Training advice for a high school freshman

I wish I would have been more dedicated. I got into the "I can work out tomorrow" mindset and it lasted for 4years. Train smart, if you don't feel right, take a small break to avoid injury. These were my biggest mistakes which also prevent all types of runners from reaching their full potential. Youre going to love high school running, Good Luck!

Also, work on form, this will make running so much easier and safer, trust me. I also encourage working on cadence, eventually, aim for 180 but ask for your coach's advice first. Coach knows best(most of the time).

I’m a high school senior, each year I trained fairly differently and each year I looked back at what I was doing and thought, “wow that was dumb”. If I could’ve done anything different I would’ve ran more mileage, just easy miles at a slow pace. I convinced myself I was an 800 guy and needed low mileage high intensity and as soon as I upped my mileage I dropped time in every event.

I dont know if you need to do 1 hard workout, 1 medium hard workout and 1 long run each week of the year. I would however work on short speed year round.

You're miles ahead of what most freshman are doing. I think you'll be fine.

Have you talked to the coach yet?

coach wrote:

I dont know if you need to do 1 hard workout, 1 medium hard workout and 1 long run each week of the year. I would however work on short speed year round.

Why would you put an emphasis on short speed you’re around and imply that those other things are not important for a distance runner?

Year round

Yes I have talked to my coach. He has been trying to get a few kids together for some workouts since our season was cancelled, which is why I currently have the hard and medium workout in my training plan. He has given me a general idea of how to train over the winter, and his prescribed mileage for freshman and sophomores caps at 45.

otter wrote:

coach wrote:

I dont know if you need to do 1 hard workout, 1 medium hard workout and 1 long run each week of the year. I would however work on short speed year round.

Why would you put an emphasis on short speed you’re around and imply that those other things are not important for a distance runner?

If you're not racing do you really need VO2 max and anaerobic capacity sessions? Will 6x800 at 3200 pace help you now if you're not racing for another 4 months? But you could be doing pure speed work to get your top end speed faster and to maximize athleticism.

@You got it: Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. I don't really know how to improve form efficiently, so if you have any information for how to do that please share. I have been told by my coach that my upper body is tight and my arms don't swing enough, which is something I definitely need to work on. My cadence sits around 160 for easy runs, and obviously increases as I go faster. Again, any advice is appreciated, and I hope some of the details I provided help.

Summer training is a massive key to success, you should be building A LOT of mileage over the summer to get your aerobic base up(I build up to around 55mpw and stay there for a few weeks) . During your season, try not to peak early, one of the most important concepts in running is periodization(I'd suggest watching nick symmond's video on the topic). Basically if you peak too early, your more important races; regionals and states won't be as well raced as it could be. When you are building mileage, it is important to keep workouts to a minimum, adding mileage is a strain to your legs, and so is doing harder workouts. Before going into any track workouts, I would start with tempos and fartlek to get you started, which will help with a bit of speed-endurance. when going into championship season, taper on mileage. And most importantly, enjoy spending time with your teams, time in high school goes by a lot quicker than it seems.

For reference, my PRs:

5K: 17:52

1600m: 4:48

2 mile: 10:33

lmk if you have questions

30 MPW for freshmen

40 soph

45 juniors

50 seniors

Thank you for your input, I will definitely look into that Nick Symmonds video. I have a few questions though: a) I have been growing ~4 inches per year for the past two or three years, and I have generally been advised to not go above 45 miles per week because of my developing joints and muscles. My question is is it safe to build up to 55 during major growth periods, or will I get injured? b) Should winter training be the same as summer training?

Thank you, as well as everyone else, so much for your advice.

Freshman with questions wrote:

Thank you for your input, I will definitely look into that Nick Symmonds video. I have a few questions though: a) I have been growing ~4 inches per year for the past two or three years, and I have generally been advised to not go above 45 miles per week because of my developing joints and muscles. My question is is it safe to build up to 55 during major growth periods, or will I get injured? b) Should winter training be the same as summer training?

Thank you, as well as everyone else, so much for your advice.

I'm no doctor, but if you are growing as fast as you say you are I would wait at least until the summer before sophomore year to build up to something like 55mpw, so 45mpw is fine, although a bit excessive for an incoming freshman. Yes, you would probably get injured, keep in mind your going to be growing no matter what, so don't be discouraged by like a centimeter of growth. To be honest, you most likely are going to get injured at least once in your high school career, I don't know many people who haven't gotten injured except for our JV team(which runs significantly less than our varsity). I don't know what your school does, but we have an indoor track season during the winter, but I do know that your muscles are more prone to injury during the winter, so if your going solo in the winter I would just lower mileage a bit and try to run on softer surfaces. Most teams who don't do indoor track generally have a team winter training kinda deal, so most likely you will either be doing what your team is doing, or racing track.

also if your super serious about running collegiately, I can give a bit of info about that(I'm a Junior in high school)

coach wrote:

otter wrote:

Why would you put an emphasis on short speed you’re around and imply that those other things are not important for a distance runner?

If you're not racing do you really need VO2 max and anaerobic capacity sessions? Will 6x800 at 3200 pace help you now if you're not racing for another 4 months? But you could be doing pure speed work to get your top end speed faster and to maximize athleticism.

Who says the workouts are formatted that way? He certainly did not. And, bi-passing a long to work on top end speed is a big mistake.

Aerobic capacity is the master of every distance runner. Steer away from that and you end up way off of your potential 100% of the time.

otter wrote:

coach wrote:

If you're not racing do you really need VO2 max and anaerobic capacity sessions? Will 6x800 at 3200 pace help you now if you're not racing for another 4 months? But you could be doing pure speed work to get your top end speed faster and to maximize athleticism.

Who says the workouts are formatted that way? He certainly did not. And, bi-passing a long to work on top end speed is a big mistake.

Aerobic capacity is the master of every distance runner. Steer away from that and you end up way off of your potential 100% of the time.

I didn't say to bypass a long run. I said that you dont need to do 2 quality workouts and a long run weekly. In a base phase do you need the stress of 2 workouts and a long run?

to answer your form question. It is thought that a midfoot landing is best and most effecient( I agree) If you land on your heel and want to use more of a forefoot landing I would reccomend Getting some 0mm drop shoes and ask your coach or running store employees for advice. Your head should always be upright and you shouldnt stick your but out to much. For your arms I wold just reccoment thinking about it as you run. like most body parts people dont pay attention to how they are moving while rrunning. Actually think about your arm swing while running. Swing just enough to prevent your body from rotating to much in other word just enough to keep you balanced. These are just some simple advice but youtube videos may also be helopful. Also make sure you have strong hips and lower body

really seems like you've got the commitment to mileage down, I'd probably start incorporating some down/rest weeks just to make sure your body actually gets the fitness gains. Every 2-4 weeks is fine for rest. Really the specific stuff I'd offer is dependent on what you're doing now. I'd usually do some kind of threshold or tempo once a week, and for these its better to be a bit too slow than too fast. Then either a harder workout as in repeats @ 5k-10k pace, raw speed as in 800 pace or faster, or a hill session. I think that the most important rule of the offseason is that health is far more important than any one session or run. I'd look into mobility/strength exercises too, that was something I wish I'd started sooner. I'd also try and get into lifting if its available to you, just learn the basics and get stronger before moving into advanced stuff

good luck!!

Coach-

Re- read your original post. Whether you meant it or not it sends the wrong message in my opinion. We probably agree on most things regarding training.

I’m just trying to say to use caution when giving advice to a high school kid because if I were him and took your advice to heart I would be doing sprint based workouts on a regular basis instead of the things that he needs to work on for a “base” phase.