Peaking early vs late? i.e. Arcadia vs Nike Nationals

I think the training strategy might differ based on the various state meet schedules. Outdoor nationals might make more sense for kids with state seasons that end in June. In other states, where their state meet is early May, it might make more sense to do a big meet like Arcadia in April, and then end your season after the state meet. Since there are a few different national meets on the same weekend, it doesn't really feel like a true nationals...just another big meet and an opportunity to run a fast time.

depends on how much athletic opportunities you will get, and what you prioritize

What times are you chasing?

Under 9? Under 8:50? 8:40? Probably should peak for Arcadia

Breaking 4? Breaking 1:50? Post season meets like Brooks Pr / Hoka Festival of Miles

State Champion? Peak for the State meet

#1, #2 runner in the nation? Prefontain Classic or U20 US Championships

RunningFan, Ah that's true. I was selfishly looking at it from a CA season perspective but I can see what you mean.

For a California HS runner Prefontaine is On May 25th, same day as the State meet.

For a CA runner it seems like peaking for State would be the move, you get regional glory and still tapering for Hoka (a bit tight only 6 days after state) or Nike and get some National recognition. Keeps you prime for cross country season.

If you're top 15 you're already getting college ride somewhere, I think it might be more fun to try to break some State records on your way out the door.

those aren't in the same ballpark. An 8:35 in the 3200 is the equivalent to a 4:00 mile.

There's a reason the 3200 is the marquee event at Arcadia - you can run a very strong 3200 off of aerobic strength. No peaking required

Plus, slow times at State/Nationals may suggest they peaked too early, when in reality, times in championship races are dictated almost entirely by tactics. They could be in even better shape come State/Nationals, but run a slower time because they're gunning for a win, not a PR

sorry not understanding your same ballpark comment or 3200 equivalents. Simmons ran a 3200 at 8:34:96, his fastest 1600 is 4:04.78, so far. I'm a fan and hope he can break 4:00, but it'd depend if he trained for Arcadia or has a longer term strategy, no? maybe I'm being dense and over thinking "peaking" but at 8:34 how more meat do you have on the bone and can you keep that up for a few more months. time will tell.

sure I agree that the kids running 8:40-8:50s have some strong conditioning and I think therefore have arguably more room for improvement for the rest of the season. Can someone running mid 8:40's today challenge 8:34 if they are focusing their training for later in the season? Quite possibly.

I guess where this is coming from is I see a bunch of posts on this site saying speculating on whether some kid blew a race because they didn't win in the middle of the season, but I wonder if some of it is training strategy.

? who gets to State/ Nationals and wants to just win and not PR? The races are usually so close that they don't have the option to coast it in for an easy win. I can see someone running slower because they get boxed in traffic a get stuck in a slow pack, but tactically deciding to not go for a PR or meet record in a major finals doesn't make any sense.

Most of the top 400 runners in the world would struggle in an 800. This is clearly evidence that a 45 second 400m is equivalent to a 1:59 800m

Looks like they took Cameron Myers (Australia) for Prefontaine Classic Mile. Last Prefontaine Classic they took Colin Sahlman. Real bummer for Daniel Simmons/Drew Griffith there is no 2 mile this year at prefontaine but there hasn't been one for the last few prefontaines anyway