Distance Running

[DixieDestroyer]

One thing that I’ve nevered ‘enjoyed’ or been “good” at is running (for distance...not sprints). In HS, I ran a 6:40 mile for basketball pre-season conditioning but hated running anything beyond sprints. However, two of my kids ran (& run) both cross county (CC) & track. My daughter did both, but now only plays (HS) volleyball & hoops. My middle son won county & region in (Jr.High) CC + finished in the top 10 at the (JH/MS) State CC championship. He runs near a 5 minute flat mile (at 13) but his split for 2 miles is 5:30+. He also runs 800m & 1600m in track, & finished in the top 3 in region last season. He’s trying to reduce his running times as he’ll be in HS next year. He also plays hoops, but isn’t as good (there) as he is at running. Do any of y’all fine folks have any tips or pointers for a young CC + track runner? He has alotta potential, & we want to see him reach it...thanks!

 

[Don Wassall]

I enjoyed running for many years. It's a great complement to weight training in order to become very all-around fit. But for your son that's serious about running, I'd recommend reading some of the old books on the subject. I remember being inspired by books by Jim Fixx and Dr. George Sheahan (which were best-sellers in the 1970s when jogging/running really took off). Roger Bannister wrote at least one book and I'm sure some of the other previous giants of the sport did as well. A lot of times the old ways of training remain more valid than today's methods, which often consist of building up one's body to freakish proportions, with all the frequent injuries that come along with it. A lot of YouTube videos and online articles are nothing but useless clickbait promotional ads that often repeat each other, sometimes word for word.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

I enjoyed running for many years. It's a great compliment to weight training in order to become very all-around fit. But for your son that's serious about running, I'd recommend reading some of the old books on the subject. I remember being inspired by books by Jim Fixx and Dr. George Sheahan (which were best-sellers in the 1970s when jogging/running really took off). Roger Bannister wrote at least one book and I'm sure some of the other previous giants of the sport did as well. A lot of times the old ways of training remain more valid than today's methods, which often consist of building up one's body to freakish proportions, with all the frequent injuries that come along with it. A lot of YouTube videos and online articles are nothing but useless clickbait promotional ads that often repeat each other, sometimes word for word.

Thanks much Don! He’s looked a lot on YouTube & read some ‘modern’ (running) books. However, I was/am looking for some “age old” advise (such as yours above). We truly believe he has the (raw) talent & potential to eventually land a D1 CC &/or track scholarship...Lord willing,

 

[Carolina Speed]

One thing that I’ve nevered ‘enjoyed’ or been “good” at is running (for distance...not sprints). In HS, I ran a 6:40 mile for basketball pre-season conditioning but hated running anything beyond sprints. However, two of my kids ran (& run) both cross county (CC) & track. My daughter did both, but now only plays (HS) volleyball & hoops. My middle son won county & region in (Jr.High) CC + finished in the top 10 at the (JH/MS) State CC championship. He runs near a 5 minute flat mile (at 13) but his split for 2 miles is 5:30+. He also runs 800m & 1600m in track, & finished in the top 3 in region last season. He’s trying to reduce his running times as he’ll be in HS next year. He also plays hoops, but isn’t as good (there) as he is at running. Do any of y’all fine folks have any tips or pointers for a young CC + track runner? He has alotta potential, & we want to see him reach it...thanks!

