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

"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"

I don't know what colleges you are talking about because I am yet to see a race with more than 3 or 4 guys who run over 6 min pace. we are talking about college right? I only ask that because you said 27 min 5k but I assume you meant 8k.

Yes, error on my part, I meant 27 minutes for 8k. I said that many "barely" race faster than 6:00 pace, and by that I mean the slew of D1 runners who regularly run 27-29 minutes on not-so-challenging courses. Sure the top teams will have everyone going much faster, but I think people tend to forget how many teams are out there.

I ran D1 ran between 24:40 and 25:20 most of the time for 8ks, qualified for nationals as a senior as an individual in xc, ran high 8:50s in the steeple and ran my easy runs easier than 7:00 minute pace. After college I got down to 8:40s steeple and 3:45 1500m and still ran easier than 7:00 pace for easy runs. Not winning any All American awards, but I held my own.I think three workouts, plus one day of 6:00 or faster for a longer run is plenty. A few easy days a week is crucial, maybe not for everyone, but for most.And this crap about well D1 schools all run faster than 6:30 for easy runs, there are probably only a fwe schools that do that. I have heard from a reliable source that in the past the Wisconsin mens team once in a while ran slower then the women on easy days. It is about recovery not tearing down.

Great Lakes wrote:

"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"

I don't know what colleges you are talking about because I am yet to see a race with more than 3 or 4 guys who run over 6 min pace. we are talking about college right? I only ask that because you said 27 min 5k but I assume you meant 8k.

I too am a college runner who doesn't get the proper recovery runs in. My coach feels everything should be around 7:00 pace or faster and I have teammates who like to push the pace everyday. Sometimes we end up finishing "recovery" runs going around 6:00 pace.

I'm a firm believer in running hard days hard and easy days easy. There is no point to set a minimum pace such as 7:00 pace. Go by how you feel, not by a stinking watch. The point is to recover and you should feel comfortable during the run.

I just wish I could drop back from the pack sometimes on easy days, but my coach will rip into us if we break up because he wants us to stay in a pack. Theres about a 4-5 minute difference in times from our best runner to worst runner for the 8k. Like the runners who run around 30:00 for 8k are going to benefit averaging 6:20-6:30 pace for an 8 miler on an easy day.

i run 6:40-ish in the morning. I've gone as a fast as 6:20 and as slow as 7:10. But I'm usually in the 6:40-7:00 range. Running that pace in the AM makes me feel like I am flying. I also run by myself. This way I make sure that I am not racing anyone and if I feel tired that morning then it's not a big deal to slow down because I'm not in danger of anyone leaving me. Of course my coach leaves it up to the individual to put in the morning runs. I say schedule early classes, tell your coach you have to get a degree because he's running you into the ground and you'll never beat Webb under him, do things your way, laugh in his face when you beat the hell out of the tired runners on the team doing things his way.

Or quit, race UNAT, beat the hell out of his runners, laugh in his face, throw a "FIRE COACH (WHATEVER) PARTY" with your endorsement check, give lots of money to school, have coach (whatever) fired.

in the words of the governator: DO IT NOW!!!!

Great Lakes wrote:

"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"

I don't know what colleges you are talking about because I am yet to see a race with more than 3 or 4 guys who run over 6 min pace. we are talking about college right? I only ask that because you said 27 min 5k but I assume you meant 8k.

I currently run at a D1 program. My recovery runs are usually 7:00-7:30 pace. Some morning runs I'll run right around 8:00 min pace. My workouts are hard though. Yes several of my runs are easy and I have run 24:39 for 8K, so I'm not a terrible runner.

Ok, I guess i run way too fast on my easy days. I assumed most people were going faster than me but obviously I was wrong.

I am not afraid to admit when I was wrong.

just startt ou your runs real slow and gradually increase to the pace you need to run, and average it out. That way your legs will warm up veryday and it'll be a lot easier than just going right off the bat. That's what I've always done.

i have run 24:15 for 8k, and 14:10 on the track. I run my easy runs at 730 pace, sometimes getting down to 640s but not usually. Morning runs I usually start off with a 9 minute mile and bring it down to 715s if I am lucky. I am doing 115 miles a week though.

Post your real name so that we can find you in results.

Great Lakes wrote:

Ok, I guess i run way too fast on my easy days. I assumed most people were going faster than me but obviously I was wrong.

I am not afraid to admit when I was wrong.

24:15, 14:10. Name please, I don't believe you for one second. 24:15 guys are not that common except on letsrun when you post under a fake name.

Why would he lie? No one will ever praise a nameless man? Why do all letsrun posters have to be such conspiracy theorists?

why do you not believe me? I personally have seen this sort of scenerio happen over and over again. A runner who isn't that great (15:10 5k kind of guy) will, in my humble experiences and observations, run well out of his capabilities in workouts, easy days, and long runs. He may think "well I just did this 10 mile tempo in 54 minutes" despite it being an all out effort, followed by an 'easy' run the next day (at 630 pace) and a hammerfest long run the day following that. Now for the 14:10 guy, he runs more intelligently, listens to his body more, doesn't get caught up in running a certain pace, and is CONSISTENT day in and day out. Is there anyone else who is witness to this? BTW I am not lying about my times to Mr conspiracy theorist over there either. (I hope part of this awards me a quote of the day- haha)

To the original poster, do you want to become a better runner, or do you want to run on a college team.

The two aren't mutually intertwined.

Hog Fan wrote:

Why would he lie? No one will ever praise a nameless man? Why do all letsrun posters have to be such conspiracy theorists?

Better question: Why do all letsrun posters have to be 14:10 5,000m runners done in a blizzard at altitude in bare feet over sharp glass with a pit bull's jaw latched to their calves?

Hmmm? Do you have an answer for that smarty?

I'll put this out there: I've run 12:34 for 5,000 meters. It was at 3:00 a'm through the cornfields of Omaha, Nebraska. The IAAF doesn't know, but how dare you conspiracy theorists accuse me of lying?

What would happen if you just let him yell and ran at a manageable pace anyway?

Oh really fool? wrote:Geb and Bekele have been known to run 8 minute pace on easy runs from time to time.

To whom have they "been known to run 8 minute pace?"

I lived and trained near Meb for a while, ran with him and others, yet never saw him run 8 min. pace... In addition, he refers to "recovery" days as "maintenance" days. Again, he never ran 8 min. pace when I was over there....

Where did you hear this?

Just wondering.

Also, there is no reason for a D1 runner to be running over 7 min pace unless he is injured. You can easily recover running 6:15 - 6:30.

That is odd... wrote:

Also, there is no reason for a D1 runner to be running over 7 min pace unless he is injured. You can easily recover running 6:15 - 6:30.

Wrong. I don't know where you came up with this but it sure isn't by experience.

I trained with a D1 team 6 days a week in college. There were a 3 all-Americans on the team. One was a sub 29:00 10k runner, all 3 were sub 14:00 5k runners.

They went a hell of a lot slower than 6:30 on their easy days. Some of the faster runs would dip below 7s but usually it was slower. I should know because I had no problems keeping up with them (on the easy days only, of course) and I didn't run anywhere near 6:30 on my easy days.

I think there is a happy medium.I encourage my guy's to run between 6:30- 7:00 min per mile for run's ranging up to 10 mile's.The long run's 13-16 I would say 6:30- sub 7:30 depending on temperature etc.I use to run most of my run's in 5:50-6:30 range but I was a sub 49/10 miler.