Post Collegiate Running is SO HARD!

You gonna be able to run at the trials??? Or you gonna bail???

This is how it´s like in the rest of the world. You americans are spoiled.

well, i was hopin to run the USATF meet this season, but a few factors are making it less likely. got sick and missed a few solid weeks, and need to get in some qualifying times. its other things though--living situations, empolyment (and i'm working at a running store), stuff like that. intangibles that detract from the focus. those are the things that make post collegiate running difficult.

And you euro's smell bad

I totally agree with you but you don't realize how easy it is to train in college until you are out. Most of us probably realize that we could have trained harder in college and got more out of it.

Time flies after college. Family, work, friends, there is always something going on and always a reason to miss a day of training. You pretty much have to be selfish if you are trying to compete after college and have a full time job.

true...my wife and I put off having kids (married at 22, when we graduated), until our early 30s, because I was running seriously as a post collegian, until I was 30.

That's why we have track clubs to help provide at least the social support you had in college. As I tell newcomers to the Greater Boston Track Club, "The world is a conspiracy to keep you from training and the club is an organization to fight that conspiracy."

check out our website,

www.gbtc.org

for an idea of how we do it with out the tuition money or endowment of a university.

esp the members blogs

Tom

Spoiled? If you are from Europe, then my comeback is we work 5 days a week, and we don't take the month of August off.

Also, I find it interesting that the original poster mentioned rent, insurance, and a girlfriend, all things that you have to deal with in College, when he really should have just said a tiring job and no teammates to keep you motivated.

14:30 NCAA track guys become 15:00 post-collegiate road guys. There's just simply not enough racing opportunities or teams to train with for the in-between guys. Best bet...move up to the marathon!

Alan

What a wuss! I spend about 60 hrs a week working on my business, I'm married with two kids and still find time to run 70-90 miles a week. I just go to bed early and get up and run before my family wakes up. It's not always fun getting up at 5:30 am to run in the dark but you have to make some sacrifices if you want to run well. I still manage to put in my time at work, make it to my kids games, scout meetings, etc AND spend quality time with my wife.

You just need to cut the crap time out of your life like watching TV, hanging out at the bars with your friends, playing video games and you'll find plenty of time to run. This is what seperates people who are successful at anything from people who aren't, they do things others aren't willing to do to get where they are.

Gansta Runner wrote:

You just need to cut the crap time out of your life like watching TV, hanging out at the bars with your friends, playing video games and you'll find plenty of time to run.

In other words, STOP HAVING FUN and maybe you will cut a few seconds off your 5k PR.

You could just get big, run the 400, and pick up chicks because chicks like fast guys (fast they can see, not 13 min 5k fast) with big arms and putting up the poundages on bench press.

Gansta Runner wrote:

What a wuss!

You just need to cut the crap time out of your life ... This is what seperates people who are successful at anything from people who aren't...

Dear "Gansta" (sic),

Why does admitting that something is difficult make the OP a wuss? Even you admitted that it is not always fun waking at 5:30 to run in the dark. Are you a wuss too then? The OP didn't say he's given up or will give up. For all you know, he could be working and running a lot more than you, watching less TV and waking even earlier.

But that doesn't really matter, does it? Since all you really wanted to do was stroke your ego with a little anonymous self congratulation in front of some strangers.

OP, I agree, it's tough. Like you I hope more people stick with it.

I fully agree...i even quit my collegiate team to train with a group of post collegiates and it is just not the same. No trainers...no garunteed hotel rooms. The worst is when you get injured and then see what life is lik for everyone else and when you get healthy have to give it up again to get back into training. In the end though nothing feels better then winning a race.

