My mile time is 7:30 and I want to join distance track. I’m new to running, never ran more than 2 miles before but I’m worried I will be dead last on my team. Do you guys think my time is workable ? Should I sign up for track ? I want to but I’m very scared. I’m a junior in high school
You should absolutely join.
I was a 7:30 miler and joined the cross country team my junior year of high school. By the time I graduated I was a 4:30 miler, not great, but enough to walk onto a college team.
What do you have to lose? You’ll only get faster!
you're wanting to try mile but my advice is be flexible, 800, mile, 3200, steeple, distance relays. shoot for mile but be open to where a coach tries you. your school will probably have both varsity and JV so there may be some flexibility to the level you can be placed at.
in some areas there is also one or more "club" junior olympics type track teams in the summer after school season.
the ideal entry point into distance running IMO is XC because they can have more runners on the teams while getting serious distance workouts for a few months at a time plus some racing. but XC season is about to end. XC is the easier road in because depending where you live varsity TF can be super serious and track sometimes has only 3 slots per event, which shrinks who gets to participate. favors the obvious people. hence why i am saying you might need to be flexible and take where they put you. and see about JV.
and honestly at your level of current performance i would just get some new running shoes and start getting in the habit of running every few days. not every day. not a lot of distance. build up steady. half mile, mile. you can run around the neighborhood. you can run around the park -- i like trails and grass. you can run around the track.
get in touch with the TF coach so you can find out the details, when practice begins, what time it is, do you need to be in an athletic period, do they give you runners or spikes or do you need to buy them.
My team has cuts. You would not qualify. 14 minutes for 3200 is the standard or 6 minutes for 1600.
3:59 is respectable
I'm assuming you are a guy. If so, the real question is what kind of shape are you in? Do you currently run and if so how much? If your 7:30 is off of little to no running then you will improve rapidly once you get into a training program and there is no telling how good you might be. If you aren't already running, now is the time to start. Maybe the coach can give you some work outs. Any way, little down side and lots of upside so, by all means, go out for the team.
fast it wrote:
My team has cuts. You would not qualify. 14 minutes for 3200 is the standard or 6 minutes for 1600.
Not every team has cuts
I’m not a guy I’m actually a girl
Definitely join! I had never run faster than 8 min when i joined and after 1 month of training my coach had me run the time trial with the sub 7 girls. I ran 6:45 that day and was down to 6:13 and 2:42 for 800 by the end of my first season. not varsity good but winning JV, youd be surprised what some structured training and training buddies will do for your speed, confidence, and overall enjoyment of HS!
Join, first time I joined in 6th grade. My mile time was 12 minutes. No joke and you are a female. That’s not too bad
Don’t join
Yes, the first place newbies get their running advice is letsrun. LMAO.
Nice try!
The cool thing about track is that it’s really a personal battle until you are trying to win races, and even then it’s a personal battle.
If you are a 7:30 miler you are slow by boys highschool track standards. If you start training now, you will not be a 7:30 miler by the time track begins in march. You may not even be in the 6:00 range either. Newbie gains in the mile are huge.
If you are serious, run 4 times a week until december, then work on moving up to 5-6. In the beginning, 3 days of the week should be a 15-20 minute jog at a challenging but doable pace, this should probably be 9:00-10:00 mile pace, and then you should hit the track or a soccer field 1 day per week where you will sprint/run the straight, walk back, and do it again. 8 times should be good.
You should naturally progress to faster sprints and longer/faster distance runs, and you’ll feel the fitness come. Don’t force anything too hard and let it naturally progress over a month. If you need help on what to do next, either talk to your track coach or post in this thread, I’m happy to help and I’ll turn notifications on for this specific thread. Good luck!