Any other college runners feel like they race every morning????

So my college coach has the approach long slow distace makes long slow distance runners. Over the summer thats all i put in other than a couple quality sessions a week. Now i am forced to run "no slower than a min off race pace" meaning our 8k pace, for all morning runs ( anywhere from 7 - 13 miles ) Now a couple weeks into the season im really struggling keeping this pace every day, and i feel like im going to be too tired to ever race well. My coach is not flexible on this issue by the way. I was wondering if running damn near a tempo run every morning will show more results than easy running if he actually does taper us at the end of the season like he says he will? Do all colleges train like this? Any other thoughts.

Where do you go to college?

strength is speed

I obviously know nothing of you or your college program other than what you have provided above, so please take my advice with a grain of salt. Assuming your coach actually mandates that you run every single run no slower than 1 minute off of race pace, then I have some words of wisdom for you: 1) no, most other programs (in a very general sense) do not subscribe to this; and 2) your coach is sadly mistaken. I always have to laugh at the coaches that have one rigid way of doing things and do not tailor to individual needs. Everyone is different, and some athletes may very well thrive under such a program but others, such as yourself need to "take 'er easy" every once in a while. In my humble opinion, you should talk to your coach and tell him that your morning run pace is killing you and is not allowing proper recovery. Assuming he/she is a resonable individual, he/she will likely accomodate your request. It's not like you are trying to get out of a workout--you just are asking to do it a little slower so that you aren't dragging ass on the more difficult workouts.

If he/she is absolutely inflexible, tell him to call up Rob M. I'll set them straight (kidding, of course).

Best of luck.

Rob M.

Every runner, especially college runners, need recovery days. My coach like us to run all of our recovery runs no slower then 7 min pace. He feels that easy days are susposed to be easy and on hard days you go hard. Another thing the body needs rest. Even the elite athletes take easy days so from what I have read your coach is a idiot and what he is doing to yall is the easiest way to burn you out real early in the season. Well best of luck to ya.

Why make the cutoff 7 minutes? Geb and Bekele have been known to run 8 minute pace on easy runs from time to time. It is funny how many college coaches employ a similar rule even though running slower than that will not make you a worse runner. Most of the time the response is, "if you can't run faster than that then you shouldn't be out here." However, everyone can, but what if it is not best for optimal improvement? Oh stubborn coaches...

college runner wrote:

So my college coach has the approach long slow distace makes long slow distance runners. Over the summer thats all i put in other than a couple quality sessions a week. Now i am forced to run "no slower than a min off race pace" meaning our 8k pace, for all morning runs ( anywhere from 7 - 13 miles ) Now a couple weeks into the season im really struggling keeping this pace every day, and i feel like im going to be too tired to ever race well. My coach is not flexible on this issue by the way. I was wondering if running damn near a tempo run every morning will show more results than easy running if he actually does taper us at the end of the season like he says he will? Do all colleges train like this? Any other thoughts.

I am not saying this is wrong or right, but you should have done more checking into the coach and the progam before you decided to go to that school.

bust a nut in his faceAH

At least your distance paces will get slower as you start racing shittier and shittier.

Seriously though, I ran probably about a minute off of my 5 mile pace for the vast majority of my runs and I improved steadily throughout college. It takes some getting used to.

Also, you should be feeling fresh after a couple weeks of tapering at the end of the season. Maybe you can slow the pace down then without him knowing and just concentrate on the final workout sessions.

I have already gotten slower due to heavy legs from or first race to our second. I have tryed to talk with the coach about this, its going to be his way or no way. I try to tell him i feel worn down and cant run fast if i try, he says thats the problem with american distance runners.(he is american by the way) One day i tryed to run my pace and he yelled at me. ( 720 pace if not faster still ) he said i was running 9 minute pace. and this morning we got yelled at going 630 pace on a 7.5 mile loop with a workout tomorrow morning. Do it his way and suffer or risk getting kicked off the team doing it my way???

Run unnattached. Beat all his runners. He sounds like a real idiot.

if your coach doesn't see it your way, i think you should just do it your way. he can't physically get out there and force you to run faster, can he??

if he kicks you off the team, transfer to another school.

why get slower? either do what you have to do to get fast at that school, or do what you have to do to get fast at another school.

You are supposed to feel dead at this point in the season. When you hit the taper your legs will come around. What is your 8k time because if your running 6:30's on regular runs your not going to find a school that runs slower than that, at east not D1. Usually my team starts out at about 6:20 for the 1st mile but by the end we almost always average sub 6 Pace unless it is the day before a race.

This is ridiculously stupid. Easy runs are for recovery. If you are going to call runs at sub-6:00 mile pace "easy: you better be someone who is greeted each summer by a million Ethiopians cheering for you as you hop off a plane from Europe brandishing shiny metal about your neck.

Screw the coach. Run easy. If he yells, maintain your pace. He cannot kick you off for runningn easy. No one is that stupid.

Nope. Not even close to all D1 schools run 6:30 pace or faster. For the afternoon runs, I would often run 7:00 to 7:15 if feeling good. If not, I would go 7:30-7:45. Some mornings I would literally just jog. However, I did quite well that way. Competitive juices should not flow on easy days but that is when they manifest themselves quite often. Sucks but true. That is an American thing. Tell your coach go to Kenya. He will not find them running at this nebulous in between speed. They run FAST, or they run SLOW. Coaches that are my way or the highway really suck and just cause people to turn away from an already shunned sport. His ego is more important the his runners, his team, or his sport.

You ran at a D1 school going 7:30-7:45 pace? That is incredibly slow.

"Some Mornings I would literally just jog"

So you were going even slower than that at times?

Yeah you need recovery days but you are not going to see a pace much over 7min pace very often. What school did you run for and how long ago? 6:00 pace is too fast for most on easy runs but 6:30 is about the slowest we ever go and that is rare.

Let me ask you a question: Why?

What benefits would you gain from running 6:30 that you don't get from running 7:30. It is a recovery day, right? So I am maintaining a heart rate that provides an aerobic stimulus for longer than you even if we run the same number of miles. Also, my run actually lowers my blood's pH while yours...probably not so much. Who will run faster in the workout tomorrow that more directly translates to race performance while still having run more miles yesterday?

The problem is just that people have a mental block. Many people are afraid that if they run a pace that some joggers run then they will suddenly become slow in races like them, or even worse, their reputation/pride might be hurt if they are seen running this slow.

The male ego keeps most guys from running very slow, and most will tell you that it is way to slow to run 7+ minute miles, but none of them can explain why.

Tell your coach he should bring his stupid idea back to the homo store and demand a refund

I totally agree. Not all teams run that fast, most coaches will be ok if you're not someone who likes to push easy runs. I also did most of my miles around 7:15-7:30 pace and if anything I feel it helped my workouts and races.

I'd rather be the guy jogging my easy runs and doing my mile repeats in 4:40 than the insecure fellow running 6:00 pace all week then running a 27 minute 5k on Saturday. I think it's funny how all D1 teams allegedly run 6:00-6:30 pace all the time then have guys barely racing faster than that.