Is it possible to grab a 4:20 mile by the end of Senior year?

Yeah - I stopped getting taller but got stockier. I did get down to a 2:02 800 though.

i ran 5:34 as a freshman and 4:11 as a senior

I feel bad for your athletes if you think it’s rare to run 4:20. Have fun staying mediocre

read a post way at the beginning of the thread. the percentage of people running 530 range in 9th who reach 420 is way less than 1%. and 530 is respectable for that age group

the odds are so far against an individual who gets into distance running to ever run 420. your views are either clouded by your population or too much time on the internet. or maybe you just have a far different definition of the word rare. either way, running 420 is really damn hard and most distance will never do it. that's not arguable

My son’s progression so far in hs:

9th: 12:50/5:59/2:38… ran all 3 seasons avg maybe 15mpw

10th: 10:41, 4:57, 2:20… 25-30 mpw

11th: 9:52, 4:38, 2:09… 35-40mpw

I 100% believe he will run 9:10-9:20, low 4:20s and low 2:00s as a senior. He’s averaging 50-60 a week this summer and starting to add “the little things” too for the first time.

So yeah, this kid could run 4:20. Who knows how he develops. For my son it wasn’t about puberty either. He was 5’ 10” as a freshman and is 6’2” now. Instead he had to learn how to use his body, learn how to hurt, and just had to train more.

but unlikely

You’re just showing us why you’re an average coach.

I have a similar question. I’m mostly a rock climber but I’ve managed to run a 4:18 mile as a junior. Is it possible that I could run a 3:51 mile as a senior? What are my chances of making the Olympic team in a couple of years in both the 800 and 1500. Are those realistic goals?

And Im out coaching state champions while you spend your time on the internet imagining how easily you could be the next Sean Brosnan, if only someone would give you the chance. Go out and Make it happen bruh. its easy to see you're a really really smart guy.

What state is 4:20 fast ? God help the kids you coach. I also feel bad for anyone you’re coaching. It’s 4th of July and your stalking letsrun saying 4:20 is fast. Hahaha loser

You’re looking for an answer that no one here can give you. There’s a full 3 years between now and your last high school mile race. Don’t put yourself in a mental cage. 50, 60, even 70 mile weeks aren’t that high, and 4:20, while fast, isn’t that crazy of a goal.

I was also relatively short in high school and progressed a ton. Mile went from 5:4X to sub 4:20. 3200m went from 13:0X to 9:2X. 5k started at 20:4X and finished 15:3X. I didn’t break 60 for 400 until junior year. This sport will humble the hell out of you, and you’ll consistently get beaten by kids who are just naturally stronger, bigger, and faster. But if you want to put the work in to improve you will.

And don’t feel like you’re missing out on life by committing to the sport. I don’t regret a single Friday night spent hammering repeats at the track while my friends were out partying. Learning to suffer well in running has translated into success in other areas of my life.
Good luck, brother.

a well-trained distance athlete, say with a few years of consistent training under their belt, with a 400 PR of 60 flat could reasonably target a 1600 time of 4:44-4:54

you'll need about 53 second 400 speed combined with solid aerobic development to break 4:20

it is absolutely possible unless you are built like a fullback

4:20 is fast, just as 50 seconds is fast for a 400 and 11 seconds is fast for a 100. you can read about the 1000s of people who have run those times, or are so talented they can practically jog those times. its a REALLY big world. but the truth is, in the small corners that most of us inhabit, most people you come across in life do not have the ability to EVER run those times. you guys can go on with your elitists attitudes, and meanwhile, the majority of the running world dreams of getting a bq or going under 20 minutes in a 5k. And to a lot of people, runners who can hit those milestones are fast.

Fewer than 1%. Not less.

I am not trying to be a jerk, I honestly think people don't know this rule:

If you can count the thing you are talking about, use the word "fewer" but if you can't count it, use "less."

There were fewer firemen and fewer ambulances at the scene of the fire than we expected. (You can count people and vehicles.)

There was less smoke and a lot less damage than we expected (you can't count smoke or damage.)

This is a great post. Thanks!

I do think the key is to not let the PRs of others ruin it for you. You'll always have guys on the team who run a minute faster than you in the 5km who are less dedicated or in love with the sport (but who have more talent).

If that ruins it for you, running might not be the best or healthiest hobby. You have to love your own process & progression without constantly comparing yourself to Nils Larros and the Youngs and the threads about a "random 7th grader runs 4:09 1600!"

Exactly this. The rankings on your team and in your area among 9th graders will look very different from how everyone ends up in 12th grade. I myself had a PR of 6:20 as a freshman, then 5:50 as a sophomore, 4:35 as a junior and 4:22 as a senior. I won the conference title in the mile as a senior over two guys who could also run 4:2X times, but who probably ran 4:5X or even 4:4X when we were all freshmen. Recently in the league I coach in, a kid ran 4:16 as a freshman and never improved, and is now kind of floundering at a small D1 school, which is to say he's still running pretty fast but you'd have thought he'd have been challenging for an Olympic bid by now when you saw him run as a 9th grader. You simply can't tell how anyone will develop, you just have to work hard and keep the faith that you will improve.

I'll join the "it's possible" bandwagon.

It's great that you want to have a concrete long term goal to go after. If your first year of high school was also your first year of track, then improvements can be derived through experience. You'll be learning what your capacities are and how those apply to race pace. Being able to connect what's 'left in the tank' with how much distance is left in the race and your competitive spirit comes from repetition.

If you're a 15 yo first year then you'll be 18 in your 4th year. That's a 20% increase in your time on this earth adding to your intellectual, emotional and physical development. Without having coached, it's difficult for me to quantify your potential. But your expressed interest in improving should help you lower your times. If you enjoy the pursuit of the goal (and hopefully the act of running itself) I firmly believe it's possible.

There are approximately 26,000 high schools in the US and about 1000 kids who broke 4:20 this year. That's 1 kid for every 26 high schools. If you think every high school on avg has what, 5 or 10 milers on the team thats 1000 kids out of 130,000-260,000 milers. OR, 0.4%-0.7% of MILERS can run sub 4:20. If you look at what percent of track athletes, or high school students... it would plummet by many many many fold. Sub 4:20 is rare and hard in the grand scheme of things. You need to be able to run 55 or faster in a 400 to run a 4:20... that takes more than just hard work. You then need to layer consistent hard training year after year on top of that speed to run 4:20. You can do it... but to everyone calling the hs coach a bad coach because he said it t akes talent.... that's ridiculous.

having coached in southern california and now living in Hawaii i can say with 100% confidence how fast someone runs in high school not only depends on their natural talent, but very much their coach, team, how competitive the sport is locally/regionally, their training environment, etc.

out here the kids run the 1500 and it takes a 4:02.16 to equal a 4:20.00 1600 (according MS conversion tool), a time that only one boy in the entire state of Hawaii has managed to run over the last 5 seasons.

point being, if OP is from Hawaii he's basically got no chance. if he's in a hotbed of talent like socal, his odds go way way up.