Wanting to train unattached and not with HS

If you're that unhappy transfer to a different school. There has to be open enrollment where you are.

Gorun1600 wrote:

If you're that unhappy transfer to a different school. There has to be open enrollment where you are.

School policies differ greatly from state to state.

Some of the states I am familiar with require sitting out a varsity year if you transfer unless you move into the district.

Lydiard always used to say that ultimately every runner us responsible for him/herself. Maybe you can "supplement" what your current coach has you doing with stuff more in line with what your previous coach has you doing and just do what the rest of the team does at practices. Maybe your previous coach can figure out how best to do that. Or you can leave the team and run on your own. The possible downside to this might be that finding cross country races could be difficult depending on where you live. Maybe you should look into running for a local club?

You should have this conversation with your parents before you take anybody's advice on LR too seriously. After that you should go to Pat and ask him what he thinks and maybe a HS teammate or two (if they are competent/care about running), and finally you should talk to the RD (I would normally say the coach before RD but if they really know nothing about running it would likely be a waste). Explain to them your situation/opportunity to run with Pat's group. Make them understand your passion for the sport. Be careful explaining that you believe the new coaches are clueless if you choose to go that route.

It is common in other sports to compete for a HS but primarily train with a private club (Pole Vault, Swimming (what I did) and diving come to mind). So this shouldn't be to crazy of an idea for your RD.

You are in highschool, a big part of running, and running longevity is having fun. With just the information you have provided I would train with Pat, your former coach. I quit swimming my junior year of HS because a coaching change made every day miserable. I started running right after and 7 years later still love it.

- RunnerSam

I should have included this...

HS and College is the only real time you will get the 'team' aspect of the sport. Working towards a common goal, sacrificing together, struggling together, having fun together day in and day out (mile by mile). It only really matters if they are as devoted as you are, but its something you should consider. From what I can tell most post collegiate runners really miss the team aspect.

Unfortunately I only really had a taste of it

- RunnerSam

Thank you for the advice. This is really helpful and helps me figure out some direction in what exactly i'm doing.

I have joined a small club and I am really enjoying it so far, I have people to run with during workouts and it's very structured. I will most likely run Footlocker but otherwise I have a few road races in my mind that I may end up doing, if I win any prize money i'll give it to charity. gotta keep that amateur status

I don't really know if there is a 365 day varsity athletic suspension for my district, however the logistics of switching schools would most likely be a nightmare. My teammate (the female SR holder) transferred to the nearby school, though. She seems to be doing well. Thank you for the advice

I am in a very similar situation in my school. my coach, who does not believe in individual training, refuses to allow people to get outside help. Me, and a handful of other people still do get outside coaching, but it is very difficult to do what we want when the hs coach is around. most of the time we can get away with doing our own workouts because there are so many people on our team, but it still feels like we are always creeping around and he might catch us. I've learned just to put up with the hs coach's insults, and his threats are mostly empty threats because he needs the fast people winning all the meets for him. practices are certainly not enjoyable when he is around, so i do my best to run on my own as much as possible.

Don't let a bad coach screw up your training. You only get to be young once. Coaches are just people and most of them do not know WTF they are doing and can hold you back. If you know better, then do it and let your performances speak for themselves.

I really hate this for you. But here goes. You run with your team and that is your easy workout. That could even be your warmup. Supplement it with what you need after. Not always easy to do . The real answer here is two a days. They will soon wonder why you are doing so well . Tell them it must be the coach . Send the coach s email out to your states x country association/organization so they will get tips in helping their profession. I have seen this before and sometimes it gets better over time. Not always but what won't kill you makes you stronger. Sounds like they are not killing you. Go make yourself stronger. Many good runners are self motivated.

You know you can probably sign up for invitationals on your own don’t you?

Or you can run AAU or USATF Jr Olympic meets?

Hey crazyfasthobbyjogger,

You said yourself that you are in a small pond. Look beyond your small pond, and you will find that there are thousands of other hs xc runners in your exact same situation. You want to run at the next level, you have decent talent, but a terrible coach. It happens.

Here is the solution. Do not quit your team. There are many reasons for this. You simply modify your training. So what if the easy runs are called tempo runs? Just run them easy. For your three interval workouts, run one hard, one moderate, and one as slow as possible without getting in trouble. Add a long run on the weekend, and a longish run during the week. Stay in contact with your old coach. Good luck.

In high school, I ran 16:10s in turn 5k. Your long runs I would do 2-3 times a week. They should be about 6-7 miles at about a 6:30 per mile pace. Your hard workouts can vary. My team mostly ran, stuff like 1600 repeats, ladders (1600, 1200, 800, 400, 800, 1200, and 1600). We would do other workouts like 1600, 12x400, 1600. Another thing we did on long runs would be make miles 2,4, and 6 faster or 1,3, and 5. Also we would run like 50 minuets with intervals. 2 minutes regular and 30 seconds hard. Repeat till your done. This took me from 18:40 my freshmen year to a 16:13 my senior year. My team went from 9th in our region to 4th in the state in those 4 years.