"Open up your stride." As a coach, this quote drives me crazy. Very commonly heard at high school XC meets, usually shouted by well meaning, but misinformed, parents (hopefully from other schools!).
When an athlete says their training is garbage, what they really mean is that they SUSPECT that their training is garbage--they can't know for sure. It's also possible that whatever difficulties they are currently experiencing are temporary, or necessary, or just an indication of their own limited ability. And even if the coach IS a hack, it's very likely that if the athlete stepped in and coached themselves, they'd do even worse.
Given this, an athlete in this situation has three options:
1. You can go with your hunch (and distrust the process). This almost guarantees failure. Your doubts about the training will almost always enter your head in races.
2. Or you can trust your coach/training, which will at least give you a chance at success. You can make a conscious decision to believe that the coach might actually be right and you might actually be wrong. And you can recognize that even if it turns out that the coach makes mistakes in training, there's no guarantee you wouldn't make worse mistakes. And, training and racing with a brain that is not undermining you with doubts is much more important than whether you did repeat 400s or repeat 1000s. You will undoubtedly run better if you trust a bad process, then if you constantly question a good process.
3. You can leave your situation and find a new coach.
So, if you aren't willing to go with #3, then, yes, shut up and trust the process.
Hear, hear! This one is much on my mind recently. No, as a first-year runner you really are *not* in a position to judge what your best training should be.
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