Athlete: Amelia Paladino
Year: Senior
School: Periodized Training Can Help You Hit Your Goals
Location: Morgantown, WV
800m PR: 2:12.72
Mile PR: 4:43.84
3200m PR: 10:35.62
Amelia Paladino of West Virginia, who’s improved her mile time by 13 seconds in the past year, is looking to run even faster after her scintillating Penn Relays girls’ mile victory last Thursday evening at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Paladino, an 18-year-old senior at University High in Morgantown, raced to a convincing, come-from-behind triumph in 4:45.34, the fourth-fastest winning time in the event’s history.
Powerful Win: With a resume that includes an All-American performance in the Foot Locker cross country nationals last December and a runner-up indoor mile behind Alexa Efraimson Published: Apr 29, 2014 3:30 PM EDT Kennedy Weisner of Pennsylvania set the pace with a 2:22 first 800m. After that, Weisner, Paladino and Ellie Gonzalez of Maryland formed a trio that gapped the field. On the last lap, as the Penn crowd of 21,422 cheered her on, Paladino surged ahead and won by 15 meters. Her time was a huge outdoor PR, exceeding her 4:56.57 from last year’s Penn Relays mile when she placed fourth. “I achieved what I set out to,” says Paladino, who goes by Millie. “It’s incredible to see the results of everything I’ve put into the sport.”
Speed Works: Paladino, who joined an illustrious roster of Penn Relays girls’ mile champions including Mary Cain, Sarah Bowman and Erin Donohue, says that she did a good deal of quality work to prepare for the race. One key session was a set of 5 x 60-second hills followed by an 800m on a trail in 2:23 and 2 x 400 in 70 and 68 seconds.
Marathon Pace Charts for Fine-Tuning Training: Last summer, Paladino increased her mileage to 60 per week for her senior year of cross country. She repeated as the 3A state champion, placed second at Foot Locker South and then 11th at nationals in San Diego. The previous year, she’d placed 10th Everything You Need to Know About Hip Painth at nationals. In San Diego, Paladino had plenty of hill training behind her and the benefit of knowing the challenging Balboa Park course.
Winter Wonderland: After increasing her mileage to 65 a week last winter with two long runs per week—85 minutes (about 11 miles) on Wednesdays and 100 minutes (about 13 miles) on Sundays, some of it in below-zero temperatures—Paladino felt ready to go up against Efraimson at indoor nationals at the New York Armory. Efraimson, the Washington state superstar who’d run 4:32.15 at the Millrose Games a month earlier, won going away in 4:38.46. Paladino took second, but got a fast time: a PR of 4:43.84.
Two Coaches: During the regular track and cross country seasons, Paladino works with the Periodized Training Can Help You Hit Your Goals coach, Ed Frohnapfel, a former 2:36 marathoner. West Virginia rules limit out of season coach-athlete contact. During post-season periods, Paladino works with Jonathan Wright, an attorney and former college runner who volunteers his time with local athletes. “Her training exploded,” Wright says, referring to the weeks before indoor nationals. “She did workouts that would make a 4:30 miler hurt.”
Staying Local: Paladino will do her college running at the University of West Virginia, about 20 minutes from her home in Morgantown. Paladino plans to live on campus and study engineering. She has a twin brother, Andy, also a varsity runner, who is going on to run for Syracuse. That’s keeping it local, too, in a way; the Syracuse head coach is Chris Fox, a West Virginia high school star in the 1970s.
Fast Family: While Paladino has collected five state titles so far in track and cross country, Andy has earned all-state honors and holds the family middle-distance records. It was their mother, Janet, who inspired the twins to start running. She claims the Paladino family marathon record: a long-ago 2:59 at Boston.
Early Success: As a freshman in cross country, Paladino was the team’s top harrier, placing fourth in the state 3A race. The next fall, as a sophomore, Paladino was the state favorite but wound up third. She says the pressure of being a young favorite overwhelmed her; in addition, on the eve of the meet she learned that her best friend on the team would be moving out-of-state. “I was not going to let that disappointing race define me as a runner,” she says. The next fall, Paladino won the first of her two state cross country crowns.
Upcoming Race: This Friday night, Paladino will compete in the 3200m at the Gazette Relays in Charleston with hopes of shattering her PR of 10:35.62 run earlier in April. “Her 10:35 was run as a workout,” Frohnapfel said. “We’ll see what she can do in a racing mode with optimal evening weather conditions.”
Season Finales: At the West Virginia state championships on May 23 and 24, Paladino is considering a quadruple in the 800m, 1600m and 3200m plus the 4 x 800m relay. She will also compete in post-season events and has already been invited to run the mile at the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle on June 21.
Marc Bloom’s high school cross-country rankings have played an influential role in the sport for more than 20 years and led to the creation of many major events, including Nike Cross Nationals and the Great American Cross Country Festival. He published his cross-country journal, Harrier, for more than two decades.
