weak runners...... what would you do?

I had the same problem with a few of my kids. Sadly, they were even varsity runners. Whenever a workout got tough, usually 2/3 of the way in, they would suddenly have some sort if injury. Then they would come back and blow out the last one with no hint of a limp in their strides. They'd miraculously feel great for the race and then injured again when the next workout came around.

Obviously, you can't just say "suck it up" since if the kid actually is hurt you're asking for trouble. Even if he isn't, you'll likely get phone calls from parents or they may even go over your head to the AD or Principal. These are headaches you really don't need.

My solution was fairly simple and effective. If a kid dropped out of a workout during the week, he would not be competing in that weekend's race. The premise being, "If you are too hurt to complete the workout, you are too hurt to compete in the race". This was an unspoken rule as you don't want the tough kids trying to run through injuries. This allows you to discipline kids who are being sissies under the premise of being concerned for their health.

After a few weeks of only a half fielded squad, the kids got the hint and toughened up. Some tried to just run slow in the workout when it got tough but I would simply pull them from the workout when they were jogging and still not run them in the race since something was obviously "wrong". The only thing you have to be careful with is kids who try to continue running through an injury to be able to compete in the next race. Most of the kids knew I was not competing them because they were wimping out of workouts and not because I was concerned about their "injury". But it wasn't like they could come back and say "I wasn't actually hurt at all" so they couldn't disagree with me not competing them.

Well, my "weak" runner tells me today while he's on the starting line of his race, that his knees are both swollen. So I told him they looked fine to me & then ignored him. Then he runs a 2 minute PR.

One thing you should understand is fear.

I used to be afraid of competing and running workouts, and would feign injuries and run them myself later that night, alone - without the pressure of not completing the workout with my teammates or getting dropped etc.

Try to talk to your runners about his scenario. They may just be experiencing fear. I talked to my coach after he approached me about this and despite it taking two years I'm now finally achieving my potential as a runner and completing workouts with the team. Some people just can't even fathom this, but it happens, and try to be understanding about it.

I once worked with a squad with a fairly diverse level of talent. There was one kid who was just the opposite of the “softies” being described here. This kid would always, and I mean always, give 110%. I know it is theoretically impossible to give more than 100% of your maximum, but this kid was different, special.

He’d show up 45 minutes early for his distance practice and go through the drills with the sprinters. Then he’d complete the prescribed work out. Then he’d do a slow aerobic development jog home. He lived 8 miles from the track. He’d do this for every track practice and we met 3-4 times per week.

I remember one day it was a pouring thunderstorm including lightning strikes. I had to go to the admin office at the track to pick up some stuff. When I came into the parking lot, I was shocked to see this kid sprinting up this grass hill near the track in the driving rain. I parked and watched him for half an hour while he did repeat after repeat. I mean it was like he was so in the zone it didn’t matter that the rain was coming down, the fact that we had a hard track practice the next day, that we had just had a hard day the day before. This kid was unstoppable. I sat there in the warmth of my car and I shook my head, admiring his grit.

Not only did his work ethic impress me, he was a leader. He would council the other, slower kids. And his advice was not just limited to the track. They would come to him with problems in their love life, academic decisions and philosophical questions. He would take them aside and always leave them with a smile on their face and an extra bounce in their step once they had heard his council.

One time we were at an important meet when a near disaster occurred. The assistant coach, who was responsible for all the runner’s gear made a very big error. He forgot to bring our star runner’s spikes. When I went up to our young runner and informed him of the problem, which inadvertently happened in front of a bunch of juniors, his gaze didn’t waver, his eyes never betrayed any fear whatsoever. He simply nodded and said “I’ll race in my trainers”. Everyone in earshot got quiet because they knew this was a matter of honour and bravery they were witnessing.

The name of this young blade? Jason Rexing.

That's the best thing I've read in a while. You had me going. Well done.

durus,

why didn't you fire the kid if he is subverting your work and obviously has no desire to work?

I used to be one such weak runner. This is how it was.

I had a limited start to running in 8th grade, although I didn't consider myself to be a "runner." 3 days of 5 we would run in PE. We started at 4 min and somewhere down the road we got up to 25min of running (and I thought that was a lot). It was that November of 8th grade that I ran my first 5k -- 31min -- I was dead tired.

So I got to high school and didn't know anything about cross country. I was doing Leadership and other such bullshit. But I had a number of friends that I made (mostly 2 or 3 years older) that were on the XC and track and told me that I was coming out for track in January. I said sure -- I had never been opposed to running.

So, at my school, my coach trained us 50wks/yr. He did this legally by have all interested sign up through a USATF club, which gave us legal protection and insurance in case something happened, and allowed us to train 7 days/wk, 52 weeks/yr.

I filled out all the club paperwork and came out the week before the actual school track practice started. I was told that I was to run a one mile time trial and that, as a male, I needed to break 7:30 in order to qualify for showing up to practice every day. I said no prob -- I ran 7:13 -- and I was working.

At this point in my athletic mindset, I thought the point of practice of to finish with it and go home. So, when my coach found that I had only completed the club paperwork and needed to fill out the info for the school, he told me to go home and come back with it tomorrow. I said sure -- I though, "Wow, that was a quick day."

