Master Index of Archived Threads


The Miler

soupcan Oct 14 2008 08:56 AM

It is my 11 year-old son's turn to run a mile in P.E. class today. 4 laps around the high school track. According to him, his peers have been clocking it between 7:30 - 8:30. Over 9:00 is 'bad'. A few kids have run in the 6's. He was very nervous so I took him to the track last night for a test run. We ran at a very slow pace for the first 3 laps (about 2:45-3:00 per lap)then picked up the pace for the final lap and he full-out sprinted the last 1/4 of the fourth lap. His time was 9:38. Now he's not overweight at all in fact he's a skinny li'l thing. He's athletic and sprints pretty well. He cramped up in the third lap but ran through it. He was very disappointed in his time but I told him that we ran really slowly the first 3 laps so he shouldn't be that worried. I told him that if the average for his age is between 7:30 - 8:30 then I'm sure he fall in around there. "But dad I ran my best and it was 9:38! I can't do any better!" I'm sure he'll come in at at least 8:30. What do you think?

AG/DC Oct 14 2008 09:13 AM

I think his fretting over something so meaningless is adorable. I'm tempted to blame Madonna. I think he'll surprise himiself with an 8:17 and be delighted. I'd encourage you to encourage him to come out with you for more running in the evenings. He'll be under seven in two weeks.

metirish Oct 14 2008 09:16 AM

I'm putting $20 on a time under 8 minutes 10 seconds.

themetfairy Oct 14 2008 09:18 AM

No wonder I hated gym class so much. Those are unreasonably high expectations. Not everyone in the world is blessed with speed. Setting kids up for disappointment rather than teaching them how to enjoy exercise for fitness' sake is not what PE should be about.

AG/DC Oct 14 2008 09:20 AM

Re-reading here, am I correct in understanding that they are taking turns running solo --- like it's some kind of performance while others watch? That would be kind of --- well it would be ass, wouldn't it? It's easy enough to send the whole class around the track at once.

soupcan Oct 14 2008 09:38 AM

="themetfairy"]No wonder I hated gym class so much. Those are unreasonably high expectations. Not everyone in the world is blessed with speed. Setting kids up for disappointment rather than teaching them how to enjoy exercise for fitness' sake is not what PE should be about. The school and the P.E. teachers aren't putting any pressure on them. I think they are just timing them to give the kids something to shoot for.. What's happening is each class has a different time to do it and as the kids from those classes finish and find out what their times are they tell their friends. So its a peer pressure thing to be as good or better than your friends. ="AG/DC"] I think his fretting over something so meaningless is adorable. I'm tempted to blame Madonna. Madonna was my other son, but I have no problem blaming her for this. ="AG/DC"]I think he'll surprise himiself with an 8:17 and be delighted. I'd encourage you to encourage him to come out with you for more running in the evenings. He'll be under seven in two weeks. He has zero interest in running he just doesn't want to be the slowest right now.

HahnSolo Oct 14 2008 09:38 AM

And if they do go around the track all at once, I like his chances at a better time. If you have that tangible goal of chasing someone around, you might kick in to another gear when needed, especially if someone is keeping a fast pace. Running by himself? 8:21 With a group? 7:47

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 14 2008 09:39 AM

Having anyone running in front of me was always great motivation and worth a few seconds at the very least, so hopefully they run in a pack. A mile is a pretty long distance for an 11 y.o. though. IIRC, we ran a "660" for the President's Physical Fitness certificate. Do they still do that? I got a Ford one and a Carter one IIRC.

soupcan Oct 14 2008 09:41 AM

AG/DC wrote: Re-reading here, am I correct in understanding that they are taking turns running solo --- like it's some kind of performance while others watch? Not running solo - I believe its one class at a time. ="HahnSolo"]And if they do go around the track all at once, I like his chances at a better time. If you have that tangible goal of chasing someone around, you might kick in to another gear when needed, especially if someone is keeping a fast pace. I told him exactly that. Like his mother though, no matter how many times I turn out to be right, they never believe me going in.

metsguyinmichigan Oct 14 2008 09:41 AM

I might be able to run a 7:30 mile -- downhill with a hurricane-strength back wind.

