I coach a high school track team and for the most part the guys are wearing the long basketball shorts.
They like to poke fun at runners wearing real running shorts. It's been a long time since I've been around the college running scene. I want to tell these guys that serious track athletes in College are wearing running shorts, wearing running watches, etc.
Truthfully, I'm not sure the kids running for the better College programs are looking like runners these days? Anyway, I'm just curious.
acid wash jort cutoffs, Adidas shelltops, American flag bandana
Graduated in 2009:
We all wore short shorts, no shirts when the weather was nice, long-sleeve technical or heavier when it was cold. Everybody had a running watch, which was useful since we mostly used time to approximate distance on regular runs.
Nobody wore basketball shorts (well, there was one freshman who would wear basketball shorts and boxers, but he grew out of that quickly).
During runs, short shorts. During lifting/drills longer shorts
My guys have finally started dressing like runners. Our top sprinters wear tights (without shorts). I think it is pretty cool that they are not so modest anymore and they have to feel more comfortable running.
It helped that alumni came back to practice and visit wearing their college stuff - tights, etc. and looked like pros.
Plus my guys are running fast so that also gives them confidence.
And we have two young coaches that are still good athletes and they are good role models.
Take them to the Penn Relays or other top meets and they will be amazed at not only the athletes' attire, but the whole atmosphere!
another old hs coach wrote:
My guys have finally started dressing like runners. Our top sprinters wear tights (without shorts). I think it is pretty cool that they are not so modest anymore and they have to feel more comfortable running.
It helped that alumni came back to practice and visit wearing their college stuff - tights, etc. and looked like pros.
Plus my guys are running fast so that also gives them confidence.
And we have two young coaches that are still good athletes and they are good role models.
Take them to the Penn Relays or other top meets and they will be amazed at not only the athletes' attire, but the whole atmosphere!
I got a crew going to Penn Relays next week! They are pumped up. I've been trying to change the culture for the track team since last year. When I first took over the team the attitude was that track was just a means to get in shape for other sports. These guys have come a LONG way since then but they are not there yet.
I've got some of the guys reading my Seb Coe, Lovelock, Lydiard, Cerutty, etc. books. It's been a blast. They can't get over the crowd that will be watching them run next week. Shooting for a 3:28 4x400.
Short shorts and a grey cotton t-shirt. And I only run on concrete.
Keep it on the crete.
Big 10 school here, Nike Contract.
- Half tights for a lot of the middle distance guys..
- Nike woven splits shorts in team colors for distance guys...
- Some of the guys have Garmins, others have a cheap Iron Man or Timex that keeps splits and that's about it. We run the same routes so much that we all know where the mile marks are.
- If it's 75 degrees and up, we are shirtless.
- The whole team takes advantage of the team issued trainers. It's about 50/50 with the Structure Triax and Pegasus. Some guys use the LunarGlide which they bought on their own dime. Nobody wears Frees or Brooks. Lunaracers are pretty popular too when we do threshold stuff.
- Some of us rock the running "pants", others just go with full tights.
- Some of us have taken to wearing cheap snap back baseball caps backwards during our runs...no idea why.
In college. Everyone wears running shorts (or even running half-tights). This is how it was at both schools I've run for, and they are very different in terms of talent and dedication.
In high school we all wore running shorts as well, but we took it seriously and were frequently state champions. Some of the slow JV guys wore basketball shorts...
Guys at a lot of high schools are probably running in long shorts, but I think very few college guys are.
I'll just add that five years ago when i started running all of my shorts were about knee length or longer. Every year since then there was a steady loss in the length of my shorts until last year (freshman year in college), mostly because of cost, I started running in the eastbay split shorts. Now I mix it up and wear 5" shorts with the splits for faster workouts and races.
In high school I had the shortest shorts but when I go back and run with the team during summer and winter breaks I've noticed that a larger percentage of runners have switched to "running" shorts
Any college team of note wears running shorts. Good high school runners do too. Usually it is the younger kids and the less established hs programs that wear b-ball shorts to run in. Once in a while my college team would get a guy who wore long shorts but we'd give him so much crap he'd show up in running shorts after the first week
Running shorts. You're the coach, you decide their attire.
In high school, my coach had us wear any shorts that was respectable (i.e. no crazy basketball shorts).
In college, running shorts, or athletic shorts (soccer type).
I'm currently a high school coach at a school that doesn't care about track. Regardless, I instruct them all to wear shorts above the knee.
It's the shoes I have trouble with sometimes... due to monetary reasons.
In college:
During track workouts, half-tights/no shorts
During normal runs, tempos, short-shorts
In high school:
Soccer length shorts, then short shorts junior/senior years.
Wore tights with running shorts to race. No idea why.
I always had some sort of longer short on over my running shorts until we started running, and after doing core drills and such.
I ran for two different schools in my time, with two entirely different levels of commitment to running. On my first college team, a borderline top 10 community college team, I was the only one wearing basketball shorts, everyone else wore regular running shorts. Some even wore tights on cold days. That was my first time ever being around teammates who were very serious about doing well. On my second team, at the time at the bottom half of the KCAC (an NAIA conference for those who don't know), everyone wore basketball shorts. On that team, I was the only one who got in any halfway decent mileage. I ran over 80 miles a week at one point, and no one else ever got over 45 I believe. Many teammates did not even meet the minimum requirements of my coach for the summer, which was very easy compared to a lot of other college programs. So to answer your question, yes a lot of runners on the better college teams are wearing short running shorts and other technical running gear.
Do "serious" college runners refer to training sessions as "practice"?
If I recall correctly, the Steve Slattery character in "Running with the Buffalos" wore basketball shorts before he got his mind right out in Boulder.
If we see a runner on my college team wearing long shorts, we ask them, "Are you trying out for the basketball team?"
We even do this for the longer running shorts. You wear split shorts round here.
oldcoach wrote:
another old hs coach wrote:My guys have finally started dressing like runners. Our top sprinters wear tights (without shorts). I think it is pretty cool that they are not so modest anymore and they have to feel more comfortable running.
It helped that alumni came back to practice and visit wearing their college stuff - tights, etc. and looked like pros.
Plus my guys are running fast so that also gives them confidence.
And we have two young coaches that are still good athletes and they are good role models.
Take them to the Penn Relays or other top meets and they will be amazed at not only the athletes' attire, but the whole atmosphere!
I got a crew going to Penn Relays next week! They are pumped up. I've been trying to change the culture for the track team since last year. When I first took over the team the attitude was that track was just a means to get in shape for other sports. These guys have come a LONG way since then but they are not there yet.
I've got some of the guys reading my Seb Coe, Lovelock, Lydiard, Cerutty, etc. books. It's been a blast. They can't get over the crowd that will be watching them run next week. Shooting for a 3:28 4x400.
nice, I loved the Penn Relays in H.S. - my 12th grade year was 2010 when Usain Bolt ran in front of 50,000 people, including myself.
You can also show them workout videos from "flotrack.com" which has collegiate athletes wearing the short shorts and watches etc.
How was Penn, coach?
Im on an average D3 team and all of our top guys wear true short shorts when its nice out. Occasionally a few of us will wear half tights during track workouts. If its a little cool out we will rock singlets but if its hot then no shirts. When its cold out running tights are the way to go. You should have alumni come back or bring them to a large meet and have your athletes see how college and professional runners dress.