When I get interviewed, sometimes they ask about my coach... should I really say my coach did nothing?

The other thing I should mention... I would train over the summer/winter on my own and do my own workouts and improve a lot. Then I would come into the season and start doing the coach's workouts and stagnate/not improve, even deprove. Finally, I had enough. I made up an excuse that I had some important school meeting on certain days during the season (workout days), and started doing my own workouts on those days. This was when I finally started improving a lot and am finally running faster times.

So the thing is that this coach may have been a negative effect on me... and my PRs dramatically dropped too. How do I explain that to college coaches? Say I ran more or something?

hsrunnergirl wrote:

...and stagnate/not improve, even deprove.

You had better hope your running gets you into college, because your brain will not.

"My coach was an unending source of comedy."

"He seems to have very good hygenic habits."

"I've seen him count up above 12 with his shoes on."

I'm just messing around. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but the people who score better are going to be the ones who get the most attention, because the team's success is typically more dependent on them. That's going to be the same when you go off to college as well.

I wouldn't tell college coaches a peep about going on your own. Unless you're a superstar, they want to hear that you're coachable.

The 23-year D1 coach has it nailed. League champs are a dime a dozen at that level. Coaches can take someone who will be a ball of drama and injured/overworked constantly from doing rebel workouts or they can spend their recruiting time on someone who has the patience to listen to the wise ol' coach.

They'll probably talk to your coach too. "She skipped lots of workout days" wouldn't be good news.

Well no the thing is, I would listen to a coach that has helped/been proven to produce good athletes, etc. I listened to my coach at first (though they did not meet the criteria), and then when I realized I was better off on my own I did my own thing.

hsrunnergirl wrote:

One question that is occasionally asked is how the coach has helped (a typical question asked to everyone). I don't want to speak too badly, but how do I get around this question... or when college coaches talk to me, do I just tell them that I "coached myself"?

Just say that you coach yourself, and leave the coach out of it.

I also found that my improvement would stagnate when I trained with my college team. I was also constantly injured and ended up quitting running for about 4 years because I thought that my legs were wrecked and would never get better. I started running again about a year ago and am now in the best shape of my life, mostly due to the fact that I'm not injured every other month now.

The thing is I still run a lot of the workouts and follow a similar schedule to the one my coach used to use. I've realized that the stagnation and injuries were due to the fact that I was letting my teammates influence my training paces to the point where I was over-training and burning out. When I'm training on my own, I don't have a problem with doing a few less repeats than planned or even replacing a scheduled workout with an easy day if I need it. What I'm trying to say here is that my lack of improvement and injuries in college were not the coach's fault but were due instead to my own lack of maturity towards training.

Greg wrote:

I wouldn't tell college coaches a peep about going on your own. Unless you're a superstar, they want to hear that you're coachable.

The 23-year D1 coach has it nailed. League champs are a dime a dozen at that level. Coaches can take someone who will be a ball of drama and injured/overworked constantly from doing rebel workouts or they can spend their recruiting time on someone who has the patience to listen to the wise ol' coach.

Geezus. Wrong, wrong, wrong. D1 Coach is wrong too. What a real D1 coach wants to know, a smart one anyway, is how much UPSIDE you have. I.e., have you achieved what you have through over training, are you maxed out? Or are you under trained, improperly trained, with lots of room for improvement?

If I am a college coach, I would much rather KNOW what kind of work my recruit had been doing, workload etc., than who prescribed their work outs. WHAT, not WHO is important.

Just tell the truth, with class, something like this:

"Dear College Coach, while my high school coach was very supportive, in all honesty they didn't seem to know much about training. Over the summers I took the initiative to read and learn about current training methods and so I have pretty much coached myself. I would be happy to outline for you the type of mileage and workouts I've done the past few years. I am looking forward to college running specifically for the opportunity to have a talented and knowledgeable coach, such as yourself, coach me, so I may focus excelling at school and running."

Always tell the truth, you will feel better, and your new coach will ultimately respect you for it.

Just tell the truth, with class, something like this:

"Dear College Coach, while my high school coach was very supportive, in all honesty they didn't seem to know much about training. Over the summers I took the initiative to read and learn about current training methods and so I have pretty much coached myself. I would be happy to outline for you the type of mileage and workouts I've done the past few years. I am looking forward to college running specifically for the opportunity to have a talented and knowledgeable coach, such as yourself, coach me, so I may focus excelling at school and running."

Always tell the truth, you will feel better, and your new coach will ultimately respect you for it.[/quote]

Write it down and commit it to memory because it is the best advice so far!!!! Coached at the D1 level myself!!!

"Dear College Coach, while my high school coach was very supportive, in all honesty they didn't seem to know much about training. Over the summers I took the initiative to read and learn about current training methods and so I have pretty much coached myself. I would be happy to outline for you the type of mileage and workouts I've done the past few years. I am looking forward to college running specifically for the opportunity to have a talented and knowledgeable coach, such as yourself, coach me, so I may focus excelling at school and running."

