By the way…that 6-8 mile run ending with 100m accelerations/sprints is something I still try to do 2-3 runs per week. Basically in the last 10 minutes of a run I sprint 20 seconds on and then jog 40 seconds in between. It is a great way to keep up leg speed (well, I don’t have much any more, at 47, but still trying) given all the longer S-B-R stuff and it is a good weigh to exercise our fast twitch muscle fiber (use it or lose it)…I realize that this entire forum is anti weights and anti fast twitch training, but whether it is high school athletes or master guys, working the anaerobic system is a good thing.
Have him learn to ‘feel’ his pace and guess his interval times so he gets a good sense of pace. In swimming we had to guess our times on certain sets (pace clock was turned off) , most got quite good at knowing pace by feel.
What are the other kids around him able to do? I would suggest that instilling some race-savvy in your son NOW is the best gift you could give him. Teach him how to win while using the least amount of effort possible. At my high school, we were taught this very early and it served us very well. Sit and kick is a tough strategy to beat.
I would agree with Dev for his endurance speed days. 10x400 was a staple workout for us, but it wasn’t everything. I was an 800-1500 guy all the way through and past college and the workouts that I personally felt got me ready to run fast were 10x400 ( 200 jog, I guess that’s why I never broke 4) and 12x300 (broken into sets of 4 just at and below 800m race pace). Those were usually done as stand alone workouts and when you left the track, you were “speed drunk”.
Typically with young runners, the learning curve is very steep, and you just need to throw quality miles at them. strength = speed. Have him start off with things as basic as 6-8 mile run, followed immediately with 4-5x 100 strides. It gets the fastwitch firing after relying on slowtwitch for so long and you can drill down form while he’s tired. Then as he gets older and stronger, you can start layering in fartlek stuff at the end of longer runs so his body knows what certain paces feel like. I wouldn’t get caught up in PACING strategy, but I would instill overall race awareness and savvy now. One thing my HS coach told me at nationals my junior year was “race to win and the times will come”. And he was very right. That of course assumes you are not going out balls to the wall and trying to just run away from everyone, but racing intelligently in the front 1/3 of the pack and licking your chops when the last 300m comes around.
He felt terrible yesterday because of allergies and asthma, but was still able to gut out a 5:04. That put him in 14th place out of 40 runners. The winner ran 4:38, but there were a lot of runners within striking distance that Mikey could have tried to stick with or chase down. http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=168422#840
As I’m sure you’re well aware, the kid that won the frosh/soph race ran faster than the Varsity winner. Your boy is going to have a very worthy adversary throughout his entire time in HS. Unless you want him under 4 in HS, have him put in the work, have him race ALOT while he’s young, and the most important thing: keep it fun. You start really cracking the whip early on, and he’ll grow to hate it by the time he graduates.
Also, good HS choice, I went to Christian Brothers in NJ. Smart kid.
As I’m sure you’re well aware, the kid that won the frosh/soph race ran faster than the Varsity winner. Your boy is going to have a very worthy adversary throughout his entire time in HS. Unless you want him under 4 in HS, have him put in the work, have him race ALOT while he’s young, and the most important thing: keep it fun. You start really cracking the whip early on, and he’ll grow to hate it by the time he graduates.
Also, good HS choice, I went to Christian Brothers in NJ. Smart kid.
A footnote on the varsity winner’s time - he’s run 4:20 and absolutely mailed in the last 400 yesterday. He was barely jogging the last 100 meters. But, as you say, the frosh/soph winner is going to be tough competition. Here’s one thing that Mikey has going for him: he’s just barely started running. Given where he was a 10 months ago (his first few weeks of running, he was running 9 minute miles and was totally exhausted), he’s got a ton of upside. How fast will he get? Who knows, but he’s a hard worker and he’s shown some natural ability. I have a lot of confidence in his HS track coach, and there is a group of 4 freshman on his team that have a great time together and really push eachother, so I think he’s going to make progress and have a lot of fun along the way.
We try to keep things in perspective in our house, so with track, it should be fun, but it’s also a chance to learn about hard work and the rewards and result that can come when you work hard. The trick is to get them to think that it’s fun to work hard, or at least make it so that they do not know that they’re working hard because they are having fun.
He absolutely loves CB, and so do his parents; they’re pretty smart too. 
There isn’t much really to the pacing strategy for going under 5. Thousands of HS kids do it every year, and it is literally a matter of will. I think at that point the talent you need is suffering. Run 74 74 74 74. If he is doing the work in practice that his coach asks him to do, he is capable of it. It is literally deciding to do it. I would venture that for more than half the kids who run 4:59, they are capable of 4:30. Talent doesn’t even enter into the equation until 4:20-4:25. And even then hundreds do it every year. I was an 800 runner, ran the 1600 a couple times a year, PR’d at 4:36, and looking back, I know I came nowhere near my potential at the distance. With focus I’m sure I could have been sub 4:30.