It really depends on what "fun" for you means. If it means all the things like bars, shitty food, late nights, TV, then you have less of a chance to stay as motivated as possible. If you can re-define "fun" to coming down the homestretch against America's best 5k guys and beating them to the finish then that is true athletic potential realized. Talent = deliberate practice +time

Keep in mind there exists a "ten year rule" that says you will not even begin to realize your talents until you have practiced deliberately for 10 years. Japanese pitchers, South Korean golfers, Kenyan runners, Russian tennis stars come from long years of practice before they are even allowed or encouraged to compete. Its time to redefine our idea of fun and keep on it. The boring job, the mortgage, the girls, the pressure of fitting in with other regular Joes will always be there. This window of peak athletic performance will not always be there. Remember you are doing something ABNORMAL, which requires abnormal behavior. Press on. -US Olympian

Unless your girlfriend is also an elite runner and/or lives with you, then you can't have both her and a car, except if you've got a sponsorship deal that gives you a decent stipend and realistic performance incentives. If it were easy then everyone would do it. Man up or bail.

Well 99.999% of us don't have the talent to beat America's best 5k guys to the line even if we dedicated ourselves entirely to that cause. My comment was a bit hoof in mouth, obviously if someone has a goal to be a great runner then they will probably have some fun on the road there. But for the vast majority of us, attaining an elite level is not a possibility, so unless you really are having fun in the pursuit, don't let it take over your life.

As an former NCAA D1 All-American who lived and competed in the European club system for several years (who is now struggling to continue to run post-collegiately here in the States) though I wouldn't use the word spoiled, I would say that the NCAA system creates a cushy little bubble that does not prepare America's 'middle-class' distance runners very well for the psychological and financial reality of post-collegiate competition. I hate to say it, and I know the fury that I may be inviting by saying it, but I have reluctantly come to agree with the European coaches and athletes I have met who think the NCAA has become one of the biggest obstacles to the success of American distance running. It has prevented us from putting any real amount of resources into a system that would support runners of all ages and abilities through the real stages of a runner's career - instead of chewing up the 18-22 year-olds and spitting them out before they even have the chance to come into their own.

Not at all to diminish the value of what local running clubs across the nation are doing for our sport, but we just don't have a comprehensive, accessible and financially lucrative system of practice, coaching, and competition available to support the needs of this middle class once they graduate from college.. and we need one. And by competition (because obviously we don't lack for races here) I mean consistent and wide-spread races, both on and off the track, offering modest prize purses and the occasional appearance fees attainable for those runners in no-man’s land between amateur and elite status. I agree with you that it is hard, and I admire anyone here who finds a way to keep it going after college, and I am especially grateful for the clubs that do exist out there who are helping to bridge the gap… we need more of you!

to gangsta runner, and anyone else interested-

actually, i do run quite a bit. for my base, i put in 90+ mile weeks, consistently (more than i had ever run before) including 10 mile tempo runs. and finishing grad school. and trying to open a running store. and living on my own.

my point is this:

i understand why people choose to retire from competitive running, and just run for fitness and maybe be competitive on a local level.

many times some poster will say in the typical "what ever happened to 'runner A'" thread?, "Runner A should keep on racing. i can't believe he stopped! he ran sub 14:10 5k his senior year, 3:46 1500, and was an all american in XC. this is why americans aren't good at distance running, because people dont have the balls to keep training." i see this all the time.

while it's true, i took it upon myself to try to break that mold. while my times were no where near that, i have been pushing and training hard (i have a good coach too, with a lot of coaching experience and who has competed in Oly trials). i'm not out here looking for a pat on the back. i have enough support. i knew it would be hard coming into this, and making the decision to compete at a national level, attempting to make a final in a national championship. what i didn't anticipate was the factors that influence the training--bills, work, responsibility, etc. i don't drink, i watch 1-2 episodes of south park a night, and i don't have many friends. a few, but they're scattered across the state, so i might see them once a month, at best. i hang out with my girlfriend two days a week: saturday and sunday and we live 10 miles away. maybe i should stay off the letsrun message board. in fact, i think this will be the last time i come on here for a while. i'll check this thread tomorrow night, but i'll start to put the running back into letsrun.

the next time a letsrun poster starts bashing runners for not continuing to run after a successful college career, think twice. i admit that i probably did this while i was in college, so i am man enough to be the first to acknowledge the scenario. post collegiate running is much more difficult than it seems.