Do all elite NCAA xc teams have early morning practices?

those aren't elites. it's a college team.

words kill wrote:

those aren't elites. it's a college team.

So Jenny Simpson wasn't an elite runner when she made our Olympic team and placed 6th at Worlds in college?

spunk wrote:

Yes. I'm up at 5:20 most days and out the door by 5:45 to get in my first run. It makes you a man. Teaches discipline and is more beneficial for your training, provided that you are getting adequate sleep the night before. I dont really think anyone can argue otherwise. Anything else at the elite NCAA level is just laziness .

You might have some insecurity and obsessive compulsive issues. I can definitely argue otherwise as I've seen some of these elite college teams not do morning runs. It's not laziness, it's just not the only way to structure your training.

If you're getting up at 5:20 because you think it teaches you discipline then you're retarded. There is nothing special about 5:20. You can do just fine training when the sun is out. And training is about physiology not your insecure discipline issues.

JerseyTrash wrote:

The recent literature suggest their is not lactate acid clearing benefit of doing a warm down or an AM shake out run. Check last weeks LRC article on Lactic Acid fallacies.

Actually, I e-mailed Goodwin about that since I've known him since he was at a local high school.

He said he thinks warmups and cooldowns are a good idea, but didn't know any specific studies that would say why.

I suggested LRC would fund a study on it...

ncca is not elite. those are amateurs.

spunk wrote:

Yes. I'm up at 5:20 most days and out the door by 5:45 to get in my first run. It makes you a man. Teaches discipline and is more beneficial for your training, provided that you are getting adequate sleep the night before. I dont really think anyone can argue otherwise. Anything else at the elite NCAA level is just laziness .

I agree it is more beneficial to train twice a day. It isn't always laziness though. You could debate it is too cautious from either the coach or athlete, but not laziness. The best in the world train multiple times at least some days. The best runner in the NCAA last year trained up to 3 times a day some days. Some great high school runners trained twice a day. Not everyone can handle doing it in college though, that is the difference, not if it is better or not.

I know a D3 team that meets 6 days a week at 6:30 am. They have won 14 national titles. Not sure if they are elite but they win at their level.

Maybe it will work for you too.

JerseyTrash wrote:

The recent literature suggest their is not lactate acid clearing benefit of doing a warm down or an AM shake out run. Check last weeks LRC article on Lactic Acid fallacies.

No lactic acid clearing benefit, but there are other benefits.

Clam Evans wrote:

No Way wrote:

I've always felt that it makes more sense to run in the morning. Most races have morning starts, so it makes sense to be on that schedule. Sure you probably have class at 10am, but running at 7am is closer than running at 4pm. Also, if your Friday workout ends at 6pm, that gives you 18 hours to recover. If your Friday workout ends at 9am, you have 25 hours to recover.

Usually you're up for at least 3 hours before an important race. That's nothing like waking up and running

Thanks for not addressing my reasoning at all.

When I was around a few years ago here is how it was

Wisconsin (yes, not always though)

Oregon-yes, not always, but a good bit

Stanford- same as above

Alabama-always

Iona- see Oregon

Nau- no idea

Ok st- see Oregon

Colorado- no idea.

New Mexico would typically have a track workout around 10 a.m. and on another day a tempo at 2 p.m. or later.

My div 3 team, which does well nationally nowadays, used to have all afternoon practices except for weekends.

A couple other programs in the south that I'm familiar with, NAIA and DII, have morning practices, at 6 or 6:30 in one and at 8 (9 on weekends) in the other.

runnnnn wrote:

ncca is not elite. those are amateurs.

You'r confusing elite with professional. You can be amature and elite. Lawi Lalang is certainly an elite distance runner.

Dellinger's Ducks use to do a 7 a.m. thursday morning fast run for the same reason mentioned, it was about the smae time as nationals o the East coast. We also did a Saturday morning at 10 a.m. ball buster. Those were the only team morning workouts.

I never did doubles to shake out lactic acid...I ran them so I was tired for a PM workout.

Turk brodsky wrote:

Just a thought. I know that Florida state and Oklahoma state do (both NCAA runner ups from the last two years) but I am wondering if it appears to be critical to success?

Which programs don't do morning runs? Our D3 team ran at 6 am 5-6 days/week.

ASU GUY wrote:

ASU practices at 6am due to the heat in the fall. Maybe they don't anymore.

Arizona practiced in the afternoon. Tucson is not as hot though.

Arizona actually practices in the morning as well, it's only a few degrees cooler than Tempe, if they ever double it's in the afternoon after strength sessions.

scary steve? is that you?

Usetobeinthe know wrote:

When I was around a few years ago here is how it was

Wisconsin (yes, not always though)

Oregon-yes, not always, but a good bit

Stanford- same as above

Alabama-always

Iona- see Oregon

Nau- no idea

Ok st- see Oregon

Colorado- no idea.

Same deal 30 years ago. Most good D1 programs ran two a days consistently. My school did 5-7 am miles pretty much every day, then the hard session in the afternoon. I was not psyched to get up at 5:45 to go meet at the laundromat, but found I could stay half asleep for the run and go back to bed if I didn't have class. Not a lot of talking at the am run, just running along like zombies. Felt like a weird dream when I woke up again.

Many D1 schools have morning practice. We ran at 6:30 and then had afternoon practice. I had the same experience ... running zombies, could go home and go back to sleep in 15 min and would hardly remember the morning run. Not much chitty chat going on at 6:30.

Usetobeinthe know wrote:

Same deal 30 years ago. Most good D1 programs ran two a days consistently. My school did 5-7 am miles pretty much every day, then the hard session in the afternoon. I was not psyched to get up at 5:45 to go meet at the laundromat, but found I could stay half asleep for the run and go back to bed if I didn't have class. Not a lot of talking at the am run, just running along like zombies. Felt like a weird dream when I woke up again.