My Advice to All Collegiate Freshmen Runners

I agree with all of these points. Good post.

Love this.

Outstanding post!

DISAGREE 1/10 most likely written by "walk on 10th man"

Unless you're at a winning program stick with your high school coach's training and do more mileage. Most college coaches aren't good and don't care. Consistency builds results. Rupp with Salazar, Webb with Racsko.

Nothing slower than 6min pace after 15 min ez warm up.

This is a surprisingly good post!

Terrible post to be completely honest. I love when high schoolers come in with the high school mentality. I love hearing them talk about their high school PRs and running with the top dogs in their first race. My best athletes are the ones that peak in high school mentally

I agree that sometimes kids talking about the high school glory days can be good because they're typically proud of their accomplishments and are competitive, not going through the motions.

That said, calling it a terrible post for that alone is a bit silly. There are also kids that can't handle not being top dog, and end up quitting because they dont think they'll ever be on top again, so its not completely wrong

Point #1 is good advice. One thing my college team almost never talks about to each other is our high school times. You were good enough to get a spot on the team, that's all anyone really needs to know. When you go to college, high school PRs are irrelevant. People can make huge jumps forward or backwards depending on their training load in high school and their dedication to collegiate running. My team's current #1 runner was one of our slowest guys coming out of high school.

Would add:

dont race the easy days.

don’t push the pace on a repeat unless you’re finishing the entire workout.

I think this is sarcasm?

I fully agree with # 1 - 4, but then the advice after #4 is very bad in my opinion. If you want to be a pro runner, then go for it. I run for a program that has turned numerous non-elite high school runners into pro runners. if you have the right coaching/training, then you'll be able to do tif you work hard enough. I was a 9:47/16:17 guy in high school and I've run 8:07/14:02/29:16 so far in college and still have a few years left. Don't take advice from people who failed to do what you want to do.

Even if you are a *pro runner you will not be one for long. So the sentiment applies, eventually you will have to get an actual job. The list pro distance runners that made enough to retire the rest of their lives is a very short one.

But yeah, if you can turn pro, go for it but you still need to take advantage of the benefits afforded you.

* Guy that gets some free gear.

OP. Unreal post. Amazingly good. I remember when a guy showed up at Cornell and told me he was in love with his girlfriend and wanted to get her named tatooed on him. I remember thinking,' Not a good idea. They'll be broken up before winter break." Sure enough I was right.

All of your posts are good ones. With everyone's HS times now being online, I was thinking no one would do #1 any more but I bet it still does happen as many people on the team aren't runners and aren't going to bother researching the times of the incoming freshmen.

fixed it for you

The one guy who downvoted this: went to Podunk U, married (and divorced) his HS girlfriend, was "That Guy" at the parties, flunked out of school and became a professional dog walker, was fond of saying, "That's not how my HS coach trained us," ran like $hit, and wore his HS letterman jacket to bars to try to pick up girls.

This is good, but it’s superficial and misses the most important variable: time. What I mean is that realization #1 in college is that you aren’t special everyone is a peer and pretty good at school & runnings. #2 is because of that you’re gonna have to specialize (see what I did there?) - but the key I missed is that can the emphasis change across 4 years. I think the summer between f&soph years, then again sophomore and junior years are the times to go full lunatic. Freshman year, get settled in, Sr year start lining up that big boy job, bedding Mrs. right. A couple years at the top is pretty fun, but it’s not worth torching your early adulthood for. like if ya run 13:40 and have a life/job/hot chick that better for living like a monk to run 13:25. you still are just making nats di or on the podium dii.

On the subject of time, I’d recommend reading the “Old(er) guys, when did your running fall off a cliff?” thread. When you’re young and fit, it’s so easy to take your abilities for granted. I did. Appreciate what you have before it’s gone.

I gave my daughters friend some advice similar to this. One of the things missing is I told him was not to lead or push the easy runs. To be in the pack or back of it based on the times he is running and those returning on his team. And to run the paces his coach tells him. He is coming from a crappy program where they didn’t do workouts and he was minutes ahead of his teammates for 5k.

You lost me at #6. I would say find other clubs/groups to hang out with to expand the circle. To me the word “party” at my college meant a super late night with alcohol involved, both of which I discourage for freshmen who want to do well.