Thoughts on 11-year-old's 500 meter time

I meant the high 50s in the 400 meters.

That is a very impressive time for a 6th grader.

My advice would be to allow her to enjoy running but keep in mind that she should play other sports primarily. Middle school XC would be alright but the serious training should wait till high school, no matter whether her strengths lie in sprints, middle, or long distance events. That time doesn't really tell much as to whether she could run a fast 400 at the end of high school, but it is promising.

mcvred wrote:

That is a very impressive time for a 6th grader.

My advice would be to allow her to enjoy running but keep in mind that she should play other sports primarily. Middle school XC would be alright but the serious training should wait till high school, no matter whether her strengths lie in sprints, middle, or long distance events. That time doesn't really tell much as to whether she could run a fast 400 at the end of high school, but it is promising.

+1 , I can just confirm that. Be patient with her and let her amusement decide. :)

mcvred, thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. She's definitely not doing serious training yet, and my wife and I aren't pushing her to do that. She does a little gymnastics, too, and she wants to continue doing that. She had no interest in doing cross-country and we didn't push her to do it last fall. We want her to enjoy running, particularly track.

That's an insane time and leads you to believe she could run 2:28 for 800m.

Quite impressive.

Unfortunately, you can't predict what she will end up running in high school,

because that is such a long way off, and whether she will continue to be interested

in running is also a factor.

But, it's an early indicator of talent.

She is likely amongst the top in her state, I would imagine, with that performance.

Quick update on this thread: my daughter (still 11 for another month) ran the 400 meters outdoors yesterday in 1:05.79. It was her second outdoor 400 ever.