We got our son involved in serious T&F at what some considered late, the tender age of 11. While playing Football, Wrestling and Baseball, I actually took my daughter to an AAU track practice, we found out it wasn't in her to run although she had a lot of potential. That being said, I came home and discussed with my son the thought of mixing in a little track during baseball season with the thought of it helping him in Football. To make a long story short, he began to run serious AAU T&F and within 2 years he was in Des Moines, Iowa and running in the AAU JR. Olympic finals of the 100 meters. He finished 6th in the country! I wished he would have kept running almost instead of playing football.
Anyway, my advice to you is, if you want to see how your kids stack up against the competition and improve and or try to get a track scholarship, I would find a local AAU Track Team and join them and work out with them. Generally, there are good coaches out there. Now AAU T&F is mostly made up of black athletes as I have said before, most white athletes are playing baseball, but that never bothered me and I consider one of my sons black coaches to be a big part of how he got to the Junior Olympics. He was very helpful with my son, even when he started to out run his own son, who was a defending state champion. I'm sure there are some AAU Teams in your area. I remember some good athletes making it to the Nationals from Georgia. If you want to compare your sons times to the AAU. Go to the AAU T&F site and Junior Olympics. It will give the times of some of the best runners in the country in each age group.
On a side note, running track actually helped my son get looks from historically black colleges to play baseball. I guess there's not enough black baseball players to fill their rosters? He could have played baseball for free at NC A&T, because a black track coach told the baseball coach about my sons speed and that he played travel baseball. Go figure?
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions DD, let me know.
I looked up the top 40 in the 13 year old 1500 meters at the AAU Nationals. It looks like the top 40 run between 4:18-4:59. Not sure how the 1500 stacks up to the mile. But that gives you some idea of the competition. ...and I saw some kids running from Atlanta, Lawrenceville, and Sugar Hill Georgia, if that helps.
BTW, I saw the AAU National CC event in Knoxville TN. Did your son run in that event?

 

[DixieDestroyer]

We got our son involved in serious T&F at what some considered late, the tender age of 11. While playing Football, Wrestling and Baseball, I actually took my daughter to an AAU track practice, we found out it wasn't in her to run although she had a lot of potential. That being said, I came home and discussed with my son the thought of mixing in a little track during baseball season with the thought of it helping him in Football. To make a long story short, he began to run serious AAU T&F and within 2 years he was in Des Moines, Iowa and running in the AAU JR. Olympic finals of the 100 meters. He finished 6th in the country! I wished he would have kept running almost instead of playing football.
Anyway, my advice to you is, if you want to see how your kids stack up against the competition and improve and or try to get a track scholarship, I would find a local AAU Track Team and join them and work out with them. Generally, there are good coaches out there. Now AAU T&F is mostly made up of black athletes as I have said before, most white athletes are playing baseball, but that never bothered me and I consider one of my sons black coaches to be a big part of how he got to the Junior Olympics. He was very helpful with my son, even when he started to out run his own son, who was a defending state champion. I'm sure there are some AAU Teams in your area. I remember some good athletes making it to the Nationals from Georgia. If you want to compare your sons times to the AAU. Go to the AAU T&F site and Junior Olympics. It will give the times of some of the best runners in the country in each age group.
On a side note, running track actually helped my son get looks from historically black colleges to play baseball. I guess there's not enough black baseball players to fill their rosters? He could have played baseball for free at NC A&T, because a black track coach told the baseball coach about my sons speed and that he played travel baseball. Go figure?
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions DD, let me know.
I looked up the top 40 in the 13 year old 1500 meters at the AAU Nationals. It looks like the top 40 run between 4:18-4:59. Not sure how the 1500 stacks up to the mile. But that gives you some idea of the competition. ...and I saw some kids running from Atlanta, Lawrenceville, and Sugar Hill Georgia, if that helps.
BTW, I saw the AAU National CC event in Knoxville TN. Did your son run in that event?

CS, thanks for the info sir. My (middle) son isn’t yet competing at the AAU/national level. However, we’re trying to prepare him for that “next level”. He runs a 5:05-5:10 mile...which is 1600 meters. He’s busting tail to get his 1600 (flat) time under 5 minutes. He’s really excelled at cross country (CC) which is 2 miles in Jr.High. He’s been preparing for HS CC (3 miles) next fall and (Jr.HS) track this spring. In track, competes at 800m & 1600m, but he’s better at the mile (& longer distances). He’s more of a distance runner & not a “sprinter”. He’s ran in a several 5K races, & won a few of them. He (also) plays hoops (at 6’0), but isn’t nearly as good at basketball as he is (at) running...although he is a fairly well rounded hoopster.