high school mile training

Ran 4:20s in high school

30-40 miles per week

Tempo mid week

Core and weights

Strides

Raced a few indoor meets

Did whatever my coach told me do in the spring

Sample winter training

M: Core + 6 miles

T: Weights + 5 miles + Strides

W: Core + 3 mile tempo with mile warmup and cooldown

T: Weights + 7 miles

F: 5 miles + Strides

S: 10 mile long run or Indoor race

S: Off

my 3 cents wrote:

Ran 4:20s in high school

30-40 miles per week

Tempo mid week

Core and weights

Strides

Raced a few indoor meets

Did whatever my coach told me do in the spring

Sample winter training

M: Core + 6 miles

T: Weights + 5 miles + Strides

W: Core + 3 mile tempo with mile warmup and cooldown

T: Weights + 7 miles

F: 5 miles + Strides

S: 10 mile long run or Indoor race

S: Off

Seems good.

I ran 3:56 1500m in HS.

M: 4-7 miles under 7 min/mile pace. During the run, build for half mile, then slow for half mile. Repeat 3 times during the run.

T: Fast, short intervals: e.g. (4 x 200m w/ 200 jog; 3 x 300m w/ 100 jog; 2 x 400m w 400 jog) Easy 3 miles after.

W: Weights, then 3 miles easy.

Th: 4-6 miles (medium effort).

F: easy day, light running and strides

S: race, time trial, or

ladders, such as 600, 400, 200 w/ 400m jog; or 800, 500, 300 w/ 800m jog.

S: long run of 45 - 60 minutes at aerobic pace.

6x400 is a game changer workout. Make sure it's hard.

Alejandro.p1 wrote:

So my cross country season ended yesterday and I was curious on how i should approach the upcoming track season. my goal is to run 4:40 and I ran 4:53 last year. I’m a junior and freshman/sophomore year i did not know what i was doing and I’ve gotten better now but i could use a decent training plan/structure for one

I ran 4:18 in high school. I was never the fastest runner on my team (junior year we had 4:12, 4:20, and 4:21 which was me, senior year we had 4:11, 4:18 which was me), and we've had I believe 6 guys run under 4:20, as well as maybe 25-30 run under 4:30 in the last decade alone. Our track training for upperclassmen consisted of 40-60 mpw (depending on the person, I generally ran around 60 as a senior but we had 4:12 and 4:15 guys who never broke 45). I think we had one guy back in 2010 or 2011 run 4:16 off of ~70 but things were a little different then. A sample week looked like this:

M: Interval workout + lift

T: Easy + strides

W: Threshold workout or long run + lift

Th: Easy + strides

F: Recovery + strides

S: Race, hard workout or long run

Su: Recovery or off

Interval workouts were pretty typical stuff, pace would range from 400 pace to 5k, usually either 1600 or 3200 pace though. Examples would be like 20x200@1600, 20x400@3200, 10x150@400, 5x1600@5k, or 600-500-400-300-200-100@800. Rest was roughly 2:1 for mile pace stuff, 1:1 for 2-mile or 5k pace stuff, and much more for faster stuff (often just full recovery). Threshold workouts were usually 1-2 mile repeats at threshold pace with 1-2 minute reps, but sometimes we did 3-6 mile tempo workouts (often a bit slower) or 800s or 1000s a bit faster than threshold. During off-season or in non-race weeks we would run a long run of 80-90 minutes, sometimes with the last mile at threshold or progressing down to a solid pace (5:40-6:00 for the top guys). Hard workouts would be race simulation stuff like 8x400@mile with 1 minute rest, or 2x(300-200-300)@800 with 1 minute and 5 minute rest. I also ran 1:56 and 9:22 off this training.

This is loading up on longer intervals that focus on the mile...

OP only mentioned his mile time, so maybe this is the ticket.

"my best advice" ran 1:56 800m and 9:22 3200m, and I would say there is very little difference between the two, and both are consistent with his 4:18 1600m (or 4:16 1600m, because he claimed a 4:18 mile).

The training that I advocate will greatly improve your 800m time, which will impact significantly on your mile. I didn't have sports my senior year, yet in an April open race, I beat runners who 6 weeks later ran 1:51 and 1:52 for a half (1:50, 1:51 for 800m). In two May open races, I twice went out in 55 and 1:24 to finish in 1:53+ for 800m.

I was also expected to run a very fast mile. Instead, I ran 3:58 1500m for open meet in May (3:16 , 42 last 300). A few weeks later, I ran a 3:56.11 (3:13, 43, 27 for last 200m) and won easily. If pressed, I would have run 3:54+, (3;13, 41, 25.5 last 200m).

I did run a slow 800m that summer (1:34 at 600m, sub 24 last 200m) and won.

Either system will produce fast mile times.

I guess it depends on how OP views himself as a runner.

I like the addition of mile paced intervals, these and long runs, are personally what do the most for me. Make sure you are fully prepared, mentally and physically for these workouts. Strides are also very important, but the goal is to have mile speed in your legs season round, rather than pushing it all in the few weeks before the big race. Core is another key factor, make sure your glutes and pecs are strong, and GET A LOT OF SLEEP!