how should i go about my pursuit of a 4:14 mile?

You aren’t going to pr by 14 seconds in the mile after just coming back from a stress fracture. Take the summer to build towards xc fitness. Take a longer term view of staying healthy and building your aerobic engine.

are you running hs XC this fall? In any case steady progress carried into next year is going to do a lot more for you than hitting a time ASAP, believe me.

I'd really just spend the summer getting the volume up over hills and soft surfaces, doing strides, and maybe throwing in a workout mid-run on days where you feel good. The goal for the summer isn't necessarily to "train," it's to get ready to train, which increases your work capacity and allows you to hit those fall workouts at a much higher quality.

From XC and growing you'll get pretty strong and you can spend indoor and outdoor getting quick again

i graduate so i dont have an xc season. my school im going to has a robust club system, so i can race indoor and outdoor technically. id really like to get that mile time so i can get on the team THEN build fitness rather than losing my whole freshman year of potentially running for the school

ill see how my 4x4 goes to see my potential speed and go from there. i know its best to base build, but i want to take advantage of the summer to train hard before im in college

Build a base...you need a good aerobic base to run a 4:14. You have the speed.

i was thinking of just doing high mileage with workouts that are more sharpening based but continuing to double on those days/cross train

this way i could get the best of both worlds and experiment with time trials as i have friends who are willing to pace me thru 800 so i can just test out my fitness on the mile

i dont feel like i lost TOO much fitness

It doesn’t seem like you’re giving respect to the difference between your PR (> 4:30) and your goal time (4:14). I understand you THINK you can do it, but until you have done it, you haven’t proven that. That’s the beauty of track and field. Track don’t lie.

The truth is you’ve got a full 2 levels to jump before you’re even flirting with that time. There’s nothing in your PRs that indicates a 4:15. 51 and 1:56 aren’t THAT fast where it makes it a gimme. 4:30 to low 4:20s is one jump, and 4:teens is another, and that’s WITHOUT coming off injury.

The other posters are right, there’s a huge aerobic component to the 1500/mile and that’s prerequisite number one to perform well in that event.

It sounds like a lost season. THAT IS OK. You’re not even a freshman. Better to get in killer shape and build for the rest of your college career, even if that means walking on. Spend your summer getting fit aerobically. Like stupid fit. make sure to do some hill sprints or top end speed stuff once every 2 weeks or so. One tempo a week, and nice and easy running for the rest. Milers aren’t built overnight.

Thank me in 2 years when you’re running 4:10.

i agree. i think im being greedy. I know I have the fitness POTENTIAL for that time and I think I wouldve gone 4:20 in the mile this season due to how my trajectory was headed and since my focus would shift. I hadn't run a 1500 since freshman year and I practically jogged my 4:13, closing in 27

i think ill do that, ill just work aerobically, but im curious as to how i should spend my fall. i dont plan on racing club xc so its a weird gap between summer training and track sharpening.

You should run xc. Otherwise the year is going to become too much of a grind. It will give you a secondary short term focus and remove the temptation to be in top mile fitness year round.