Do you agree with the mentality "every little thing you do matters" running-wise?

I agree with your premise. It's why I'm always surprised to see guys post on here about quitting their college team.

It's the one time in life you will have time, ability, and support to do not only the running; but the extra stuff as well.

EZ10Miler wrote:

I agree with your premise. It's why I'm always surprised to see guys post on here about quitting their college team.

It's the one time in life you will have time, ability, and support to do not only the running; but the extra stuff as well.

I found it much easier after college, since when you work a real job you actually have a regular schedule.

xenonscreams wrote:

EZ10Miler wrote:

I agree with your premise. It's why I'm always surprised to see guys post on here about quitting their college team.

It's the one time in life you will have time, ability, and support to do not only the running; but the extra stuff as well.

I found it much easier after college, since when you work a real job you actually have a regular schedule.

I think it depends on the person and obviously depends on what kind of job you get after college or if you are elite enough to be making money. College SHOULD be easier to train and live the life of a runner, than real life, but rarely does it work that way. Too many distractions and temptations in college. If you are a professional runner, it is much easier to do all the little things properly and is a major reason why you can often train much harder after college. I just worked part time my first couple of years out of college and was able to train much harder and improved quite a bit, because of the combination of living the lifestyle of a runner and therefore being able to handle more training.

xenonscreams wrote:

EZ10Miler wrote:

I agree with your premise. It's why I'm always surprised to see guys post on here about quitting their college team.

It's the one time in life you will have time, ability, and support to do not only the running; but the extra stuff as well.

I found it much easier after college, since when you work a real job you actually have a regular schedule.

But you dont' have a team mates to run with, a coach to tweak your schedule (unless you hire one),you dont have a training room you can just walk into, and for most- the work day doesnt end at 3 at the latest, and start at 8 at its earliest.

Maybe that was true for you, but I'd guess the majority of people do not find themselves being able to do all that when they're just starting their job.

aquafina wrote:

But you dont' have a team mates to run with, a coach to tweak your schedule (unless you hire one),you dont have a training room you can just walk into, and for most- the work day doesnt end at 3 at the latest, and start at 8 at its earliest.

Maybe that was true for you, but I'd guess the majority of people do not find themselves being able to do all that when they're just starting their job.

I concede I'm in a very good training situation. I run for a very competitive club. I have both teammates to run with and a coach to tweak my schedule. My coach is a volunteer coach, so I do not pay anything to him. I only pay my dues for the club, which are negligible. It would be ideal if everyone were in this sort of situation, but obviously that's not true.

With that said, studying and working in college (between my schoolwork and a part-time job) definitely took more than 40 hours per week. Add on the irregularity of the college schedule (surprise exam next week on the same day two projects are due, gl;hf), terrible on-campus living situations (drunk roommate coming home at 2AM when you have a race in the morning and turning the heat up to 85 degrees, stupidly loud football players throwing parties on weeknights), and social pressures to eat poorly and drink a lot of booze (not to mention a lack of money to actually afford ample healthy food), and it's really a terrible training environment.

Maybe you lived with serious athletes. That would have been helpful.

agree with it being much easier after college IF you really want to improve. but the problem is 90% of talented runners fresh out of college is that they don't want to miss out on happy-hour beers with their coworkers, or a weekend of camping/drinking with friends, etc. to focus 100% on training & getting better. despite seeing running, racing, winning, PRing, etc. as "fun", it's just not as fun as those other things for most, thus it becomes "sacrifice" and "giving up fun to run". sad that so many talented guys/gals drop running right after college...i'd kill to be 22-23 again! somewhere between 22-32 should be your prime!

xenonscreams wrote:

EZ10Miler wrote:

I agree with your premise. It's why I'm always surprised to see guys post on here about quitting their college team.

It's the one time in life you will have time, ability, and support to do not only the running; but the extra stuff as well.

I found it much easier after college, since when you work a real job you actually have a regular schedule.

NO MORE FREE RANDY wrote:

agree with it being much easier after college IF you really want to improve. but the problem is 90% of talented runners fresh out of college is that they don't want to miss out on happy-hour beers with their coworkers, or a weekend of camping/drinking with friends, etc. to focus 100% on training & getting better.

despite seeing running, racing, winning, PRing, etc. as "fun", it's just not as fun as those other things for most, thus it becomes "sacrifice" and "giving up fun to run".

sad that so many talented guys/gals drop running right after college...i'd kill to be 22-23 again! somewhere between 22-32 should be your prime!

Yeah, I don't go out drinking with my coworkers on Friday night very often because I don't want to be hungover for Saturday practice. But I enjoy life more that way, so I guess it's all good.

word. wrote:

Such as:

wearing sweats

I am curious as to why wearing sweats would be included in this list. Do you mean all the time, just when it is cold, on your warm up? Or do you mean something completely different like wearing sweats instead of tights? My team used to do battle every fall and into the winter to see who could go the longest before wearing anything on their legs. Several people would make it down to around freezing, but one guy would keep running in shorts until it got under 20 degrees.