerobic component

Also, this thing you said just isn't true. Tons of 'speedy team sport' players are atrocious at cross country. If you think most of them can run 17-18 minutes, you have an extreme sampling bias which is in turn influencing your assumptions about female runners.

5 km run is painful as hell. If she can finish you should be happy.

I would recommend she run CC as it builds character and is a nice foundation for her hurdling. Yes, sprinters should put some mileage in too. Especially teenagers.

The letter why wrote:

Also, this thing you said just isn't true. Tons of 'speedy team sport' players are atrocious at cross country. If you think most of them can run 17-18 minutes, you have an extreme sampling bias which is in turn influencing your assumptions about female runners.

I'm biased from the 1970's and 1980's where running 18 minutes for a local 5k, even the school CC races that allowed runners from the community, put us way, way back in the pack.

Motivator wrote:

...She ran a 5k time trial yesterday on a relatively flat course, said that she felt good but tired. Her time was a PR of 27:30. ...

But did she look relaxed?

Does she want to be a sprinter or a distance runner? The twain shall never meet. What you want for her is irrelevant.

I know a HS girl sub-15 100H and low 46 300H, and does not run under 26 for 5k. She looks like a distance runner too (not a sprinter's body type according to outward appearance).

But ultimately- if a HS girl puts in the work, improvement is possible at 5k. So focus on the process and enjoying the process and any small improvement.