Who the heck trains a sophomore in high school like this

That Great Oak athlete starts with two really tough days for her level and then has a great deal of trouble recovering and has foot problems by week four, so that is definitely not an example of how to train a high school athlete.

4.9M fartlek with 2 on, 1 slow, at 6:07 pace for an athlete in the 17s for 5k??? I have trouble going much under 6:30 average for 5M fartlek like that.

Sure, the most talented middle distance runner in us history who set all his prs at 19 and 20 then struggled the rest of his career.

I've found this article today and I thought y'all negative Nacy's should read.

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/29/sports/track-and-field-slower-times-at-american-high-schools.html

Found this article today y'all should read wrote:

I've found this article today and I thought y'all negative Nacy's should read.

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/29/sports/track-and-field-slower-times-at-american-high-schools.html

This article really epitomizes why US distance running in the 90s sucked.

This was probably her toughest week ever since she knew it would be online. She likely doesn’t want to sound like a wimp and is extremely motivated. I’ve coached two girls with similar talent and motivation. The hardest thing is holding them back because it’s easy to get wrapped up in their excitement and want to let them see what they can do. I regret letting some of the kids I’ve coached run as much as they did, although it wasn’t ever anything quite like what I just read. If I’m not mistaken she also tripled one of those days.

My biggest issue would be how lean she is. I’m sure she’s naturally very lean, but doubling and tripling while being that lean is pretty high risk.

She may “burn out” and move onto something else sooner rather than later and that’s totally fine. The scarier part is worrying about doing any sort of longer term damage in terms of compromised bone mass but how can we judge that anyway, DEXA scans maybe? I really don’t know the answer, but you’ve got to trust her parents and coach will do the best they can.

There are tons of good high school runners, boy or girl, that are never heard of again, in college.

Name any one of a dozen reasons: from big fish in a small pond, to small fish in a big pond, can't handle the higher mileage, lose interest, etc. etc.

10:19 US#1 indoor 3200 at Simplot... meet record.

She is a BEAST athlete.

Reason for her suboptimal training are 2:

1) She is an ultra slow-speed runner. Her 400m PR is only 64, Her 800 2:18. But then she gets better and better the longer it goes, as she showed with her 10:19 3200 (5k equivalent of 16:35 on track/road).

2) She knew in advance her training week would be on Milesplit. In all the young girl YouTube videos from workout Wednesday's etc, they always try to impress and crush their reps. Claudia Lane was supposed to do a 3200m-paced 400 and she opened in 67, which was 9 flat 3200 pace. Her coach tuned her down for the future reps. Same with Charlotte Taylor who was supposed to do some longer reps at threshold. Again, the coach rightfully told her: "Charlotte, are you at Threshold?"

Those young girls are often single and wanna show off what they can when they know they are being recorded. Unfortunately for Sydney, there was no coach supervising all her doubles etc so they went a bit out of control. But she is a ST runner and will be able to handle this mileage and tempo/easy run intensity quite well. If you want to kill a ST runner, you need to prescribe them short, very quick reps at anaerobic paces. They don't have a strong anaerobic system and those reps will break them apart.

Blown away in Wyo wrote:

10:19 US#1 indoor 3200 at Simplot... meet record.

Not just that. She was caught in a thunderstorm and had to run on Saturday all by herself to qualify. They allowed her to run a solo 3200 to hit the qualifying standards.

She did:

2/17 3200m in 10:37 (solo)

2/17 recovery run in the evening

2/18 recovery run in the morning

2/18 3200 in 10:19

Her intense training with doubles and triples prepared her well for such events, where she has to run all-out two days in a row. We will all be hearing a lot from this girl, especially once she switches over to marathons, she will probably run low 2:20s or potentially even break it.

I don't think she should be training 3 times a day. At 15. Or twice a day most days. Don't think it will long term produce the best results, just my opinion. Would like to see where she is at 18.

Blown away in Wyo wrote:

10:19 US#1 indoor 3200 at Simplot... meet record.

That 10:19 beat the previous US#1 but on the same day in Michigan:

1 - 10:02.46 - Katelynne Hart - JR - IL - state record

2 - 10:02.81 - Ericka VanderLende - SR - MI - state record

3 - 10:04.18 - Abigail Vanderkooi - FR - MI

If Thorvaldson was in this race with no prior day qualifier, not at altitude, 300 meter track, and running with this pack she might have been in the mix with a similar time. Her 10:19 was basically solo at 4500 feet.

Vanderkooi is only a freshman and also finished 3rd at Footlocker so she might actually be the top young talent.

track chick wrote:

I don't think she should be training 3 times a day. At 15. Or twice a day most days. Don't think it will long term produce the best results, just my opinion. Would like to see where she is at 18.

Haile Gebrselassie grew up running 10 kilometers to school and back. Americans are soft and weak minded. At least there are Americans out there willing to put in the hard work and aren't weak minded.

Xoman wrote:

Blown away in Wyo wrote:

10:19 US#1 indoor 3200 at Simplot... meet record.

Not just that. She was caught in a thunderstorm and had to run on Saturday all by herself to qualify. They allowed her to run a solo 3200 to hit the qualifying standards.

She did:

2/17 3200m in 10:37 (solo)

2/17 recovery run in the evening

2/18 recovery run in the morning

2/18 3200 in 10:19

Her intense training with doubles and triples prepared her well for such events, where she has to run all-out two days in a row. We will all be hearing a lot from this girl, especially once she switches over to marathons, she will probably run low 2:20s or potentially even break it.

Are you serious? This has to be the most stupid post of the day.

Most of the post seem to suggest a coach is to credit or blame, but after reading the article, I don't think so. Some let's not get all up in arms against coaches. After all, the OP's handle was ithinkshe coachesherself.

For the record, I have no problem with being self-coached at that age. I certainly was. Not saying I dig the training regimen, but I do not object to deciding your own training. Look at how many threads (1 a day?) Are started by teenagers whining about coaches. She has no one to blame, but no one to credit either!

Let me get this straight. You are trying to prove that this young woman's huge training load is perfectly fine by comparing her to Rudy - I ran too hard too often in high school and killed my career - Chapa?

Don’t believe everything you read

ahaha that’s funny dude. she got 3rd at national in december. only one second behind katelyn tuohy

Now I feel like a armchair expert looking through this thread and thinking how her training would lead to burnout.

Giant Meh wrote:

Who cares. She'll burn out within 12 months from now.

This didn't age well...