Other times: 4:20 1600, 51 4x4 split. Going to be a highschool senior next year. Just wanna know if anyone has seen a jump that big before.
Give me some more information. How many miles per week do you run? What is a typical week of training with specifics for each workout? What is your running history? How many years have you been running and how hard/easy etc etc. It may be possible but as a Junior soon to be Senior in high school are you going to run cross country in the fall. If you can build a ton of strength this summer, what’s left of it, and run cross country mainly for the aerobic benefits who knows, it is possible…But first shoot for 1:52/1:53 then build toward that peak race…
I’m currently building to 70mpw. I started running my freshman year and ran 4:38, 2:04 my sophomore year. Most of my training wasn’t very good the past couple years as my team is very inexperienced and the whole program is up and coming. I do have to run cross country this fall however I’m gonna make the most of it and give my all in those races in though they seem to be where I’m weakest, last cross season I ran 16:27 for my best 5k, I’m shooting for atleast sub 15:30 this year on the same course.
Given your 400 and 1600 timed there are two directions you can go. You can become a miler or an 800 guy. You are choosing the 800 route. Let me be clearly honest. Given the 400, 800 and 1600 times you have shown me, my guess is that you are a Miler. 1.55 is better than 4.20 but that does not mean you are an 800 guy. Almost all runners do not start out with enough aerobic ability to have their mile or 1600 time match their 800 time.
All that said you picked the 800, which is not a bad choice; extra speed will help you later if and when your college coach converts you to a mile. So let me help you there. To run a faster 800, you have to get more speed. That is not just a factor of trying to run fast in practice. It also involves more power. This is the time of the year to attack that. You are going to have to get into the weight room, especially doing lower body and core strength work.
Get someone to help you, or you will hurt yourself. The trick is to start light so you develop the proper technique. You also want to do drills and plyometric work. And you need someone to help you. Doing these wrong just ingrains bad patterns that you will have a hard time unlearning in the future.
You also have to keep improving your aerobic ability. Best time of the day to address that is when it's cooler, that is early morning. If you can't do that, you are stuck with evenings, not as cool as early mornings, but better than killing yourself in the hot sun. You also want to do acceleration strides about 100m to 150m, at least two to three times a week. The trick with these is relaxation while running fast. You are starting the stride comfortable pace and slowly building up speed as you stay comfortable. Don't initially force yourself to hold that top speed for a long period. You only do that in the later reps. And forget about the stopwatch here. You can time the last two, if you wish. The trick is naturally developing comfortable speed. Typically about five reps first time doing these. You can do eight or more later. You can do them after a run. Or you can do them as a second workout for the day. Good luck!
Given your 400 and 1600 timed there are two directions you can go. You can become a miler or an 800 guy. You are choosing the 800 route. Let me be clearly honest. Given the 400, 800 and 1600 times you have shown me, my guess is that you are a Miler. 1.55 is better than 4.20 but that does not mean you are an 800 guy. Almost all runners do not start out with enough aerobic ability to have their mile or 1600 time match their 800 time.
All that said you picked the 800, which is not a bad choice; extra speed will help you later if and when your college coach converts you to a mile. So let me help you there. To run a faster 800, you have to get more speed. That is not just a factor of trying to run fast in practice. It also involves more power. This is the time of the year to attack that. You are going to have to get into the weight room, especially doing lower body and core strength work.
Get someone to help you, or you will hurt yourself. The trick is to start light so you develop the proper technique. You also want to do drills and plyometric work. And you need someone to help you. Doing these wrong just ingrains bad patterns that you will have a hard time unlearning in the future.
You also have to keep improving your aerobic ability. Best time of the day to address that is when it's cooler, that is early morning. If you can't do that, you are stuck with evenings, not as cool as early mornings, but better than killing yourself in the hot sun. You also want to do acceleration strides about 100m to 150m, at least two to three times a week. The trick with these is relaxation while running fast. You are starting the stride comfortable pace and slowly building up speed as you stay comfortable. Don't initially force yourself to hold that top speed for a long period. You only do that in the later reps. And forget about the stopwatch here. You can time the last two, if you wish. The trick is naturally developing comfortable speed. Typically about five reps first time doing these. You can do eight or more later. You can do them after a run. Or you can do them as a second workout for the day. Good luck!
I appreciate the thorough response!! Gonna listen to a lot of what you say.
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