Why do so many great high school and college runners quit running after graduation?

desert rodent wrote:

Isn't the adjustment from a team atmosphere to solo running a difficult one? Thoughts please.

Yes, not having the team around is very very difficult. I'm lucky enough to have found a group of training partners that are about my age and ability.

That is the hard part. It's hard finding a group to run with that is not post collegiate elites, looking to get paid on the weekends, or the 9-10 min mile beginners decked out in their fuel belts and iPods.

This is as close to running with "the team" as I've had since college- 15 yrs ago. The one thing I did miss was the weekend long runs with "the guys" where we'd just BS along the way, make fun of each other, talk about women, etc.. Kinda got that back now, and it's pretty cool.

It is a difficult adjustment from a team to an individual running schedule. In college, I spent a lot of time with my teammates, both in practice and socially. It adds an extra level of motivation, because your races contribute to the entire team, not just to you personally. It's easier to get out there when you know that other people are sharing the same thing you're going through, whether its 6 am practice or helping one another through a tough workout. It's a great experience.

Although I was never a great runner, I wanted a break after college. It's not so terrible to pursue other things for a while and I still stayed fit although I'm not in running shape at all right now. But it does become somewhat of an all or nothing venture, because as someone else said, there's a level at which you can float along on easy runs and feel great, but if you're in worse shape than that, there's nothing fun about jogging and struggling to do even that. And once you start getting back into fitness runner shape, old obsessive competitive impulses start whispering to you, telling you that you should get back into real racing shape.

Something that has helped me has been getting involved in the local running club. Like the team previously, it's a motivation knowing that I'm going to be showing up for the group runs and races with people that I know. However, it's probably easier for me as a female, because there aren't many fast women so I run with some men and a guy in a similar situation might have no one to run with.

It comes down to:

1) The attraction of getting faster / being fit and the subsequent cost to do this is no longer as appealing to these runners as other pursuits.

OR

2) They have lost hope that getting faster / being fit can be accomplished.

I don't have any great personal anecdotes to contribute to this thread. I've never been good, but with a few breaks I've kept plugging away at the sport since high school into my 30s. 'Cause I like it. No one at any level of talent should do this sport unless they like it. Certainly no one should keep doing it so the rest of us can live vicariously through them running 30:30 for 10k at 115lb rather than 37:00 at 180lb.

It is sad--for the sake of the sport as a whole--to see more talented people give it up because they don't have the time or the motivation. But on their individual level that's their decision, and people should do what they enjoy doing.

The implicit financial return to running well in college--keeping your scholarship--probably explains why the dropoff might be greater from DI than it is from DIII. Again, totally rational on an individual level, but perhaps not the best for the sport.

There's the rub. Society actually supports distance running pretty generously through college scholarships, but that lasts 'til people are about 23. Especially in the longer events there will be people who haven't nearly realized their potential at 23. Giving people lots of incentives to keep going until 23, and then suddenly removing those incentives maybe isn't the best for the sport as a whole.

On average it's now true that college-educated workers work longer hours and spend more time commuting than they did in the 1970s and 1980s. So the sense of time crunch that people cite as a reason for dropping out is widespread. Hardly surprising that running is one of the things people drop.

Both perspectives on this thread are true. People are doing what is individually right and rational for them. But it's also OK to ask whether that is the best setup for the sport long-term.

I think that's a great post! It doesn't do a ton of good to identify the issue without also submitting (or at least thinking about) possible solutions. I think your spot on that the HUGE decrease in incentives make a difference. I think it is awful how little financial incentive and appreciation there is for people to run fast (especially outside the very top).

I think what the Hansons do is great, but I must say that I am a little disappointed because 5 years ago or so, I think I thought that we would see more impact in terms of people following their lead. I am not sure why more haven't.

Anyway, participation continues to grow while running fast seems to becoming more niche.

