College Running: If you knew then what you know now.

I was a 4:2x/9:2x guy coming out of high school. If I had it to do over I would have not tried to walk-on to a high level program where I would get run into the ground most days.

If you don't like the coach, no matter how good the team is it is probably not a good fit for you.

Youre better off a little undertrained than overtrained, as far as workouts go.

As far as mileage, do a lot your first year because racing doesnt matter anyway at that point, particularly if you are redshirting.

Try to go to a program that trains similarly to how you had success in high school. Continuity in training philosophy is important.

I would not have quit after my freshman year because I wanted to have more fun and concentrate on my studies. Running would not have impacted the other things that much and anyone with a bit of maturity could have handled it. I didn't at the time and regret it.

Recovery is just as important as the races / workouts.

Consider club teams at large universities. Never knew they existed so I only considered DIII schools. Not all club teams are good, but a few are as good as the top DIII teams.

NAIA is also an option

Miles isn't everything. Spent too many summers pounding out 90+ mile weeks then was just burnt out by October. I ran almost the same times off of 65 mile weeks and am now PRing late in the season.

Lifting is overrated. Do core and push ups instead for distance running. Use the time you would be lifting to do Yoga or some other type of exercise that helps improve flexibility.

Compete, don't worry about times. Wasn't until this year that i actually started to "race" and stopped worrying if I was 4:5x at the mile

Pick a coach you like and don't go to a program because it has fancy facilities or because u get offered the most money. If your decision is coming down to running think about how much u like the team, coach, and what kind of success the program has had (if you are really interested in running fast). Also consider whether or not you would like to be on a big team or small team. Never forget about ACADEMICS.

Emphasize that running is for fun. You may have been state champion in high school, but odds are you aren't going to go pro or make a career out of it. My D1 coach used to say, "You are an athlete first, a student second". False. Athletics come first.

Also, nobody comes to college meets compared to high school meets. For example, sitting around at last year's Payton Jordan (I live in SF), there were at most 60 people in the stands during the world class 10k. Running will not bring you glory. Most of the girls on our top-10-finish-at-NCAA cross country team could not even recognize all of the top ten men or women at nationals.

Lots of people get their panties in a bunch because the coach doesn't dote on them. In college, you are not "special". Don't try to earn the affection of a coach. Who cares if the coach likes you? Running is objective. Let the times/finishes speak for themselves.

Lastly, you almost certainly will experience a major injury.

***meant to say academics comes first

Buy lots and lots of AAPL.

Is this going to be recorded?

The name of the school and major on your degreee is a heck of a lot more important than the team you run for or the times you run. It's not gonna seem like it at the time, but it will every day after you graduate.

Go somewhere that you would be happy at if running was not part of your life. Things can change quickly.

Aim high in your athletic pursuits, but aim higher academically. If you have a chance to walk on somewhere that will set you up for life i.e. Stanford, Notre Dame, Ivys, military academy (and I mean 1 of the 3 - not some private pseudo West Point) or a high end state school), then swallow your pride and pass up that 1/2, or more likely, 1/4 scholarship to nowhere U that that has a great "communications" program. In short, see 1st paragraph above.

If you're really serious about running, go hard and find out what you've got in you. Don't look back and wonder what if. If you feel you need to run 100 mile weeks, do it. Party less, train more. Don't settle for running 14:30, run 13:30 or break yourself trying. This is it. You won't have another chance like it ever again. If you're not that serious about the running part, see the 2nd paragraph above, which you should see even if you are serious.

And have some fun along the way too. After all, it's college.

to OldFart2000, club teams are where it's at! NIRCA has been getting throughout the three years I've been competing in it. Obviously still has its hiccups but it's still such a blast. It's getting very competitive to be at the top which is a lot of fun. I find it's an all around win, I still have an awesome group of friends to train with, we travel around to races, you can enter into actual college races (i.e. griak and loyola that we do) and you still get to enjoy the atmosphere of a D1 college.

A LOT of guys on the XC team are "on the down-low," so don't be afraid to test the waters. I only realized this during my senior year. When I think of all the wonderful experiences I had with underclassmen as a senior, I kick myself for not going for it earlier.

has been who never was wrote:

military academy (and I mean 1 of the 3

Don't forget the Coast Guard Academy!

Remember that you spend more time with your team and coach than anyone else in your college experience. Make sure the people and environment are what you like and are motivating, otherwise it will be a long four years of not being as happy or successful as you could be.

redux wrote:

Is this going to be recorded?

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

We'll record the discussion and hope to make it available. Here is a handout with the framework for questions we'll present to the panelists.

Director wrote:

I'm moderating a coaches' panel discussion for high school athletes that are interested in running in college.

We'll talk about the range of NCAA and NAIA options, scholarships, recruiting rules and the daily routine of being a student-athlete. From your experience is there anything you wished you'd known about running in college when you were going through the college selection process as a high school senior? Anything that would have influenced or reinforced your decision?

This is a free program sponsored by the Portland Track Festival for local high school athletes. If you are in Portland please join us on Sunday, May 6. Info on our website

http://www.PortlandTrackFestival.com

Listen to your body over everything else.

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Under-training is better than over training.

It doesn't matter how famous your coach is, they can still screw you up if they over train you, or don't have the time to monitor you individually.