My "division 1" college team

Good lord, you chose your school and coach. run with it. I'm sure your team loves having you as a teammate as well.

pics?

Talk to your coach and share your concerns. The coach probably realizes that most of the team doesn't care much and is trying to find ways to get as much running in as possible without complaints and injury. Piling on to much mileage for the rest of your teammates (who likely didn't do much all summer the way you describe it) would spell lots of injuries and no team. If the coach realizes how much work you have put in and how much you want to succeed you will probably get the green light to do a lot of running on your own. If that doesn't work appeal to the ego of your coach - having one good runner can make a coach look good even if it was mostly the hard work of the athlete and had nothing to do with the coaching. If you are successful you may even motivate some of your teammates to do a little more.

Are you running twice a day? If no, there is your solution. If yes, try to do one of your daily runs on your own, and cover 10-16 kilometers.

Your situation does not sound good but you need to think of ways to improve it.

Didn't you look into this before you went there?

You wouldn't believe how common this story is on "DI" women's teams. I'd agree with some other posters though, talk to the coach if you haven't & see if he gives you a little more leeway. You can't do much about your teammates other than train hard, encourage them to train with you in a genuine, diplomatic manner, then kick their ass & completely ignore them if they hold this against you...something not all the uncommon on women's teams. Keep in mind that if your coach wants you running as a team on recovery & long runs to keep from turning every run into a workout while truly recovering from hard workouts, this is a realistic expectation that a lot of college kids don't get. I can't tell you what your recovery pace is, but it's likely easier than what you think it is. Now, if the team is running well over 9min/mile pace every run & you are forced to do your workouts at the same pace as your other teammates...well...

Having no idea what your situation is or more details on possible conversations you've already had with your coach, it's more likely this is the administrations fault. Many athletic departments just want female numbers to off set football or other male numbers, so they hire some baby sitter they don't have to pay squat, give that person just enough scholarship $$ to keep recreational hobby-joggers to stick around on their fitness club, & just enough of a budget to make the minimum six meets per sport required for "sport sponsorship." Athletic departments need to "sponsor" so many sports (including a minimum number of women's sports) to maintain DI status. The only question in the interview or statement in job description that matters is "how many women can you give us & how cheaply can you do it?" With programs like these, there's never an expectation of athletic success... Did you know that they get to count you & your teammates three times (for Title IX purposes) if you compete in XC, indoor & outdoor track? That's a gold mine to offset other male numbers!!!

Sucks, but that sounds like your reality. If you don't like the school itself, then transfer. If you do like the school (like, for the education you went there for), then do your best to communicate with the coach...because these things don't change quickly at a program like you describe.

Sheesh, why don't you TALK TO YOUR COACH about this? That's what s/he's there for!

ha same thing happened to me. it was a complete joke. coach wouldnt let me run more either. i transferred. best decision of my life, im much much happier. find a high volume, serious program

Maybe your coach doesn't want to discourage those who are new to the team or didn't get in a good summer of mileage. So, you start out with easy stuff, lots of stops, and then in a few weeks the mileage is way up, the workouts much harder, and the team running has brought some of the talented but out of shape runners up to snuff. Or, maybe nothing ever changes and your team loses every meet. But you can always work hard on an earlier or later workout and keep the mileage up, and have a good season anyway. Remember in either case that you have to stick it out beyond the opening of the season.

haha 100 not that much wrote:

ha same thing happened to me. it was a complete joke. coach wouldnt let me run more either. i transferred. best decision of my life, im much much happier. find a high volume, serious program

Sounds like your former coach is much happier as well.

we get beaten badly. There are 5 teams from our conference in the top 30. The coach will not listen.

What self-respecting DI coach would incorporate lots of stops in early season running? I honestly think I would've quit if my coach had try to build walk breaks into the early season. It's not ******* weight watchers!

Demoralized wrote:

we get beaten badly. There are 5 teams from our conference in the top 30. The coach will not listen.

I'm guessing the Big East Conference.

My advice is to try and run by yourself on long runs and easy days and just see what happens. If the coach doesn't say anything then great, if the coach does then have a serious conversation about your training, goals, and teammates. Any intelligent, compassionate person would hopefully see your frustration.

P.S. If you cried that would help you get your way ( that's suppose to be a joke)

That's what you get for choosing a "big time school" that is actually a crap program. Probably wish you would've gone with the legit mid-major now huh? typical female athlete

Look into transfer unless the school is a good fit in studies

well im pretty confident she is in the horizon (mid major)

her coach is probably a joke, and so is her team, although the potential is there, still probably shouldve thought about this when you've already made one move... :-\ I think you're stuck sporto.

seton hall, pitt, louisville, or south florida. Which school do you run for

algonquin for the promise land

Does your coach make you run with your teammates during quality workouts? Were the "48 stops" part of the run/workout he assigned/over-saw or just your teammates doing that? Have you ever asked your coach to provide a rationale for his/her training?