Are Sunday morning long runs required in college xc?

If "you heard" that all colleges require Sunday morning long runs then you are both listening to the wrong people and lack critical thinking skills.

This message board has given you many answers, but the fact that you couldn't figure this out on your own is an issue your eventual college coach will have a problem with.

All practices are mandatory, but if you plan with the coach, you don't have to show up to all practices. Religious events would be one legitimate reason for missing practice. Mandated through the NCAA. Odds are you can find a different time to go to church, but if you can't, then miss practice.

When I was in college there were about 4 women who would go to church instead of practice. But they would meet together with the coach @ 6 in the morning to get started on their run.

Depends on the week but Saturday or Sunday.

If you are very very religious and refuse to run on Sunday, let the coach know and you can discuss options. If you just have a service to attend and its important, a coach may let you run later on Sunday.

malmo wrote:

When I was in college we were presumed to be grown men. We were never told what to run on Sunday, we just did. It was also understood that we would run in the mornings.

There is a place where your hands will be held -- they call it kindergarten.

Didn’t you guys drive out to the mountains for a rugged 15-20 miles on Sundays? At least during the XC season.

Also has anyone mentioned that the NCAA requires one day off from mandatory team training each week?

Runner10287 wrote:

malmo wrote:

When I was in college we were presumed to be grown men. We were never told what to run on Sunday, we just did. It was also understood that we would run in the mornings.

There is a place where your hands will be held -- they call it kindergarten.

Didn’t you guys drive out to the mountains for a rugged 15-20 miles on Sundays? At least during the XC season.

No.

There's nothing "rugged" about 15-20 milers. I call them breakfast snacks.

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9/5 AM 7 miles easy PM 10 miles moderate

9/6 AM 5 miles easy PM 10 miles moderate

9/7 AM 8 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 6x800 XC @ 2:30 w/2:00 jog; 3 mile warm-down

9/8 AM 5 miles moderate PM 10 miles easy

9/9 AM 7 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 3.5 miles fartlek; 3 mile warm-down

9/10 PM 3.5 mile warm-up; 10xPark Forest Hill; 3.5 miles easy

9/11 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

9/5-9/11 110 miles

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9/12 AM 15 miles hard PM 5 miles slow

9/13 AM 10 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 10x400 (65) w/200 jog; 3 miles easy

9/14 PM 8 miles moderate

9/15 AM 10 miles slow PM 3 mile warm-up; 8x800 XC (2:10,2:20,2:12,2:28,2:17,2:15,2:13,2:10) w/3:00 jog; 2 mile warm-down

9/16 AM 5 miles moderate PM 8 miles moderate

9/17 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

9/18 AM 3 mile warm-up; 5 mile time trial in 25:03(1st); 5 mile warm-down PM 5 miles easy

9/12-9/18 116 miles

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9/19 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

9/20 AM 9 miles moderate PM 3 mile warm-up; 12xPark Forest Hill; 3 miles slow

9/21 AM 5 miles easy PM 8 miles moderate

9/22 AM 9 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 3 mile XC in 14:43; 4 mile warm-down

9/23 AM 9 miles easy PM 8 miles moderate

9/24 PM 8 miles slow

9/25 AM vs Villanova 3 mile warm-up; 5 mile XC in 24:21.6 (1st); 4 mile warm-down PM 8 miles easy

9/19-9/25 116 miles

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9/26 PM 11 miles easy

9/27 AM 10 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 12xPark Forest Hill; 3 mile warm-down

9/28 AM 10 miles easy PM 11 miles moderate

9/29 AM 11 miles moderate PM 1 mile warm-up; 9.5 mile loop in 49:00 (record); 1 mile warm-down

9/30 AM 9 miles moderate PM 8 miles moderate

10/1 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

10/2 AM vs West Virginia 4 mile warm-up; 5 mile XC in 24:39.2 (1st, course record); 3 mile warm-down PM 5 miles easy

9/26-10/2 130 miles

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10/3 PM 16 miles easy

10/4 AM 9 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 10x400 (63.5) w/200 jog; 3 mile warm-down

10/5 AM 10 miles easy PM 11 miles moderate

10/6 AM 10 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 2x1.5 miles XC(7:00,7:06); 3 mile warm-down