So much of it depends on the competition too. If you never need to run 4:25 to win, you won’t try to run 4:25. But I can’t imagine he will have much trouble finding a quick race in California when the time comes.
HS runners that are in the 4:30 plus range are mostly limited by fitness. For that reason “racing” doesn’t make a lot of sense. Accordingly, the best bet is to try to run even splits. This may mean being back of the pack for the first lap and maybe at the half, but the unfit runners will come back to him if he runs even splits.
Over the season though he should have a few races where he challenges himself and doesn’t worry about the outcome. So if he is a 5minute guy right now, then at some point he should try going out in 72s and seeing what happens.
let me qualify myself by saying that when i was a junior high kid i was a 1600m guy then moved to the 800m and ran at a national level in college. i have to say a lot of the responses you have gotten here i would totally agree with. i saw the title of this thread and wanted to jump right in thinking i would find a lot of garbage but a lot of these guys have hit the nail on the head. one thing for sure that i would like to point out in terms of pacing is that running all 75’s or 74.9’s is NOT a good idea. its much easer to ease down into your pace from a 70-72 opening lap and a better position. the kid will be breathing hard regardless and at 25% of the distance he has time to settle down into a good pace. with all that fresh energy he wont feel much different after one lap of 75 or 72. what he does in laps 2 and 3 will make all the difference. my college coach coach used to yell at us that its easier to slow down than to speed up.
Other reasonable pacing strategies have been offered here so I won’t add much… generally though, 1st lap should be 1-2 seconds faster than avg. and last lap same. I did some pacing for WR attempts and was typically asked to go 54/1:50-1:51/2:47 (these splits resulted in a couple of 1500m’s at 3:26 and a 3:44 mile).
A story that may be of some value/inspiration for your son: one of my first HS races, I thought I was pretty hot stuff having been the fastest kid at my elementary school and won some races around the schoolyard. At our regional qualifier (the qualifier to the qualifier to the qualifier for provincial (state) championships), I finished 7th in the 1500m in 4:43 - pretty similar time to your son. I didn’t move on to the next meet. I quickly learned that I didn’t like losing and joined a track club 2 days later and by the end of the summer ran a 3000m in 9:26 - that’s exactly 4:43’s back to back. Next year I won the provincial championships for my age group in the 1500m in 4:04 and went on to run at a very high level - 7th in WC’s, 9th in OG’s and 3:51 mile. More importantly the lesson has stayed with me as a driving force in my life for continued work ethic and commitment. Not to say your son will achieve the same athletically, but hopefully a lesson in commitment/training. If he decides he ‘want’s it’, no reason to believe a 4:58 miler can’t make major progress under the right guidance, I wish him the best!
you are Kevin Sullivan or Graham Hood. And since I know Kevin quite well, I’m going to say you’re Graham. Brannen hasn’t been to an Oly final, and I know his disdain for triathletes, so I’m pretty sure you ain’t him.
I’ve never tried to hide my identity around these parts 
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seriously, you rabbited for Nourendine Morceli’s world record mile and second fastest mile of all time? And also for Bernard Lagat and El G, for the top 2 1500 races of all time?
Anyways, I’m not waysub4 but I did run a couple of sub 5 miles at the local all comers meets last year. After spending my high school career going out way too hard time and time again; this past summer I made the first lap feel easy; then hit goal times for laps 2 and 3 and then race lap 4. Even going out “really easy” I think he’ll find hes either on goal pace or slightly fast if he has much in the way of nervous energy.
I rabbitted for EL G, Morceli, Geb and many others over the years… a lot of near misses (including the EL G race with Lagat’s pr in Brussels) and one WR (Geb indoor 2 mile). 3:44 mile was for EL G in Oslo (may have been 3:45, but I seem to recall it being a bit closer than that).
My son ran his first sub-6 mile last week (dirt track) then ran a 5:44 the next day on a good rubber track. His first lap was a 73 then he was 1:35. I told him today at his meet to let everyone run in front of him and then start to pull them back over the next two laps. Well, he took me way too litterally and was just jogging at the 200 and let everyone in front of him to run his first lap in 1:35 (though it was very windy). He paced the rest of the way pretty even and picked it up a bit to go through in 4:32 or so and then ran an 82 last lap to finish it off. Considering the wind and the dirt track I felt like he learned some good pacing technique but left too much out there on the first lap.
One way to help them really pay attention is to set the repeating timer on the watch for 100s or 200s. At least that way they know to relax a bit after the first 200 and settle into their pace.
My best mile I ran the splits within about 3 seconds of each other with the first nearly always the fastest and the third lap the slowest.
Chad
This question has been the subject of numerous research projects by graduate students. EVEN PACE is always the conclusion, no matter what the physiological, biochemical, or neuromuscular measurements are. IMO, he should progress slowly and shoot for sub-4:50.
