physics defiant wrote:
david45 wrote:
Like what?
Ping Pong against yourself.
Or hobbyjogging road races. They'll let you in those. I'm sure you'll find a way to miss the cut-off before they take down the finish line.
Why does this site make fun of "hobby joggers"?
david45 wrote:
reasonable standard wrote:
I think 6 minutes is a reasonable standard. It basically just ensures that people are actually running over the summer and not just showing up for the first day of practice completely out of shape.
As my coach used to tell us, the XC season is half way over by the time of the first official practice. The real meaningful training takes place over the summer. If you've put in the mileage in June and July, running a 6 minute mile in August shouldn't be too tough even if you aren't the most talented kid on the team.
What the hell? I been running 20 MPW over the summer for June and July, and couldn't break 7 in August
Oh that's your problem then. You need to be running 30 miles/week minimum by July.
Even low mileage people are doing at least 5 miles/day plus a long run of at least 7 miles.
I do think a 6 min mile for a freshman is a really tough cut off. Your team must be really good. I think it's possibly fair if the team has at least 10 freshmen breaking that time (with at least 5 of them under 5:00). You never know who is going to make major improvements as a freshman, so the cutoff time is usually way worse than the 20th best runner on the team or the 7th best freshman. Since most teams aren't very deep and therefore don't have their 7th best freshman running much faster than 6 min, there is rarely a cutoff for freshman.
I wouldn't have a cutoff for a freshman. But for sophomores and up, I might kick someone off the team who didn't show me they ran over the summer.
This kid is a senior and sounds like a problem.
coach of fasty wrote:
This kid is a senior and sounds like a problem.
How am I a problem?
A team had a set of established rules. One of the rules is that you have to run 6 minutes to make the team. You knew the rules and attempted to make the team. You are now complaining about the rule. If I apply for a job that requires 10 years of experience and I only have 5, I can't complain after being rejected because I chose to apply.
david45 wrote:
JustShutUpAlready wrote:
So what is this argument even about anymore? You were cut from the team and are graduating this year. So what? Does it even matter anymore? Stop crying over spilled milk .
I am upset I will never get to experience what fun I am missing
What a load of crap. This guy had zero sprint training in HS or college and quit after being one of the slowest guys on his HS XC team. He still raced college guys, beat some of them, and ended up with a sub 12 FAT 100. That's better than a sub 5 mile when you consider that it's harder to improve in sprints than in distances:
https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8100711From that thread:
hobby sprinter wrote:
One more thing - I did finish last in some of my heats, but I think it's pretty cool that a random guy like me can compete in college meets and not finish in the bottom 20% overall. Sure, most of those guys I beat were D3, NAIA, JC, and maybe the odd D2 guy who had a bad day, but it seems amazing that I was even in the mix.
With the exception of D1 schools, you don't need to be a genetic freak to run for many colleges and not embarrass yourself in races. I was never even close to being one of the fastest runners in elementary school, I never had a sprint coach, and I still don't own blocks or have regular access to them. A lot of people think that you can't teach or learn speed, but that isn't true unless you're trying to compete at the highest levels. 12 flat and mid 24s should be doable for the vast majority of the young male population provided that they are sufficiently motivated.
Mile or 1600? wrote:
david45 wrote:
I am upset I will never get to experience what fun I am missing
What a load of crap. This guy had zero sprint training in HS or college and quit after being one of the slowest guys on his HS XC team. He still raced college guys, beat some of them, and ended up with a sub 12 FAT 100.
BTW, he was in his late 20s when he did that. It's not too late, so get moving!
Mile or 1600? wrote:
Mile or 1600? wrote:
What a load of crap. This guy had zero sprint training in HS or college and quit after being one of the slowest guys on his HS XC team. He still raced college guys, beat some of them, and ended up with a sub 12 FAT 100.
BTW, he was in his late 20s when he did that. It's not too late, so get moving!
But I have shitty genetics. I can only sprint 100 meters in 17 seconds
david45 wrote:
Mile or 1600? wrote:
BTW, he was in his late 20s when he did that. It's not too late, so get moving!
