Running in college while not on a team (and then trying out)

If you are at a big school it should be easy to live a "college life" that allows you to get some good training. Maybe you could find a two hour period each day and say that is your practice time.

Hey friend, I've been doing the same thing for over a year, (about to be a sophomore) so I can offer you some advice.

1) You will find out within the first two months how important running is to you. No one will be holding you accountable for missing or doing training. You may find your friends and parties and studying are more important than finding time to train seriously (studying should always take precedent) so keep in mind many well intentioned athletes like yourself will get caught up in other activites and forget training altogether.

2) If you still can make the commitment, you may find it incredibly rewarding and finally being apart of the team one day and getting to travel with them and race with them to be an amazing experience.

3) TO ENSURE MAXIMUM SUCCESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY,

Write your training plan and log your training! Every Sunday sit down and write down your training plan for the week, and update it with the training you did from the previous week. I started doing this my second semester and it was huge.

It also seems like you are wondering if partying and friends and running and school can go hand in hand, and the answer is: YES to a point. You must find a balance, and the first semester you may make some mistakes finding this balance. That's okay.

I've posted a lot about my journey making my team..

I had suffered a stress fracture for a year and a half prior to my freshman year in high school and started trainjng the summer before i left for school. In 2 weeks I will begin practicing with the team as a walk on (big state school division 1)..

Here are some things I did

- 9 hours of sleep per night - bed by 10 pm every week night and up by 7... This is INCREDIBLY difficult if you are not motivated. I ran in the morning everyday because you will get busy and not find the time unless you get it over with

- 3 meals per day. Eat a lot I wasn't running high mileage for the most of the year 55-70, but you need to eat in order to stay focused in running and class

- go to the library - this one sounds dumb but DO IT. You will be more productive during your study time and won't be convinced to play video games, go to a club Thursday night, or go out to eat for dinner etc.

- (to convince you) by forcing myself to the library at least 6 days a week I managed a 4.0 gpa taking EE, math, and computer science classes

- don't talk about running all the time. I tried to talk as little about running as possible with my room mate and friends on the floor. They don't care and you will make friends who have more than just running in mind (plus if your smart they will be smart and help you in class!)

- No netflix, tv, etc ... Nothing that has no ending. It will drain your valuable time

- I'm an extreme case with this actually. I deleted my Facebook, twitter, everything... Social suicide you might say? Nope... Girls that can't "FB stalk" you will be much more interested in your secretive nature.

Any questions just ask. This time last year I scoured the internet looking for answers of whether what I did was possible and got no definite answers.. It got to the point where I said "eff it" and went for it.

Not going to lie. It was extremely hard, stressful... All of that jazz. You try to train like a division one athlete but you don't have the excuse to go to bed early cause you ARENT a d1 athlete. You need to be assertive and tell people no (a lot).

I partied only because I strategically took Saturdays off and had a long run Sunday that I would do when my hangover would wear off. I had fun and drank, but I never let myself do it on the week days (okay maybe one time after midterms finished!).

Again any questions just ask.. I probably have more I want to say but cant think of it/ I'm typing this on my phone...

bump

bump

did you make the team?

I am a HS senior who's been injured for a long time

It's possible, but you won't be able to train on your own to the same benefit you would have by being on a team (with people to train with, coaching, races, etc.) Find out if you can walk-on the team or work out with the team and red shirt. Some coaches are open to this idea. Otherwise, some schools (esp. D1 or schools that dropped men's track/XC programs for Title IX) have started running clubs that are less demanding than a varsity team. The city you are in may have a community-based running club that can provide coaching and workouts. Ask at a running shoe specialty store for club or group runs. See if there are any PE classes being offered that can help with your training goals.

Are club teams ever serious? Or is it like HS where 20% are serious and the rest don't really care?

I wouldn't waste my time with a club. You train hard alone and become a stronger runner while killing academics... Club practices are always dead smack in the afternoon when you should be focusing on school.

If you are serious about getting better to run for the team, don't run with a bunch of kids who say they wanna make the team and then take days off when they go home to visit family for a weekend. You will be sucked into a "why does it really matter" attitude that won't fit the bill to be a competitive runner. For the people who defend clubs I'm just going off my experience as someone who DID do it rather than someone who WANTS to do it.

I stress academics because if you are neck and neck with another person on the roster or the coach is on the fence about bringing you on, having a >3.7 will really show you have something going on above your shoulders that could be a positive impact for the team. (For you guys saying GPA doesn't matter... Sorry you're wrong, it pays huge dividends and shows work ethic).

Also, why the hell are you bumping this thread? Ask the dam questions and be proactive and you will get more precise answers. Nothing pisses me off more than people who have access to resources but don't take advantage of them. With that said... I am still open to questions

aslan wrote:

did you make the team?

Yes I made the team and race in a few weeks.

this guy thinks he has all the answers, but they may not apply to OP.

if there's a club team with competitive runners, join it. if you're the best on the team, so what.

reed wrote:

this guy thinks he has all the answers, but they may not apply to OP.

if there's a club team with competitive runners, join it. if you're the best on the team, so what.

Advice... It's advice. This is a forum.

Open suggestion to anybody in the same boat as the OP:

- talk to the coach. Some coaches will give you workouts or even fully coach you, either because they view you as a potential point scorer someday or just love the sport

- if the coach won't help you directly, ask him if anybody else is in the same position as you and if he/she will put you into touch with them so you can train together.

- there might be a very legit club team not associated with the school nearby that can help you.

- many people have successfully done this. I know people who did this and went on to make their school's top ten lists in mid level D1 programs.

reed wrote:

this guy thinks he has all the answers, but they may not apply to OP.

if there's a club team with competitive runners, join it. if you're the best on the team, so what.

If he can't make the college team he probably won't be the fastest guy not on the team. Find out anyone else who got cut from the running team, or who's redshirting. They will be good training partners.

How difficult is it these days to get a single room as a freshman at an average school?

What are your previous best times from hs and what division school do you attend? Have you ever run on a team b4 or done road races?

From my experience if you can pay the extra money it is possible.. highly dependent on the school though