I started running and doing workouts. It was obvious immediately that I had no natural speed, coordination or strength or endurance, so naturally, I became a distance runner. I remember much of my work was 30, 45 and the occasional 60min run. I really didn't take what I was doing seriously.

My first race was a 1500m at Skyline College in San Bruno -- the first time I had ever stepped on a rubber track. I saw one of teammates (who turned out to be a 4:40 miler, 53s 400m runner and 43' TJer) and said, "I'll try to stick with him." Well I hit the first 300m in 51s and it was all downhill from there. I ended up running 6:45 and felt awful. Within a few weeks, I got down to 6:15 or so (one mile).

It all changed one day when, in the middle of some repeat quarters (with girls I might add, who were also running high 5s, low 6s for the mile), I said that I had to leave early because I had to go to work. My coach's reaction was, "Turn in your gear."

I said, "What?"

He said, "If I'm going to coach you to do this, then you're going to make it a priority, so if you're going to leave a very important workout to do something else, that's fine, just turn in your gear." And with that he walked away. I was shocked. I didn't know what to do.

I showed up to practice the next day and didn't hear my name for the bus list for Saturday's meet in Salinas. I asked him why I wasn't on their, to which he said, "I mean what I say, you have other priorities, and I don't want to incourage half-assed efforts."

It was pouring rain that day, and the team just had a very short run to do. I didn't know what to do. My coach was cleared drainage holes from the railing around the track, while the team sloshed through the water, and I decided that I was just going to stay on the infield, in the pouring rain, until he would talk with me. I started sobbing because it was then that I realized how much I liked track and that I was getting better every week. A couple of teammated came over to talk with me, but there wasn't much to say.

After about 90min, he came over and asked me to talk with him as he cleared the drains. He said that in this sport you need to work hard if you want to be good, and that you can't cut your work short and expect good results. I said that now I understood that and that it would never happen again. He told me to go home and get dry because I had a meet on Saturday.

After that day, I committed myself to work harder then everyone else, that I wouldn't miss a single run or workout, especially given the fact that I lacked so dearly in talent. I ended my first season with PRs of 68, 2:39, 5:45 and 12:39. I ran all through the summer, and in my first xc season ran 20:07 for a 2.95mi course (fairly difficult). With in 2 years I had run 57.9, 2:12, 4:42 and 10:17 as well as 16:10 for the same xc course.

So, just make it clear that this sport requires consistent work if you're going to be good, and that improvements are gaurenteed if you show up and do the work (assuming the program is sound). Then it's up to the kid to decide if they want it.

Hedgehog: thanks for your props!

trackhead: nice post, thanks for sharing that (seriously).

I hear ya, I was so pissed off today at a couple of guys that I'm going to tell them next time, that if they want to run slow like girls then they can run with the girls. & if they want to be big boys & run varsity then they need to show it. Two guys are definitely getting dropped off varsity this weekend.

That was great...good length, believability, with the classic Rexing ending.

When I coached high school there was one kid, a freshman, who was about the biggest pussy I've ever met in my life. Total mama's boy, fat, afraid of exertion. Also, though I'd like to say he was a "nice kid," he really wasn't - he was a passive-aggressive f***er as well as a malingerer. Did I mention he was a pussy? Anyhow, he really wanted to be a part of things and deserved a shot. Shit, he was only 14 and needed a niche, right? So I hid my distaste for his various infirmities and like everyone else gave him the sympathy clap when he came in DFL in the first bunch of 5K races, running times of 38, 36, 33 and finally under 31 minutes, breaking the 10 minute per mile barrier. But then I caught him walking during practice when I had to take off and drive somewhere. This was about a quarter mile from the school. Followed him the next day and saw him sitting on a park bench near the school. Now this kid had no business being ona competitive team when the other lads were busting their asses but it's not like I wanted to kick him off just for slacking. So I ran with him for a bunch of days the next week, or tried to. But he just didn't have the sack to make it through an easy practice run without stopping to complain about some bullshit thing like his shoes, his stuffed nose, what he had for lunch, his acne, whatever. So in the end he came out again sophomore year for the team and I wound up basically ignoring him. No gentle tirades, no cajoling, no sympathy clap. When he quietly stopped showing up on hard workout days I didn't say boo. Then he stopped coming to practice altogether and I didn't say f***all. Then he finally turned in his uniform (dirty) and I didn't say squat, except "Don't give up on running forever," which was kind of a dumb thing to say to this kid, who, as you may have determined by now, was just about the biggest damned pussy on God's green earth.

Man that was the toughest and most frustrating thing to me about coaching. The kids who consistently come slowly walking over to you on the days they know they are going hard, head bowed down, slight limp, saying, "Coach, I don't know if I can run today." And always ready to go on raceday or an easy day. Man, I f***ing wanted to punch them at times, or at least yell at them, but you can't risk making them run when they are hurt even if you know they are lying.(And you're not allowed to punch them obviously)

I never bagged a workout in my life and I've had plenty of aches and injuries. If I was able to at least limp/jog I did.

The thing you have to do is just write those kids off as soft underachievers, you're always going to have a few. What they achieve and contribute is just a bonus.

Maybe they'll come around, maybe not. The thing is some kids are just pussies. There only going to go so far, no matter how talented. Just don't worry about it so much.