But I have shitty genetics. I can only sprint 100 meters in 17 seconds
His genetics are probably worse than yours:
hobby sprinter wrote:
I was never one of the fastest kids in grade school, nor was I ever built like a sprinter. In high school, I tried out for baseball and basketball but didn't make either team.
...
I went from being a person who couldn't win any footraces to someone who was often the fastest guy on the track.
david45 wrote:
Mile or 1600? wrote:
BTW, he was in his late 20s when he did that. It's not too late, so get moving!
But I have shitty genetics. I can only sprint 100 meters in 17 seconds
You seem gifted at whining and sounding entitled and that's probably because you are putting in more effort at that than training.
david45 wrote:
600yd/600m man wrote:
Are you fucking batshit insane?
You start new threads but you are saying the same thing in every thread. Tell us more of the story. Tell us home many males went out for your high school T&F team. Tell us the level of performance of the lads on the T&F team. You continue to go on about being cut. Think about what it is like for T&F coach and athletic director. Give us the number of guys who went out for the team. Think about how unfair it is for the serious T&F athletes if the track is crowded with guys like you who run 6:15 to 6:30 1600m.
Fine. Around 50 guys/quote]
I'm responding because you are keeping this thread going.
You do not mean 50 guys went out for T&F team. Fifty guys on T&F team is normal. Some head T&F coaches prefer 35 guys on team, some head T&F coaches prefer 50 guys on T&F team. No track & field coach is going to cut guys if 50 guys go out for team unless athletic director orders head track & field coach to maintain a small track & field team.
I do not recall your 400m personal best, but trust me, if a young lad were able to TT a sub-57.5 400m day one but could not break 6 minutes for 1600m, the 9th grade sub-57.5 400m lad would be on the team. When I was in 9th grade, I was a fall football player. I showed up for spring T&F to be a 440 yard person. Like many U.S. high schools, there was a talent glut on my high school T&F team at 440 yards. Even though I had not participated in XC, head T&F coach asked me if I wanted to be a 1/2 miler/miler. There were a bunch of XC guys to race 1/2 mile/mile. I was a bit puzzled at first. Coach knew best. I became a 1/2 miler/miler. My team did not need me at first at my chosen event. Don't be so stubborn. Either build up your body and learn how to throw discus, get better at 1600m or do something else like road races or volunteer to pole vault.
If your school actually had 50 lads show up to race 1600m & 3200m, I can understand why the head coach &/or athletic director wanted to cut that in half. A high school T&F team needs only seven or so 1600m & 3200m guys.
Trust me. You can find a university that will take you if you really want to run. Start digging around conference results in D3 and especially the NAIA and look towards the back of the pack. There are schools where their top 5 isn’t even under 40 min 8k. Contact those coaches and they’ll probably take you on to help fill out a roster, then you can build from there.
coach of fasty wrote:
Yes. And we are consistently the best team in the state and one of the best in the region. When you demand greatness, you get greatness. Teams who let anybody on the team end up being a dumping ground for kids whose parents make them do a sport.
My school has had several individual state champs and won nationals in the 4x8 twice. We're top 5 all-time in the 4xmile. we have state records in the 3200 and 4x8. We don't cut kids. Great coaches make results. This was my first year running xc and I was the third best freshman in the county. You wanna know who 2 and 1 were. my teamates. I'm not trying to brag but at most 1 freshman would have made our team. Having a few kids who aren't super talented only makes our team better.
Guessing your school is not poor and has more than 1 paid cross country coach. I am actually guessing that you have 3 paid coaches for boys and 3 paid coaches for girls and some volunteers. How do the coaches handle track practices with 200 boys and 200 girls? That is a dangerous situation.
Based on times, the top 3 freshmen were from 3 different states.
I have a soft spot for cases like this. I joined track my freshman year and my first 1600m was 6:20 or something. We had a huge team and didn't start cutting people until the following year. I made the standard by then, and by senior year I was a 4:50/10:20/17:20 guy, and later in college I went on to run 25:30. Not the most drastic improvement ever but I loved improving more than anything so I stuck with it. Had I gotten cut initially I'm not sure I'd have stuck with running.
So, I don't think it's unfair, because you're not even pushing the guys who are pushing the guys who are contributing to the team, but if the team is small why not keep everyone who wants to run.