Can some of you longtime runners show your progression in the 5k from high school through college and later years. I coach a small high school team and tell them that their best running years are five to fifteen years ahead of them if they stick to a plan, work smart and train. Your examples would help tremendously. Thanks,
21:00 - Sophomore HS
16:50 - Junior HS
16:00 - Senior HS
15:15 - Freshman College
14:30 - Junior College
That is where I stand now....I feel like I have a huge jump still ahead.
well, I'm still young (23), but my times have progressed quite dramatically since high school.
My junior year of HS I ran 20:04
Senior year, I ran 19:20
Freshman & soph year of college, 19:30 (junior college)
Junior year, after 1 month at a real college I ran 18:25
Senior year, 17:24
first year out of college, I ran 16:59
As cheesy as it sounds, I think it turned out perfectly. In high school, I wasn't all that fast, but my coach instilled in me a love for running and if not for him I wouldn't still be running, and I wouldn't be running the times I am now. Yeah, it took a long time, but I think that's the way to go. I gradually built up my mileage after JuCo, worked hard for a few years in a row and saw some huge improvements.
HS freshman - 20:32
HS sophomore - 19:32
HS Junior - 17:24
HS Senior - 17:01
College F - no improvement
College S - no improvement
College J - 16:16
College S - 16:03
Age 23 - 16:01
Age 24 - 15:51
Age 25 - 15:37
Age 26 - no improvement
Age 27 - no improvement
Age 28 - 15:18 (for the 2nd half of a 30:57 10K). Wish I'd run a 5k around then but didn't.
We can't all have obvious talent be we can train hard and just might find some somewhere.
I'm coming into my last full year of college eligibility and certainly have progressed at least a small bit ever since I began running. There's no reason high school athletes can't expect that with true commitment to running and an overall healthy lifestyle they can continue to improve into their 20's, by my experience.
-High school-
9th 17:52
10th 16:34
11th 16:21
12th 15:41
-College-
frosh 15:35 (injured most of the year)
soph 15:07
junior 14:39
High School
Freshman-19:08
Soph-18:20
Junior-17:35
Senior (injured most of season)-17:10
College
Freshman-15:23
Thank you. That is awesome. Especially the acknowledgement about hard work.