Maybe 4:20 isn't fast after all. You have to give Sean Brosnan credit for upping the bar in HS distance.

Some people are going to hate on this comment, but you are exactly right.

Also, props to Gary Martin and Connor Burns. Seeing HS boys run sub 4 in and out HS races has changed the game. Still, we're only just seeing what happens in Africa every season with probably 10 to 15 guys a year or more. Our best talent needs to turn pro right now.

It's probably more like 30 to 40 when I really think about it. It's like Jakob Ing said: 13:20 is nothing at the world level. You want to compete on the world stage; then sub 4 at 17 to 19 is crumbles on the world stage these days.

What were your HS PRs? Do you believe you could have run 10 seconds faster in the mile and 20 in the 2-mile if only you had thought you could? Could all of the guys that ran 4:10 before this mindset revolution have run 4:00 with positive thinking? What if they only had 54 second 400 speed?

The credit goes to supershoes shoes and better training methodology.

Brosnan deserves no credit. It's insane to think Reinhardt Harrison, who was an age group world record holder in the half marathon at 10 years old, never wanted break 4 in the mile until he heard about Brosnan's T-Shirt.

Nope, it's 100% Space-Age wizard Shoes. Nevermind that kids are getting taller, start specializing in sports at a younger age, and have better resources to address mental health. It has absolutely nothing to do with advances in exercise physiology, the growth of the Youth Sports Industrial Complex, and an overall increase in participation in HS track and field.

You old farts who ran 4:30 in high school probably would have run 3:50 if you got a chance to strap on The Shoes in your prime. You are the real heroes. You deserve the recognition, the validation, dare I say even the glory, that the current generation of studs is experiencing, but instead were forced to be born at the wrong time by a cruel and uncaring God; a time before there were shoes that would validate how special and talented you really are.

Pour out some Cytomax for the homies...

+1

I'm training a friend and it's reminding me just how mental running is. If you go out for a 5 mile run with someone who's only ever run 3 miles before, and just don't tell them how far you're going, they'll be able to do it. Or, if you don't pay attention to the clock during a race and just race other people, you can end up with a huge PR, and going forward that time becomes your normal time to run. There's no doubt in my mind that there are guys today that would have been ~4:15 a decade ago that are around 4:05 now just because they want to be competitive, and it takes 4:05 to be competitive.

Here's why kids are running faster...

1) Social Media - everyone sees what everyone else is doing.

2) Training Methodology - threshold and tempo runs have taken over.

3) Shoe Innovation - the super shoes really help. And they really help the better your form is because you get more energy return with each stride.

Come on. The coach asks his team to go for a 5 mile run and the experienced runner tricks his teammate into thinking they’re only running 3? If some kid ignores split times and tries to keep up with a more talented runner, he will be dropped and run a negative split. The runners I met from other HSs that ran 4:15, trained hard, had competitive personalities and were never going to run 4:05.

Your beliefs are an insult to so many runners from the past who trained hard to run as fast as they possibly could during HS. Just like today, the talented one wanted to run fast, place high in the big meets and possibly obtain a scholarship. You seem to believe that distance running in the past wasn’t actually a real sport.

I just watched a six minute interview with Brosnan at the Pre Classic. He said that there are other kids that can do what Colin is doing (he's not referencing the other top kids), but they're not running, or they're in other sports, or just not committed. He's right. Think about all the schools that have the right mix of kids but just don't have a decent coach to get kids out and then train them properly.

4:20 is still 200th in the country. Thats pretty damn good lol, I think letsrun becomes sort of an echo chamber sometimes and has a very warped view of what is good, since most of us on here were college runners or at least a very competitive runner at some point.

This. I hate when people act like a change in mindset is all it takes. Usually it’s Uber talented people who finally decided to put in the work and saw fast results. Then they tell everyone they just need to improve their mindset.

That's always been the case and always will be. The best athletes are going to play football, basketball, and baseball because that's what is on TV. That's also where the money is.

Ironically, all 5 of Brosnan's best runners have come from 2 families. He's not even doing a good job of getting those athletes out to his team either.

Pretty sure it’s just the shoes. 4:20 is now 4:15 with the same effort and training. I think it’s a good thing.

You must have been home schooled and never met an athlete from another sport to believe that. The football and baseball players at my school were muscular kids that would have never have been distance runners. Although there were some good middle distance runners that also played basketball, I’ve never seen a good XC runner that looked like he could have played in any of the major team sports. Without Brosnan, would Colin be an OL on the football team? Out of the thousands and thousands of kids that showed talent for running that have participated in XC and track, Colin is at least in the top 5. There are people with talent for a sport that just aren’t interested but it’s unlikely that someone as talented as Colin would do something besides distance running.

Future massive contracts are a realistic consideration for less than 1% of HS athletes. Even receiving a scholarship is a long shot for most athletes.

It seems that one of Brosnan’s strengths is that he gets a lot people to come out for the team.

You just don't get it. Kids in Texas are starting to lift 5 times per week when they are 5-6 years old. Their football training makes them worse distance runners. They could have been great distance runners if they started running instead of football.

Better training methodology - yes.

Better access to results and an understanding of what their peers are achieving which normalizes running fast - yes.

Supershoes at the HS level - probably not. There are absolutely a few high end elite kids in super shoes, and that might be helping increase the number of sub 4:05 type runs, but those kids are the exception, not the norm. Most high school kids are still doing this sport on a budget and are picking up the cheapest spikes their local running store has in their size, then wearing them for all 4 years.

Take the Sahlmans and Youngs off of this year’s XC team and he’d still have qualified a team for Nationals.

Time will tell. No doubt this is one of the greatest years of high school milers (because that seems to be the only thing majority of the people talk about). But lets circle back in 5 years and see where all these guys are as they may or may not be starting their pro careers. While these kids have busted through the barrier for the mile, it's not too long ago that Brodey Hasty and DJ Principe were the darlings of the sport, coming awfully close to the sacred barrier and then having a solid, but nowhere near what was expected, college career. Sometimes these guys are special, and sometimes these guys just developed quickly.

It'll be funny when we move on from these guys to the next "once in a lifetime" talent.