What is "good" for a freshman boy in the 3200?

Incredibly subjective. Based a lot on how his body has matured to that point.

I would say 10:30 for a frosh is good. and I think getting under 9:30 as a senior for that kid would be good as well.

To be great, start closer to 10 flat and finishing around 9 flat.

This is good progression too, no doubt a 1030 kid could become a sub 9 kid

There is no single all round good 3200 time for a freshman boy.

There are underdeveloped freshmen and future 400 guys that would be doing good if they ran 12 flat and their are fully developed guys and future marathoners who would need to break 10 to be qualified as good. The 12 flat guys might improve 2 minutes or so and the 10 flat guys will improve a few seconds by the end of HS.

If you are new to running, but generally athletic, I think breaking 11:00 as a freshman is "good." That sets you up for breaking 9:30 over the next few years, which is "very good."

webby wrote:

If you are new to running, but generally athletic, I think breaking 11:00 as a freshman is "good." That sets you up for breaking 9:30 over the next few years, which is "very good."

ok. thanks. under 10:10 now in indoor. targeting 9:40s

didn't break 12:00 in 8th grade cross country. improved from 18s to mid 16s in freshman xc season

no one of import wrote:

webby wrote:

If you are new to running, but generally athletic, I think breaking 11:00 as a freshman is "good." That sets you up for breaking 9:30 over the next few years, which is "very good."

ok. thanks. under 10:10 now in indoor. targeting 9:40s

didn't break 12:00 in 8th grade cross country. improved from 18s to mid 16s in freshman xc season

Your times sound about the same as my son, who is also a freshman. He ran 10:12 in a two mile xc race, and high 15:00 for three mile (not 5k) XC. He ran a 1600 time trial in 4:47 late in the fall. At this point, I think he is considered a "good" runner for his age, but not "great". He runs about 35 mpw right now. He doesn't have indoor times because he doesn't start indoor for a week or two.

mom2runner wrote:

no one of import wrote:

ok. thanks. under 10:10 now in indoor. targeting 9:40s

didn't break 12:00 in 8th grade cross country. improved from 18s to mid 16s in freshman xc season

Your times sound about the same as my son, who is also a freshman. He ran 10:12 in a two mile xc race, and high 15:00 for three mile (not 5k) XC. He ran a 1600 time trial in 4:47 late in the fall. At this point, I think he is considered a "good" runner for his age, but not "great". He runs about 35 mpw right now. He doesn't have indoor times because he doesn't start indoor for a week or two.

is he 14 or 15? just 14 here.

is he 14 or 15? just 14 here.

He turned 15 a few weeks ago.

If you are running 10:10 now and are looking for 9:40 you are a superstar, or at least a star. Unless you are running 70 mpw or are very physically mature, you should expect to be able to run under 9:10 at least by 12th grade, if you run under 10:00 this year. I find that people who run under 9:00 would have done it no matter what school they went to and no matter what training they did, as long as they are training well. Sub-9 is a special talent.

Not sure you can make a 30 sec leap in 3 months, not if you are at 10:10 now. I started out my outdoor season as a frosh and ran 10:55 in a time trial (in winter weather) and then ran 10:43 in my first race, then 10:35 my fourth or fifth in better weather.

I finished with a 10:25 2-mile and 10:20 3200m, in 2 different meets, so about a 23 second improvement. Your better talent may allow more improvement, but it usually works the opposite way.

I agree with sub 11 as a freshman as a good mark. If you were on my team, I'd be ecstatic. Keep training smart. Harder is not better. Be patient.

Don't really worry about times.

I believe Chris Derrick wasn't even one of the top 5 freshman on his team and look at him now.

A lot of kids don't really make a big jump in performance until Sophomore year

focus on staying helathy kid. try to work on your speed a bit strides and so forth. But stay helathy and have fun as much as you can. You can worry about training hard when you are a junior and senior and then in college.

ok. under 10:10 though, not at 10:10. don't want to give the exact time, but it's between 10:00 and 10:09. it's only Feb. i think there's a lot of improvement coming this year.

no one of import wrote:

ok. under 10:10 though, not at 10:10. don't want to give the exact time, but it's between 10:00 and 10:09. it's only Feb. i think there's a lot of improvement coming this year.

Under 10:10 freshman year indoors is very, very good.

What should you expect by senior year? Probably best to have no specific expectations. Just control what you can - train smart and consistently, have some fun along the way.

You may end up at 9:50 or you may end up at 8:50.

Have some fun along the way.

no one of import wrote:

ok. under 10:10 though, not at 10:10. don't want to give the exact time, but it's between 10:00 and 10:09. it's only Feb. i think there's a lot of improvement coming this year.

I see now that you are ~10:05 and you said you wanted 9:40s not 9:40.00. I definitely think that is possible, and like I said before, depending on what you are doing right now and for the last year, you may get into the 9:40s by Indoor state meet.

I would kind of take each year as it comes. I had definite ideas about my progression in High School, and I think it hurt me. Our school record holder ran something like:

10:33, 9:55, 9:25, 9:16 all in yards

So, I put goals at 10:30, 10:00, 9:30, 9:15 for each grade.

This was all based on making it to 12th grade with a 9:15 (which most years would win the State Meet).

No matter what, you have a bright future. I would advise you to just enjoy it and not think too hard about you need to do each year. AS you have likely figured out, if you are running 9:45 this year you will place high in every meet except State Meet indoor or out. And you might even be able to place high in Indoor States ... depending on which state.

After this year, you will likely be in the mix to win every meet you enter except the big invitationals and States. I was in the same boat and probably worried too much about what I would top out at ... and one year I got strep throat right at the end of May and one year I got Mono. Not sure that reduced immune response was to blame for either of those, but both of those illnesses really upset me and set me back.

I also pushed it in terms of mileage too much, thinking that I would not reach my goals if I did not increase my mpw by 10 every season or year. Prob pushed it in terms of pace too much too.

In other words, if you have reached 10:0X by now, after starting at 18:XX for XC you don't need to push yourself so hard ... you are going to reach a high level each year no matter what.

I am not saying not to aim high or train hard ... just don't be like I was and live and die with every race and train so hard that it isn't fun anymore.

Sometimes my father says if I don't quiet down he'll show me what's good for me. Next time he says this I won't quiet down and I will report back what is good for me.

You clearly have talent. Don't try to make a 30 second jump this year. To get the most out of your talent you should take your training slowly and either aim to make a big jump near the end of senior year or in college. Too many kids make big jumps early on in high school and burn out by the end. Look at Grant Fisher or Galen Rupp for a good example of smart training. A lot of that came from their coaches but you can aim for similar development if you keep realistic expectations and train smart.

I ran 11:10 my freshman year, 9:52 my Senior year. In college I ran 25 flat on the pre-nats 8k course my senior year. Everyone improves differently.

Don't sell him short, you can improve a lot as a freshman. I ran 10:4x indoor and 9:5x outdoor my freshman year.

Wow you guys are elitest. Sub-11 would be very good for a freshman.