I know this subject. My high school team mate -- who won the CIF State, Golden West and Chicago Prep Invitational 440 titles as a senior -- and I stayed local and ran at the local JC. From cross country season through the entire year, we got drunk and high and ate heavy Mexican food after almost every practice. On nights we didn't hang, other people would get us drunk and high. Then there were the parties. Small-town sports stars should never stay local after high school. That coddling is destruction with a smile and my body got trashed in the process. While my own performances (and grades) sucked and didn't improve from high school, that guy ran the fastest all-conditions sea-level 200 ever at the time -- and won that year's AAU 200 title. His JC 200 PR was a two full seconds faster than his high school PR of 21.9w one year prior and after all that drinking and getting high. He set an AR in the indoor 400 the following January then went to a 4-year but I have no idea what happened other than he slowly drug-deteriorated until he passed away in 2018. In watching what happened to that guy I saw how dirty and insecure and sex-crazed that sport can be. I saw a lot. I just wanted to run track. I got away from all that and went on to kick ass in Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Wall Street and have a blast along the way. I'm in perfect health at 66, living the dream with a home in the country and in better shape and more flexible than when I was a college athlete. Either you'll catch yourself and live a life like I did or the chemical addiction will become more of a priority. Or somewhere in the middle, I guess. Nobody knows me so I'll complete the picture: Another track buddy from that same JC team crashed his car into a river a few years later and another guy got nabbed at an airport with cocaine taped to his body. He turned in his guy to avoid prison. Those are the guys I ran track with in high school. Really, I got stories in every direction. 1:47 is fast to be having that much fun. Logic tells you that you can't continue and improve as an athlete and student and person. Your experience doesn't tell you that but sometimes logic takes time to catch up. I think the fact you're using us as a sounding board is a sign you'll be fine and just being a college kid. You can beat all those other guys.
I had a few team mates like this in college and they were very very good. One would go hard at the bars all night Saturday, get a slice of pizza and pass out in the locker room. We’d wake him up right before the 6:30 van for the long run. He’d usually puke once at about 6 miles, by the end he’d be the one pushing the pace miles 16-18.
If we worked out he was going hard that night.
Some people have the gift, guy also had balls racing which helps. Confidence is key
That's the hard truth in life--even if you rock hard and work hard, stay straight others can still beat you even if they have bad drinking/eating/coping habits. In the end talent is the x-factor.
This post is a fraud. I drank like this in college. That can be done no problem. But drugs? Nice try?. I had to answer for poppy seeds on a friggin muffin the 2nd time I ran 1:48. For those of you who don’t know- if you are in college track at a meaningful level - you are getting drug tested early and often. If you run a 1:47 and are an open racer- you are a trials qualifier. You, my friend, will piss on command after almost every time you run like that. That you did it indoors means you haven’t been tested yet and did it at inconsequential dual meet or not at all - in my experience. 1:47 indoors! So you are like a 1:45 outdoors potentially - and not tested? Ha! Not in this country, my man.
I sound stupid but I had no idea that there was that much discrepancy between indoor/outdoor track.
you should sober up you chump. You’re already working hard to maximize on all of your talents, why would anyone soil all that they have worked for.
if you sober up, I’ll stop eating entire pizzas after my runs and maybe we’ll both improve.
Back in the late seventies, I could inhale two large pizza's, a liter of dark beer and a liter of pilsner in one sitting. That was my pre-workout carb load out.
You would have gotten much more nutritional value by eating the pie's in stead of inhaling them. Don't believe the lungs break down food the way your stomach does.
In college my team had an out of town meet on a Friday/Saturday. Coach wanted most people to compete both days and all the distance people were scheduled in either a 800/mile or a 3k/mile combo. Me and four other guys plus the team floozy (a promiscuous yet vivacious woman) all went out Friday night. One of those guys hooked up with the team floozy but they both didn't show up for the meet. When one of the coaches realized "Streets" was nowhere to be seen before his 1 mile run, he went back to the hotel room to wake him up at noon for the 1pm race. Streets came to the meet on a whim with a bed head from, bloodshot eyes and had to borrow a pair of racing shorts. He ran about a 410 mile doubling (tripling if you count the drinking) back but later ran 401 the same year. The woman was left asleep in the hotel room and missed her race but apparently no one cared. The Monday after the meet, we had a team meeting addressing new rules that no one was allowed out partying when having a race the next day.
So during indoor last season I ran 1:47~ not gonna give the decimal just for privacy, but the thing is is that I get blackout drunk 2 times a week. Some nights I even do a little blow or Molly. I party hard but still run fast. I usually drink Friday - Saturday. My long runs are pretty bad but since I’m an 800 guy my coach thinks nothing of it. The thing is I wouldn’t consider myself a an alcoholic I just like to party. Could I be faster if I quit substances?
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