Why don't I have any leg speed?

You just have endurance instead. You should be happy. most people are the complete opposite and never get that translation to longer distances balance.

You have to work on your speed though. Especially if your natural speed is limited.

don't worry be happy wrote:

You just have endurance instead. You should be happy. most people are the complete opposite and never get that translation to longer distances balance.

You have to work on your speed though. Especially if your natural speed is limited.

Yeah, I am definitely endurance-based, which isn't bad, I guess I am worried I am going to hit a wall or something due to the lack of speed.

I am aiming to run 4:25/9:20 this year since my 1600 and 3k PRs were run in indoor this season. I definitely am in better shape now but I keep seeing examples of guys running 9:20 AND sub-4:20 and was just worried my leg speed would prevent me from hitting those goals/times.

Any suggestions on how to work on my speed? My coach almost always has 200s in the workouts we do but and he has me run them @34 although I hit 31-32ish. Is that enough or do I need more? I ask him about it the other day and his response was to stick with working on my strengths (endurance and work ethic)

Hey man, I have similar 3200/3000 PRs to you and around the same age, but even less leg. For reference, never broken 30 sec 200, but can run 61 400m. Just take what you get, and work hard on it. You'll be fine. 9:20 as a high schooler is top 200ish in the nation. Be proud.

Well if the times were run on 30 miles per week with no workouts it seems like you will be faster if you have in fact done a bit of speed since.

You should be really happy that you have endurance. You haven't been working that either.

Improve your foot speed and leg speed will follow.

Endurance-based and/or FLAT butt.

don't worry be happy wrote:

You just have endurance instead. You should be happy. most people are the complete opposite and never get that translation to longer distances balance.

You have to work on your speed though. Especially if your natural speed is limited.

Uh, yeah. That's why there are so many local 100m fun runs, and almost no 5K Turkey trots.

In college, you'll have 10k xc and the 10000 :) Working on your speed is important yes even if you'll never be too great at it.

odd choice of words wrote:

Well if the times were run on 30 miles per week with no workouts it seems like you will be faster if you have in fact done a bit of speed since.

You should be really happy that you have endurance. You haven't been working that either.

My bad, I should have been more clear. The 2:07, 4:35, and 9:01 (3k) were all done on about 30 mpw (due to a horrid stretch inclement weather), with no workouts during base phase/indoor (we never try to peak for indoor then outdoor, we just base train through indoor). Since then, I have been running 47-52 mpw with 2-3 workouts a week (my coach tries to alternate between 2 and 3)as well as a long run of 12 miles. So I have definitely been keeping up with and improving my endurance.

LR Coach wrote:

Improve your foot speed and leg speed will follow.

What would you suggest doing in order to improving foot speed?

(I use the terms foot speed and leg speed interchangable in reference to top speed, so please forgive me if I misuse a term)

Collegiate - Haha I have heard that before, and definitely would consider that move when the time comes, but for now, I am going to try to maximize my ability as a HS 1600/3200 guy

DistanceRunner68 wrote:

Any suggestions on how to work on my speed?

Start lifting weights. Improve your 10 rep max in such lifts as leg press or squats, leg curls, deadlift, standing calf raises, chins or pulldowns, decline bench press, and overhead press. If you have fat to lose, lose it.

Short sprints 20-30m with full recovery. Skip drills, focus on getting your feet off the ground fast, try to limit foot contact time, work on the transition between strides while skipping, Lead leg goes up fast and down fast. Lift weights.

lol lol lol lol wrote:

DistanceRunner68 wrote:

Any suggestions on how to work on my speed?

Start lifting weights. Improve your 10 rep max in such lifts as leg press or squats, leg curls, deadlift, standing calf raises, chins or pulldowns, decline bench press, and overhead press. If you have fat to lose, lose it.

Will do starting this offseason, unfortunately my coach makes it next to impossible to lift heavy in season (we lift inbetween workout days, so M-W-F workouts, Tues and Thurs we would lift) so I go super light so I don't kill my recovery.

Pappy- will start doing those, thank you for the advice

On a side note, running the 1600 and 3200 at an invite tomorrow and should have 3 hours or so in between vthd two events, that's plenty of time in between right? I want to give it my all in both events because I want a way better mile Or than 4:35, but I have a real shot at winning the 3200 and want to make sure I can run my absolute best in that race, because I will need to do that to win. (I often double/triple at dual meets with way less time in between, but I'm not going for PRs in those, just W's)

DistanceRunner68 wrote:

I have only races below the 800 once (4x400 after the 1600 and 800 on a windy day)

so this kid races a 4x400 once on tired legs so he assumes he has no speed?

How about you run a race a few times before deciding if you're good at it or not?

Racing an all-out 800 takes experience that you probably don't yet have.