Lifestyle of a sub 4 miler while in college

this thread is pretty cool.

This thread has much potential.

yes it is a good thread , just keep it going

I think it's funny to pose this question exclusively sub4 guys and not any sub/elite college guy.

It's pretty boring at times, or at least it would appear that way to most people. I find it ironic that to be the best exerciser you have to be pretty comfortable with living the sedentary lifestyle as well.

There is a lot of downtime, and early nights but if you get really into the process it is probably a lot more satisfying than many college kid's experiences. If you have a good set of teammates to do it with and keep things fun, then sitting around and playing video games and watching movies can be a good night in.

I find that a lot of elite runners have girlfriends because it fills up a good chunk of time, and is a way to "get some" without sacrificing sleep and lifestyle. Being single is especially lonely for a dedicated distance runner.

Also, it's definitely a true statement that when most college runners rage, they rage real hard. I am dull though. I mostly just eat lots of ice cream which makes me sad and feel badly about myself.

Got pretty close to 4:00, 80 miles a week. Ran twice a day about 4 times a week, sleep, study, nap, eat. Didn't have the internet when I was in college, probably a good thing.

Weekends were usually a party every saturday but I was always in bed by 10:30 every night, even weekends. Get into a routine, your body works better that way. Never pulled an all nighter, never partied past 10:30. Drank a few beers at partys but that was it.

can't help but get a kick out of both the grammar police on this thread (i'm a high school english teacher), and the non-sub-4s who've posted.

that said, i'll take advantage of the thread's carelessly phrased subject line and post; although not a sub-4 miler in college, i am a sub-4 miler who went to college. pretty much my experience was that i wasn't much different than your average college undergrad. probably didn't party as much as some frat boys, but probably partied more than some (not all) of your more bookish pre-med/engineering majors. i do remember during my senior track season when i ran 3:42 for 1500m i tried to hold the line on no more than a 6-pack/week (sunday-saturday), usually saved for saturday's post-race festivities; however, after midnight i'd often dip into the following week's quota, but i'd conveniently forget it by next saturday.

post-collegiately i was quite a bit more disciplined, although not quite saintly, and ran considerably faster. of course, it's possible the 30% increase in both quantity and quality of my training had something to do with that...

High school English teacher you say?

and a fan of e.e. cummings.

Interesting to read Bannister's book about his training while in college.

45-60 minutes a day but during lunchtime during the week. Usually speedwork. Probably some short runs or races on the weekends.

Never ran more than 28-30 mpw.

you all are wasting your college experience.

i used to be a pretty solid runner, not sub 4, but i worked hard in high school, ran in cross country and track states my soph. jun. and senior years.

now im in college and i would never wake up earlier than noon to go run.. WHY WOULD U??. i go out and experience social things. go do something instead of living in the small and sheltered running world that no one cares about.

Collegiate athlete run a 100-115 a week. The key to all of it is to be happy. if staying out and having fun with a girl is fun to you do it...if getting drunk 7 nights a week is whats going to make you happy go for it. Only you know what you can handle. I do not live my life any less just because I am a collegiate athlete I do what makes me happy.

I am far far away from sub 4 and will never reach that goal, ever. I run Mid 27's in the 8k but I take my running seriously. I feel its a waste of time working hard all week to ruin it with some pointless party. I deliver pizza's on the weekends I don't race to drunken wrecks. Go to work after practice, leave at 10pm $50-90 richer depending on the night. GF comes 2-3 times a month or I go see her (goes to a different school) and I get my fun then, but little alcohol or lack of sleep involved.

Would not say I am as dedicated as I could be, but my rules are no pop in season, no caffeine the week before a race, and no ejaculation 3 days before a race.

I will meet the goal's I have set for me in college, then rest up for my 40's and 50's where I out kick HS'ers in local 5k's

College could be different for me, but I don't think I would take 10 random parties a semester over a trip to Nationals (NAIA)

Go for it!

dont get it. wrote:

i go out and experience social things. go do something instead of living in the small and sheltered running world that no one cares about.

Well, technically, nobody cares about your social endeavors either (besides you). Thus, it comes down to what you prefer. I never looked condescendingly upon those who favored a wild social life, and, if I happened to take that route, hopefully, I wouldn’t have looked condescendingly upon those who favor a hermit style existence.

If I was given the talent to run sub 4 on very little training (in other words, having quite the opportunity to party), I still probably would have kept to myself mostly.

To each his own.

6/10. Very thorough, almost convincing story construction, but you oversold the depressing side it a bit.

couldn't make your college team. Go cry about it

dont get it. wrote:

you all are wasting your college experience.

i used to be a pretty solid runner, not sub 4, but i worked hard in high school, ran in cross country and track states my soph. jun. and senior years.

now im in college and i would never wake up earlier than noon to go run.. WHY WOULD U??. i go out and experience social things. go do something instead of living in the small and sheltered running world that no one cares about.

If you normally have caffeine, why would you stop taking it before a race? And a little soda? The ejaculation rule is pretty random too (3 days? why not 4? maybe a week! you'll be a raging bull by the time you hit the starting line.)Kenyans are known to be big coffee drinkers, don't know about their ejaculation rules. But I bet they won't pass up a blonde swede the night before a Diamond league race. You're just making stuff up with no studies, experiments to support it. Enjoy.

Some fantasies here.

I was a D1 sprinter. 10.3 and 46.4 35 years ago when it meant something.

Distance guys never went out with girls. They were skinny little laughing-stocks. On XC trips there were photos of 6 of them in one bed shoulder to shoulder.

Just get out of bed, go to class and train. Forget the bs about hot chicks.

The hot chicks are out there, but not for 125 lbs weaklings on the track team.

Wake up.

While not a sub4 guy myself (4:06) I lived with a sub4 kid for 3 years in college. My team had a pretty good mix of kids who partied hard and those who did not. My roommate and I went pretty hard ourselves, but there was never any amount of condescension between those who drank and those who didn't. It was simply understood that we were adults and free to live whatever lifestyle we wanted--but you better be ready come sunday morning at 9. More than a few times we dropped the hammer half way through a 16 miler just to teach the freshmen a lesson. I made a decision that drinking would never ever interfere with a single run.

Because drinking was limited to weekends solely, when we threw down, we threw down hard. I had a couple non-track friends tell me that they didnt party with the track team anymore because they couldn't hang. I imagine this is true at most schools.