Grades, Track and Partying: Can I conquer all three?

sure you can. i drink a beer or two most nights, but probably have 6-10 on certain weekend nights. dont get too wasted too often, save it for special occasions. its more fun that way. also, start drinking early, even if it means being drunk in the dining hall, so you can get to bed early and get a full nights sleep. spend your extra time doing work and studying, and when your not doing that, train, eat, sleep, and relax. its not that hard, just dont waste time. i have even gotten drunk, gone out, and came back to room late to study for a little bit after.

i had/have a 3.5 which is pretty good for my major at my school and i really dont do that much work, i have run pretty well so far at the D1 level, and i do plenty of partying. you just gotta party smart, sometimes i go out and dont even drink more than a beer. it can be more fun a lot of times, and it can be easier to pick up girls. i also work about 25 hours a week. so its possible, but you might not be able to reach your potential one activity. but life is all about balance. enjoy it. work hard, party hard.

Pretty easy...ran xc and track, worked 20 hrs/wk, lowest quarter was 3.4, most were in the 3.7-3.8 range, including a couple 4.0. For sure partied saturday nights and usually tuesday nights after the hard workout. Others for special occasion/holidays. Majored in biochem. I was however, a less than gifted athleted who battled injuries and ended up with a 26:20 8k and 32:50 10k.

Depends: "success" in all these things is relative, no? It's unlikely that you can be an academic AND track superstar and a regular binge drinker, but can you get pretty good grades, drink once or twice per week and do pretty well in track? Sure. My senior year was good enough, by my standards, in running and track, and I I was drinking 2-3 times per week, but by that point, I had sort of "figured out" college classes (at some point, your skills level up faster than your work).

The challenge will be doing all 3 freshman year, when you find yourself newly placed in a distracting environment with much more difficult classes and a complete lack of external motivation systems. Good luck.

Sure.....if you could manage it before. My son just graduated with a dual major in Business/Economics, he was a dual sport athlete in football and track, won a couple of national titles and went to nats in track as well. He was in competition mode the entire time he was in school, he was always training for something. He would go out a couple of times a week, but that was it. He had the good fortune of having a roommate as a freshman who went out and go smashed every night, never went to class and was gone BY HALLOWEEN! That kid was the poster child for what not to do if you are a college athlete. People still talk about that idiot and the opportunity he blew.

Now my son has a great job with a Fortune 100 company, his own place and is well on his way to being a productive adult.

Just remember that you get out of college what you put in to it. If all you want to do is party and run, then you won't get far at all. You are going there to get an education, so work at that.

trackmomster wrote:My son just graduated with a dual major in Business/Economics..

I hate posts like this: as if ANYBODY is honest with their mother about their partying habits

sizzle was taken wrote:

Yes, absolutely. And don't settle for some useless pu$$y major and claim it was because you were an athlete. Our distance crew ran respectably, threw legendary parties and had a cumulative GPA of well over 3.5, with predominately hard science majors or double liberal arts majors. One rule you must absolutely abide by if you want to succeed at all three: ONLY DRINK ON SATURDAYS. Race or no race that week, if you follow this and work hard you'll be fine.

I agree

I think I did alright. I went to the a bigten school, had a 3.3, .4 better than high school, during the off seasononly smoked good stuff twice a week, got messed up on miller lite a few nites a week, and managed to run 1:57, 3:55 (1500), 9:00 (steeplechase), 14:15, 30:55,

Some people have mentioned that it is not possible really or that it depends

on how \"smart\" you are -- whatever the fsck that means, really have you ever

thought about the meaning to that goddamn word? it\'s meaningless.

Here\'s the real catch: what are you majoring in? Science and Engineering major, then no. Anything else, sure.

Common knowledge would say choosing two is the only way to get through without burning out. But I think that's the thought process because we hear of the burn outs in college more than the success.

I think you can choose three, but you will be watering down all of them. This isn't bad if you can acknowledge that from the beginning.

Athletics: If you want to be the best athlete, you would do none of the other options. Any other stress besides athletics is, in the long term, detrimental to 100% maximization. But that shouldn't matter too much because not many people will or should maximize their life time potential.

Academics: Work smart, not hard. Sometimes you will need to do the marathon sessions in the library, but it's more beneficial to section out your work and do things in manageable chunks throughout the semester. Many people have input on the best way to maximize grades in college, and were probably better than me, but I did get by with a 3.7 my freshman year.

