I will put as much background as possible but if I leave anything out feel free to ask.
I’m 14 and have trained very inconsistently in the past. I have played basketball, baseball, soccer, and golf my whole life and started running in 4th grade for reed deed run. For reed-deed-run (RDR from now on) I was running one timed mile every other week in which I ran 7:35 almost every time with no improvement. I did RDR again in 5th grade hitting 7:33 consistently until I took a break at Christmas time and was given the book Unbroken (one of the best books I’ve read in my life) as a Christmas gift. I read the book and was inspired by it to try and run more.
I then came back and my first timed mile back was a 6:46 with no runs in between that and the last 7:33. I was then ecstatic and bumped up my mileage to an all- out timed mile every week (Instead of every other week) and my very next run (about 4 days later) was a 6:28 (on my own on a track). I then ran a few more in the 6:40s at RDR due to it being a VERY crowded track (100 or so kids on a 200m track) before running a 6:13 on my own about 2 weeks later. I then proceeded to run a 6:12 and ultimately a 5:57 the end of the year off of no training. My theory was that I never tried to run any faster than 7:30 because that was the only pace I had ever run at and I didn’t know I could run faster. I also got big headed and ran a 5k that year and blazed the first mile and ended up walking about halfway through it. I finished 10th overall with a 24:42 (granted it was my grandparents home that we ran it at and the times were indicative of the average age).
Then 6th grade year went by and I didn’t run the whole year and my mile PR that year was 6:24 (it was the only run I did the whole year timed or not and I got a bad side stitch about 2 and a half laps in (1k) and died out most likely due to my lack off running. The only thing that kept me in shape at all was the fact that I did so many other sports and was always outside. Another reason I contribute to my lack of effort towards running was the fact that I got a phone that year and was using a lot of my spare time on that. I did however, go to a track camp with a few of my friends for about a month which was the first time I ran more than a mile at once. We ran about 4 times a week and never more than 2 or 2 and half miles.
7th grade year was interesting because it was the first year for school sports. My parents wouldn’t allow me to do football and I used that time for things outside of running (much to my regret) and then came basketball which I played for the school but also prevented me from running. We timed a 400 immediately after basketball season ( the first one I had ever timed including splits). I ran a 68 in one of the worst run 400s you will ever see (If there was a video of it, it literally could be used as comedy) and that led into track season about 4 days later.
Track season started and the first day it was apparent I was one of the top 3 runners. We were all neck to neck with each other and it kinda depended on the day who won. The first meet we had the slow meet (our district has 15 schools so they split it up into 2 meets until the district meet) and Ruben, Bogdan, and I (the top 3 runners) were running the 800 and 1600. The 800 was first and we placed 1,2,3 with bogdan winning in 2:28 and me and Ruben behind him in 2:31 (I outsprinted Ruben from about 50m out due to a slow start and great kick and beat him by 0.09). Then came the mile where Jackson (a kid that went to our track camp but goes to a different school) won in 5:37 followed by 5:40 bogdan and 5:41 me and Ruben (I won same way by 0.03). In the following meets I ran 5:38 then 5:35 (Ruben 5:31 and bogdan 5:32). We then had spring break and I came down with pneumonia (I tried to run through it too) I ran a 2:37 800 and 6:00 mile before they took me to the doctor and realized what happened. I got anti biopics but tried to rush back too fast and ended up missing the district meet. Bogdan placed 3rd in the 800 with 2:24 and Ruben placed 6th with a 2:26. The mile however was only Ruben since Bogdan hurt his back. Ruben despite being the only one to run ended up running 5:19 in prelims getting 3rd and then winning the final race with 5:15 by 0.26 seconds. My PRs for the year were 2:27 for the 800 and 5:35 for the mile. During the season we ran a time trial (0.85 green lap) and 1.5 mile steady run afterwards on Monday, then buildups and relay races (200ish) on tuesday, meet on Wednesday, Thursday was typically a 1.5 mile run followed by 2 half mile runs. Friday was a 2.5 mile “long run” followed by hill sprints 2 or 3 reason a small hill plus a little extra flat distance. Once again I did the summer camp but this time we ran up to 3 or 4 miles on certain occasions but still mostly 2 mile short easy runs.
Ruben however was recognized by the coach for his district effort and ran with the high school varsity team every day the whole summer. He ended up running a 17:56 5k and 4:58 mile while training with them. I came one day and decided that was not for me and that the normal camp would satisfy my needs :) I also ran a 21:22 5k.
This year (13 years old) I ran for about 10 days straight averaging 4-5 miles each run with a 7 mile long run. I then took a week completely off before my 5k race (Houston Texans 5k) where I ran 20:28 (6:35 pace) placing 17th overall. I did no running after that besides the occasional 4 mile run every few weeks. Then basketball came and I only ran on weekends going into track season. About a week into the season (track) I ended up getting plantar fasciitis. I stopped running and rested for about 2 weeks before I came back. I missed the first meet (so did Ruben for a different reason though) and Bogdan moved to 400 and 800. The second meet we came back Ruben ran 5:11 out of rust and I ran 5:45 due to nagging injury. We also ran the 2400 which is only for middle school and he ran low 8:10 ish with no competition and I ran 8:38 in a tight race. The 3rd meet I ran 8:24 getting 5th and he ran 8:06 getting 1st again. In the mile he won with 5:02 and I got 4th with 5:20. Then we had spring break where I ended up finding out that I had IT band syndrome and missed another 2 weeks. I didnt run at all after the 3rd meet until about 5 days before the district meet where I did a pacing work out with Ruben (4x600 at 5:15 pace) which I was going for in the mile and what Ruben was going for in the 2400.
In the race for the 2400 I was running and got cut off and spiked and had to stop for about 2 seconds before continuing because of the wave of runners behind us. I slipped behind about 20meters and then last lap passed all but to people to get in 3rd before getting out leaned at the line by Jackson from my track camp who got second in the the mile last year. I ran 8:11 and got 4th and Ruben won with 8:02 unpushed yet again. In the mile I was in 4th the whole race and finished in 5:10. Ruben ran 4:59 and I felt I could’ve done a lot better but I couldn’t pass the kid in front of me not due to lack of energy just because of the way everything played out and there wasn’t really a good opportunity to do so. I feel pretty confident I could’ve broken 5 this year had I not gotten hurt (twice). I also ran an 18:14 5k about a month after the district meet with no running and only soccer to keep me in shape. It was a legitimate 5k course but was literally flat the whole time and it was perfect running temperature so that helped a lot.
My training plan for the summer was given to me by my HS coach (I’m going into freshman year) who got sponsored by Nike and Under Armour and is currently training for the olympics. It starts at around 20 mpw (when it really starts I mean not the transition into part which I already did) and works up to 35 mpw with an 8 mile long run and 6 mile hill tempo.
My goal is to run a sub 18 5k (preferably under 17:45) and 4:40-4:45 for the mile. I’m aware that 4:40 is a lot of improvement from 5:10 but I really don’t feel as if 5:10 was representative of my full potential. Realistic or not those are my goals. My question is what can I realistically expect based on my background and training plan. If u need more details please ask and I will be happy to answer.
I also apologize for any words like cuz, u, etc. I was trying to type fast and may not have caught all of them. Thank you for your time and feedback!