How on earth are HSers running this fast?

They're training/living like professionals instead of a balls to the wall 10X400m session then sneaking out at night and drinking skunky beer that they stole from their uncle's old camping cooler. I'd also add: go pick up a pair of Jasari spikes and compare them to the Dragonfly.

One major change was super shoes.

Bicarb

Bicarb is brand new. Leachman and Cook weren't taking bicarb when they set their 5k records.

And guess what? Hedengren doesn't take bicarb either.

In any case, bicarb wouldn't help Hedengren take the record from 15:25 down to 14:57. Bicarb is helpful but not that helpful.

Super shoes, plus super spikes, plus better training, plus better nutrition, plus better supplements.

I was a fast high schooler 20ish years ago. Here are some differences.

1. Training, I did not have structured training during the winter or summer just miles. No drills, core, strides, strength or workouts.

2. no gps, slap on a timex Ironman and guess how long and fast your easy days are. Shoes were basic as stated before.

3. Knowledge and information. My coach copied some stuff out of the York HS book. Running internet was young so I had no idea who was good outside of my state. No one knew what the fudge T pace was.

So you have more focused training, year round. Better shoes, better information and knowing what is possible.

other sports like swimming sees a much younger peak for athletes, track is moving that way

I'd like to add Better Athletes choosing to do track instead of ball games. It's less of a secondary sport for better athletes who've got the personality to pursue excellence without peer support by just hanging out at practice and working at it for a few weeks in the season. They are inspired by their peers that they compete against because they arent afraid to go WAY beyond what most kids their age are willing to do. Access to the plethora of big platform meets to bring the best together more often helps just as much as the other things mentioned but yes, it starts between the ears and a vision about what's possible. Its definitely not for everyone and more than just seasonal participation. Im interested in rate of improvement beyond hs with these people. How many continue a linear rate at minimum vs fading away in their supposed physical and mental prime.

Specialization and year round training at an earlier age is also driving this. Many of the better kids selected running as their sport in middle school. As a coach, I am seeing fewer talented kids also trying to be soccer and basketball players.

Great point- knowing what’s possible is a huge factor. It increases belief, but also commitment (so you do the supplemental stuff, you don’t drink the skunks beer, etc.).

WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR PEOPLE TO ACCEPT THAT 40 YEARS AFTER ZOLA BUDD DID THIS BAREFOOT, ANOTHER HIGH SCHOOLER HAS FINALLY COME ALONG THAT CAN MATCH IT???!!!!

Former fast-ish HS runner from the mid-90s here (from a program that was good, knew what it was doing relative to other schools at the time, etc), and I now have a fast-ish kid, so I've seen the differences up close. I think the majority of the difference is in training approach. In the mid-90s, VO2 max was considered the most important thing. At least once a week, we would do a workout where we would see god - stuff like 20 x 400m, 5 x mile, etc. at race pace. We also had a weekly long run, and usually something faster / shorter. But almost nothing at tempo / threshold, besides some occasional stuff in the summer. We raced well when it mattered in championship races (relative to the performance level at the time) but it took a big peak to get there and we were tired often throughout the season.

Now the training is almost all threshold / tempo, and rarely touches race pace. And, from what I observe with my own kid and others, they feel fresher on a daily basis, the training is much more cumulative - it builds and builds and builds - and because of the emphasis on threshold year round, they're ready to race well much earlier in the season. It also seems to keep kids mentally a lot fresher as well, because they don't have nearly as many 'epic' workouts that are as mentally straining as they are physically straining. Running at threshold is kinda fun for kids...it feels fast but not too fast, so they don't mind doing it often. My kid, at least, enjoys threshold workouts most of all his runs, so beyond that it happens to be the right thing to do physically, it seems to also keep it fun / enjoyable, which is just as important to running fast in HS.

Throw on top of all of this a) access to knowledge / inspiration from what others are doing - Strava, YouTube, etc, b) improved shoes, c) improved nutrition, and d) increased specialization across all sports, and it's easy to see why HS and college kids are so much faster now than they have ever been.

SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In my humble opinion, athletes in general have evolved. They are bigger, stronger and faster and more skilled overall than the 80s and even 90s. You have 300lb football players sprinting and sprinting well considering. It’s a newer model athlete. They are different.

epic workouts are so fun with a team

Specialization, and year around training for distance running, has been the case since forever, and starting before HS makes no difference. I agree that existence of middle school does bring more of the talented kids to the sport.

What makes Hedengren so good is tremendous natural talent.

Hedengren herself has said on podcasts that she comes from family of runners. Aunts and Uncles that ran at BYU.

she also has said she is mentored-coached by Olympian Juli Benson who coaches pros.

you would be stunned at what some of these elite high schoolers are doing... altitude tents, private coaching and loads of support, often from parents who ran in college or professionally.

We are into the third generation of kids whose parents were runners (and maybe the grandparents as well).

It is not surprising that Owen Powell's parents are good runners. It is not surprising that Sam Ruthe (NZ) is from a family with parents and grandparents who are former national level athletes (or international).

Kids these days might have both moms and dads who were collegiate runners. That "pairing up" of genetics does not hurt your chances of being really good.

And also, training, coaching, shoes, recovery, bi-carb, super spikes, super tracks, elite invites, elite pacing, wavelights, starting younger, and expecting much more from themselves.

All the things listed contribute. However performances across the board from high school to pro have got way better in the last 5 years because of the shoes. They are to running the rubber suits of swimming.

Having trained in the mid 80's by high school coaches who thought repeat 400's were the only way to success the information that is available to coaches now is very different. Any coach or athlete can look on STRAVA and see what 18 year old 3:47 miler Cameron Myers does.

The shoes make a difference for sure in the amount of quality you can give athletes. I remember doing 4mile threshold efforts and some strides afterward and thinking that was a session. In todays world I have 15/16 year old athletes that do up to 8-10k worth of threshold work and are able to back it up 2 days later with more faster running.

It's not just high schoolers getting faster as you see 7th and 8th graders are absolutely flying as well.

A different world!