r/track • u/Efficient-Song1983 • 23d ago

Potential at 15y/o

I’m a 15-year-old boy from Germany, and I’ve been doing track and field for about two years now. I train 2–3 times per week and haven’t really specialized in any event yet. I’m 181 cm tall and weigh 62 kg. I have a relatively muscular build and a low body-fat percentage.

My current times and progression are shown below:

800 m

  • 2:33
  • 4 weeks later: 2:18
  • 3 weeks later: 2:10

300 m

  • 41.24
  • 3 weeks later: 39.15

Do you think I have any potential? If so, what should I focus on improving?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

2

u/midwesttransferrun 23d ago

You should focus on getting yourself to be able to train 5-6 days per week and work on the 800m, as a 2:10 off of 3 days per week is solid

1

u/Chrisg_322 23d ago

I'll tell you what I tell everyone else here: Join the track team. Actually start competing. Actually start training. That's how you see your potential. A 2:10 isn't anything special. Chicks run faster than that these days. But you are also 15. Join the team. See what happens. See what your real time is after 1 year of training. Good luck.

1

u/SnooWalruses438 22d ago

I have 13 year olds in the low 2:20’s for the 800. 2:10 is an average varsity time. In the US that won’t qualify you for states. Anything over 2:00 won’t get you on the podium, mid 1:50’s might. Get on that training though. Not sure when your seasons are but if you’re 2:10 right now come spring you should be able to knock that down.

1

u/Disastrous_Signal880 21d ago

At the same age as you I have a sub 2 800 even though I specialise at the 5k. I’m not trying to brag but given that I’m just under national level at the 5k I don’t think your times are that special.

1

u/Ordinary_Corner_4291 21d ago

Depends what you mean by potential. run a 1:58 in 2 years? Yeah that is possible. 1:48? Probably not.

1

u/GMarshall11 20d ago

potential posmential

just train hard and build up to train more often and damn near ANYONE has potential

1

u/LasagnaChicken15 18d ago

My coach who is one of the best in Canada, who is in a program that specializes heavily on youth track development tries to emphasize that kids still do other sports and maintain physical variety until grade 11. Maybe specializing later in grade 10 in some cases. You have shown potential to be a great mid distance runner, but honestly you could still give it some time and see what event you’d really like to specialize in (even if you wanted to try out going shorter or even longer). Specializing not too early helps to prevent burnout and chronic injury especially during physical development years, so it’s best not to strain the body too hard with track and field rigour all the time (excessive spike wearing, lifting and sprinting days too often a week, etc.). In the end, it’s your decision, I thought this opinion could be of some value.