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It's silly, really. I went from a county champion and top 10 in the state in 7th grade to just "good" in 8th grade. 5:17 to 5:03 because instead of running 4 workouts a week I ran 2-3 with a lot of easy runs and no all-out runs. I decided to stop this easy running and "progressive peaking" everybody claims you're supposed to do and opted for the fast, all-out balls to walls running that most high schoolers do. It is cross country season now and I am coming off of an average of 45 mpw over the summer and about 4 consecutive weeks over 50 miles. I have now dropped to about 20 mpw and all-out workouts 3-4 times per week with a meet/time trial every saturday. So far I have beaten my mile PR by a great deal, running a 1600 in 4:46 followed by 4x200s in 31 seconds each I have also improved my 18:10 5k PR to a modest 16:49 and the season has only begun, placing me as top freshman in the state. You might be thinking, "That's burnout work! track work! blasphemy!" Well, I completely disagree! I have been finding runs that used to be difficult much easier for me. It is simple as this: somebody who runs a 400m in 60 seconds finds it a lot easier to run a 2:20 800m than someone who runs a 400m in 65 seconds but completes 800m at the same pace, regardless. I believe that running very hard at the beginning of a season to build your speed up with an aerobic run every 2-3 days is the correct way to do it as your ATP metabolism improves while the rate at which you consume oxygen stays the same as when you ran your peak mileage. You are not improving aerobically, you are maintaining it. You are then cutting your speed down immensely therefore making you a faster runner. Prove me wrong.
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Your results will prove you wrong when you get injured junior year
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POF wrote:
Your results will prove you wrong when you get injured junior year
I have been running for clubs since I was 9 years old. Have never had a running injury (or sports injury for that matter). -
Well you're no prodigy so you have nothing to fear.
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We were all child prodigies once. Almost all of us failed. Ergo, we all burned out.
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You clearly put a lot of thought into this, so 4/10
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Prove me wrong wrote:
POF wrote:
Your results will prove you wrong when you get injured junior year
I have been running for clubs since I was 9 years old. Have never had a running injury (or sports injury for that matter).
Good luck with continuing your injury free streak indefinitely. Sooner or later I think every runner will suffer with a serious injury. A top collegiate female distance runner with a team I follow said herself that she completed 5 years of collegiate running with no serious injury with 70 mpw training. I also think she was free of major injuries up through high school but that could be attributed to very low weekly mileage. Then she graduated, signed a pro contract, suffered a season ending injury and thus missing out on attempt at qualifying for 2016 Olympics. She later suffered with another serious injury or two and missed out on other events such as attempt to qualify for 2017 World Championships. I hope you stay free of major injuries but are prepared to deal with it should it occur. -
No spelling mistakes, sentence structure is complex, and the writing style is fairly sophisticated for LRC. You are not just a running prodigy, but a writing prodigy as well!
5/10. -
I'm assuming you are female. Those are good times for a high school girl.
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a 4:46 and 16:49 is actually pretty fast for a freshman. if this isn't a troll good job
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Good times for a female wrote:
I'm assuming you are female. Those are good times for a high school girl.
If you are female, there is a good chance are you'll hit a growth spurt and slow down. Not the same as burning-out, but one reason Letsrunners are skeptical about the long term success of a "child prodigy"
If you are male, those times are still good for a freshman, assuming an accurately measured 5k. But unless you are from a slow state, the freshmen that were running 46+ miles all summer are now doing their hardest workouts and will peak only for their final race of the season. You can't maintain your fitness even a month at 20/week.
On the plus side, you probably won't burn out at 20/week, even if you go 100% every mile. So have fun running fast, and worry about throwing down some serious times Jr/Sr year. -
Truth is nearly every child prodigy does.
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800ftw. wrote:
Truth is nearly every child prodigy does.
Some HS prodigies have had good careers, but I can't think of a CHILD prodigy who ever did. -
Am I right to believe you are a female? Most males, even 9th grade males would not refer to a 2:20 800m. If you are a female, carry on! Sub-2:15 800m &/or sub-57.5 400m, by end of your junior year, most colleges will love to have you on their team. Keep up the good work! I believe strongly from the first day one can walk through high school years, FOCUS on SPEED. You have your twenties to build up your aerobic capacity. One finds it difficult to decide to get fast in one's twenties. College track & field teams need fast runners, (100 through 800) metres. Athletes who race those distances can race twice in a meet without breaking down. Keep getting faster as a 200/400/800 athlete!
