How good could I have been in high school?

You might have been worse. I ran all 4 years in HS, and my HS 1600 PR was 5:16.

I'm in my early 30s now, and I've run a 1600 in 5:02 this year. My mileage (30 MPW) and training were similar.

a late bloomer wrote:

You might have been worse. I ran all 4 years in HS, and my HS 1600 PR was 5:16.

I'm in my early 30s now, and I've run a 1600 in 5:02 this year. My mileage (30 MPW) and training were similar.

Huh?

later today wrote:

a late bloomer wrote:

You might have been worse. I ran all 4 years in HS, and my HS 1600 PR was 5:16.

I'm in my early 30s now, and I've run a 1600 in 5:02 this year. My mileage (30 MPW) and training were similar.

Huh?

Agree. This makes no sense.

later today wrote:

a late bloomer wrote:

You might have been worse. I ran all 4 years in HS, and my HS 1600 PR was 5:16.

I'm in my early 30s now, and I've run a 1600 in 5:02 this year. My mileage (30 MPW) and training were similar.

Huh?

Yup. My speed got better as well. 57" was my best 4x400 relay split at age 18. At age 30, I ran a 56.07" from blocks for the open 400.

I think 4:20.

What? No Way? wrote:

later today wrote:

Huh?

Agree. This makes no sense.

It kind of does when you consider the better spikes and the fact that I weigh almost the same as I did back then. In my 20s, I've taken several months-long breaks from running, but I've always replaced it with some other type of physical hobby like hiking, cycling, skiing, lifting and so on.

FWIW, my HS progression was:

First day practicing with the team: around 7 flat (totally untrained)

Freshman year: around 6 flat (15-20 MPW)

Soph: 5:3x (20-25 MPW)

Junior: low 5:20s (30 MPW)

Senior: 5:16 (30 MPW)

Honestly you could of probably been a state champ with those times

sdcard wrote:

Honestly you could of probably been a state champ with those times

I know you are being sarcastic, but 14 consecutive 200's in 31 is kind of impressive for a guy in his 30's.

To be honest OP, I could see maybe high 4:30's in the mile with maybe mid 16's in the 5K if you were somehow able to reverse the clock. I think you probably could have been a sub-2 800 guy as well, but it's tough to say without knowing your 200/400 abilities.

Your HS times would have been about the same if not worse.

35+ year old men have run a sub 9.9 100, a 1:43 800, a 3:32 1500, a sub 13 5K, and a 2:01 marathon. There is not and has never been a single HS kid who could run any of those times.

What? No Way? wrote:

sdcard wrote:

Honestly you could of probably been a state champ with those times

I know you are being sarcastic, but 14 consecutive 200's in 31 is kind of impressive for a guy in his 30's.

To be honest OP, I could see maybe high 4:30's in the mile with maybe mid 16's in the 5K if you were somehow able to reverse the clock.

I doubt it. At age 32, I ran faster than the OP off of less mileage. In HS, I didn't break 5, let alone run something in the 4:30s.

The HS environment isn't really conductive to maximizing your potential. You've got football or sprint coaches trying to coach distances, you've got early morning classes and late night assignments (or texts from friends) that mess with your sleep, you have teammates who try to race you on easy runs, and you have rivals who start way too fast. College and post-college is usually much better.

What? No Way? wrote:

sdcard wrote:

Honestly you could of probably been a state champ with those times

I know you are being sarcastic, but 14 consecutive 200's in 31 is kind of impressive for a guy in his 30's.

To be honest OP, I could see maybe high 4:30's in the mile with maybe mid 16's in the 5K if you were somehow able to reverse the clock. I think you probably could have been a sub-2 800 guy as well, but it's tough to say without knowing your 200/400 abilities.

I wasn’t

sdcard wrote:

What? No Way? wrote:

I know you are being sarcastic

I wasn’t

The OP would need to be transgender, compete as a girl, and not live in a fast state like California. In that case, a 5:00-5:05 1600 might be enough to pull it off.

Actually, your times aren't bad but "coulda, shoulda, woulda" doesn't do anyone any good. Don't look in the rear view mirror.

getting old! wrote:

About two years ago I began running fairly consistently averaging about 50mpw and ran 17:28 for a 5k and an indoor mile at 4:58 at age 32.

This got me thinking about what I might’ve been capable of doing as a 17-year-old in training with a team throughout the school year. I even went back to see who the cross country and 1600 m champions were my senior year and it occurred to me that I probably would’ve gotten second and third in my non competitive region.

It also got me thinking about how much slower we get with age and if I would’ve been faster back then. Can any former high school runners now in their 30s chime in?

I'm going to be another one of those folks saying that you'd probably be slower back then. If a 4:58 1600 gets you second or third, the coaching must have sucked (I'm assuming you're a guy and not a girl since you mentioned that it was a non-competitive region). You won't get anywhere near your potential with bad coaching. And to be fair, it's not entirely the coach's fault since most HS track coaches are much more familiar with sprints and other explosive sports like football and basketball. In addition, high intensity and low mileage training programs were very common in the 90s and early 00s.

I'm about the exact same age as you and am running much faster as a 32 year old this year than as a HS senior in 2006. I'm about 10 seconds faster in the 1600 and almost a minute faster in the 5K than I was in HS. I'd even say that the number of hours I spent training as a 32 year old was probably a bit less than the number of hours I spent training as a HS kid.

The difference?

HS me ran on cinders and decomposed granite, adult me ran on Mondo tracks and Dragonfly spikes.

HS me ran too hard on easy runs and tried to race or keep up with teammates too often. Adult me runs at whatever pace feels comfortable that day.

HS me was obsessed with trying to make the varsity relay team and usually choked during races. Adult me does everything for fun and treats track as a way to stay in shape for peak bagging and other adventures.

HS me had to worry about tests, college admissions, other extracurriculars, school projects, and being popular. Adult me has a relatively stable middle class job, no dependents, no loans or debts aside from the mortgage, and no long commutes or working hours.

HS me had horrible pacing, would follow the pack or the leaders early on, and would crash at the last part of the race. Adult me runs even or slightly negative splits.

getting old! wrote:

It also got me thinking about how much slower we get with age and if I would’ve been faster back then.

Just how much do you slow down once you cross age 30?

Very little if you don't wreck your body in your 20s.

Lagat set his 3000 (7:29) and 5000 (12:53) PRs after turning 35. Kipchoge ran his sub 2 marathon less than a month before his 35th birthday. For the sprints, Felix Sanchez won the Olympic Gold in the 400 hurdles a month before turning 35, and Kim Collins didn't set his 100 PR (9.93) until his 40th birthday.

If anything, I'd say that non-elites peak later than elites since the former haven't worn out their bodies yet with decades of intense training.