Son has no speed, how to improve

The first thing you have to accept is that if he does not have the fast twitch muscles on which speed is built, he will not develop it. You can maximize what he has and let him enjoy running. Do not kill his spirit. 40M- 60M sprints will help.

Fly 40s all year long

Speed is innate but once he has developed into an adolescent he can work on his ability to maintain a high threshold even with limited speed and I'm guessing by that time if his 400 meter time is around 60 seconds all out (age 15-17) that would be good enough to become a decent runner long term. I know many marathon runners who can achieve around 2:20:00-2:25:00 in the marathon who are not much faster than 60 seconds for a single 400 meters.

Total coincidence

If he wants to do some speed work, slight downhill sprints are good. Plyos, but keep the reps down (couple hundred contacts, 12" box)

That's correct. Deke ( Rob de Castella) was told to really dig deep to run an all out 400m sub 60 sec. The age of 13 is too young to know what will come when son is 18-20 . Don't worry, be happy!🇸🇪🧙🏼‍♂️🇸🇪

Swap son for a better model

I like the suggestion of the Atomic Speed drills that Tony Holler uses. Give them a try. Beware that Holler talks in absolutes, but the reality is that each athlete is different. You might have to make some adjustments.

I suggest that you buy Training the Young Distance Runner 3rd Edition (It's the newest publication date (2014). One important thing I remember is that as young teenage boys grow, sometimes their bones can sometimes grow faster than their muscles so they go through a gangly, awkward stage. That might (or might not) be happening with your son. My training partner's son shot up in height and he couldn't do one curl with a 5 lb dumbbell. He's fine now, but since he didn't work out, he stayed that way for years.

Just an idea... see if he enjoys doing the beep test. To me, it's a fun workout, but I don't know if it would appeal to a 13-year-old. There are apps you can download to run the beep test. Let me see if I can find a link... Okay, here's a video showing how to do it, but there are several on YouTube, including one on how to train to run the beep test.

If you can run a six minute mile in sixth grade, you have speed. Let the boy grow and continue a healthy relationship with running and speed will come.

Get him playing some other sports. Do some light strength and conditioning. Hill sprint repeats. See what puberty has in store for him.

At that age, it is what it is.

Probably the only true statement you have ever made on LR. If you could only be as truthful w all your posts you might attract a few athletes w your made up system . But I would be doubtful of a Coach that claims he is one of the best Master Runners and has not raced in decades …

Assuming this is due to his desire to get better and not your desire to see him get better.

I would suggest hill sprints and strength training, speed is correlated with strength.
All good strength programs work by doing the same exercises over and over and gradually increasing weight and repetitions while training to failure or near failure. Pick a program and stick to it for 3 months (which is more important than which program you pick). Do the workouts with him, it's good for both of you.

People all have their favorite strength routines. My workouts are currently focused on single leg lifts (in large part because I am rehabbing a knee injury) so single leg deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, pistol squats, single leg toe raises, lunges.

I would stay away from barbells and use dumbbells or kettle bells. I would recommend general athleticism and strength rather than anything running specific.

Your first sentence is a lie.

Re your gene-skipping theory.......first, if you're as fast as you think you are, perhaps a DNA test is in order?

Such a-holes...

Short hill sprints (steep for about 8-10 seconds) full recovery then move to

Flying 30's

Wickets

If he struggles with coordination and turnover, agility ladders will help improve both of those.

Weightroom is helpful but depending on his build you may need to just start out with bodyweight work (look for a vern gambetta leg circuit or a jay johnson circuit)

Get some wickets and start working on those after a warmup and drills.

Kids that age just don't have the power to be strong in the middle distance events yet.. just keep building his aerobic engine slowly and he'll grow into strength.

Did you figure out if the milkman was involved? Milk is good nutrition for runners.

When he starts working, active jobs can also help build strength and speed, while helping him learn other things about life. Is carrying bundles of shingles up a ladder the ideal speed workout? Not at all, but I did get a lot stronger, learned what work is, and I picked up some Spanish along the way, all things that served me well me down the road.

Let me give you an anecdote.. My son was in a similar situation at that age. We made sure he played other sports (in his case, baseball), but he loved running. He was one of the slowest kids on his baseball team for a couple of years and had similar track times as your son. However, once he his puberty, he got faster… a lot faster. As a sophomore, he could run 26 second 200m repeats. He eventually ran 1:56 as a senior without any special “speed training”. He just did regular track workouts… be patient and if he’s still slow as a sophomore or junior, then look into hill sprints, 60 meter sprints all-out with full rest and those type of alactic workouts… For now, so nothing except encourage him to play a variety of sports… don’t focus year-round on running. That’s my .02 as a father of three distance runners and a HS coach.