I love running but my teammates piss me off and make me want to quit

Train solo and problem solved

Libertarian vegan wrote:

Train solo and problem solved

do they force you to run with them lmao

Libertarian vegan wrote:

Train solo and problem solved

I am considering doing all my easy runs on my own and only going to practice for workouts so my coach doesn't totally hate me.

However, I was also team captain during XC (well, co-captain with the kid who I want to beat up), and while I'm not offically a captain I think I am expected to maintain a leadership role. My coach is also one of my teachers so I'd rather stay on his good side.

Track is an individual sport. If you aren't trying to make a college team or hoping to win a state championship, camaraderie is the only point of running on an organized team. Just go run on your own if you don't like the people on your school team. I'm sure you can find all comer meets with plenty of competition.

A team with a toxic culture deserves no loyalty.

A part of my team is literally the exact same way, but in addition there's a lot of drinking and drugs involved with them.

As for the rest of the team, I didn't really connect with any of them, so I just stuck on the team to run and went no further. Some of my friends inside of school (who were all incredibly smart and well-rounded) did join in with me later on though, so in the end I did end up with some good friends running.

unattached runner wrote:

Track is an individual sport. If you aren't trying to make a college team or hoping to win a state championship, camaraderie is the only point of running on an organized team. Just go run on your own if you don't like the people on your school team. I'm sure you can find all comer meets with plenty of competition.

A team with a toxic culture deserves no loyalty.

I agree with you, but the problem is I really like my coach and he is a really good coach too. Hence the solution of doing my easy runs alone and workouts with the team. I don't even mind running alone that much but when I run alone I tend to only do my run, nothing else benefical (core, stretching, etc). I'll just have to get over that laziness and do it.

The culture is pretty damn toxic though and its obvious when only 2 seniors are running track out of like 8 who ran xc.

Just be a part of the team and set a good example. If you are a captain focus on being fast and following the coaches orders and the rest will follow. They always answer to results so if you train hard and have good success the team will listen more and be less toxic.

Dealing with people you don't like is good practice for the real world. I'm serious.

Try a new sport out that way you have an excuse to quit. Baseball, Ultimate Frisbee, many other choices of spring sports.

How was your XC season? Is the coach and environment the same? Also how did your last XC season go as a senior, maybe that will motivate you to stick it out.

AverageRunnerGuy208 wrote:

How was your XC season? Is the coach and environment the same? Also how did your last XC season go as a senior, maybe that will motivate you to stick it out.

My XC was okay. I had a couple shitty races (more than i have before), but i overall improved a lot even though I didn’t meet my preseason goals. (I wanted to break 17:30, only ran 18:05). My Pr from junior year was like 20:00 though so still a pretty good season.

I want to stick it out and try to get as close to 4:50/10:30/17:00 as I can but idk if it’s really worth the effort. I honestly might break 5 and 11 in my first couple races and then either quit or stop trying that hard.

The solution is so obvious: skip the 1600 and run the 800 on Pure Hate.

"No one wants to be in the losers locker room."

The coach must get that one good kid to be serious about running and have that kid also recruit some other fast kids to make the team legitimate. Eventually the loud-mouthed funny guys will not be able to run varsity and will quit. They are out for the sport for different reasons than you are.

However obviously this will take several years to happen and you do not have the time.

I recommend talking to your coach one-on-one and see what his reaction is. If he does not seem to be able to control these guys then you should tell him you want to run on your own as much as possible. (Certainly there must be one other guy on the team you can run with. Perhaps the two of you could approach the coach after practice and bring up what is happening on the team. Then propose running apart from the guys who are not serious about running.)

If the coach talks to the team and after a week they are still not responding then you must take action as you told him you would in your conference with him! As for track & field I'm not sure I would bother unless you can do most of your running by yourself. (I do find it hard to believe you do not have any other friends on the team! If you don't perhaps you should take stock and change your attitude a little bit.)