Chasing the DIII Dream

Excellent, just keep it rolling. I hope you are enjoying it. You will improve a lot.

I remembered this thread from a while ago, but I just read through the whole thing now. I am absolutely astonished you weren't allowed on the team. W & L has two runners on their roster right now who ran 29:45 (8k) at their last meet, and none of their PR's are overly impressive (the one guy hasn't broken 4:30 for the 1500)

There is also a freshman who ran 29.xx and had Hs pr's of 4:42 and 17:00 for a 5k. If the coach did not let you on after a 27:30 5 mile race IN THE SUMMER, then I guess you don't want to run for him anyway bc he's prolly a total douche. If it makes you feel better you'd probably end up being the top guy in XC at my D3 school

Good luck to you and your running, we are all rooting for you.

I'm actually having a lot of fun training on my own. I'm going to race a half as a tune-up on October 19th. It's on the Chessie Trail, which is very flat with a crushed gravel and dirt surface. I've been doing the bulk of my runs on it.

I've actually spoken to this freshman you mentioned. Apparently, the team has been informed of attempts to walk-on, and I get the impression that I have their respect. From what I understand, their last race was a tempo effort.

I'm in the coach's running class and have spoken to him about track season. They don't officially advertise their home meet as open to unattached runners, but he told me I'm welcome to run the 10K, so that will be my Spring training goal after I race my main half in November.

9/23/19 – 9/29/19

9/23 – 2.4 W/U, 12x200m FR (34 avg.) w/ 200m jog (9:15/mi avg.) between reps, 1.2 C/D [6.5]

Description: Finally met another serious runner who’s not on the XC team! Did the first half of this in lane two because he was doing a vo2max workout in lane one.

9/24 – A.M. 3.9 Fartlek in 26:28 (6:51/mi) ; P.M. 8.3 E in 1:00:26 (7:19/mi) [12.1 mi]

A.M. Description: Brief warm-up followed by 8 laps of 100m hard, 100m easy followed by brief cool-down.

9/25 – 2.3 W/U, 4.2 T in 24:56 (5:55/mi), 2.3 C/D [8.8 mi]

Description: Felt strong today.

9/26 – A.M. 1.3 W/U, 6x400m H (1:15 avg.) w/ 1:30 rest, 1.2 C/D ; P.M. 8.6 E in 1:00:38 (7:03/mi) [12.6 mi]

A.M. Description: Short 3K pace workout

P.M. Description: Really feel like my fitness is increasing. Solely on the basis of heart rate, I was dropping below 7:00/mile on the flats. Feels strange for that pace to feel so easy. Remember a time not too long ago when it was marathon effort...

9/27 – 6.4 E in 45:38 (7:10/mi) [6.4 mi]

9/28 – 13.2 L in 1:30:09 (6:50/mi) [13.2 mi]

Description: The chafing was real today, but I got it done. Heart rate remained quite low, even while dipping into the mid-6’s. I think I’m going to readjust my goal for November’s half and try to run somewhere in the 1:16’s.

9/29 – 5.9 E in 43:57 (7:27/mi) [5.9 mi]

Total of 65.4 mi

Any updates? Very motivational thread as someone who had similar hs PR's and is trying to improve big time senior year.

Wow great thread, just read the whole thing.

Would love to get an update.

DC runner 2 wrote:

Wow great thread, just read the whole thing.

Would love to get an update.

Same! Such a great binge read, loved seeing your improvement and would love to see where you are now. Have you ever thought about competing in NIRCA or forming a club team?

Yeah I wondered what ever became of this guy

That coach at Washington and Lee should be fired. Can’t even make it to the national meet, and he is turning away dedicated kids like op? Those PRs aren’t even bad, 17:30 should be good enough to get you into any D3 schools. If I was him, I would have entered into every meet unattached and smack them until they beg for you to join.

Great thread, thanks for sharing your passion and consistency.

Using a few context clues, and some internet sleuthing, l found that the guy ended up running a solo 16:42 and a 9:43 3k. Huge improvements for someone who lacked confidence in the "middle distances." At this rate I imagine he'd be a 26:XX 8k guy on a fast enough course by the fall. I wonder if the coach is going to let him in.

just read through the thread and I want an update man!

We want updates! This coach's standards are outrageous for D3. Especially if, like another poster alluded to, W&L isn't even contending for the national title. Give me a f***ing break. At least let this dude practice!

1) is OP Update?

2) someone should get this sh1t on change.org. The kid should be running with the team.

Strava Police wrote:

Great thread, thanks for sharing your passion and consistency.

Using a few context clues, and some internet sleuthing, l found that the guy ended up running a solo 16:42 and a 9:43 3k. Huge improvements for someone who lacked confidence in the "middle distances." At this rate I imagine he'd be a 26:XX 8k guy on a fast enough course by the fall. I wonder if the coach is going to let him in.

For sure. If he kept it up he'd probably be running his 5k PR or better as a split in the 8k race this season (if we end up having a season)

LRC Archivist wrote:

1) is OP Update?

2) someone should get this sh1t on change.org. The kid should be running with the team.

I would sign that petition.

I coach a nationally competitive team in D3 - I want this kid on my team.

hey hey hey wrote:

LRC Archivist wrote:

1) is OP Update?

2) someone should get this sh1t on change.org. The kid should be running with the team.

I would sign that petition.

Same here.

I just took a look at their TFRRS and it is ehhh. They had 4 guys run under 16 minutes in the 5k during indoor and they didn't have a single guy run under 15:30!

15:30 is fast for a 5k but it's not so fast that you can't put this guy on your team.

Road races? wrote:

Road races are for either T&F has beens or those who never raced T&F. Let the coach know you're showing up for XC in the August. A XC walk-on needs to show that you can keep up. Stop the road racing. Every day in practice may feel like a race in college. If the varsity guys on college team are running their ten mile runs in under 60 minutes, I think you want to be able to run with those guys.

^how distance running died in America

not banned wrote:

Road races? wrote:

Road races are for either T&F has beens or those who never raced T&F. Let the coach know you're showing up for XC in the August. A XC walk-on needs to show that you can keep up. Stop the road racing. Every day in practice may feel like a race in college. If the varsity guys on college team are running their ten mile runs in under 60 minutes, I think you want to be able to run with those guys.

^how distance running died in America

+1

That guy gave all the wrong advice. Every sentence got worse and worse