Track

I am wondering if this 8th grader is really an 8th grader at all? Sentence structure indicates that there are some higher than 8th grade usage examples in the context of his post. I think that he may actually be a coach who is putting together a post with all sorts of thread responses to show his future young runners that his views are similar to many out there, namely that you gotta work hard. The whole thread downplays the idea of speed as everything(An idea that many young runners seem to think is King). What do you think? Just an idea based on the original and his follow-up post.

Question Man???

No, I am talking about the conference when I make it to high school. Like I said earlier, last year the winner won in 10:14. We are the smaller school division, so it's not as competitive. I just ran that 10:51. I think I can get faster than 10:14 by the spring.

Everyone keeps saying I should concentrate on being the best in the state. For one, those guys run under 9 minutes, and that is super fast. Not sure I'll be that fast, but if the training is the key as you all say it is, and the HS coach has me do it, then maybe I will be. For now though, I just want to win the conference championship. Maybe I will change my goals after than. And, ok, ok I get the point that I will need to train harder and differently. I hope the coach knows what he's doing. There hasn't been a really good runner there for a long time.

Should I run on the weekends during the season? Both days?

Nice, astute observation, Question Man??? . I concur completely. However, if "Freshman Runner" is actually a coach (or a "Coach" with a capital "C") then kudos to him and all the better for drawing us in.

"Freshman Runner", yes, run both days. I am not of the viewpoint that you MUST run everyday, but if you want to be as good as you can be, it will involve doing so (or, at least, very nearly everyday). Definitely run both days of a typical weekend.

I appreciate your first things first approach in regards to your goal-setting. However, don't think that it will take 4yrs to reach your conference's current standards. If you train consistently and smartly, you will be pleasantly surprised at how relatively quickly (less than 1yr) your 10:51 will drop. Congrats, by the way, for your new 10:51 PR!

Well, technically I'm not in the 8th grade anymore. I start 9th grade on August 28th. Sorry that my good grammar and sentence structure has thrown you off. Turns out that I am an excellent student (straight A's just like Tim Moore), both of my parents are college educated, and my mom is an English professor. For some reason, I could always write and speak in the appropriate manner. I think it's because I learned to speak from my very well-educated parents. School has always come easy to me, and to this point, running has too. It is the only sport I'm good at though. I couldn't hit a baseball to save my life.

If you like though, I can write at what I'm sure you think would be the appropriate 8th grade level:

hey peeps! busted a 3200 in 11:02 an I just in the 8th. That kid from Amanda Clearcreek won in HS last year at 10:14. He's gone next year. I'm gonna Bogart that race from everyone because I will be best around. You will hear about me by graduation. Hate training, that coach sucks! He can take them 400s and shove them up his a$$. Can I get better with no more training. We went 10 miles week in 8th. I did better than in 7th. I know I will run better than 10:14 in spring. I'll be the best.

Thanks. I still haven't seen the relationship between training and racing well, but I guess that's because of my inexperience. Logic tells me that with more training I should do better, but I'm a results-oriented person and need to see it before I 100% believe it; part of me still thinks that I'm just running on talent and that the talent levelis the main thing. Seems like at some point, no matter how much you train, there is a stopping point to your improvement.

Wull, yuh, but?

The question is at what level you reach that stopping point.

Virtually all of the guys who do really well at a young age eventually disappear from the sport. Check the USATF national records up to about age 16 if you don?t believe it. Being closely associated with the youth level, I get the impression is that those for whom it comes easily early on eventually go away because they get beaten by those who outwork them.

I misjudged you early in the thread. If you truly are a results-oriented person, this is the sport for you. You work, you get better. After a few years, you work harder; you get better still. Talent or hard work can take you to a reasonable level in this sport. For those with both the talent AND the work ethic, the sky?s the limit.

I?ll keep my telescope handy.

Jackball,

"Freshman Runner" must be going into the 9th grade... didn't you read his above post where he said so (wink wink).

As far as the correlaion between hard work and achievement. Name me any good distance runner who go there without work? Read up on any, and you will find that good work is required. Sure, innate talent plays a factor in things like how quickly you improve, or how high is your "ceiling" (which you won't reach in HS, anyway). However, you can't really do much about improving your talent can you? You can do something about improving your work ethic though. You have talent, but it is wasted without the correlary work that enables this talent to shine through.

You ain't no high school kid. "Peeps"? "Bogart". That's as tired as Stained. We'd laugh at you ass.

Exactly what I noticed about that post, as an ex h.s. coach, I know they don't speak or write the way this "future freshman does."

Freshman runner-

Those kind of workouts back to back are not effective for training. You will probably improve immensely with a new coach. As advise, when doing workouts, you shouldn't use speed workouts to accumulate mileage. This is probably why you are turned off by running far. At public schools they usually let anyone coach. And not everyone has been a runner in their youth or read up on effective training plans. Freshman runner, consider who is coaching you closely. There are plenty of people in Flagstaff that are world class athletes that can give you advise on how to effectively train. If you train correctly now, in three years everything will come together and click and you may be a Champion Class runner. Hard work is important but training correctly is everything.

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