In high school, I want to run sub 8:50, NXN, Footlocker, everything. I know it's too early to tell in middle school, and that I should take everything step by step. I want to know what I can do right now in 8th grade to help me be successful in the future.
Running is my passion, something that I could spend my entire life training and winning.
Tomorrow, run as hard as you can for 8:50. Then repeat every day making sure you better that distance from the previous day. In HS you will be national champ.
eyema expert wrote:
Tomorrow, run as hard as you can for 8:50. Then repeat every day making sure you better that distance from the previous day. In HS you will be national champ.
Do not listen to this advice.
A google search should turn up the times for age groups. Should not be hard.
Lastly, run consistently, stay healthy and keep playing another sport, soccer for instance. Nothing says you need to specialize this early--in fact, I think there is a lot more support for late specialization (say 15 or so) than early.
Future of Kenya wrote:
In high school, I want to run sub 8:50, NXN, Footlocker, everything. I know it's too early to tell in middle school, and that I should take everything step by step. I want to know what I can do right now in 8th grade to help me be successful in the future.
Running is my passion, something that I could spend my entire life training and winning.
4:50 for 1600 would be an elite time for an 8th grade. A lot depends on what time of training you're doing. Most middle schoolers are just doing low key stuff so 4:50 is a great indicator of future success. If you're training really seriously in 8th grade, then sub 4:40 is probably a better goal.
Its good to have long term goals, but make sure you are setting realistic short term goals that are your primary focus. If your PR is 5:20 now, focus on breaking 5:10. Then set a new goal. Its easy to get discouraged if you throw out a really lofty goal and you aren't even close to it after a year or two of hard work. Very, very few guys end up running sub 8:50 so keep that in mind. I ran sub 9 in high school, but that wasn't my goal in 8th or 9th grade. I didn't start thinking about sub 9 until I ran 9:25 in 10th grade.
Top 8th graders are 4:20-30 for 1600. A very slim number might be under.
4:40-50 is very good, potential to be 4:10 your senior year. But that's still not "top."
Best of luck!
Funny that I should come across this post now—I just wrote up an article on this topic last week. It starts up looking at what a 9th grader would be doing but the same principles apply. You can find it here:
http://www.runningwritings.com/2014/02/yearly-progression-in-training-for-high.html
For now, goal #1 should be laying the groundwork for successful training later. That basically means getting in the habit of running at least 6 days a week at an easy to moderate pace. More structure (strides, maybe a progression run) can come later when you're ready.
A friend of mine who is an Olympic medalist in a middle-distance event said that they didn't start track seriously until the end of high school. Don't worry about your times now.
Why 4:20-4:30?
The Donger wrote:
Top 8th graders are 4:20-30 for 1600. A very slim number might be under.
4:40-50 is very good, potential to be 4:10 your senior year. But that's still not "top."
Best of luck!
Bump
8:50 is a shade slower that 66 seconds/lap. Get used to the feel of that pace, then start your day's workout running a 66-second quarter. See how long you can hold that pace. Then, every day try to hold 66/lap pace a little longer. By the end of high school you should be able to hold it for eight laps and you'll dip under 8:50!
eyema expert wrote:
Tomorrow, run as hard as you can for 8:50. Then repeat every day making sure you better that distance from the previous day. In HS you will be national champ.
4:20- 4:30 is my goal. What would be a great 3200m time for an 8th grader?
Future of Kenya wrote:
In high school, I want to run sub 8:50, NXN, Footlocker, everything. I know it's too early to tell in middle school, and that I should take everything step by step. I want to know what I can do right now in 8th grade to help me be successful in the future.
Running is my passion, something that I could spend my entire life training and winning.
going sub-5 is nc
TrackCoach wrote:
Future of Kenya wrote:In high school, I want to run sub 8:50, NXN, Footlocker, everything. I know it's too early to tell in middle school, and that I should take everything step by step. I want to know what I can do right now in 8th grade to help me be successful in the future.
Running is my passion, something that I could spend my entire life training and winning.
going sub-5 is nc
What does "going sub-5 is nc" mean?
It means that breaking 5 minutes in the mile makes you national class. That is probably not true though. Here in MI, you definitely wouldn't be the top kid at 5:00, but you would win most dual meets and smaller invites. I'd say that you have to go sub-4:40 to be considered national class. That is a very random and subjective estimate though.800m - I'll say 2:07. 3200m - 10:15.
Future of Kenya wrote:
TrackCoach wrote:going sub-5 is nc
What does "going sub-5 is nc" mean?
I ran 4:55 in eighth grade and was no where near "national level"...
s17k wrote:
I ran 4:55 in eighth grade and was no where near "national level"...
Its quite good, but yes its not all that. I guess it depends what your definition of 'national class' is. A sub 5 8th grader is probably top 10% for sure but its still a lot of kids.
800 analyzer wrote:
s17k wrote:I ran 4:55 in eighth grade and was no where near "national level"...
Its quite good, but yes its not all that. I guess it depends what your definition of 'national class' is. A sub 5 8th grader is probably top 10% for sure but its still a lot of kids.
I define it as in contention for a Footlocker Nationals or NXN title, Adidas dream mile, etc
Future of Kenya wrote:
800 analyzer wrote:Its quite good, but yes its not all that. I guess it depends what your definition of 'national class' is. A sub 5 8th grader is probably top 10% for sure but its still a lot of kids.
I define it as in contention for a Footlocker Nationals or NXN title, Adidas dream mile, etc
So like chance of winning those meets?
In 8th grade I ran 4:42 on 12-15 mpw, here's my HS progression.
9th grade--4:31. 30-35 mpw 1 workout per week, no long runs
10th grade-4:24. 40 mpw. Ditto
11th grade-4:18. 45-50 mpw. Ditto
12th grade-4:12 50-55 mpw. 10 mile long runs
Good luck.
What state are you from?