Fifty‐seven high school middle distance runners (39 male and 18 female athletes) were assessed for maximal steady‐state (MSS) running velocity (RV), RV at a heart rate inflection point (HRi), and a competitive 3.2 km RV (RV3.2km) for the purpose of determining the correlation between actual MSS RV (MSS RVOBS) and that estimated from the Conconi and LaFontaine field test A Pearson correlation of r = 0.66 (males) and r = 0.38 (females) was observed between MSS RVObsand MSS RV3.2km, and a correlation of r = 0.47 (males) and r = 0.09 (females), respectively, between MSS RVObsand HRiRV was recorded. A HRiwas detected in only 33 of 57 subjects (24 male and 9 female athletes). The respective LaFontaine and Conconi field tests overestimated a male's MSS RV, the former by an average of 13.4 and the latter by 7.7 m‐min‐1. A female's MSS RV, on average, was underestimated by 11.9 m.min‐1by the Conconi test and overestimated by 10.9 m.min‐1by the LaFontaine test The inaccuracy of the estimations ranged from 2 min 8 sec.km‐1to 3 min 43 sec.km‐1. The low association between observed and estimated MSS RVs, the inaccuracy of MSS RV estimation, and the absence of HRiin approximately 50% of the subjects suggest that these field tests are of little practical value in discriminating ability among the present group of high school middle distance runners.