How hard is it to beat your high school PRs as a 33 year old?

Not easy but worth trying. I am similar to you, ran 4:59.8 senior year of HS. I continued running and greatly improved my endurance at longer distances since then but I still have a hard time dipping under 5 without a lot of specific track work. In my own experience I can easy get into 5:00-5:20 shape with moderate mileage and lots of road intervals and hills but to break 5 (done it a few times late 20's) I need to hit a lot of hard track workouts.

A lot depends on the quality of your HS PR. Did you run for a good program that optimized your potential, or did you kind of half ass it? Sub 5 is not some huge outlier performance.

Generally, I think a 33 year-old should be able to match their HS PR’s if life allows the training and time it takes.

Most people have a lot more going on at 33 than at 18. I would say 6 months of training would get you back.

I ran 4:47 this summer, 38 years old, 4:32 HS PR, probably should have been more like 4:28 but didn’t really get in a good one. One reference point.

Depends on what you've done between high school and then at 33. I ran 4:32, 9:52, and 16:34 XC in high school. When I was 26-27 I beat my XC time on the roads on consistent 50 mile weeks for a few months and ran 16:13. Fast forward to 28 and I started to run higher mileages by run commuting to and from work. By the time I was 29 I had run 1:09:44 for the half marathon. After that I went after my 5K PR and ended up with 15:24 (down from 15:42 on 60 MPW).

Now at 34 I've run 2:28 high and 1:09 low but when I tried to break 4:30 in the mile on a few weeks of specific training a few years back, I was only able to run 4:33. I just don't have the wheels that I did as a young guy. that said, I've surpassed my 3200m time many times in 5Ks.

I would recommend moving up in distance for awhile and see if you can go back to the short stuff to PR

Ran 1:56 800m and 4:02 1500m as a high school runner, at 33 I managed a 1:59 and 4:09. I could get back to high school shape or even a little faster but life gets in the way so I'm not as consistent at training anymore. I'm also about 10-15lb heavier so that doesn't help.

I got back into running when I was 35. I've had some injuries over the years, but now I'm 39 and this fall broke quite a few of my high school PRs (2:09, 5:07, 11:17, 17:40 3 mile xc). I have not attempted the 800 or 1600 yet, but I broke the 3200 and the 3 mile in longer races. Thinking maybe over summer I might go for that sub-5. We'll see.

It's probably easier when you weren't that fast to begin with (like me). But also, being a runner in the 90s was silly. Our training was awful. Intervals all the time, constantly burned out. I just run more miles for fun now and do a workout or two a week (when I feel like it) and I'm quite a bit more fit than I was then.

Dndhd wrote:

A lot depends on the quality of your HS PR. Did you run for a good program that optimized your potential, or did you kind of half ass it?

A mix of both. I didn't have a good coach and half assed a lot of workouts in my freshman and sophomore years. In junior year, we got a better coach, and I took running seriously until I graduated.

My 400 PR is 58, which was done without any sprint training. Based on that and my HS track program, I'd guess that my HS potential was around 4:50 if I optimized everything.

I set all my PRs between 33 and 37.

I just trained sensibly. I naturally became better as I got older though. Even running sporadically through my 20s resulted in times faster than high school, especially over shorter distances.

It's possible, but definitely easier at longer distances.

I'm 39 now, ran in HS not college, got serious again about 35-36. I run more miles now than in HS and feel like I generally train smarter. I managed to beat my mile PR by 1 second (in a time trial) and beat PRs at longer distances by substantially more.

To answer how long does it take. I set the PR about 2 years after picking things back up. That was never the goal and so perhaps could have done it more quickly with a focus on the mile.

In highschool I ran 4:39 1600 as a senior.

Went to college, joined fraternity and began drinking heavily, smoking weed and cigarettes. exercise seldom. 4 years

Went to law school, drank heavier, smoked more cigarettes, exercised a little more often. 3 years.

First year as an associate began running 20-35 mpw in Nov. 2018, dropped a 4:51 pure mile in Aug. 2019.

So since all of our bodies work the exact same way I guess 10 months of 30 mpw should do the trick for you to break 5.

45 years old now. Never broke 5 in high school. Stopped running for twenty years, then trained for longer stuff. Started running mile races two years ago. Now I consistently break 5 and PRed this past fall with a 4:52. Just takes consistency in training and staying healthy.

DC101GDub wrote:

Depends on what you've done between high school and then at 33.

Basically just a bunch of casual sports and activities that were done more for fun than for competition. Things like pick up basketball, mountain biking, hiking, weightlifting, snorkeling, rock climbing, and so on.

I think my speed held up better than my distance stamina. I squeaked out a sub 70 400 last week, which was somewhat tiring but not as exhausting as my 5:59 mile. I might have been able to run that 400 in 65 if I spiked up and raced someone, but I held off a bit since I didn't want to risk an injury.

I equalled to them at age 32, but couldn't break them...

It's amazing how fast everyone is on this board on every other thread.

4:28

9:52

16:23

Beat those HS times in college, but never got close afterward.

I can run faster and farther now in my mid-50's then at any other time in my life. In fact recently I tested myself on a route that I ran on last year. I pushed it and ran a major record! As long as I don't injure myself by running too much I expect to get better and better until I'm 90. That's me. I have run regularly for over 30 years. Maybe other people will have different results.

I would imagine that with consistent training, you should be able to go atleast 4:55 or so. Sub 6 in December is a good sign.

i'm 37, but I think I hit my athletic peak at 30-33. It's much easier for me to gain weight now, and I was still strong enough to wear spikes in workouts at 30 when I ran a 9:50's steeple at 30 off 3-4 months of 30-40mpw.

realistically, if you are out of shape right now, i'd just jog easy until February, with strides a few times a week, then throw in long runs and a tempo run or something similar you enjoy. If you have access to hills, do some longer hill repeats a few times a week during March, and in April a few track workouts will have you ready for a good mile race in May, or atleast a solid time trial.

I think it's fairly easy to beat your high schools PRs at age 33, but not if you're just starting up again at 33. It took me ab out three years, starting up again in my late 20s after not running college, to beat my PRs, which included a school record (not an impressive one) for two miles. I eventually broke that record by 40 seconds at 33, but I took my time getting to that level.

I can't say that your leg speed with be more than it was in HS but you can be stronger and you can have more control over your own training, which is the important thing. So maybe you'll set PRs at 38. It can still happen.

Depends on how good you were in high school...You've typically lost speed but gained endurance so your longer distance times will be easier to beat.

dtystys wrote:

I can run faster and farther now in my mid-50's then at any other time in my life. In fact recently I tested myself on a route that I ran on last year. I pushed it and ran a major record! As long as I don't injure myself by running too much I expect to get better and better until I'm 90. That's me. I have run regularly for over 30 years. Maybe other people will have different results.

Benjamin Button just showed up.

your cousin marvin berry wrote:

i'm 37, but I think I hit my athletic peak at 30-33. It's much easier for me to gain weight now, and I was still strong enough to wear spikes in workouts at 30 when I ran a 9:50's steeple at 30 off 3-4 months of 30-40mpw.

Interesting. What were your HS times?