AG/DC Oct 14 2008 09:56 AM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Oct 14 2008 10:22 AM

I made up a bunch of scores for the President's Physical Fitenss Test. I was in decent enough shape but I thought I was punk and fabricating scores was punk. I was hit with deep remorse when the top ten scores were posted and I finished among them --- somewhere between seventh and ninth, I can't recall. The top ten were all varsity star athletes, and I was maybe the anonymous third best in my class on the cross country team, and sixth in the school. I don't know if anybody actually felt slighted by my presence among the jockstraps, but I imagined they did. The next year, I actually trained on my own for the test in order to validate my presence on the list the previous year. By then end, I cut my score in the 600 down, I think, from 1:38 to 1:31. It was probably tops in the school. Guys who I couldn't touch in the quarter or the mile were scratching their heads. In a strange flanking maneuver, I was the probably the only schoolboy in America training to excel specifically at this very odd distance. Of course they didn't post the top scores in the hallway that year. Of course.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 14 2008 10:20 AM

metsguyinmichigan wrote: I might be able to run a 7:30 mile -- downhill with a hurricane-strength back wind. I looked it up. 7:30 is the 85th percentile for 11 year olds and what is needed to qualify for the patch and GWB's sig. Other shit you need to do (and I prolly can't today): * 47 curl-ups in one minute --OR 43 partical curl-ups (?) * 10 seconds in the shuttle run * 4 inches in the V-sit reach (what is this?) --OR 31 centimeters in the sit-and-reach * 7 pull-ups --OR 27 right-angle push-ups

Frayed Knot Oct 14 2008 11:15 AM

]According to him, his peers have been clocking it between 7:30 - 8:30. Over 9:00 is 'bad'. A few kids have run in the 6's. I suspect there's a little Zaggeratin' going on with the "reported" times and what he thinks is below average or bad is probably a bit closer to average.

soupcan Oct 14 2008 11:20 AM

Frayed Knot wrote: I suspect there's a little Zaggeratin' going on with the "reported" times and what he thinks is below average or bad is probably a bit closer to average. Told him that as well...

soupcan Oct 14 2008 01:08 PM

The wife just called me and the results are in! Drumroll please.... 8:11. So sorry metirish, you missed it by one measly second! You can PayPal me the $20.00.

metsmarathon Oct 14 2008 01:52 PM

i always sucked at the mile in gym class. sucked hard. i felt like i should have been much better, but i just couldn't put it together... i'd alternate between running really hard, and walking whilst huffing and puffing. i think i ran a 8:02 in 6th grade (for some reason that number sticks in my head) but never cracked 8 minutes until my senior yer of high school. my sprinting bouts got faster, of course, but the huffing and puffing always did me in. if i wasn't the last not-fat kid in gym class, i was close. something about pacing, and relaxed breathing, i learned later in life... nowadays i'm pissed that i didnt break a 6:00 official time in the 5th avenue mile, despite specifically training for for something quite the opposite of a mile sprint. oh, and according to this [url=http://www.heartbreakhill.org/age_graded.htm]calculator[/url]... 8:11 is good for a 54.045% age graded result. nice work!

themetfairy Oct 14 2008 01:54 PM

WTG Cup 'o Soup!

metirish Oct 14 2008 01:55 PM

soupcan wrote: The wife just called me and the results are in! Drumroll please.... 8:11. So sorry metirish, you missed it by one measly second! You can PayPal me the $20.00. Don't mind me , is your kid happy with it?

soupcan Oct 14 2008 02:43 PM

metirish wrote: Don't mind me , is your kid happy with it? No idea, haven't spoken to him yet. Knowing him, he'll probably be like "It was no big deal, dad..." Little shit.