10/7 AM 11 miles easy PM 7 miles moderate

10/8 AM 5 miles slow PM vs Kent State 3 mile warm-up; 6 mile XC in 29:01 (1st, course record); 4 mile warm-down

10/9 AM 13 miles easy

10/3-10/9 125 miles

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10/10 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles slow

10/11 AM 10 miles easy PM 3.5 mile warm-up; 8x800 XC (2:14,2:17,2:10,2:21,2:13,2:14,2:18,2:07) w/2:00 jog; 3.5 mile warm-down

10/12 AM 11 miles easy PM 11 miles moderate

10/13 AM 10 miles easy PM 3.5 mile warm-up; 4.5 mile fartlek; 3 mile warm-down

10/14 AM 11 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

10/15 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

10/16 AM Penn State Handicap Race 3 mile warm-up; 5 mile XC in 24:01 (1st); 5 mile warm-down PM 7 miles easy

10/10-10/16 145 miles

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10/17 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

10/18 AM 9 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 14xPark Forest Hill; 3.5 mile warm-down

10/19 AM 10 miles easy PM 11 miles moderate

10/20 AM 10 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 1 mile 4:34, 4x400(66),800(2:16),400(62); 3 mile warm-down

10/21 AM 10 miles easy PM 8 miles easy

10/22 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

10/23 AM vs Georgetown, William & Mary 3 mile warm-up; 5 mile XC in 23:54.7 (1st, course record); 4 miles slow

10/17-10/23 130 miles

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10/24 PM 14 miles easy

10/25 AM 7 miles moderate PM 3 mile warm-up; 15x400 @ 63 w/200 jog(60); 3 mile warm-down

10/26 AM 5 miles moderate PM 10 miles fast

10/27 AM 7 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up, 3x1.5 mile XC (6:58,7:36,7:55) w/3:00 rest, 3 mile warm-down

10/28 AM 5 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

10/29 AM 5 miles easy PM 5 miles easy

10/30 AM Central Collegiates 4 mile warm-up; 5 mile XC in 24:19 (1st, course record); 5 mile warm-down

10/24-10/30 103 miles

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10/31 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

11/1 AM 10 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 10x800 XC (2:14,2:16,2:08,2:22,2:12,2:13,2:16,2:07,2:32,2:15), 3 mile warm-down

11/2 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles moderate

11/3 AM 10 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 4 miles fartlek; 3 miles easy

11/4 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

11/5 AM vs Pittsburgh 3 mile warm-up; 5 mile XC in 24:03 (1st); 5 mile warm-down

11/6 PM 16 miles easy

10/31-11/6 131 miles

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11/7 AM 1.5 miles easy, 9.5 mile loop in 53:10 PM 11 miles moderate

11/8 AM 10 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 1 mile(4:28),2x800(2:12,2:15),1 mile(4:37),2x800(2:15,2:12),1 mile(4:53),400(61); 2 mile warm-down

11/9 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles easy

11/10 PM 3 mile warm-up; 4x1.5 mile XC (7:07,7:17,7:14,7:24), 2 mile warm-down

11/11 AM 10 miles easy PM 10 miles moderate

11/12 AM 10 miles easy PM 3 mile warm-up; 4 miles fartlek; 3 mile warm-down

11/13 AM 10 miles easy PM 5 miles easy

11/7-11/13 130 miles

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11/14 AM USTFF XC 3 mile warm-up; 10k race in 29:34 (1st, course record); 4 mile warm-down

11/15 PM 11 miles easy FELL and DISLOCATED SHOULDER

11/16 AM 5 miles easy, shoulder bad

11/17 PM 3 mile warm-up; 10x440 (61,61,62,60,60,61,60,61,60,59), 3 miles easy, shoulder bad

11/18 AM 5 miles easy PM 10 miles easy...shoulder

11/19 AM 5 miles easy PM 3 miles easy, 3 miles fartlek, 3 miles easy..shoulder

11/20 AM 5 miles easy PM 9 miles easy shoulder

11/14-11/20 82 miles

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11/21 AM 5 miles easy PM 4 miles easy shoulder

11/22 AM NCAA XC Championship 3 mile warm-up; 10,000m XC in 29:07 (20th); 1 mile warm-down

high school xc coach wrote:

there are 24 hours in a Sunday. this is still correct, yeah?

I was thinking the same thing...24 hour church service?

