8th grade girl, sub 5:40 mile, what times are possible?

@bestcoachevertolive - this is possibly the stupidest advice ever. 80 miles per week for an 8th grader is asinine.

@bestcoachevertolive - this is possibly the stupidest advice ever. 80 miles per week for an 8th grader is asinine.

Though this post is a bit old, here are a few pointers I'd recommend to get your middle schooler ready for the next level:

Technical Execution:

Look for ways to improve her body mechanics. IE: Watch the point of impact while she's striding to see if her foot strike is right at center of mass instead of too far in front. A good way to begin this transition is to establish blocks of time during her run to incorporate changes. So the first 5 minutes she's paying attention to the adjustments you recommend and then goes back to what she feels is normal. But gradually increase that time until you start to see her naturally running with the correct form. This is the perfect age to start as she's just beginning to establish training habits.

Nutrition:

She's at the point where her menstrual cycle has already begun which can have detrimental effects if the iron in her body is insufficient(fatigue, delayed recovery, etc). Damon Martin at Adams State gave a talk about making sure his female student athletes took iron supplements to make up for the deficiency caused by training hard and has seen much better performances overall. Have a medical professional measure serum ferritin levels and make a recommendation on an appropriate balance.

Establish what motivates her:

35 miles per week, although likely physically possible, can be mentally draining to a middle schooler. Kids at this stage of development are becoming much more social, and if your athlete is spending too much time training alone, you may risk losing her interest in the sport. Find out why she loves to run. Is it winning medals? Is she looking for personal records? Both of those (extrinsic/intrinsic) are great reasons and can help you establish realistic goals that she will be excited to chase.

The main takeaway is to focus on setting a foundation for her to continue seeing performance gains at the next level. If she has a solid base, she's much more likely to succeed down the road.

At our local middle school meet this week the 1600 girls was won by a 7th grader in 5:17.

2- 5:36

3- 5:45

We live in the sticks of SW Va

good freakin question wrote:

BTW, i ran 5:37 in 8th grade and ran 4:19 by the end of high school, so...um, yeah, the, eh, the pressure is on, buddy.

That's awesome for a girl.

Congratulations! wrote:

good freakin question wrote:

BTW, i ran 5:37 in 8th grade and ran 4:19 by the end of high school, so...um, yeah, the, eh, the pressure is on, buddy.

That's awesome for a girl.

Hi Genzebe!!

i knew i'd get that response!thank you caller, stay on the line for your prizeit IS awesome for a girl. but you see, i'm a dude

Congratulations! wrote:

good freakin question wrote:

BTW, i ran 5:37 in 8th grade and ran 4:19 by the end of high school, so...um, yeah, the, eh, the pressure is on, buddy.

That's awesome for a girl.

if she continues to enjoy the sport she will run fast. Dont make it get super serious for her and dont put her in big high pressure situations too much before she is ready.

good freakin question wrote:

it IS awesome for a girl. but you see, i'm a dude

In that case, YOU SUCK.

Also had a similar progression to yolo...

7th grade: 5:24

9th grade: 5:16

10th grade: 5:07

11th grade: 4:35 (1500)

12th grade: 4:49

sub 17 5k

Just make sure she is enjoying herself and not getting too intense. She has to want it, you can't want it for her. And if she wants it she will run well enough to get recruited. Also, speaking from experience as a high schooler who logged many weeks between 70 and 90 miles, she doesn't have to go mileage crazy. That way there's still room to improve in college. It's hard going from running that much to running less mileage in college and still excelling.

runnergirl0000 wrote:

Also had a similar progression to yolo...

7th grade: 5:24

9th grade: 5:16

10th grade: 5:07

11th grade: 4:35 (1500)

12th grade: 4:49

sub 17 5k

Just make sure she is enjoying herself and not getting too intense. She has to want it, you can't want it for her. And if she wants it she will run well enough to get recruited. Also, speaking from experience as a high schooler who logged many weeks between 70 and 90 miles, she doesn't have to go mileage crazy. That way there's still room to improve in college. It's hard going from running that much to running less mileage in college and still excelling.

Hi Katie/Ella/Allie!

Way too much racing and interval training! She will get sick, injured, or stale.

Read Arthur Lydiard!!

*She needs to be doing long runs. Build up the long run by 10% per week.

If it is 5 miles now start at 6 miles. How far should her longest run be? I would have her aim for an hour. You do not want her to do it fast. Do at least one per week.

*She needs to be doing Speed Development.

One day of 80s, short hills, dynamic running drills, rope skipping, etc.

(Go into anything new very easy. I suggest 4 X 80 @ 80%/85%/90%/95%)

Do not be afraid to pull her if she is straining in a workout.

Have her do lots of recovery runs especially after hard days like the Speed Development day. I suggest 2-6 miles at an easy pace.

Why are you doing mile repeats during the middle of the season. During cross country you may want to do these in the last four weeks with long recoveries.

Keep everything as aerobic as possible.

Her aerobic ability will determine her ultimate ability.

I'm tired of writing this stuff on here.

Read Lydiard!!!

I went out of my way to say that she is not the fastest by any means and I don't hear anyone talking D1 or Olympics. People are responding to a question, about girls times in a running thread so of course they will mention times. I would love my daughter to run in college (because she wants to) i have no illusions of Oregon, but If she could run at some level in college, be competitive and enjoy it I'll be happy.

I have seen the times "the perfect snow flakes" run and my daughter ain't that, but I can still be proud when she beats most boys at our niehboring towns track meet.

So hard to predict with girls at that young of a age. At our state middle school track meet in central Flyoverstan, the winner of the 1600 ran 5:11 (8th grader) and the slowest time for the top eight was 5:39

Now, how many of them will still be good or even running when they are seniors? Who knows

I ran a 5:35 1600m in 8th grade.

9th grade: 5:30 (1600m),12:05 (3200m)

10th grade: 5:08, 11:31

11th grade: 5:19, 11:41

I am currently in 12th grade. As you can see, I peaked sophomore year and now am pretty plateaued. My cross country times in 12th grade thus far have been around a minute slower than in 10th and 11th grade.

Make sure she is with a team of girls that are truly passionate about getting better and working hard every practice. It will get more difficult to do this in high school with an intense workload, many nights of less than 6 hours of sleep, and growing and gaining weight.

A girl at my school ran 5:08 in 8th grade...