Howdy folks, I'm asking for advice here. I am a 17M junior who is looking to improve, I picked up running with fervor during the initial quarantine and became the best runner on my non-competitive HS XC team with a season PR of 17:58 for the 5k. I maintained about 20-35 miles per week from April to October. My season was cut short due to an overuse injury, took 6 weeks off supplemented with a lot of stationary biking and PT, came back in early December and have built up to and have maintained a base of an average of 45 miles per week for the past two months. I've been doing tempo runs, longruns, fartleks- somewhere around 3 workout sessions a week. I feel I am in the best shape I have ever been in. I think on a track right now I could run about ~17:30.
I am looking forward to distance track which begins for me in two weeks. I am competitive in nature, and I want to actually perform in an event rather than just being "that one not slow kid from the joke school." Here's the rub, the fastest 400 I have ever run is 71 seconds. The fastest 100 is 15.9. Last week, I ran my first timed mile since I began training again- 5:08 with splits of 75/75/81/77. I am rapidly approaching a point where my top-end speed is gonna become a limiting factor.
How do I find speed? I am a scrawnier dude(5' 11", 145) who has never really seen the inside of a weight room, would that help? Should I start chasing hills and adding strides?
Anything is appreciated,
XCwannabe