Looking for Advice

If you really don't like the coach or the program you are free to quit. Put yourself first, whatever that may entail. Team work is usually productive but this seems excessive and at the expense of the individual. In fact, my side girl once told me, "teamwork makes the dream work."

What is your goal? This matters because if you are clear on this it will bolster your resolve and the path forward may become clearer.

Yes, as is you are wasting your time, and no reason at all to run with the slowest runner.

Yes, 10' pace is a joke, unless the 10' mile includes walking breaks and moderately challenging surges.

You can't get anywhere running even 8/mi steady, unless you live at altitude and have hills and even then it is questionable.

And walking breaks might be fine if it were a gear you enjoy (closer to 6:40 pace might make it fun and worthwhile).

And just for the record, all the lifting in the world won't help unless your team puts in some meaningful work w/ the running.

My advice is to be more assertive, stand up for yourself and ask for what you need. If you face rigidity in thinking and resistance to compromise, better off training on your own.

Hello! First I want to say that you seem like a dedicated athlete who has a lot of enthusiasm and desire to chase your goals! I know it's frustrating to feel held back when you have this kind of excitement and passion for what you're doing. I feel for you and hope you'll be able to find a solution.

The training your coach is assigning you definitely seems like it's below your level, and I think it's reasonable to want a bit more of a challenge. Have you looked into working with a coach remotely? That may be an option– it seems like more and more high school kids are doing that these days. And if finances are a barrier, many coaches operate on a sliding scale or pay-what-you can system. Perhaps you could even work out a situation where you train with a different coach remotely and still compete for your school team, if your coach is amenable to it (which he might not be– he seems like a stubborn and potentially toxic guy.)

Overall, though, I want to advise you to get off LetsRun. Although it can be fun and sometimes educational to scour the message boards for advice + inside information on what's going on in the running community, these boards can be super toxic, especially for young female runners. If you need advice, I would reach out to higher-level runners in your community who seem respected and trustworthy, perhaps via social media if you feel comfortable doing that. I'm sure they would be honored to give you some guidance! Another thing that helped me a lot in high school was working at a running shoe store, where I met older runners competing at all levels. They gave me some invaluable advice, and they actually cared about my well-being, which is more than you can say about a lot of the trolls on here. You might also be able to find that kind of support by working at or attending running camps, or even asking other school teams if they'd be comfortable letting you crash a practice or two.

Good luck to you. I hope that you're able to reach some of your goals this season and to find mentors that help you take your training to the level you know you're capable of!

My parents keep saying there might be another tightening of virus rules and that I might want to take that into consideration. I really wanted to make it to state and do well individually and team. But they said if things go backwards then state could be cancelled, people could get sick, etc and that I might want to go to races I will enjoy while I can.

The reason that's important is because the first 5 practice meets we go to... I won every one of them by a pretty substantial lead last year. Not because I was so fast but just because we go to baby races where there isn't any competition at all. It wasn't very fun until regions. If I commit to the team, run these races for the hope of state and then things take a turn for the worse I might not be able to get into better races at that point.

I think I know I want to quit but I just don't want to let my school down. Without me, there is 0 chance they can qualify for state as a team. If there were 20 runners I wouldn't feel bad at all. But if there were 20 other runners, I probably wouldn't want to quit anyway.

It's sweet you care about your team, but the team isn't worth it, unfortunately, due to your coach.

It's like being on a chess team with a coach who only knows tic tac toe.

Nobody deserves to run with blisters for no reason other than a dumb coach.

You're better off quitting right now, training on your own, and set challenging goals for yourself, before this jerk makes you lose all passion for the sport.

Life is long, and there will be dozens/hundreds of races in your future, and the disappointment of your senior year in high school just might motivate you long into the future, as you chase PRs and medals in local and national races.

50/50 this is a troll.

However this is my worst nightmare. I was lucky to have a coach who sought coaching mentorship during the middle of my HS career, he turned himself into a good coach and I went on to run in D1. Before he didn’t know what he was doing, he learned and the team did great.

