College running- on your own days

Pretty normal. We meet every day basically but informal for doubles.

Normal to be on your own a lot?

D1 runner here (male)

We generally have two days per week on our own. Usually Saturday if its not a travel week and another day during the week. I believe at least one is required by the NCAA. We do run on these days (unless ordered to take the day off) but at a place and time of our own choosing.

Once you get the hang of it you're there two or three days a week for workouts or significant runs, and weekends now and then. It's pretty organic.

I think it’s pretty normal. My team only has 4 mandatory practices a week: 2 workouts, team long run and a team aerobic run. Everything else is “on our own” but we are encouraged to link up with teammates. It’s to accommodate for academic/work needs.

I ran every day with teammates, we just didn’t meet with coaches except for workouts. At the time my school didn’t have a locker room for track. During cross country we all met every day at various locations- we had a large, spread out campus of over 45,000, schools we changed locations every day to accommodate everyone

My team has 1 day without practice/week, during finals week all easy/long runs are OYO.

The NCAA requires that each runner have at least one day off (no required activities) every week, though it may be a different day for different individuals.

Worth noting that a lot of the "on your own" days are actually pretty well specified--the athlete just does the training at a time (and perhaps place) that s/he chooses.

Let's face it, it's not high school, where we all tried to get away with doing as little as possible. Most college athletes want to succeed and understand that doing the training is vital.

not a normal case, but my d1 school didn't have men's xc and the distance coach for track was a mostly absent volunteer. they mightve met formally like twice a week.

Our standard practices were Monday through Friday at 2:30pm unless traveling to or returning from a meet. Saturdays and Sundays you were on your own for workouts unless you were attending a meet with the team. Morning workouts were always on your own. Generally people ran somewhere between 4-7 miles in the morning. Depending upon where you lived you might run with others or you might just go on your own. I tended to just run on my own for the morning runs. Too much of a hassle trying to meet up with people at 6:30am.

In college we had OYO for Monday/ sometimes Thursday/Saturday. They were easy runs. As a student I liked it. We had practice typically at 3pm so it was nice to get up and get my run in without having to wait around all day. I also liked the idea of running at new trails those days or running with someone you typically wouldn't run with on the team.

Now I coach at a hs and we have OYO days as well. Coaches can't be there everyday and not necessary for a 30-40 minute run. Do they always run? The top group typically does, the JV and beginners probably not...Last year the hs didn't even have a coach show up at all so 3-4 x a week is a treat for them.

Max?

We always had one (required by NCAA) or maybe two if we didn't race or travel on Saturday. Everyone always said that another D1 team in the state (that was much faster than us) was only required to meet for two workout days a week.

OYO is pretty standard. The NCAA has a lot of rules, getting more and more difficult to have practice every day. Also depends on how many distance coaches/ volunteers you have. A lot of schools have a meet almost every weekend in the spring, not everyone goes to every meet but the coach will. So the event coach is gone Thursday- Sat. So a GA might be at practice.

oyo = noyo

What nobody is mentioning: NCAA mandates you can only have organized practice 6 days a week. "OYO" days are to get around this.