At age 18, I hung up my track spikes. I was an OK distance guy, broke 10:00 in the 2 Mile, but no colleges were knocking down my door. Anyway, I was tired of the training and pursued the Great College Sport - Partying - for the next 4 years. A lot of suds & weed, it's all kind of a blur now. Married at 25, a dad at 27, and a career that was going along pretty well. When my daughter (only child) turned 11 or so, she wanted to spend less time with Mom and Dad, and more time with her growing number of friends. Suddenly, I had more time and, having maintained a slim physique (a genetic thing) despite no physical activity, I rediscovered running. It was easy to get into it, and within 2 years, ran my first marathon at age 39. Other than the short 20-year break, I can say I truly love running now for the health, the competition and in particular, the camaraderie. I recently went through a 3-month layoff to heal a stress fracture, and I was going nuts! I think I had a hidden addiction in those non-running years.

So, my answer to your question is, uh, I don't know.

JEH wrote:

Anyway, participation continues to grow while running fast seems to becoming more niche.

not sure i agree with that. i'm sure someone will come on here and cite 1975 when x marathoners broke 2:20 or something but - at least compared to fifteen or twenty years ago - i see more people running faster. i also see more athletes with sponsorship. there's more money to be had in our sport than ever before. is it enough? well, what is enough. but things are getting better and i see that trend continuing.

Fair enough... it's just not to the level I want, and it doesn't seem (to me) like it is keeping up with overall participation rates. I feel a lot could be improved.

But, I do see where you're coming from, and there HAS been a lot of progress in the last 12 years or so.

........................ wrote:

Because jobs and life get in the way, and a lot of us aren't content to train 1/3 as much as we did in college and run 5k's 2 minutes slower than our PR's. Its easier to forget about running competitively and turn that competition gene towards a career.

Hard core runners after college tend to be 3 types of people:

1. Pros (not many)

2. Wannabe's who eke out a living believing they can drop a ton of time. These guys become assistant coaches until they are 37 then get a real job.

3. Old guys who were nothing in college but have time to run and like winning age groups

These last two groups are extremely annoying.

Number 2 pretty much describes me. But I know I'm not going to miraculously get a sponsorship or make the trials. So tell me why they are so annoying? We should have given into the life style everyone is sold as easily as you did?

I admit, it's not for everyone. It's tough as hell to continue to compete at a high level after college and I don't blame people for hanging it up. But to act like just about everyone who doesn't "grow up, get a job, get married, and prepare for retirement" is a drag on society is pathetic. I'm in my mid 20s, have a good college degree, make far less than 20k a year, have no desire to get married or have kids, and I can say that I'm happier than I've ever been. And everytime I am on my morning run and see dozens of people driving/walking to work in their business suits and brief cases, it reaffirms my dedication to this lifestyle with no regrets.

If this ever changes, then that's fine. But for now I suppose I'll remain annoying. It's possible to stay competitive after college, but you have to be willing to sacrifice. And I understand that to most, it's not worth the sacrifice.

Another reason I pretty much quit seriously running after college is that the competitions aren't as great. In high school it felt amazing to represent your school and compete at the conference and state level. You had rivalries with other schools and runners. The local paper wrote articles about your meets and races. Your school had banquets to celebrate your success. Chicks would bone you based on your mile time alone, well, maybe not for everybody, but for me they did.

Winning a plaque at a road race over a bunch of pathetic 30 year olds in racing singlets is not my idea of glory. I liked it better when the opponents were your school's rival, and there was a history from years past to defend.

I'm still in college. I run 800 and the mile. I expect that for me the biggest difficulty in training with a full time job will be the days with tough interval sessions after work. I like to relax a little after working before doing the session. This means I either have to go straight to these evening sessions (at 6/7pm) tired, or do them later, hence on my own. When I've had to work all day, I've tried both of these options and neither works out too well. But I don't have a problem with a long day, and then some threshold, or a ten miler.

So it occurs to me that the best way to give myself a chance to improve is to alter my training to my strengths. Do less of the quality interval sessions, more of running threshold and higher mileage.

