I’m a senior in high school who is wondering what is a realistic goal I should be shooting for by the end of this spring track season (no winter track here).
Here’s a little bit about my running each year
Freshman: Didn't run
Sophomore: Didn't know what I was doing/ran over weekends but was very, very low mileage, 1-4 each day/ got injured during track, was not running related, out for 4-6 weeks
Junior: Wanted to have a breakthrough year, but got really lazy when it came to running outside of practice, ran 5 days a week, did summer track, lacked endurance to run varsity pace (6th runner on team)
Senior: Wanting to make up for junior year, I put in a decent summer base (compared to what I was running, still not good), ran 6-7 days a week, consistently hit mid 18’s first 2/3s of season
*Note, my hs xc program is of low mileage of 25-33 mpw for running M-F (we aren't very good)
My progression through high school
*5k pr is on same xc course
Grade/1600/3200/5000
Freshman/6:25(didn’t run, was Fitnessgram time)/didn’t run/didn’t run
Sophomore/5:33/12:00/18:53
Junior/5:18/11:29/18:20
Senior/5:03(xc, first half decline, second half incline), splits of 65, 75, 85, 78/
10:57(split during second fastest 5k), 5:21 mile split/
17:15, splits of 5:30, 5:43, 6:02(about 5:25 mile)
Summer Base Weekly Mileage (dpw = days per week)
Sophomore: 7-15 miles/6-7 dpw/ no winter base/no spring break running
Junior: 15-30 miles (somewhere around this range)/5-6 dpw/no winter base/no spring break running
Senior: 33 miles avg, high of 44/6-7 dpw
Senior Base by week
25
30
35
39
33
38
36
40
29, was having mental burn out, ran 4 days that week
40, official practice started, 2 weeks before school started
44
Planned Winter Base (avg 46 mpw)
35
40
45
50
45
50
50
50
50