We all did Sunday long runs in college but it was on our own.

I lived 30 minutes off campus and did my Sunday runs from my house.

Saturdays where we didn't race was always a group workout. Sunday was the only day to do a long run.

Thought you guys crammed into the vans every Sunday to crush it out on switchbacks, Bear Meadows, Laurel Run etc

Welcome to the Let's Run Message Boards, where a legitimate question is answered by a bunch of snarky posters who have nothing of benefit to provide.

Sunday long runs are really program dependent, that is, things vary from program to program. I recently worked a program where Sunday long run was the Sunday priority, the run started whenever it made sense according to the weather conditions, and little thought was given to anything else including religious obligations, potential study groups, or whatever. Now, there was latitude to run earlier if someone wanted to go to church, but between peer pressure and doing the long run alone ... that made it very rare. In addition, some smaller towns don't have many, or any churches with multiple services, except maybe a Catholic church, but fun fact, not everyone that goes to church is Catholic. Yes student ministries might exist on campus, but those events aren't really designed to be a Sunday church service substitute.

Other programs do the long run other days of the week. I know of some that do a Monday long run, some Saturday, etc. Some coaches aren't necessarily even bound to a microcycle having to be seven days, so there is that as well. All that is to say is there is variability. However, as in most coaching professions, people tend to do the same thing that they've always done, so yeah, the church of the Sunday long run gets repeated because it's what's always been done (and it is a day when there is little to interfere with.)

My advice is to ask those questions about the program before you sign anywhere. Do research about churches in the area and see if there are multiple services. Find out if things are required or not (again, each program is different), and you'll get a feel for how accommodating your coach might be to being able to worship as you so desire/are required to. If it's really important to you, and you find the coach dismissive of these things (like many of the previous posters), then that might not be the best place for you. Then again, if you can still worship as you like/need on Sunday, it might be an irrelevant point.

Runner10287 wrote:

Thought you guys crammed into the vans every Sunday to crush it out on switchbacks, Bear Meadows, Laurel Run etc

You thought wrong.

Well people do tend to embellish the stories as the years go by. I did enjoy hearing the tales of the vans smelling like a gin mill afterwards as guys sweated out their Saturday nights.

Amrevolution563 wrote:

I have heard that college xc runners do their long runs on Sunday mornings. Are they mandatory to attend? What about the runners that attend church? Are teams allowed to mandate a Sunday practice?

Show me the part in the Bible that forbids running or exercise or being outside or socializing before mass or sweating. C’mon. If you don’t wanna run before church l, that’s fine. But don’t pretend you can’t because God will be really mad if you do.

I went to a fairly conservative college in the south.

Most weekends, we had organized long runs. Usually a van to a state park, trail system, etc.

There would be a "church" group that would run later in the day.

It was kind of approached in the same way as kids who had labs or other academic obligations early in the day during the school week (our main practice was 7am).

Star wrote:

We all did Sunday long runs in college but it was on our own.

I lived 30 minutes off campus and did my Sunday runs from my house.

Saturdays where we didn't race was always a group workout. Sunday was the only day to do a long run.

Sunday is the only day for along run? Some pointed out the hours in a day. Maybe somebody should have posted how many days, or even hours, are in a week. You have many choices. There have been explanations here as to why Saturday and Monday won't work. Still leaves you with a lot of days. Have you ever heard of that strangely-spelled day with a W?

malmo wrote:

When I was in college we were presumed to be grown men. We were never told what to run on Sunday, we just did. It was also understood that we would run in the mornings.

There is a place where your hands will be held -- they call it kindergarten.

If you didn't need the babysitting and handholding, you wouldn't have participated in NCAA running. Those that don't need a coach to tell us when and how to run, a team to run with, or some higher power to demand racing certain events on specific days shun such structure.

Well..... wrote:

malmo wrote:

When I was in college we were presumed to be grown men. We were never told what to run on Sunday, we just did. It was also understood that we would run in the mornings.

There is a place where your hands will be held -- they call it kindergarten.

If you didn't need the babysitting and handholding, you wouldn't have participated in NCAA running. Those that don't need a coach to tell us when and how to run, a team to run with, or some higher power to demand racing certain events on specific days shun such structure.

What you describe isn't college running, nor is it college life in general. As I said previously, if you need handholding you aren't ready for college yet.