lackluster 3200m after building for 6 months and killing peak workouts, any coaches help me not hang up my spikes for good :(

Which college are you currently attending? Is that the team you’re trying to walk-on to?

Yep. It’s UCI, which has posted walk-on standards of 9:20/4:16/32:00 of which I think the 10k one would be by far easiest for me, but I’m pretty sure those are times you need to run to even be considered so I’m trying to get close to the 9:20 this season then contact coach and see what they want from me. The team is currently very senior-heavy and next year will have 6/10 graduating so there will be chances if I can run well.

I’m not a coach, nor do I have any idea of what I’m doing with respect to training.

But I think it may be in your interest to contact the coach and let him know that you want to walk-on to the team. Ask him what he objectively wants to see, so that you can find something to aim for.

Everything always starts with an open line of communication.

Biggest issue is that you did a time trial - get out there and find some races! There is something very depressing, yet very expected, about putting together all that great training just to do a time trial.

Track season is approaching - you should be able to find some meets that will you race. I’m going to guess that you didn’t have a full XC season either - a couple more 8k races and you probably could’ve been close to 26-flat.

Collegiate running clubs usually have access to track and XC races, find the club at your uni, make some friends, and most importantly have fun with racing.

You seem to know how to train, my only suggestion would be to ditch the GPS watch: No one should ever know their pace for strides!

I didn't read all of your post (sorry) but it sounds like you are kind of impatient. It is okay to have an off day or a bad result. Don't beat yourself up so much.

And don't try to figure out the "one thing" that is the problem. The idea that it might be "bad footstrike in certain spikes" or other such small details is proof that you are overthinking it.

Run big miles, don't get injured, do your strides. Run hills. Eat right. Sleep a lot. And most importantly, talk to the coach and ask him/her what you should be doing. Unless they are real jerks, they will support your goal of walking on and give you better advice than what you'll get on this forum.

But most importantly, don't give up just because one build-up didn't go well. Keep at it!

You seem to not have any easy days with your long runs at 6:15 to 6:24 pace. The principle that is applied across the board in endurance training of spending roughly 80 percent of your training time in easier activity that actually is easy and 20 percent pushing it seems hard to find in your training.

You are a dedicated runner. Maybe you are better off building yourself up 5 days per week with long 7:00 per mile runs. Then do one of your favorite workouts on day 6 and rest on day 7 till the possibility that you have worn yourself down is eliminated. You can add miles to those five days till your base is stronger.

More people made their biggest jumps in endurance from easyish miles than hardish workouts as their bread and butter method. Once you are right around 9:20, then add more workouts.

Good luck.

Thanks. I know it comes across as impatient but it’s just been demotivating improving so much in workouts and then nervously stepping to the track for a time trial and none of the work on improvement has shown.

It’s also because I’m not sure I have much time left. I don’t feel comfortable contacting our coaches before even approaching walk-on standards, with no show of any potential to my name. I don’t think 4:32/9:50 is going to lead to coach taking me seriously when it’s a D1 with very limited roster spots - there is only pretty much gonna be many roster openings next year with 6/10 graduating, then after that it’ll just be filled by high school recruits again year by year. The standards are just too many levels faster, they aren’t even close. If I got semi-close like 9:30 (which, shouldn’t I be??) I’d be comfortable since I’m just one step away. But without it I’m not sure I can. Maybe I could ask what is necessary without bringing up my own times.

I actually do, I just didn’t list them specifically, I mentioned how they work at the top of the peaking season part with regular runs of 6-8mi 6:45-7:30 pace. I do agree that a big part of improvement would be finding time to double and get in more volume. But I did the most volume I’ve ever done over this base build and am more comfortable running 8-10mi in one go than ever, but it hasn’t really panned out for my 3200m

Who knows, dude? Maybe he’s got a couple of athletes that are failing their classes and will soon be ineligible. Or maybe some others have gotten arrested and are getting expelled soon.

if you put yourself on his radar, you have a better chance of getting on the team. “Fortune favors the bold.”

A few points:

Anything over 600m is just really hard to time trial solo.

If you are sitting in around 4:30 mile shape, running anything faster than 9:40 is going to be pretty tough.

You seem to be in fantastic aerobic shape, but what’s your speed like? Sub 4:40 pace for 2 miles is no joke. For most people that’s going to require at least a 4:20 flat out 1600m, which requires at least a flat out 1:58 800m, which will take about 53 flat for 400m, which takes about 24.5-25 for 200m. Can you confidently hit all of these marks? Even though 3200m is on the aerobic side of middle distance it’s still middle distance, and you need a degree of speed for sub 9:20, a degree of speed Im sure you can achieve if you work at it.

