“Former track star” parent mad at my racing tactic

On the one hand you gotta be a little ballsy when you race. Maybe not go out in a 35 but even just a 38 and hold. But I'd mainly be mad at the mother because she still doesn't know what's going on. Honestly she shouldn't even be talking and you shouldn't be listening. Politely tell her that finishing strong is better than going out faster than you can handle.

Why did you use quotes around former track star then fail to mention a former track star? Are we to infer the mom was a track star? What event? How big a star? An Olympian?

Also, fromyour telling she didn’t seem mad at you. And why would she be? You aren’t running relays with her son and if you are a scoring athlete with those times your team can’t be very good. She rightly pointed out you weren’t in the race. If you are passing scrubs late in a race, what exactly do you think you are?

ten years from now when you're running in the national championships complete strangers will be telling you how to run your races. you better get used to this because it's going to happen a lot. just smile, and nod. and ignore them.

there are plenty of ways to run a race and learning the discipline to negative split a 2 miles is going to be very useful to you. but there are plenty of other ways to run a race and you will need to practice them all. have you Stinsoned a 2 miles yet!

cheers.

Well it is pretty clear in hindsight that those 81 to 83s laps were too slow.

Next race try to run even 78 or 79s, then see what you have left with 800 to go, might have a solid PR in you if you ran 10:40 with mediocre pacing.

In that type of situation, I would just politely smile, nod my head, and say “Ya, I really do need to work on my sprint speed!” It’s likely just her way of venting after you beat her kid in a race.

I think it’s awesome that you are able to resist the temptation to blitz the first lap with the other goofballs, but it also sounds like you underestimated your fitness given how much you had left in the last 3 laps. It definitely sounds like you’re ready to drop a 10:2x!

The mom shouldn't be "mad" at you but your coach should be. If you can close a 10:4high in 70 seconds then you are running the race wrong. It would be more efficient to spread your energy more evenly and ultimately will lead to a faster time. Based on your PR, it was fine to go out at 40 the first 200 but letting your pace slow to 83 for several laps is selling your self short.

You should pretty easily be able to run at least 10:30. Next time try to maintain 79 second 400m pace the entire first mile and a half (well 2400m to be precise) then see if you can slowly speed up and then do what you can the last lap. you may not have as much in the tank in the last lap and be able to look as cool breezing by "the scrubs" the last 400m but your time will be faster and that is what ultimately matters.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.

So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Maybe times have changed. In my day, which was admittedly a long time ago, nobody's mom even came to a track meet, and they certainly didn't tell some other mom's kid how to run.

Yep. OP ran a pretty shitty race plan....

I assume the OP is trolling, but if you aren't, then man, you live in some kind of fantasy world running 10:40 and calling other people "scrubs."

Pics of the mom?

The annoying, probably fictional mom was right. If you’re running 10:40 while finishing in 70 and presumably still finishing well back of others, you did a really bad job of racing.

Total troll. Not written like a teenager.

malmo wrote:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.

So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Malmo - read his title. The mom was a former track star. She was in the arena.

And going out in 83 is not daring greatly.

There is nothing in his post that corroborates that claim.

lol at the going around scrubs. But in hindsight I can see what she was saying. I ran 9:49 in track and 15's in XC. I was WAY WAY more aggressive when running xc and in track I just for some reason always let the race get away from me. All the guys I could hang with or even beat in xc would almost always beat me in the mile and 2 mile.

Some of the best advice I ever had came from a parent who was a professional football player. I had just thought I lost a race to my biggest competition in the region to a lean at the finish. Prior to finding out I actually won he told me next time dont make your move first. ( We were already in a sprint with 400 to go). Same exact thing happened at the region race and I made my final move with 100m to go and I got beat by a step. outside perspective helps sometimes. I wish I had listened to my coach and I would have broken 4:30 probably. I ran 4:32 about 6 times in a row in almost all different conditions but still my point stands. No regrets but I am telling you this because youre in HS now.

The US is full of joggers waiting for the inspiration to step up.

And they rarely do.

Physical ability is less of a barrier to success than mental.

In college I ran a road 5k during the summer - I remember running by a bank during the race showed the temperature at 88 (late afternoon). I won it in around 16 flat, and afterwards the triathlete guy who got third in around 18 minutes came up and started giving me advice on my form and arm carriage...he said I could maybe get down to 15 if I fixed my form.

slow hs kid wrote:

I was sitting by a teammate’s mom afterwards and she was b!tching at me about how I raced saying “you’ve gotta get in the race” and “your coaches never teach you all to sprint” (her kid is a 100-400 guy).

Tell her, unfortunately they time the whole race, not just the first 100 meters.