Crazy plan to run the 800 in college

I really doubt they want anyone with a 1:58…

Mileage is unlikely to help your 800m as much as doing speed training. If your not sub 50 in the 400, you’d don’t have a future in the 800m

Sure I don't have a high level future in the 800 but I'm sure I can get faster and I'm starting to more speedwork now since I've mostly come from an endurance background with cross country and swimming. I also know they don't want someone that slow but I figure if I can get that time by next year and redshirt a year or two by my junior or senior year of college I might actually be able to run for them. Granted, I won't be the fastest runner or everything but I'm just trying to make it and see what happens from there.

I’m a senior is in a similar position, last year I ran 2:12, but I have been training pretty intensively in the 365 days since then. I opened my 800 season sick in 2:11 doubling back from the 16, but in a fresh 8 with less turbulence and more speed work, I know I can definitely hit below 2:06 in current fitness, and by the end of the year, I am hoping to go low or even sub 2. 2:12 -> 1:58 is a chasm but I think with consistent hills + strides, consistent intervals, and some decent mileage to give you a little more aerobic strength, it is not impossible. I will say as a fellow run/lift type guy, I have had to sacrifice a lot of my cross training/lifting for more running focus and my lifts have absolutely plummeted despite maintaining same weight and same body fat. All that being said, you never know until you try, and if you’re like me and you hadn’t gone all in on the sport year round, doing so will give you monstrous gains. Best of luck bro!

As a decent swimmer (it appears) and an upcoming runner, have you considered Triathlon? Especially coming from an endurance background. You could be good!

Tbh dude I wouldn’t waste a year of college trying to walk on. Just give it your all this season and go enjoy a&m. If you’re really that desperate to play a college sport I think you need to ask yourself why. If it’s for validation trust me it’s best to just quit. If love competing think about club. Honestly you may think running D1 is cool but I guarantee nobody outside of your nerdy runner friends will care. I’m not trying to discourage you from training but just don’t waste your college years trying to walk on to a team that doesn’t want you. College is the best time of your life enjoy it and it can be hard to enjoy it while trying to be a below average 800 runner.

Not to crush your dreams or anything, but runcruit isn't necessarily right about that, and some of those walk ons are situational. You can still do super well in college and compete even if you aren't on the NCAA team

Work on basic speed several times a week. That might take the form of 60-80m sprints or up to 150s with walk back or more recovery.

Work on 800m specific intervals. These might be 200s or 400s.

Do race predictor workouts, e.g. 3x400m@800 race pace on 45s rest or 600@800 race pace.

Do the occasional longer interval for 'strength'. 3-5x1600 or 5-7x1k.

Run broken up tempos, e.g. 3x 1 1/2M on half mile jog.

Work up to an 8M long run.

The bread and butter will be repeats of 200 up to 400 @ 800m pace.

Hey I do appreciate the feedback even though it's not optimistic. I did call this a crazy plan for a reason. It's not for validation or for others to think I'm cool. I think I have a lot of unwasted potential in either running or swimming and I genuinely enjoy running. Obviously there are advantages to club teams but it just doesn't carry as many serious runners and knowledgeable coaches so that's what it's about to me. I also don't mind being bad compared to those around me. The only thing I care about is improvement and I genuinely do enjoy training. This is a far shot but I am committed to try it.

For the sake of this discussion let's just pretend I'm a 2:09 runner because I genuinely think I'll have that time in about 2 weeks or so.

I have considered it and it was my plan until I saw this potential opportunity; the main reasons are that I was a sprint swimmer and don't want to keep swimming knowing I'm slower than I used to be but also don't want to swim enough to get better than I was at sprinting because I don't really enjoy swimming in and of itself. That, and triathlons are just more expensive to be a part of. Maybe could still use that plan as a backup though.

True, I think I'm going to reach out to their coach soon and just ask hypothetically about this and see if it's even worth trying.

You won't get an answer. 1:54 junior year is the minimum..

hey man I think you got it, I ran about a 2:09 a month ago and I started doing more hard speed days and lifting more and got down to a 2:04 just the other day so I believe in you

2:02 will get you on most D3 teams, 1:58 will get you on a few D2 teams. Unless you have some hidden talent, you aren't going D1.

See this comment is not helpful nor realistic. This is the let's run mindset but in reality this year, only 21 high schoolers in the country have broken 1:53. Obviously over the 1:53 and 1:54 range there are a lot more kids who have, but a good chunk of them will be seniors. Maybe you know about college meets or smth and see their times but the reality is teams have a lot slower kids than the ones who compete the best for them; kids who start out not that great but work at it through college. I think I saw a guy at A&M whose best 800 was a 1:56 in high school so if he can be on their team then a 1:58 next year could at least redshirt by the year after that (If I go 1:59 in January then keep training by my sophomore year in January I will be good enough to at least redshirt then. You can be critical, but stop spouting nonsense.

And yet you can redshirt on many teams without achieving those marks. I'm not asking to get scholarships or even recruited or accepted immediately. Anybody else telling me that time will not get me on the team can save their breath because I acknowledge that's a possiblity but am willing to train through the next year as well to get down hopefully to like a 1:56 or 1:55; a time I'm relatively confident they will take as a redshirt. Even if that's true, tellin me it's not isn't gonna help. Help by giving me advice on training like zcvxzcvx did.

Quick correction here:

The guy on their team who I said ran 1:56 in high school ran 1:54 once and never anything else under 1:56. He wasn't the only person on their team to have been a 1:54 after high school; I found another guy with a time of 1:54.9 who made their team as well. To me that says that a 1:57-8 really could redshirt if a 1:54 high can make the team proper. That's my inference but it's based on cold hard facts.

My son is on the team. 1:54 junior year is the absolute minimum. Even that may not get you a spot if they already sign several guys faster. Your logic is flawed. Title IX limits the roster size. Resisted guys still count as roster spots.

Checking what the current guys ran in high school.isnt the way to approach this. Look at TFRRs to see what it takes today. Times are dropping every year. 4:10 guys were elite 5 years ago while it now takes 4:05 to be elite.