How is it possible that some people can train very hard and never improve their performances?

are you running college? because if not then you're done with running 5ks if you want. you should be moving on to TF concerns. HS XC is over. leave it curbside behind you.

if you are continuing on, you have improved a minute and a half to a time most people never achieve. you would be working under a new college coach. i know some d3 types who had similar backgrounds to you and kept dropping time in college and became, well, serviceable. and maybe you respond well to 8k or 10k.

you cannot control the coach's training much -- though you can mess with your effort at it -- but you can tone down the supplemental stuff on the side. to me you should have 4 years' evidence that you don't respond dramatically well to a volume approach. you have nonetheless persisted, and are unhappy with the injuries and results. how about trying something else?

i mean, do you feel fresh and lively at the start lines?

last, if you have an undersubscribed TF team (not enough people, freedom to move around) and if you have any footspeed -- and 17-something folks aren't usually too slow -- try mid-distance or the 300H. try some field events. you sound frustrated. maybe you have been mis-cast. now, if you're being recruited to college to run distance, ignore me. but i've seen college teams convert XC guys into 400H runners. it's a tough race like a 400 or 800, and at HS level you will have some 300H burners but some mediocre slow 110 guys.

Well if he was running college it’s unlikely he still is since he posted that 19 years ago

Do yall realize this thread was posted almost 20 years ago

I hate to say it, but if you get injured a lot from doing the normal training that the other guys on the team are doing, then you are not suited for this sport.

You can try cross-training like Parker Valby. Maybe that would work. Have you tried that?

But be honest, if "training hard" injures you and "taking it easy" results in paltry gains, then you might just not be cut out for running. Lots of people are just "built wrong" for running.

Full disclosure: I sucked and was slow in college. But I was never injured. I could always run and always loved running. Therefore, running was at least enjoyable and pain-free. It was easy to love because I was rarely unable to train. If I had sucked as badly as I did AND I was constantly injured, then I am sure I would have not spent the last 40 years running.

Nice! I love that. But no, I did not notice that!

I wonder where the OP is? It would be cool if he came back and gave us all an update!

i see now where this is decades old. but "not suited for the sport" is over-stated. i had trouble with full XC workouts (30-40 mi) atop soccer with maybe some supplemental. i was just fine running up to 800m. but to me someone who can't hack distance workouts might still be a mid-distance or long sprint or low hurdle guy. you're just not meant to do dozens of miles a week.

sprinters and hurdlers might do 10 miles a week. problem solved. and some schools mid-distance is its own group not doing 40+ mi/wk.

wow, everybody who interacted with this thread originally is long gone now, even their kids and grandkids.

Let me make a suggestion that's easy to test for a possible cause of your heel issue. In your normal running shoes and socks, try this.

Stand up. Be aware of how the bottom of your heel feels inside the shoe. Keeping the left forefoot on the ground, lift the left heel an inch or two off the ground.

Can you feel the bottom of the left heel lift off the insert inside the shoe when you lift your heel off the floor?

If so, then your heel is slipping up and down just a little inside the shoe with each step.

This is a common problem. I've found it happens in about 1 in every 5 different models of shoes I try on. (But maybe I ... and you... have different feet than the average runner.) Anyway...

To fix this, there are two approaches, but you might need to do both.

Search for butterfly lacing or lock lacing on YouTube. You'll find several different ways to lace your shoes to snug the heel into the back of the shoe to prevent heel slipping.

If the heel is moving up and down a lot, lock lacing will not be enough. Another way to reduce heel slippage is to remove the insert and place a thin layer of cloth on the bottom of the insert under the heel area. (You should tape it in place to keep it from moving around.) Since you've had this injury on both sides, do it in the right shoe as well. If you can still feel the slipping, add a thicker layer of cloth.

Darn... no.

Why do people bump these ancient threads! Just start a new thread for goodness sakes.

The problem may not even be the training, but that the training doesn't match your strengths and weaknesses which may be genetic. Explore what specifically has worked for you and concentrate on that whether you respond better to speedwork or distance, higher or lower mileage, etc. Keep a log for awhile and compare your performances after a period of specific workouts.