4:31 or maybe a little faster my freshmen year in hs. This was my 2nd year of track. It is not common in my experience.
4:31 or maybe a little faster my freshmen year in hs. This was my 2nd year of track. It is not common in my experience.
Yes, here was my progression:
Freshman indoor track - 60 for 400, 2:14 for 800
Sophomore indoor track - 2:06 for 800
Sophomore outdoor track - 2:03 for 800, 4:30 for 1600
I was a baseball player until the end of sophomore indoor track. I'd played it my whole life since age 6 and was one of the top 2 or 3 guys in my grade. We played spring, summer, and fall. In the winter I was in a batting cage league, but that didn't take up much time so I ran indoor track for fun.
But after that 2:06 off of basically 2-3 months training, I could see I had talent, and winning was fun, so I became a full-time runner.
wiefranz wrote:
After 3 months of running (1980) I ran constantly 1.500 m sub 4:15 (= 4:35) and after 1 year (1981) 4:08 (= 4:28). Nothing fancy!
Had a similar experience. Went out for track as HS sophomore and ran 4:11 (1500m), 3:54 junior year, 3:52 senior year.
Only improved lifetime best to 3:47. Ran the 5 and 10 in college so that's my excuse for not going faster.
Ran 4:37 about 16 months after starting to train, and then just a little over 2 months later ran sub 33 10K. Guess I was more of a distance runner.
Rupp ran 8:58 after ONE YEAR of running.
best cushioning wrote:
Rupp ran 8:58 after ONE YEAR of running.
A 8:58 mile sucks
webfoot wrote:
Had a similar experience. Went out for track as HS sophomore and ran 4:11 (1500m), 3:54 junior year, 3:52 senior year.
Only improved lifetime best to 3:47. Ran the 5 and 10 in college so that's my excuse for not going faster.
On the flip side of this, I also experienced practicing years at something only for modest returns. Played clarinet and sax from 5th grade through sophomore year in HS. In spite of private lessons and hours of practice, realized one day that I'd never be very good. Quit band and focused on running.
I ran 4:30 the first time I ever ran... and then dropped 4:15 on the second mile.
Wat wrote:
Running on Empathy wrote:I ran 4:26 after only 9 months of running. Senior year of HS, got tired of being a slacker and turned out for cross country that fall. Decided I liked running. Ran the 4:26 at the state track meet the following spring.
Wished I would have turned out sooner.
..What the hell? How much mpw were you going on at that time? What are you running now?
I don't know why this is so unbelievable to some of you. The most excercise I got prior to turning out for cross country was trying out for (and getting cut from) the basketball team every year. I occassionally went hiking. But nothing that we would consider "training" for success in distance running.
I will say I was blessed to (A) have a really good cross country and distance coach in HS, (B) teammates who encouraged me and helped me get to a decent level of fitness (and also made going to practice fun), and (C) after cross country just got the bug to run, run, and run somemore. Probably put in no more than 30 miles a week during XC, but was putting in close to 60 mpw that winter. Plus I was already tall and wiry to begin with.
Some of us just have natural talent I guess!
Fluffy wrote:
Running on Empathy wrote:I ran 4:26 after only 9 months of running. Senior year of HS, got tired of being a slacker and turned out for cross country that fall. Decided I liked running. Ran the 4:26 at the state track meet the following spring.
Wished I would have turned out sooner.
You guys are so full of crap its unbelievable. Complete BS. Unless you had German Fernandez talent there's no way you ran a 4:26 after only 9 months.
1/10
Oh ye of little faith.
FYI - The fact that I turned out for XC my senior year as a 1st year runner is a matter of record, as is my placing 3rd at the state meet that spring. I have the newspaper clippings, the articles the pointed out my being a 1st year runner, etc.
Began running XC/Track my Junior year of High School.
My Junior year PR's were:
17:51 3 mile, 4:51 1600, 2:00 800
My Senior year PR's were:
16:18 3 mile, 4:32 mile, 1:58 800, 10:02 2 mile (ran once)
Yes, it can be done. A big change in my training happened between Junior Track and Senior XC where we bumped up mileage and slowed down the pace. That was really beneficial for me because I didn't have much mileage under my belt or the ability to go out and run with the team for 6 miles at 6:30 pace. As evidenced by my times, I'm leaning towards the middle distance runner category so it might be easier for me to achieve that. I still have my exact training calendar from Senior year including workouts and daily mileage if you're interested.
I bet it has happened with major talents who started running as freshman in high school. Did Jim Ryun run before his freshman year? I think he ran 4:24 and then 4:07 the next year.
Said Aouita was a soccer player who ran his very first race with no training other than soccer wearing soccer cleats. A 3000 on a grass or dirt track. He ran 8:18 which equates to 2 consecutive sub 4:30 miles. Or so the legend goes.
kenyan style wrote:
Have you? Or at least come close to this in that amount of time?
Ran 4:34 in 10th grade after starting in 8th. No real advice to offer. Ran it off natural talent.
Andy Trouard started out sub 4:30 first time running it seems, and ended up 4:13 by the end of the season.
http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Athlete.aspx?AID=1954742
I think the key is your comment about being naturally wiry and thin.
kpack wrote:
I think the key is your comment about being naturally wiry and thin.
Well, to add fuel to the disbelief, it was two weeks before the 1st XC practice of the season. My dad comes down stairs and asks "Aren't you planning to run cross country this fall?"
"...um ... yeah."
"Well you better start training or you're not even going to make the girls team."
So I started going out after dark (didn't want to be seen by anyone) and would run as hard as I could for a mile or so. Nothing more. Did that 3 or 4 times each week for those two weeks. That was my pre-season training. I didn't know any better.
The funny part of that was that when I started official practice with the cross country team it felt like they were running really slow to start.
Most competitive runners start running in high school, right? So how many juniors run 4:30 miles? 500/year?
i did after 4 years
430 mile is a nice time in your first or second year running, it means you have good talent.
from there you need to stay healty, not over train, progress in a gradual way, eat right, etc.
most of the 430 high school guys crash out one way or another.
Ran 4.31 after 8 months of serious training as a 16 year old. Ran 4.20 9 months later, and 4.16 three months later. So yeah it can be done. But I had a heck of a team mate to train with. He ran 1.50.1 for 880 yards...