1600m strategy for 7th grader with little speed

I care and am looking forward to good news!

You must be from IL since 5:18.19 is the 7th grade qualifying standard. Good luck! Looking forward to hearing about your race.

7th grade track athlete wrote:

My first track meet is on Tuesday, and it will be my first time running the 1600. My best distances are 5k and up, and I don't have a lot of sprinting speed for a good kick.

My goal for this 1st track meet is just to hit the state-qualifying mark of 5:19.14.

What kinds of splits should I put out to hit this time? Should I just try to run even splits and aim to run every lap in under 79.8? Any responses from current or former track runners would be appreciated.

this kid will not tell truth and lie about time because it is troll

do not feed

I care too but I hope that you go out too fast and seize up at 1200 falling and causing a massive pileup of runners. Preferably on a cinder track and hundreds on rock shards will gouge and embed themselves into the runners. Whoever rises from that and hobbles home will be a champion. I hope that is you. And then you quit running and go out a champ. If not I fear that bitter tasting feeling of 'what if' will linger in your mouth for years and you will try cross country, then indoor, then outdoor and changing distances back and forth then shifting to marathons and road races all in a pursuit of trying to capture a sense of glory that just always eludes you. But as a true 'runner' you are convinced that satisfaction is always just around the corner or higher mileage, a different coach, distance, etc., and better advice from forum strangers. Eventually you will seek financial advice and dating advice from others like you and learn how to be a real man.

Live the dream. It's really quite a wasted nightmare. But it is yours and I do not want to take it from you. Everyone needs a dream. And if it doesn't work out you can change to triathlon and keep it going awhile longer.

Just checked athletic.net which has 5:20 as the 10th fastest girls middle school time in the country for 2013, none of whom is from IL. Pretty sure the OP is meant to be a boy.

BTW, I would flip out if my 12 year old was posting on an internet forum.

Satisfaction is always there. It's in the training and opportunity to compete.

LM wrote:

Satisfaction is always there. It's in the training and opportunity to compete.

show me a good loser and i'll show you ...

[quote]run kid wrote:

You must be from IL since 5:18.19 is the 7th grade qualifying standard. Good luck! Looking forward to hearing about your race.

Thanks! Yes, I am from Illinois.

Lydiard is God wrote:

Karma Police wrote:

Year 7 FFS. You need to be sprinting until at least 15-16. It's more important than extra aerobic training.

I agree totally with this, despite my handle, and Lydiard himself would have encouraged the development of 'fine speed'. Learn how to sprint, get some sensible miles in, and forget about OTT anaerobic sessions.

Agreed. I'd say once a week anaerobic work for 6-8 weeks leading into the main comp, but sensible anaerobic work for someone your age. And don't forget, you can use a race day for that anaerobic session - for example run the mile, have a rest, then go and run a 400 or even a 200 race.

Found out today that I'm also running in the 800, then anchoring the 4x400 immediately after. Luckily this will take place a while after the 1600.

Running under 2:25.7 in the 800 and qualifying for state would be awesome, but unlikely.

Having to run an all-out 400 5 minutes after the 800 should be interesting.

7th grade track athlete wrote:

Found out today that I'm also running in the 800, then anchoring the 4x400 immediately after. Luckily this will take place a while after the 1600.

Running under 2:25.7 in the 800 and qualifying for state would be awesome, but unlikely.

Having to run an all-out 400 5 minutes after the 800 should be interesting.

dude you are a troll, seventh graders are in bed by now, at least any that want to win are

sleep patrol wrote:

7th grade track athlete wrote:

Found out today that I'm also running in the 800, then anchoring the 4x400 immediately after. Luckily this will take place a while after the 1600.

Running under 2:25.7 in the 800 and qualifying for state would be awesome, but unlikely.

Having to run an all-out 400 5 minutes after the 800 should be interesting.

dude you are a troll, seventh graders are in bed by now, at least any that want to win are

You must be in a different time zone than I am because I posted that at 9:46.

Two words of advice from someone who has seen thousands of high school races.

Probably 90% of all young runners go out to fast the first lap.

Probably 90% start their kicks too late.

So, take it a bit easy the first lap. And kick early. I think the first last lap move should come at the bell, and the final kick you butt off move should come no later than the steeple pit.

Here's how it went:

1600- Stayed 10m behind the leader the first lap. I don't know what my splits were but the first lap was definitely under 80. 550m in I passed the leader and ran the last 1000m alone. My final time was 5:18.

800- This time I went straight with the leader and pulled away after 600m. Time was 2:31.

I also split 70 in the 4x400.

7th grade track athlete wrote:

Here's how it went:

1600- Stayed 10m behind the leader the first lap. I don't know what my splits were but the first lap was definitely under 80. 550m in I passed the leader and ran the last 1000m alone. My final time was 5:18.

800- This time I went straight with the leader and pulled away after 600m. Time was 2:31.

I also split 70 in the 4x400.

Good job. Keep running those 400s too; it will pay off for you.

7th grade track athlete wrote:

Here's how it went:

1600- Stayed 10m behind the leader the first lap. I don't know what my splits were but the first lap was definitely under 80. 550m in I passed the leader and ran the last 1000m alone. My final time was 5:18.

800- This time I went straight with the leader and pulled away after 600m. Time was 2:31.

I also split 70 in the 4x400.

sure you did

the end wrote:

7th grade track athlete wrote:

Here's how it went:

1600- Stayed 10m behind the leader the first lap. I don't know what my splits were but the first lap was definitely under 80. 550m in I passed the leader and ran the last 1000m alone. My final time was 5:18.

800- This time I went straight with the leader and pulled away after 600m. Time was 2:31.

I also split 70 in the 4x400.

sure you did

Last year state was won in 4:51. There's a ton of kids in my grade who can run well under 5:18. My point is, I'm not lying when I say I ran 5:18.

I would try to surge with about 300 or 400 to go in the race if you are still in the top 5. This will catch your other competitors off guard.

Like you, I have no finishing speed either. But I always use this strategy in the 800 and it works like magic.

Good luck:)

Middle school runner wrote:

I would try to surge with about 300 or 400 to go in the race if you are still in the top 5. This will catch your other competitors off guard.

Like you, I have no finishing speed either. But I always use this strategy in the 800 and it works like magic.

Good luck:)

Thanks! I actually did this in the 800 yesterday with 300 to go and it worked. The kid I was leading with had no response and I ended up winning by 5 seconds.