should i give it up?

If you're "giving everything" you have into training for any other reason than that you love it, you should change it. Your life is going to be about more than whether you ran 14:30 or 15:00. But my advice would be to choose carefully what you do --- I've seen plenty of guys in your position stop competing and basically party full time for years. Competing with a team is something you'll never really get a chance at again, so you might consider that part of it. Also, once you get out of shape it's much harder to get it back later on, so at least try to keep yourself in good shape.

Dude! Go for 14:59 if you're that close...Then, give it up.

get some friggin perspective dude. i'd slice off my pinky tip for a 17 and you are moaning....

jeeze

hey man i know where you're at i'm a lot the same and i get tired of the training, but like that guy before said, you only have this 4 years here to run with a team, and a coach and to see just how fast you can get. if you're hating it then ya, forget it, there's better things to do, but you know how those pr's make you feel, and it's never gonna be as easy to do it again as it is now and that's why i'm gonna keep going.

get some friggin perspective dude. i'd slice off my pinky tip for a 17 and you are moaning....

jeeze[/quote]

yeah i see what your saying, but when you take 16-18 credits with a journalism major and do daily doubles, the love just kind of starts to run out along with your sanity. i'm thinking i will want to run soon but i just dont feel the urge right now.[quote]phatknot wrote:

look at it as a challenge man.

I am a music major, plus I work and train.

I have to practice guitar at the very least two hours a day. Often times I'm up in the morning and between class and work, I'm not home till 10 or 11 then I'm practicing and doing homework.

Honestly, I love it, sometimes you hit stages where you really don't feel like running and all you can look forward to is a planned day off. Everything is like that, just know, soon, something will come and revitalize you. It could be an article you read or something on here. Honestly often times I come to letsrun to motivate myself to get out there sometimes.

But on the other side of the coin, if you really don't like it anymore, don't do it. But always stay open, 4 years from now something could happen that makes you want to start training again.

duh1 wrote:

Dude! Go for 14:59 if you're that close...Then, give it up.

That's what I did...while it's not my best PR, having a 14:59.83 instead of 15:16 is pretty nice. I quit less than 6 months later.

if you quit, for the rest of your life you will have to tell people that you quit X-C/track team in college in the middle of your sophmore year, when the topic of running and college come up.It will haunt you the rest of your life. Stick with it. We all went through periods like you are experiencing now. I had a double major of business and econ. and never took less than 15 units, with some semesters of 17-19...and ran 100 mpw. I had a girlfriend all through college and an active life outside of running. Don't be a quitter. (I'm sure many losers on this website who have already quit and feel guilty about it, will tell you to quit, too and party hearty....don't fall in with those losers. misery loves company. after all, they are still on a running website for some reason.)

"focus on school and your social life"....like 99.9% of the people on campus? And give up that 'special thing' that separates you from all of the other losers who go to eat at 4:30 pm every day, when the food service opens, because they are bored with nothing else to do? Who go our 2-3 nights a week and get drunk? No thanks, not for me. I can be like 'everybody else' after college, the rest of my life.

Don't give it up, just back off a little. I ran doubles 5 days a week and got nowhere really.....15.30 for 5K on track, I got pissed off with it, became unmotivated in my job during the day, was always running and so missed going out with friends to the cinema or even a couple of drinks on the weekend. Started trained once a day instead (but still trained hard and continue to do so) and did/do other stuff in life like meeting friends and going out. My times have dropped slightly and running, while so important, is not the focus of my life. What is even more important is that I enjoy running even more than before. It will work, its about balance.

yes, run for health...that is until the food sources start to get strained in the next 20-30 years

at that time everyone will be wiry and fit-looking, and tracking wild animals for food...out of necessity

Berklee has a track squad?

? wrote:

Berklee has a track squad?

nope, train on my own, Emerson has xc though and Berklee kids can do Emerson sports.

Yeah, give it up. Run to keep in shape and fit 'n healthy, but stay below the anaerobic/AT level.

It would probably turn out to be a mistake. Seriously, all you're saying is that you're lacking in motivation right now. So what? Everyone goes through periods where they'd rather lay in bed and eat ice cream and watch reality tv instead of going out for a run. But if you make it through those periods you'll be a better man for it, not just a better runner.

Please notice that you DID NOT say you are thinking of quitting because you are missing out on anything, like a social life, or that your school work is suffering, etc. If it's just motivation, suck it up and get out the door for a run, every day, and you'll thank yourself sometime later for doing so.

What do you do when you have an argument with a girl you're in love with? Break up? Or apologize and work it out?

What will you going to do when you get that job in journalism you're studying for and you find that many times you'd rather not go to work? Quit? Give up on your life's work? Throw you diploma in the dumpster?

What do you do when you have a big school project due and you don't feel like doing it? Drop the class? Take an incomplete? Fail the course? Or do you pull an all-nighter, get the f***ing thing done and then experience that wonderful feeling that comes when you know you've finished something that you did not want to do, but you did it. And you know it was a good thing that you did it.

Some perspective on the possible future. I quit early in my sophmore year after getting my third stress fracture in 4 years. Since I wasn't devoting my life to running anymore, I was able to discover rock climbing, which became my new passion.

Six years after hangin' 'em up, my girlfriend started doing triathlons, which inspired me to start running again, and I'm totally obsessed, all over again, but I have other things to temper it with now. Not the best approach maybe, but it's working so far.

Bah

Give it up if you truly do not want it anymore. It takes a ton of sacrifice to keep running after college. My best time in college was only 15:19..now I usually go through my first 5K in half marathons and marathons that fast, was 15:23 through the 5K point at the CIM marathon where I ran 2:19:35...the opportunities are there for you to run fast but you simply have to want to run.Its very easy to give it up, hopefully you can find a happy medium, enjoy running and life at the same time. Good Luck.

NP

I wouldn't say 15:15 is slow. You obviously worked hard to get there, so remember how much it really is worth to you. It's not like you're the only who has ever thought of quitting. I'm sure others on your team have thought about quitting but they didn't do it and won't admit it. You're probably just in a slump right now. With the holidays, everyone is drinking and going out and while you can, you know it will slightly interfere with training. Take a day or two off, go for some easy untimed runs and you will probably feel good again.

The Grim Reality wrote:

yes, run for health...that is until the food sources start to get strained in the next 20-30 years

at that time everyone will be wiry and fit-looking, and tracking wild animals for food...out of necessity

Peeps? Is that you?

No, wait, if it were Peeps, it would be the next 2-3 years, not 20-30.