Always tell the truth, you will feel better, and your new coach will ultimately respect you for it.[/quote]

This isn't going to fly. Coaches have seen and heard it all. Most I know can ask the right questions to see what type of person you are, and evaluate whether or not you're the type of athlete that will fit into their program. If I was given the above explanation, I would ask every question under the sun regarding the high school coach's training, what problems/disagreements the runner had, where she obtained her info on the training she used, how that training positively influenced her performances, etc. In the end, you'd probably come to the conclusion that the statement above: "I am looking forward to college running specifically for the opportunity to have a talented and knowledgeable coach, such as yourself, coach me," would last only as long as everything was working exactly along the athlete's preconceived notion of how seh should be trained. When thing's stagnate or don't go well, she'd probably be the first to complain, seek a transfer, whatever suited her needs.

"Geezus. Wrong, wrong, wrong."

I was right right right. If you aren't coachable, how much upside you have won't matter matter matter. I'm running a program and I expect you to follow it. If you don't, you'll never hit the potential of your upside (or so my ego says).

This is a phenomenally interesting thread, so I figured I should probably contribute my two cents.

You run a lot of risks with telling a college coach that you went out on your own and ignored a coach. However, I truly believe that the benefits outweigh those risks. I feel like you need to stress how much you respect the college coach, his/her methods, and his/her accomplishments. I think most coaches would find value in having their runners be knowledgeable and capable of thinking for themselves, however you need to stress how much you want to be coached and want to have some who knows what's best. You also need to stress that you do not know best, nor do you think you do. Your knowledge simply was beyond your high school coach's. Hopefully, any coach you talk with will see how dedicated you are to the sport and see that you are willing to strictly follow their program.

Good luck

honestly, your college coach will probably suck too. just do what they tell you when you're supervised and do your own thing when you're unsupervised. Your body is the best coach, listen to it.

Agreed that negative commentary in regards to your current coach is not going to benefit you or him, near term or long term.

Is he approachable enough to engage him in a sincere conversation on coaching philosophy? Ask him if he would consider personalizing workouts in the future. Introduce him to letsrun or buy him/her a copy of the Green- Pate HS coaching book as a going away present. You have nothing to lose at this point and may spare future athletes the difficulties you encountered.

Now college selection is a two way street. You will be courted, sorted, coddled, and perhaps rejected in the process.

It behooves you to select a coach and program that is open to meeting your goals as an athlete. Rally the courage to ask your own questions. Find out if the program is Coach centered or Athlete focused. Does the program produce runners that continue in the sport post collegiate, or are they done running once they graduate?? Tell the coach what sort of workouts brought the most benefit your way, and ask if that's part of the structure included in his/her regimen. Engage in a much dialogue as you are comfortable with, to prevent a reoccurance (sp?) of your HS dilemma.

If the coach won't commit the time to talk during the recruiting process, consider it a harbinger of things to come.

Congrats on making taking control of your destiny to the degree you have. Best of times to you at the collegiate level.

Hello? anyone have a job? yes, ALL the bosses are wonderfully capable people! welcome to the world young lady.

How about "i realize that without someone being willing to be the coach, we wouldn't have a team, and i wouldn't have the PRIVILEGE to run, and i really appreciate him for that"

and, no, i'm not her coach - - but i'm married to a lowly paid coach, and have two modest athletes as children. not all our high schools can be staffed by exercise physiologists who were former national champions. if we want this sport to survive, we first need a platform to get the athletes on the track, arrange buses, meets, uniforms, etc.

So, congratulations for her initiative but, get a clue, its not all about you.

How about: "My coach motivated me to learn more about what training methods kept me healthy while steadily improving. My goal is to be running well for the long term."?

I've had a number of teachers over the years that were simply awful, as well as a number that were excellent. For the former, I would read ahead in the official course textbook as well as check out books related to the subject matter from the school or public library. For the latter, I would work with them on after-school projects and/or labs to get more exposure to advanced ideas, or take advanced courses with them.

wilfredo wrote:

honestly, your college coach will probably suck too. just do what they tell you when you're supervised and do your own thing when you're unsupervised. Your body is the best coach, listen to it.

This is the best answer.

Well, actually, it is all about you. The idea is to get faster right? Otherwise you're just doing it recreationally, and why subject yourself to the rules of an organization for that?

Its not the point of coaching that the kids get on the busses, or on the track, or get uniforms. That is all just a by-product of the organization and really you don't need a coach to have any of that stuff. You could have a team, as I had, that didn't need or want our coach.

I also wouldn't appreciate a coach unless he was making me faster. Likewise, if the coach's progam isn't working and you are truly following it, he has to be willing to try something else. He gets paid to make you faster and not to just be a baby sitter.

Professional athletes switch coaches because they aren't getting the results they want. If your coach helps you he deserves praise, and he if not helping you well, he doesn't.