Help with High School Training

High School Running High School Training

8 years ago 05/22/2015 4:29pm EDT

I'm a sophomore in high school, I have been running somewhat casually for 6 months at about 10 - 20 mpw mostly easy. I have a 5k PR of a measly 22 mins, I would really like to knock a lot of time off and become competitive.

The problem is I don't really know how to train, my high school has a very weak track and cross country program so I'm going to be coaching myself. What kind of mileage should I run? How intense? Should I start doing workouts?

I have looked around on the forums but haven't really seen much for beginner runners, so advice would be much appreciated.

8 years ago 05/23/2015 11:23am EDT

re: Sophomore

I'll bite...

What you want to do right now, yes right now, is to begin running as many days as possible. Build up to 6-7 times a week. Then after that, increase the length or time of your run until you can handle running 30mins easy every day ~30mpw. After that, add in a long run of a little over an hour about once a week. This should take you until Julyish. After that, once or twice a week after an easy run, do 4-8 sets of 10 seconds called striders. When you can handle all of this easily, start adding in fartleks of 2min hard 2min easy or bouts of 15-20mins of hard running.

That is a very basic idea on beginning training. If you really want to become good, it will take time, but you can if you stay consistent and learn about training through this website. That's what I did.

Good luck!

8 years ago 05/23/2015 12:08pm EDT

re: Sophomore

Build up your mileage in base training this summer. You can find a lot of good suggestions here and on other sites about how to do that.

And then go run with your high school's cross country and track team. Maybe they're weak, but nothing is going to help you improve your 5K time like running a 5K once a week for eight or ten weeks straight, unless it's spending eight or ten weeks running 400s, 800s, 1600s, and 3200s once or twice a week. You might meet a few more motivated runners on your team. If you get to know people on the other teams you race against, you can find out what kind of training they do. Really, though, don't miss the chance to run for your high school team. It's an opportunity that won't come around again.

8 years ago 05/23/2015 12:15pm EDT

re: Sophomore

I think this article should point you in the right direction training-wise:

Five steps to long-term success in high school distance running:

http://www.runningwritings.com/2014/05/five-steps-to-long-term-success-in-high.html

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