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Prove me wrong wrote:
I am coming off of an average of 45 mpw over the summer and about 4 consecutive weeks over 50 miles. I have now dropped to about 20 mpw and all-out workouts 3-4 times per week with a meet/time trial every saturday.
Isn't it great to be young? You have the answers to EVERY SINGLE question.
While going from the high volume to low volume and higher intensity is exactly right, how many weeks have you been at 20mpw and high intensity? -
If you're a female, those are some seriously fast times - wow.
If you're a male, you have some serious talent, but a big part of your improvement to this point is due to maturing physically (granted, I don't know you, but I'm making a very educated guess).
Either way, all-out training is not ENTIRELY bad, but its effectiveness is maximized with a solid aerobic base. That said, all of the aerobic work (the non-all out runs) you did up to this point are contributing to that base, which is what provides the "support" needed to do the kind of training you're doing right now, which will improve your race times.
Essentially, the approach you did from 7th to 8th grade (and any other controlled aerobic runs) are what are allowing you to run fast now and they are what will allow you to run fast in the future. The approach Letsrun endorses is very much a long-term one; you may not get the results you expect for a while (although at your age, especially if you're a guy, you should be improving just by training consistently), but in the long term (i.e. 5-10 years from now), you'll be in a much better spot. -
meh. Poor attempt at trolling but I'll bite anyway..
When it comes to successful HS kids whether they go on to be "successful" runners past HS is all a matter of opinion.
Some folks would say Dan Ritenhein wasn't successful because he never won a medal or won a major US marathon. Others would point to his collegiate success and ability to make numberous world and olympic teams as hugly succesful career. The guy is STILL getting paid to run.
Look at the 'where are they now thread'. Most of those kids went to do things in the sport that any of us would love to have on our resume or have our kids accomplish as much. -
Ok, first of all this person is obviously a male because no freshman girl can run those times. I'm actually a sophomore and ran 4:38 for 1600m going into 9th grade and 16:30 for 5k xc in freshman year. I had a similar thought process as you did, so my 16:30 came in early september and didn't run that fast for the entire season. Believe me, you will not be able to keep this up for very long.
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100% Troll. Give your name and school or shut the blank up.
"Oh, I can't do that, but I really am a prodigy" :):):):):):):):):):):):)!!!!!!!!!
Prove me wrong wrote:
It's silly, really. I went from a county champion and top 10 in the state in 7th grade to just "good" in 8th grade. 5:17 to 5:03 because instead of running 4 workouts a week I ran 2-3 with a lot of easy runs and no all-out runs. I decided to stop this easy running and "progressive peaking" everybody claims you're supposed to do and opted for the fast, all-out balls to walls running that most high schoolers do. It is cross country season now and I am coming off of an average of 45 mpw over the summer and about 4 consecutive weeks over 50 miles. I have now dropped to about 20 mpw and all-out workouts 3-4 times per week with a meet/time trial every saturday. So far I have beaten my mile PR by a great deal, running a 1600 in 4:46 followed by 4x200s in 31 seconds each I have also improved my 18:10 5k PR to a modest 16:49 and the season has only begun, placing me as top freshman in the state. You might be thinking, "That's burnout work! track work! blasphemy!" Well, I completely disagree! I have been finding runs that used to be difficult much easier for me. It is simple as this: somebody who runs a 400m in 60 seconds finds it a lot easier to run a 2:20 800m than someone who runs a 400m in 65 seconds but completes 800m at the same pace, regardless. I believe that running very hard at the beginning of a season to build your speed up with an aerobic run every 2-3 days is the correct way to do it as your ATP metabolism improves while the rate at which you consume oxygen stays the same as when you ran your peak mileage. You are not improving aerobically, you are maintaining it. You are then cutting your speed down immensely therefore making you a faster runner. Prove me wrong. -
Either not true or if true, a female. No male 9th grader brags about racing 2:20 800m. A female 9th grader racing 2:20 800m would be a very confident runner. OP seems arrogant enough to be a high school 2:20 800m athlete.