What’s a good pacing strategy for a relatively new runner who’s running the 1600m? This is my son’s first year of running track - he’s a freshman and has run a 4:59 without much of a strategy other than not going out too hard the first lap and then trying to run the last lap hard. Or is that the best strategy at this point - keep it simple?
Thanks to everyone for chiming in. There’s a lot of good information here to digest.
Mike,
Just a few, hopefully quick, thoughts that I hope will add to those you’ve received.
I enjoyed running for most all my coaches from high school onward and followed their workouts nearly to the letter however I don’t recall an instance when I took any of their advise before or during a race. The majority of it was superficial and frequently incorrect, e.g. “we need you to pass the guy in front of you,” or something like “you’re looking good!” when I was cramping. Although they knew when one of my times had passed a milestone, e.g. a sub 5 mile, I doubt they could have told you my PR’s and what race strategy I was most successful at.
That strategy usually consisted of a number of behaviors, e.g. don’t go out fast, don’t run wide in turns, relax, keep an eye on a specific person, pass with certainty, etc., but never included pre-determined lap times. If I had a 5 minute PR then I might run a 73/74 and a 75 second lap. By then I’d have a better idea of the race dynamics and how I felt. If I felt good I might go for a 75/74 third lap and try to lift on the backstretch of the last lap. If I wasn’t feeling strong I might continue to slow on the third lap with the hope of trying to salvage the race with a reasonable finishing kick.
HTH,
Phil
One more thing to keep in mind. Your son is young and he seems to already have a good aerobic engine. That will keep developing, however, this is the time to work on his top end speed over 100m and 200m.
I never ran a step of distance running in high school (probably because I hated running long, but I just loved to sprint…and the sprinters would look at the distance runners and say, “that stuff is really for the guys that can’t run fast…”…but you know how teenagers are and I was no better.
My track coach though forced even the sprinter to run a decent volume. When I joined the Armed forces and had to run the 1.5 mile test I cranked off a sub 7:40 in my first round…I had no clue of pace. Within a year, I was down to 7:08 which is 4:45 mile pace but for 2400 m, not 1600m. My track coach had given the sprinters good endurance because we had to run multiple rounds of 100’s, 200’s and relay legs in a track meet. When it came time to do “distance running” I had leg speed, just needed to learn about pacing and get a bit more endurance. If you are young and have leg speed, you can always get endurance with work, but just because you have endurance does not mean you will have top end leg speed and frankly success in high school racing will still boil down to the final 200-100-50m of the mile. My biggest regret is not running the 800m or 1500m in high school as my coach had prepared my leg speed and endurance…but there was more glory in the sprinting events…
Anyway about Mo Farah’s London Olympic 5000m. He closed the last mile with a sub 4 minute mile and ran his last quarter in 53 seconds…53 seconds…that’s 13.25 second per 100m. Even Simon Whitfield’s first Olympic medal was won in a top end sprint finish and second medal was “lost” in a top end sprint finish. Get your son down below 13 seconds over 100m or if he as good natural speed, perhaps sub 11…lots of time to develop his mile speed.
This question has been the subject of numerous research projects by graduate students. EVEN PACE is always the conclusion, no matter what the physiological, biochemical, or neuromuscular measurements are. IMO, he should progress slowly and shoot for sub-4:50.
What’s a good pacing strategy for a relatively new runner who’s running the 1600m? This is my son’s first year of running track - he’s a freshman and has run a 4:59 without much of a strategy other than not going out too hard the first lap and then trying to run the last lap hard. Or is that the best strategy at this point - keep it simple?
I think the research confuses personal bests and record setting with winning races.
Certainly a personal bests and records are best arrived at by a constant pace.
But to win a race requires a plan where you play to your strengths and against your competitors weaknesses. That is seldom if ever an even pace.
If you have better 200m speed at the end, you might want to hold the pace well below average until the end.
If you lack speed at the end, you might want to tire out the others starting at well over the average pace.
And if you are 20-30 seconds faster than everyone else, you can just sit in the pack and enjoy yourself, until you decide you want to celebrate.
I’m going to take a different approach to your question. Your son is a freshman who just started running who is running great times for his age and amount of training. He is going to get A TON better/faster. I say for now, let him race his races off of enthusiasm. Strict pacing at this point may limit breakthrough performances that are certainly in his future and also not allow him to experience a whole bunch of different race situations (how it feels to go out too hard, too easy, front of pack, back of pack, etc…etc…). Let him make the race, so to speak. In training, that is where he should be learning how to run evenly split 400’s, 800’s, miles, etc…etc…
If he is the one reaching out for better strategy in races, then tailing the back of the pack for the first lap (will still result in a fast first lap… nature of HS racing) is probably a great place to start. Otherwise, let the kid run hard. Sounds like he’s going to be very good very soon!