Confirmed that I won't walk on in the fall, now what should I do?

Also just to clarify on my previous training. Basically freshman year I ran ~40 mpw just shuffling around basically as I constantly had injuries and issues. I didn't seriously start training until just after Halloween last year. I ran some road races and trained until I got tendinitis problems in late March which kept me out of serious running for about 6 weeks and i've been training since then.

nowwhatshouldido wrote:

So basically i'm about to enter my junior year of college. I had a lot of injuries and health issues that kept my running limited after college

You're a junior in college and your running was limited after college? Are you a time traveler?

All too easy.

Half/marathon while getting degree and good job. Sets you up nicely for the tri's when you hit 30 and can afford good bike.

It's pretty obvious there is only ONE THING left for you to do. You MUST get in the best shape of your life, bandit the xc meet and kick the a55e55 of all the runners from your school. Then when the coach calls you into his office to offer you a scholarship, you can tell him this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQP-DW-HjHA&feature=related

OP, don't take this as anything other than me just trying to be helpful, but if you're running high 16s as a college junior, you don't have any business trying to walk on to a college team. You are solidly in the "might be a halfway decent local runner someday with improvement" category.

No shame in that brother. Run. Try to maximize your potential, but you wouldn't have done that college of yours any favors on the team...just keepin' it real my brother.

Robby Benson wrote:

It's pretty obvious there is only ONE THING left for you to do. You MUST get in the best shape of your life, bandit the xc meet and kick the a55e55 of all the runners from your school. Then when the coach calls you into his office to offer you a scholarship, you can tell him this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQP-DW-HjHA&feature=related

I second this proposal. Tough it out. You just may find out something new about yourself without the team atmosphere.

Do what all the great athletes that's career ends before they are 20. Start cross fit. Put on some muscle. Look good for the ladies. And probably become a world champion.

Honestly its not a bad idea though.. sarcasm aside. Your never going to be an elite runner and will never race more than a charity 5k or just try and finish a marathon. Join a intermural team like frisbee or something and enjoy college.

Flagpole wrote:

OP, don't take this as anything other than me just trying to be helpful, but if you're running high 16s as a college junior, you don't have any business trying to walk on to a college team. You are solidly in the "might be a halfway decent local runner someday with improvement" category.

No shame in that brother. Run. Try to maximize your potential, but you wouldn't have done that college of yours any favors on the team...just keepin' it real my brother.

You must be one of those people who says "No offence" right before insulting someone huh? He never said what division his school is. Perhaps it's a DIII or NAIA school. Given his history with injuries, the OP could be six or seven months of solid, uninterrupted training away from breaking through. There's still plenty of time for him to get in some good training through the fall and run faster times in the spring. I would say that his prospects lie in the longer distances so a half marathon might not be a bad idea if no injuries occur along the way.

Get an education.

16:50 converts to about 27:45 8k.

That would have gotten 52 out of 116 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

59 out of 156 in the Ohio Athletic conference.

27 out of 89 in the Div 1 Horizon league.

Even if he was a minute slower and ran 28:45, that would

put him 43 out of 89 in a Division 1 league meet.

nowwhatshouldIdo, it really upsets me that this is all going down like this for you. Sounds to me you did not have good program and coaches earlier? You love CC and you have always been all alone in this..it seems. Your like tens of thousands of us. Anyway, you got to get thru school ya know. I know you want to run CC but you got school. You got to figure out what you want to do. Transfer? Plan a long term training roll? Look at running after college? You got to pay the bills one day, and also run. I got to state champions in last 3 years from my state...went to College..first year got serious injury...they are out for few years. College is out for them. If and when you do make a roll for whatever competition..learn and research training.Learn and do it right. Good luck. You sound like a really great young guy.Take care and plan with slow progression.

Most importantly, just run because you enjoy it. If you want to compete, there are plenty of road, track and cross country races for "open" runners.

If you want a team feeling, find a good running club in your area.

Since your college team is XC only, you can get together and train with the guys from the team during winter and spring. Show them how flippin' awesome you are and the will BEG the coach to let you walk on next year.

Eat pizza and drink beer!

Don't listen to flagpole, 16:50 equates to 34:40 in the 10k which would have placed you 7th in my D3 school's conference meet last this year scoring the team 2 points. My school won their conference 109 to 105.5, your contribution would have made it 110.

I would find an running club and train with them. If you have friends on the track team I am sure you can still go on regular runs with them behind the coach's back.

I'd train real hard and then enter as an open athlete in a meet they are going to and just beat one of his guy. I'd then follow up with a hello to the coach.

How good do you have to be to make the team? How fast is their 7th guy?

Don't know how big your school is, but odds are there are at least a few other people in a similar position as you, especially if the xc team is young/closed to walk ons. Plus I'd bet there are people who could have run in college but were sick of running on a team. Find a few people, go to clubrunning.org, and start a club team. They waive the membership fee for the first year and will help you get the club off the ground. Trust me, it's not easy starting/managing a new club team, but if you really love the sport it's definitely worth it (plus wouldn't look bad on a resume).

"Walk on" to me means a school that gives scholarships. You don't "walk on" at a DIII school...you just say, "coach, I run 16:50, where's my locker?" What I said to the dude wasn't an insult...just reality. Not everyone is meant to run DI or D2.

Pizzaguy wrote:

Don't listen to flagpole, 16:50 equates to 34:40 in the 10k which would have placed you 7th in my D3 school's conference meet last this year scoring the team 2 points. My school won their conference 109 to 105.5, your contribution would have made it 110.

I would find an running club and train with them. If you have friends on the track team I am sure you can still go on regular runs with them behind the coach's back.

I'd train real hard and then enter as an open athlete in a meet they are going to and just beat one of his guy. I'd then follow up with a hello to the coach.

No one "walks on" to a D3 team.

Get your mileage up in the 100s! If you ran 5:00 in high school, had injuries, and can still run, say 16:45, you can run 26:00 with good training under you, and no 5:00 HS miler should ever be ashamed of that, in fact I'd be proud.

What do you have to run to make the team? What kind of times are they doing for 8k?