Is it weird our coach runs with us?

I don’t think it is weird BUT I also had a coach who sometimes ran and showered with us.

Came here to add this.

I once had a boss who tried to pace his runners to break 16 in a 5k and he was as much as a loser as his runners and so they ran 16:01.
so yes it’s weird

I don't think he is trying to pace or help us. It's more like he is trying to beat us I feel like

Yes you are overthinking it.

If you don't like him, kick his azz so hard he quits...

Make him think twice about racing with the boys.

Get Hard.

Retire him.

it is possible it is too much, would have to be there. I typically only go on easy/long runs with my kids, and I don't even do that often. Once in awhile, I will run tempos or reps with a kid who I think needs assistance in keeping an honest pace. MOstly, young, inexperienced runners.

Workouts, I almost always feel like I can give better feedback by sitting with a stopwatch, so that is what I do 98% of the time. I don't think this necessarily has to be the case with all coaches, and college kids certainly have different needs than high school kids.

This sounds about perfect to me, at the high school level anyway.

I absolutely love(d) my high school coach, and this was more or less his M.O., though he may have joined the team more often on easy/long runs than you do. It kept him in great shape into his fifties (in his early-mid 40s he could almost always hang with the top varsity guys no matter how we tried), but most relevant to your question it deepened the bond between athletes and coach. High school runners become more invested, committed, and passionate if they have a coach they look up to who loves running, with whom they have a real rapport.

As an aside, in response to a couple of these comments, any high school coach who showers naked with their athletes should be fired immediately. It’s just not acceptable.

Maybe he is trying to beat you but he knows some of you will beat him too, or maybe even all of you.

This has been beaten to death over the years on letsrun.com.  Consensus from fairly sane posters is that the coach shouldn't run with the team, especially if it is high school, but pretty much no for college as well.

Search for these threads if you are really interested.

FWIW, many of my athletes ask me to run their reps with them during workouts. Although, I’m basically a human metronome so maybe it’s different, idk.

There should be a separation in the athlete/coach relationship. Regardless of whether it is RIGHT for you to feel awkward about what your coach is doing, probably at least a third or maybe even more runners on a team would feel that way if the coach did most of the workouts with the team. I think that is a reasonable thought. I also agree with you that you aren't really being fully coached if the coach is spending time doing workouts with you and being concerned about HIS workout.

I think it's lame, and I would not recommend that any college coach workout with the team, ever. Want to jog a course with the team the day before a meet...ok. Much more than that, nah.

CORRECT! The right answer is that a coach shouldn't do this.

This is how I do it. I train the beginners on how to pace, while listening to their breathing and foot strike. I also watch their feet, because most pronate, and do not have the right shoes. Workouts? No, I u=hold the watch and coach. No need to do workouts with them. I could see a young coach doing reps with them, though, They can handle the volume of the workout, and have a grad assistant hold the watch.

or he could be trying to motivate the runners to try harder. I was never a workout king, but I could see a coach saying, "I will show you how to do it", and then going out there and performing well with the guys. It encourages them to push through if their coach can.

As usual, you are wrong

And the two of you could start by reading the posts on this thread to see how wrong you are.

I'm with the poster who said that there are times when it's better for a coach to stand on the side and watch the athletes, time them, etc.

There are also times when it's perfectly fine for coaches and athletes to run together.

My runners, aged 15 to 22, are always asking me to run with them. Sometimes, during easy runs and warmups, some of the parents will come too.

If you think there is a problem with that, there is a problem with you.

From time management point your coach is very clever. Insteed of running before/after his/her coaching time, he does not need to invest extra time.

Also he watches you during running and can give you extra tips.

You can ask him, why he runs with you guys, that would be also a good starting point.

Watch his body language: If he is ahead a few inches of all runners, he tries to dictates the pace. Consciously or unconsciously. This would be bad.

I think coaches running the easy/long runs is totally fine.

I also think an assistant coach running workouts is fine, as long as there is another coach actually coaching, taking times, organizing, etc.

But if they are the only coach at workouts, that seems odd to me. Entering races also seems odd to me.

IMHO, cocahes running with athletes seems more acceptable at the HS level. Namely because HS kids need to be monitored on runs. Just letting them run wherever on their own at an official practice is a little negligent. So if the coach is fit enough, why not run along instead of bike.

That sounds like a cool coach in my opinion. You are wayyy overthinking this bro.