Most colleges want guys that can at least go under 4:20 for a mile. That’s the standard you are emphasizing the least but it’s likely the most important to the coaches. A 4:10-4:20 guy doesn’t feel out of place at a collegiate meet, might even be competitive in a non POWERWhateverItllBeNextYear conference, but also highlights potential to be strong in XC. On the flipside, a strong XC runner can’t do much for a coach if he doesn’t have track speed, and that lack of track speed can scare a coach about improvement. A 32:00 10k guy is a 32:30-33:00 10K XC guy, and that’s an investment. Coaches who take a bet on those guys are hoping they will be 31:00 or faster (on the course) guys after a season or two, and if your track times are lagging, it’s hard to bet on that.

Yep. All of these are things I was thinking about when jumping into this training, being limited by lower end speeds. I figured the plan detailed a 56s and 4:30 minimum speed requisites for 9:20s so it could happen, but it's definitely more reasonable to be way further under them.

I'm far from the 400m and 200m and it might take a season of mile-specific training to work the speed more. I haven't really learnt how to do that but I'll see.

I'm probably in slightly better than 4:30 shape now but without having touched on speed at all I don't think anything better than 4:25 at all. Maybe 4:28. So that could explain things. It definitely becomes easier if you have the speed kinda strength to hold the pace.

Similar to what another poster said, I think your mile time is not fast enough. You should be able to race under 4:30 and close to 4:20. I would usually run 4:28 with the 1600m being by second race of the day after doing the 3200 earlier.

You are trying to run 4:40 twice without stopping. So a 4:34.x 1600m PR isn’t going to cut it. When you did your 2 x 1600m, you are getting too much rest (10 minutes).

I would suggest you add 5 x 1000m with 90 sec rest and do them in 3:01. Or maybe do 3 x 1k at 2:55 to get used to the pace you are trying to run. If you struggle with the 3:01s then adjust but it means you aren’t ready yet for your 9:20.

good luck!

Okay wait, but I feel like a lot of the posters are kinda missing the point of how I'm also asking what I should do in the next week. I don't want to end off my season on this note really, and I'm certain that if I at least pace myself way slower out in 4:55 instead of 4:47 I know I can run quite under 9:50 at least as a smaller step. When should I make another attempt (probably 1 week) and how should I peak properly for it this time?

I think I'd be able to do that pretty solidly, that is my peak workout of 5x800 @ 2:20 but longer reps by just a 200m but pretty significant slower pace through (2:25s), shorter rest is significant though so definitely will think on that. 90 sec standing vs 2:40 jog.

But yeah I know I have the aerobic shape and I'm starting to see the holding form towards the end might be more of a mile speed problem :(

find a girl to upload some testosterone on a few times a week, will make your life far happier and lead to an increase in performance. she doesnt have to be an oil painting, just grab some hound off tinder

Yo 😭💀 I’m just a freshman I’m not built like that

You are wasting your time. Just have fun.

Agreed. Leg speed is still important for 3000/2 mile. I knew someone with “bad” leg speed - one of the worst on his team who ran under 8:15 in 3000. Runs a lot of tempo under 5:00 but he closed a 200 at the end of a workout (after a tempo and other 200s) in mid 25’s. That’s what you’re dealing with.
Bad leg speed can be covered up in 8k/10k XC because you’re simply going much slower. Can’t hide it in a mile or 3k though.

Also - point about time trialing is completely correct. I’d be shocked if I could run 3200 at faster than 5000 pace solo.

This is kind of a long shot, but, if you feel like you have an adequate base and you are not absolutely racing your workouts, meaning that your time trials actually *should* be faster, go get your iron levels checked, specifically your serum ferritin. A very similar thing happened to me where I felt like I was crushing workouts, but then my races were awful. I started to dread them, and my back would always get very tight after the first mile. I too, thought about quitting, but I had a doctor clued in to what might be happening, and he tested my ferritin at 12. I started supplementing immediately, and within three months, I had pulled my 10k down by three minutes and more consistent with what I should be running given the training.

Nothing else felt out of sorts, except I just could not race fast. I craved ice, chewed on it daily, which is a condition called Pica related to iron deficiency, so if you have anything weird like that, it would be a sign as well.