Eighth grader from New Jersey. 14:55 for 5k, 9:35 2mile, 4:23 mile, 4:01 1500m. I follow his Strava, and he rarely goes over 50 miles per week. 90% of his workouts are threshold intervals but mixes in a bit of race pace and V02 max stuff. He's not training remarkably hard and is very consistent. He's also not old for eighth grade turning 14 this year.
John "Jack" Tindall 14:55 5k in 8th grade
High School Running
Distance
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Tell your son he’s doing a great job 😃
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Dekook wrote:
Eighth grader from New Jersey. 14:55 for 5k, 9:35 2mile, 4:23 mile, 4:01 1500m. I follow his Strava, and he rarely goes over 50 miles per week. 90% of his workouts are threshold intervals but mixes in a bit of race pace and V02 max stuff. He's not training remarkably hard and is very consistent. He's also not old for eighth grade turning 14 this year.
That’s obviously very good, and there’s no reason not to wish great success for this kid, but 50 mpw is a lot at that age. That’s where I topped out in high school (50-55). He needs to be sure he gets through puberty and doesn’t have any “growth problems.” My best friend in high school xc was a prodigy like this kid but kept increasing his volume and sustained a series of injuries starting at age 16, one after another, and never recovered from it.
Personally, I feel like this kid would be better off implementing a few cross training days. That’s not to say that he can’t be running 80 mpw as an upperclassman, just that he needs to be careful. But, those are incredible times for the age obviously.
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Sub-9:00 guy wrote:
Dekook wrote:
Eighth grader from New Jersey. 14:55 for 5k, 9:35 2mile, 4:23 mile, 4:01 1500m. I follow his Strava, and he rarely goes over 50 miles per week. 90% of his workouts are threshold intervals but mixes in a bit of race pace and V02 max stuff. He's not training remarkably hard and is very consistent. He's also not old for eighth grade turning 14 this year.
That’s obviously very good, and there’s no reason not to wish great success for this kid, but 50 mpw is a lot at that age. That’s where I topped out in high school (50-55). He needs to be sure he gets through puberty and doesn’t have any “growth problems.” My best friend in high school xc was a prodigy like this kid but kept increasing his volume and sustained a series of injuries starting at age 16, one after another, and never recovered from it.
Personally, I feel like this kid would be better off implementing a few cross training days. That’s not to say that he can’t be running 80 mpw as an upperclassman, just that he needs to be careful. But, those are incredible times for the age obviously.
I've heard multiple top recruits run 75+ mpw
With how fast the competition is getting (aided by shoes, and in a few cases, "supplements") you either have to be as talented as Rupp and have decent coaching or run 80 mpw with good talent to get recruited to a college like Stanford46 -
Hopefully this kid keeps it fun and relaxed. This result is incredible, but not if it means he's peaked at 14.
James Garritson ran a 33 minute 10k at age 12 back in the day. His sister Carrie ran in the marathon Olympic trials in 1988 also age 12. But those were their peaks.
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Unless he is going to a private school, he'll be at Cherokee High School next year which is a well-coached team that has produced several quality D1 runners. He's in good hands.
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Wow…faster 5k than this guy
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MN Reve wrote:
Wow…faster 5k than this guy
I don't know man. I don't mean to rain on everybody's parade, but I feel like middle school kids should be playing lots of different sports that have them moving in different planes and working on strength, jumping, lateral mobility, which will serve them well with handling distance training in later years. I get wanting to run 75+ mpw as an upper classman and procuring a decent scholarship. I would've done that too if needed to, 70-80 mpw. But it just seems like there's too much specialized focus at too young of an age. Everyone wants to be the next Jakob.
Lukas V was maybe the best prep distance runner we ever produced, but he was a cross training machine. I think his running topped out at 60 mpw. I only bring that up because I feel like all that these kids need to do at age 14 is introduce maybe two days of cross training in lieu of running and basically get the same results with more longevity. Save the 70 mpw for age 17+.
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Fantastic! If ya got a race video would love to see it. He’s an early developer but still amazing.
watched him run in person 4:25, 9:17 1500/3k last summer so must riding that puberty train well! 😊 but even if fully grown freshman year doesn’t mean he’s peaked. he can still progress through high school so long as he stays healthy physically and mentally (doesn’t burnout) and sticks with the training. Wtg Mr. Tindall!
Ps needs to get in another 2 mile cuz that must have been a while ago cuz doesn’t match other performances 👍
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A 14:55 does not match to a 9:35 over 2 miles. Old 2 mile pr?
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Interviewed, 9/9/23:
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I think he ran that solo. It was a few weeks ago.
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Kobbs Hessler wrote:
Hopefully this kid keeps it fun and relaxed. This result is incredible, but not if it means he's peaked at 14.
James Garritson ran a 33 minute 10k at age 12 back in the day. His sister Carrie ran in the marathon Olympic trials in 1988 also age 12. But those were their peaks.
Yeah, I remember Brad Hudson cranking out a 32:20 six miler on the Central Park loop (pretty hilly) at age 13, still just a child, physically. He was running some serious miles (80-100/wk), usually pushing it pretty hard. He was phenomenal in HS, excellent in college, and very good as a pro, but I wonder what he would have accomplished in college and as a pro if he did things differently early on. I think he would have done some incredible things.
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14:55 as an 8th grader is extremely impressive. But as an expert talent scout, I regret to inform you guys that Jack is going to hit a massive growth spurt next year and become a top varsity offensive lineman in 10th grade. 14:55 will be his mile time when his coach punishes him for taking a dump in the cross country team captain's gym bag.
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Badland said:
Eighth grader from New Jersey. 14:55 for 5k, 9:35 2mile, 4:23 mile, 4:01 1500m. I follow his Strava, and he rarely goes over 50 miles per week. 90% of his workouts are threshold intervals but mixes in a bit of race pace and V02 max stuff. He's not training remarkably hard and is very consistent. He's also not old for eighth grade turning 14 this year.That is an outcome that many children wish for.
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Dekook wrote:
Eighth grader from New Jersey. 14:55 for 5k, 9:35 2mile, 4:23 mile, 4:01 1500m. I follow his Strava, and he rarely goes over 50 miles per week. 90% of his workouts are threshold intervals but mixes in a bit of race pace and V02 max stuff. He's not training remarkably hard and is very consistent. He's also not old for eighth grade turning 14 this year.
The early start in serious training won’t ultimately result in him running faster in HS, so it would be better to back off, for now, and reduce the risk of injury.
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4:14.9 last night in West Chester
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Who is downvoting this?!?!
An 8th grade kid runs 4:14.9 for a mile and gets no love?…
Incredible run from the young man.
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Cherokee had a freshman run a 9:35. A good future for a very good program.
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What’s the 8th grade mile record?
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