re: Pedro, or anyone else with youth running experience

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Got to the point where we were traveling all over the southeast just for regular league games and that just wasn't for her.

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That's how we felt. League fees, uniform packages, new cleats, it all adds up. Then you throw in 3-4 overnight or weekend trips for tournaments and you're spending thousands each year to play soccer. Ours were not all over the southeast, but mainly within Alabama. We're in Vestavia, and we could manage games in Montgomery, Gadsden, Tuscaloosa etc without getting a hotel, but Huntsville, Foley, Gulf Shores, and others were definitely 2 nights in a hotel, to play in a quick tournament where they might play 2-3 games.

I love that the Birmingham area has so many good track programs. All of indoor meets are at the Crossplex, and all of our outdoor meets up until the state meet are in the Bham metro. Trussville, Mountain Brook, Hoover/Spain Park, Homewood, and then a few home meets at Vestavia.

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Do you typically see a lot of improvement from girls from freshmen year to senior?

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unfortunate reality for girls distance runners is alot depends on how puberty hits them. Ive seen quite a few that were incredibly good freshmen year and then mother nature doesnt do them any favors and they either plateau or start to slow down some. A lot of mine do usually see a good chunk of improvement though. As long as they have a good head on their shoulders and work for it.

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Do you guys have a junior program?

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outside of the junior high not really. There are a ton of options here in wichita for track clubs and such though. If youre in a fairly decent sized area or close to one there should be some options there if she wants to do that. Ive even done some training on the side with younger kids here and there myself in free time.

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When does the most development typically occur?

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I would say typically high school as long as coaching is good. Just out of curiosity what high school would she be going to if you dont mind me asking? I can probably give you some ideas as to what that program might look like for her just by digging around milesplit for a bit. Thats another unfortunate reality of this sport. Theres alot of people coaching it that have no idea what theyre doing. Its definitely gotten better and continues to improve but is still something to watch out for.

Yea looking through times/progressions of some of their girls the last couple years it seems like theyve got a really good system in place. id say shes in a good spot to get better through high school id just try to make sure youre only pushing her as much as she wants to be pushed for now and being careful to avoid injury. overdoing it is the biggest thing that can hurt her right now.

You ever do the pacer with your kids?

Ha my competitive elementary kids loved it, always wondered what higher level runners would score

One question I would ask before deciding on path forward: how are her current XC/distance coaches at her school? A lot of times, junior highs just throw a stipend to a football coach to coach runners. My son came up with an awful XC coach at his junior high and all the serious runners paid for additional coaching and training plans. The junior high across town had an amazing distance coach, and it was night and day in the development of the athletes.

Edit: I see this was already covered a few posts prior to mine.

Our high school program (Fayetteville High in Fayetteville, AR) is legit with a legit coach with solid connections who usually puts out one nationally ranked runner a year, I think. One of the junior highs that feeds has an amazing coach. The other… eh.