Wake Up and do your training in the morning. Your school training can be easy doubles.

Sleep and eat lots.

I have 10 days from the start of school to quit. So I've decided to stick with it until then and make up my mind. One factor that might get me kicked off anyway is the memorial day weekend. The coach couldn't find a race bc it's a holiday weekend and so he is making us do an intrasquad race. If this were a big school that might work but I'm not wasting my time running against 5 other girls who didn't even bother running this summer.

Besides the fact that my entire life we've gone to see my grandparents that weekend. It's a long drive so we leave Friday night and go to a 5k Monday then return home in time for Tuesday school. I'm not missing seeing my family to run against people I already run against every day. If he kicks me off the team then so be it.

One of the senior guys quit on Friday. I'm not sure his reasoning but he's run for the last 5 years and he ran all summer. So, I know it's not that he doesn't want to run. He's also not injured.

So, I got kicked out today. I emailed the coach Saturday to let him know I would be missing our October 2nd meet bc I have my SAT and he threw a fit. He emailed my parents and they told him that me missing the meet was "non-negotiable" (Their word not mine) and he replied that I was being moved to off-season.

Rip bozo he lost a real one today 😭

I’m not sure about this, but can high schools have a shoe requirement? I don’t believe high schools can have fear contracts like that but I could be wrong.

Regardless, after the first week you should have approached him with your concerns. If that meeting did not go well it would be time to quit as well as go to the athletic director.

At a minimum you need to speak with the AD about the coach’s reaction to the SAT. He seems to have forgotten you are a student athlete where the student part comes first.

Best of luck.

SeniorGirl wrote:

So, I got kicked out today. I emailed the coach Saturday to let him know I would be missing our October 2nd meet bc I have my SAT and he threw a fit. He emailed my parents and they told him that me missing the meet was "non-negotiable" (Their word not mine) and he replied that I was being moved to off-season.

It is unbelievable how bad some coaches can be. He should fire himself.

Take that as an occasion to improve your running with a new coach. Fate is with you.

Looks like a troll thread to me. But if authentic I would advice you to ask your parents to hire a good online coach.

5/10 due to the surprising number of bites.

The "school purchased shoes" bit was a bridge too far here - team uniforms yes, shoes no, never happens.

9/10 for everything except the last post.

A school coach forcing you the miss the SAT? Nope. Not gonna happen.

If someone can tell me how to post a photo here I will take a picture of the rules he sent home and show them to you. He literally listed what color bras we could wear.

SeniorGirl2 wrote:

If someone can tell me how to post a photo here I will take a picture of the rules he sent home and show them to you. He literally listed what color bras we could wear.

You can use imgur to upload images. I would strongly urge you not to do that.

If everything you have stated is accurate, without embellishment or being "lost in translation", your coach is an idiot. Did he give you a training plan? Perhaps you could post that.

Once again, DO NOT post images.

His approach to training sounds like communism. Complete moran.

Training to someone elses ability (slower or faster) won't make you faster. If i had to run with the slowest athlete I would have never made my university team.

You need to have a serious talk with your coach. Explain to them the training you have done over the summer and past years. If possible see if the coach of your other group will join you for the meeting to help push your case.

If your school coach won't budge then quit the team. Train on your own if you must. From my experience college coaches don't care who you train with so long as you train consistently and are putting up good times.

Iron Bars wrote:

SeniorGirl2 wrote:

If someone can tell me how to post a photo here I will take a picture of the rules he sent home and show them to you. He literally listed what color bras we could wear.

You can use imgur to upload images. I would strongly urge you not to do that.

https://imgur.com/upload

If everything you have stated is accurate, without embellishment or being "lost in translation", your coach is an idiot. Did he give you a training plan? Perhaps you could post that.

Once again, DO NOT post images.

What’s the big no no deal about posting images?

are you david 45?