re: Good mile time for a kid

7:29 seems pretty fricking fast for a 9 year old

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Hardly a big reason why LA distance running isn't good.

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The lack of quality coaches is far and away the #1 reason. There's only a handful of those around LA in any given decade.

To OP: 7:29 is a good time for his age, but nothing groundbreaking. It's definitely worth encouraging him to greater efforts.

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I don't know a single high school distance runner from Louisiana who did summer track.

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Maybe that's why Louisiana doesn't produce good HS distance runners. Kids in Texas where its just as hot are running summer track.

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I’m not that type of parent and was joking about the state champion comment. Not sure why folks are so cynical. I’m just very impressed by what I saw my kid do with no formal training, and I’m wondering if he might have some real talent or if that’s not anything special for a 9YO.

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Remember where you are. This place (OT) is a cesspool of shitty trolls, but among the shitty comments are nuggets of good information. For some strange reason, this is especially true when anyone asks a question about a kid and athletics (talented kids in particular.)

Not sure why my post has 8 dislikes?

Is it controversial to say that hard work is more important than natural talent?
Or that any reasonably healthly kid can do good? (After a couple years of quality training)

Or that getting a good coach at the age the parent wishes to begin training(should the kid have the desire to train)?

Or that training year round is key? (Of course following standard phases of training with planned recovery periods)

None of this seems controversial to me?

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Natural talent isn’t as important in distance running. Any reasonably healthy kid can pick it up young and do good. Success is far more dependent on training. If he wants to compete in distance running, make sure he has a good coach and start him training at the age you feel appropriate. Year round consistent training is key.

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Not sure why my post has 8 dislikes?

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Natural talent isn’t as important in distance running. Any reasonably healthy kid can pick it up young and do good.

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This is a myth that's thrown around a lot and simply not true. All of us on XC teams in the past all knew at least one or 2 dudes who didn't improve much/perform well on race day no matter how much they worked. Likewise, there are multiple time state cross country champions out there who were some of the laziest mf'ers you've ever met. Distance running has a huge mental component that's largely ignored/overlooked by those who don't do it themsleves.

Also, physical talent absolutely does matter when you start getting to the more elite levels. Ask any seasoned distance runner how hard it is to win races if you're a little short on speed.

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My kid who just turned 9 ran a 7:29 mile tonight

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All of us on XC teams in the past all knew at least one or 2 dudes who didn't improve much/perform well on race day no matter how much they worked. Likewise, there are multiple time state cross country champions out there who were some of the laziest mf'ers you've ever met.

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I agree with the statement but I would argue that both cases are on the extreme end and do not apply to 90% of high school runners. Any state champion running say low 15 minute 3 miles absolutely worked hard to get there. The determining factor in their success is the training they did. Not “natural talent” You can take 20 people with talent equal to the state champion. They would only reach that level if they did equivalent training to the state champion.

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Distance running has a huge mental component that's largely ignored/overlooked by those who don't do it themsleves.

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Agreed, but a different concept than physical natural talent.

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Also, physical talent absolutely does matter when you start getting to the more elite levels.

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Of course it matters at elite levels. I do not consider Louisiana high school distance running to be an elite level. Maybe I was unclear what I meant by good. I would say sub 17 minute 3 miles is above average for Louisiana high school XC. I am confident that I could take any reasonably healthy(no major health conditions and not obese) 7th grade boy and coach them for 6 years and have them run under 17 minutes which I would consider to be “good” for Louisiana high school XC. (Assuming the runner has a constant desire to work to get better)

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Ask any seasoned distance runner how hard it is to win races if you're a little short on speed.

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I am a well seasoned distance runner.
Phyiscal talent in distance running is more than pure speed. Underlying physiological factors (oxygen levels in blood, hemoglobin levels) are also important. Of course being and ideal height and weight makes a difference also. You can take someone with ideal talent. If they run 5 miles a week and don’t do any speed workouts. They are not winning state.

Pure sprint speed can be trained through weightlifting, short sprint repeats, hill repeats, pulling sleds, parachutes and probably other ways.
At the high school level, if you are losing a 3 mile race in a sprint at the end, it wasn’t your natural speed that lost you the race. The other runner just had more left in the tank because they were in better shape.

I did not say natural talent is not important. I said it isn’t as important and good training. Training is the determining factor in success, not talent. If you had 2 line graphs with one showing physical talent vs. 3 mile times then it would be all over the place because of varying levels of training. The plot showing training vs 3 mile time would look nearly linear with better training showing better 3 mile times. Of course there would be outliers but the trend line would be clear.

I did 6m 44s in middle school, now i probably couldn't do that on a bike

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I would say sub 17 minute 3 miles is above average for Louisiana high school XC.

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I think this is spot on. I had naturally better foot speed (ran the 400m and 800m during track season) but got trained up to a sub-17 3 mile / 17:30 5k during XC. I was just about average, maybe slightly above, compared to the rest of the guys. OP's son should stick with it if he likes it and he can probably do well with good coaching.