Partying: I'm going to call this social life. Everything in moderation is key, I have found that getting trashed too often or without purpose leaves me burnt out. Not good for the soul. You will have to find out at which level of partying is acceptable for YOU and your running/academics. But my solution was two nights a week; one night of going 'harder' and one night of sipping. The harder was usually saturday, as races and long runs were done that day, and our off day was sunday. The sipping would be any other day, as i wouldn't get drunk. It was just watching a soccer game with friends or going to a small get together. Nothing out of control, and kept me from the grind.

Just my input, good luck

Why is every other post supporting this kid? Just because he "mastered" underage drinking an an amateur in high school doesn't mean he should continue that lifestyle. Running certainly CAN help you get a good job...being dedicated to something and succeeding at it goes a long way in the business world. If you don't think listing things like "All-American" or "Academic All-American" (or BOTH) looks good when you apply or interview, you are mistaken.

I venture to guess that a good GPA and degree from a good institution or being a successful athlete at a good institution can help you get a good job moreso than failing out or quitting the team can because you'd rather party.

You don't HAVE TO party your way through college. To quote Dean Wormer from Animal House, "fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." I actually think that one sign of alcohol abuse is when it causes you to neglect or fail to succeed in other activites so if you are deciding that you have to sacrifice being successful at school or running because you have to party, you should probably talk to someone and not just post it on a message board!

ididit wrote:

I think I did alright. I went to the a bigten school, had a 3.3, .4 better than high school, during the off seasononly smoked good stuff twice a week, got messed up on miller lite a few nites a week, and managed to run 1:57, 3:55 (1500), 9:00 (steeplechase), 14:15, 30:55,

Read that post. If you want to have an education that leaves you with this writing ability, party on. Otherwise, grow up and take it a little bit seriously.

ididit wrote:

I think I did alright. I went to the a bigten school, had a 3.3, .4 better than high school, during the off seasononly smoked good stuff twice a week, got messed up on miller lite a few nites a week, and managed to run 1:57, 3:55 (1500), 9:00 (steeplechase), 14:15, 30:55,

A lot of PRs that end in 5 or 0 indicate lying, Kumar.

The answer is NO. Drop the partying, at least go home by midnight and don't have more than 2 or 3 drinks.

I ran a 4:01 1500 and 1:57 800 in the 70s, I will always wonder what I could have done if I was not drunk often. And that does not even cover LSD!

Sure it's possible! I'm doin it right now. I believe it's because I am academically talented though. I rarely have to do school work in my spear time, unless there's a big test coming up or something.. Just train hard, study hard and party hard. Go for it, bro.

No. Don't drink. I spent a lot of time thinking how much faster I could have run and how much better I could have done in school.

The scientific evidence is pretty clear that drinking is bad. It slows your recovery and makes you fat. It also affects your sleep cycle and memory.

When you graduate school unless you are ryan hall, you'll never be in a situation thats better for running or where its more rewarding. Also you won't have to take any more classes. Then you can drink and party on the weekends/weekdays.

As much as you think college is the time party, it's much better when you're out.

You can't say that about running. You won't be graded on an objective basis again either so make the most out of it.

I've always heard the stories about running fast and drinking hard, but the bottom line is that those people didn't fulfill their talent. If you want to get by you can drink - you probably won't get kicked out or kicked off, but if you want to live up to your potential, wait until your done with school. Actually its better to not drink then too, but your not giving up as much.

fortheloveofrunning wrote:

In high school I went out all the time, drank all the time

You sound like an irresponsible alcoholic.

Your parents must be so proud that they raised you so well.

Do they have money or a business you can inherit?

I wouldn't want you on my team.

I wouldn't want you at my school.

I wouldn't want you at my place of business.

I wouldn't want you in my neighborhood.

Forget a future in a cushy basement,

your future is in a van down by the river.

If Red Forman was here he'd call you a dumb*ss

and put his foot in your *ss.

It depends on the school and the major. If its avg state school full of at best avg. kids and you choose a soft major like social sciences, teaching, etc., you can easily run 100 mpw and party all you want.

Most unlikely to do so, but probable.

Eat right, drink lots of water, get sleep, and do your workouts.

School depends on how smart you are, how much of a workload is put on you and how you get homework done.

Partying. Let it happen. Never before finals or tests. Never before big meets. Once it affects one of the other 2, cut it out. re-focus and start again. If not, just do what's better for you. You will be out by 22-23. Will have a good job, be single, and have $$ to party without worrying about competing or school.

nah, you can only really do two of the three.

you pick the two.

had a season or two when i went 3/3, but then crashed and burned the next season.

usually i went for partying, grades, running.

but then the next six months priorities changed and the formulary flipped.

was 13th ranked steepler in ncaa d1 senior year. back in the day. got to a great grad school, and have made a pretty good life for my family.

good luck daniel-son.