Do you reckon if I cut out most of the interval sessions midweek, do a quality session on Saturday, increase my mileage a bit, I can still run well in the mile with some fairly intensive track training if I take my holidays to coincide with the track season?

early in my post collegiate 'serious running career', I had a hard time doing the hard workouts after coming home from a hard days work at my real job, at 6pm. As I got older, it became easier and I was more disciplined. The best thing you could do is to find another runner in your area of similar ability that you could meet on Tues and Thursdays, for example, to do your intervall hills or interval track session. the mileage days in between you can probably handle ok. (try to run a few days a week in the morning, before work; just an easy 5 or 6 miles; to keep your mileage up). Good luck. You can do it!

Are you saying I should basically try to keep to my current schedule, even if it's difficult?

Basically it seems to me that there might be a trade-off between doing the optimal schedule but doing some of the sessions badly, and doing a suboptimal schedule, but doing it really well.

I think it comes doing to having a love for running to continue doing it whether you are a stud or do it for fun. My gripe is this... Why does everyone make their job sound so difficult and use it as an excuse for not running (family is understandable)? If you graduated from college, you are most likely not laying brick or doing some other form of hard physical labor. Going to the office is 8-10 hours of recovery between workouts. Plus you probably have a lot more money to spend on quality food and gear as opposed to eating Mac 'n Cheese w/ tuna and wearing cotton running clothes. It seems running post collegiate is much easier as I don't have class hanging over my head and no studying on the weekends. I also recommend marrying a lady who also runs.

Come on everyone knows the real reason.

For years these studs looked down upon the runners behind them. They thought they were better. That in some way they were more determined, had more character, or more natural talent.

Now that they have slowed due to age or other commitments they can't stand the idea of running with those for whom they had so much contempt.

Stop being such babies, stop with all the excuses, my career, my kids, other interests, no time. Go out and be man enough to compete even though you may not be that fast.

Your ego's can't be that fragile that you would be humiliated by racing a bit further back in the pack! Be honest the real reason you won't compete is that you are AFRAID you might get embarrassed.

....you're a little bitter, huh? Now that most of the guys who waxed your ass have retired and you are the masters king of your little pond, you want to kick ass and take names? Be satisfied with going back to your high school reunions and seeing that top miler with a gut and weighing 220. (or get some counseling)

some logic wrote:

I think it comes doing to having a love for running to continue doing it whether you are a stud or do it for fun. My gripe is this... Why does everyone make their job sound so difficult and use it as an excuse for not running (family is understandable)? If you graduated from college, you are most likely not laying brick or doing some other form of hard physical labor. Going to the office is 8-10 hours of recovery between workouts. Plus you probably have a lot more money to spend on quality food and gear as opposed to eating Mac 'n Cheese w/ tuna and wearing cotton running clothes. It seems running post collegiate is much easier as I don't have class hanging over my head and no studying on the weekends. I also recommend marrying a lady who also runs.

I can't agree more. I'm out of college, and train 80-100 miles per week. That's about two hours per day. I love running, really love it. I do 95% of my training solo, and I'm running times in shorter events similar to my college times, but really focusing on longer events where I'm having lots of success.

It took a year or so to adjust to not having the team structure, and maybe it's my personality, but in a lot of ways I prefer running solo. I can always run my pace, and I feel confident that when I can do hard workouts solo, racing with lots of people around me becomes easier. I'm actually very happy with my setup right now.

To those of you who complain about time, my 100 mile weeks work out to about two hours of running per day, some days a bit less. Who here doesn't spend two hours wasting time on the internet or watching garbage tv shows? If you really have an internal passion for it, you'll find it easy to make time. If you don't have that passion any more, and need a team/scholarship/etc. to train hard, more power to you. It's all about doing what makes you happy and fulfilled. Don't forget that.

you are correct......if you really want to do it, you WILL find the time. If you don't you won't.

Former runners stop running because they know exactly how badly they suck.

In high school/college, runners will sacrifice a lot in return for getting faster. When you stop getting faster, you stop running. It doesn't matter that you win your age group at the local 5k running 18 minutes. You know that 18 minutes is a piss-poor high school time.

I am perfectly content flopping around in the water 5 days a week knowing that my swimming endurance and speed are generally improving. I am blissfully unaware of how slow I am in the pool. However, I get pissed off every time I go out for a run and start sucking wind at 7 minute pace.