girls

I agree with your observations, I know quite a few female runners who did great in High School and then "die off" in college.

I think for a lot of them they get something in college that most guys don't have, a real life. They actually graduate with a meaningful degree, get married or engaged, and since some women don't tend to be as super oompetitive as men, they lose their passion for training and their desire to improve their 5K by only 3 seconds per year. They usually have a greater sense of the Big Picture and life and for most of them that doesn't include running.

girls like cars and money wrote:

I agree with your observations, I know quite a few female runners who did great in High School and then "die off" in college.

I think for a lot of them they get something in college that most guys don't have, a real life. They actually graduate with a meaningful degree, get married or engaged, and since some women don't tend to be as super oompetitive as men, they lose their passion for training and their desire to improve their 5K by only 3 seconds per year. They usually have a greater sense of the Big Picture and life and for most of them that doesn't include running.

I agree. In my experience, it's usually either the above situation or physical issues (body change or injury issues), or a combination of the two.

girls like cars and money wrote:

some women don't tend to be as super oompetitive as men.

I hate super oompetitive people.

christina wrote:

have you heard of any getting back into shape and racing well again?

yeah, I think sometimes they get slow before they get fast again...it's like they lose the advantage of pre-pubescence, but continue getting training advantages and thus eventually undo the damage and even surpass their pre-pubescent selves.

A good one to look into is Stephanie (Herbst) Lucke. A good high schooler. An NCAA champ. Personal issues caused her to leave her college team. Rejoined the team. Graduated. Good life. Resurfaces many years later and qualifies for Olympic trials marathon. Much of her college story is in 'The Silence of Great Distance.' Good book. Her recent exploits can be found using the search function.

Not every girl gets boobs and gets slower! But, yes, there is more of a body adjustment than guys have to go through. Guys' improvement is more linear. They get bigger, stronger and faster. Girls get bigger and well, more like women. The point is to not get discouraged.

In my case, I gained weight my first year in college and also had a heck of a time keeping up with the workouts and mileage. Add in making friends that did not run, it took 2 years for me to equal the 2:15 800M I ran in HS. I stuck with it and got down to 2:08 by the time I graduated. At 33, I'm still at it and thinking about the possibility of taking a crack at my 5k PR of 18:30. (In HS, I ran 20:00.)

girls like cars and money wrote:

I think for a lot of them they get something in college that most guys don't have, a real life..

i agree. a thin in shape girl who is used to taking orders from someone (coach-father figure (ifmale)) will be very very popular to guys in college.

however,

a thin guy who is used to taking orders will be the exact opposite of what girls are looking for in college...therefore they tend to stick with running.

I agree that finding boys and body changes are factors that can ruin a great girl runner, but I think there are other things that are much worse. I am APALLED at how terrible coaching is for women in college.

Somewhere it has been decided that girls need to do tons of General Fitness Exercises (GFE). It is like taking a race horse out to plow the field before a big race. And weight training; My gawd, why would anyone who wants to run a super race spend good running time on weights?

Distance runners (800 & up) need to develop a very special type of muscle structure. It is a long, tempo-firing endurance muscle. Weight training and GFE build short one-time firing muscle; just the opposite of what a girl needs to run well.

And, most of the girls who run so well in high school just go out and run. They take off hard, run from the heart, get away from everyone except perhaps the toughest, fastest, competitors, and then keep going. When they get to college they run into some boob-head of a coach who immediately trys to CHANGE THEIR RUNNING STYLE to be a wait-and-kick style runner, like the coach read about in the coaching book he/she read. GONE is the heart that got the girl where she was. Maybe one year the girl runs well, and then she falls apart.

Touch-and-go-bullit-head coach sees the girl fall apart and ASSUMES it is because of life changes or a boyfriend. It isn't! It is because girls get terrible coaching, even in the biggest of schools.

If you can find a college coach who encourages a girl rather than try to analysize her form/style/speed, please tell everyone that coaches like that are out there. Most of them are egotistical, arrogant, self-centered fools who are only interested in making sure they don't get fired.

I tried to build a great program in a DI college only to be strapped with a head coach who insisted on GFE twice a week. She worked those poor girls so hard in the pool it took me two days to get them back to zero again. She had read about those drills in some stupid book and KNEW all girls need that. When finally I got them all away from GFE workouts EVERY GIRL I COACHED hit personal best performances. Every girl! That prompted the head coach to step in and TAKE OVER! No more personal bests; lots of GFE and no more heart running.

I agree that on campus girl runners can be more attractive to guys than guy runners are to girls.

Isn't it sad that getting a boyfriend would make a girl give up running? What are they thinking?

bad batz maru wrote:

Isn't it sad that getting a boyfriend would make a girl give up running? What are they thinking?

No sadder than a guy who gives up running to drink beers.

JoggerGerry wrote:

Somewhere it has been decided that girls need to do tons of General Fitness Exercises (GFE). It is like taking a race horse out to plow the field before a big race. And weight training; My gawd, why would anyone who wants to run a super race spend good running time on weights?

Distance runners (800 & up) need to develop a very special type of muscle structure. It is a long, tempo-firing endurance muscle. Weight training and GFE build short one-time firing muscle; just the opposite of what a girl needs to run well.

.

i'm not really sure what you are saying because your argument is not very clear.

however, I am a guy, and when I was in HS I did not lift a single weight and in college I did a lot of (GFE) and some weight training. I ran much faster than my HS times would have indicated.

please have someone explain muscle physiology to you.

Girls just arn't having enough sex. Sex is healthy for female runners. It allows them to receive free doses of the testosterone they would receive from guys...leading to faster times. Also, on a side note if you throw in a female friend of yours, it will lead to extra amounts of testoserone being disbursed. Now that I've given you advice on this matter, if you need any advice on which University to attend...I can help you with that too.

Girls just arn't having enough sex. Sex is healthy for female runners. It allows them to receive free doses of the testosterone they would receive from guys...leading to faster times. Also, on a side note if you throw in a female friend of yours, it will lead to extra amounts of testoserone being disbursed. Now that I've given you advice on this matter, if you need any advice on which University to attend...I can help you with that too.

most girls are not into the physical sacrifice required to remain a great runner. But one thing is true, girls like Jordan Hasay or the former great Mary Decker, remain great runners for life if they realize they have a shot at being among the best in the nation or the world. A 25 yr. old girl who runs 18:00 on a 5K is not going to be as motivated to keep competitive as a college senior who can break 16 and has a chance to make the Olympic team.

In high school, and even in college, some girls will quit running if it takes too much time away from their boyfriend.

Guys don't sacrifice sports for girlfriends;they find ways to make it work.

Most girls really give all of themselves to relationships, to the point where sports become something to do when the boyfriend is busy doing something else.

Oompet Loompet wrote:

girls like cars and money wrote:

some women don't tend to be as super oompetitive as men.

I hate super oompetitive people.

For me it just depends on the oompetition.

Anorexia.

For me I was very focused on running. It got to a point where my life was completely unbalanced and I was unhappy. I was least happy when I was running my fastest, and this is when I came the to realization that I needed to change things in my life. Yes, I am very talented and was a top Division I runner, and I am wasting a lot of talent. However, I would say that I was obsessed with running and everything in my life revolved around it to a point where nothing could make me happy, not even a huge PR or a big win.

I made a conscience decision to live a more balanced life. I can still hop in a win a local road race very easily, but I am nowhere near where I once was. I couldn't be happier, and have many great things going on in my life. I guess I am not willing to make all the sacrifices I felt I needed to make in order to be the best.