Running is my life, but I'm not even good at it.

Are you doing all of the little things that you can and should be doing if you want to maximize your potential? It sounds pretty simplistic, but it never really hit me in highschool.

Sometimes this means waking up an hour early before school to get some extra milage in or run in the pool or do some core work. Sometimes it means eating broccoli and carrot sticks instead or potato chips while watching TV. Sometimes it it means having a bowl of ceral instead of ice cream. It's not simply enough to put the milage in.

My coach and I had this talk at running camp summer after my sophomore ear of HS. The state champion who occupied an almost mythical status at the time, so everyone knew who he was, walked past us, and my coach asked me what I thought he did that made him the best. In reality, the kid I am sure was naturally talented, but he literally outworked everyone.

You sound like you would enjoy ultra running. None of them are good at it but running is their life. Just look at their blogs and endless FB posts about all of the epic crap they are doing. Then they race and it takes them 10 hours to run a 50 miler.

Don't worry, running is a sport where if you put in the work you will get better. Just don't kill yourself over it. Don't expect miracles, listen to your coach and your body and keep the fun in it.

Some people were never meant to do it.

However, it is the small things that count. Drink water, eat healthy always (no not everything in moderation, what does McDonalds do for you?!?! JACK $#!T!!), run some extra miles before practice, get 9 hours of sleep, keep easy days easy, hard days as RELAXED as possible, while still running FAST. Massage your legs when possible, do some cross training (swimming is good), get a running partner, ask for advice on Reddit's r/running (but be prepared, some people are dumb. I would say here, but a lot of us are douchebags). If you want, we can exchange emails and we can talk about a few things. Anything else, ask!

Awarenesss wrote:

Some people were never meant to do it.

However, it is the small things that count. Drink water, eat healthy always (no not everything in moderation, what does McDonalds do for you?!?! JACK $#!T!!), run some extra miles before practice, get 9 hours of sleep, keep easy days easy, hard days as RELAXED as possible, while still running FAST. Massage your legs when possible, do some cross training (swimming is good), get a running partner, ask for advice on Reddit's r/running (but be prepared, some people are dumb. I would say here, but a lot of us are douchebags). If you want, we can exchange emails and we can talk about a few things. Anything else, ask!

McDonalds can do plenty for you. There's usually a lot of calories in their food. Runners need calories.

Just run for fun. That's all most of us do anyway.

Books should be your life.

Gerry Lindgren wasn't good at it when he started either. Struggled to run an 85 sec 440, then he gradually built up his mileage to where he was running 200-250mpw and he became the best in the country. He had determination. Do you have it?

Keep at it and it will come. I have a friend who use to run 42 min for 10k in high school. After 2 years he got down to 39, another year he got down to 37, this summer (about 5 years and many stress fractures later) he ran a 33:09 as well as a 1:13:40 half marathon.

Welcome to the story of my life. I think I suck sometimes, I usually finish in the last 3/4 of the pack, and I really obsess over running. Literally everything in my life is running. I always talk about it, read about it, and can interject it into any conversation I have. But as much as I am not very good right now, I say to myself, "One day.." A lot. You just need to remind yourself, you have a lot of your running career left. Go try a local road race. They're not as competitive, and when you finish in the top 30 (maybe, I don't know how fast you are) you'll feel good about yourself.

Remember, one day you could be a pro

one day you could win a HS race

one day you could be a champion marathoner

OP, what are your current PRs? can you break 20min for 5K?

Letsrun is a pretty elitist crowd, so I'm not surprised you're getting some snobby answers. If you train seriously though I bet you'll look back years from now and be like WOW how did I do that?

I never broke 18min for 5K in high school and my goal is a 2:35 marathon. Even the least talented of us can get pretty far.

It's all about the mileage. Distance running is not a skill sport. It's all about endurance and endurance can be developed to a large degree. If you're that intent on being good, then increase your mileage. There were a lot of HS distance runners in the 70s that were doing 120-140mpw without even thinking about it. Why can't you do that?

Saraswimrun wrote:

Ok. SO running is my passion in life. I am dedicated to it with a determination that I hold for nothing else. It is an exciting and fun part of my life.

Then keep doing it. What's the harm?

I've been a songwriter since I was 16 and only gotten slightly better over the years. But I love it. Will I be quitting my job and moving my family to Nashville? No. Will I keep on writing and enjoying myself and trying to improve? Sure, why not?

Keep at it.

Be consistent and work hard but don't overdue it. Make many very small goals. Example run 3miles at a goal pace, next week run 3.5m at that pace. Increase the distance for a few weeks and then drop back down a level for one week. Keep doing this kinda stuff.

You can do it. Time is your friend!

you are ahead of 90% of the poor schlubs of the world who never find their passion. So be glad.

As for getting faster - become a student of the sport - read everything you can find about the sport and apply to yourself. You are your own walking laboratory - you can do anything to yourself.

What has helped me is reading about the history of training - fascinating stuff. Currently, after a disappointing summer, I am doing my easy runs faster and upping my mileage to see if it works - based on a few things Salazar said once.

Flimsy, sure, but shakign things up is fun and usually helps.

Thanks, everyone, for the tips. I just feel like I should be focusing on getting better at things that I can actually get better at. The only problem is that nothing really interests me as much as running does.

But thanks. I'll be looking into running history and such. Should be fun!

you can't just run 120 -10 minute miles

you have to do workouts while getting the milage up

fgfg wrote:

you can't just run 120 -10 minute miles

you have to do workouts while getting the milage up

Who said anything about running 10 minute miles? If you gradually increase you mileage to a high volume, your overall conditioning improves substantially and you can handle a much faster pace. One goes hand in hand with the other. Sure, there are other workouts that are necessary (threshold, etc.), but more mileage is a big part of it.

Here is what OP should do

just accept mediocrity for your high school career and learn as much as you can about training, gradually progressing in mileage/complexity of training. Have fun with High School XC, its a great experience and should be cherished while you still have it. If you really love running you will run during the summers/winters and do whatever you can to get better.

After HS, you can find a college to run at, you wont get a D1 scholarship but there are plenty of D3 (and even D2) colleges where you can be a completely mediocre runner and be on the team, focus on training for an XC/road racer/10k/marathoner, so just go long. At the longer distances, its more about the work you put in just racking up those miles as opposed to talent/speed which are much more important in the 800/1600/3200/5k XC.

You could even run for an NAIA program where they have a marathon as part of their national championships.

Oftentimes slow (even terrible) HS runners who really love running just run a TON after HS and eventually become pretty good road racers/sub-elite marathoners and HM guys.