A college coach told me that I need to run 20:00 for 4 miles to try out. Is this realistic for me?

Why would you have to run a time trial if you are already providing results running unattached? The coach should just look at your results and see how you stack up to the rest of the team.

If you are asking here, then maybe you have chosen the wrong school. No comment here will change what you have to do.

I can understand why schools no longer support the college experience for those who want to do sports. It costs money, time and uses up resources that tite 9 has restricted.

Go to school for your education. You can train on your own, its not hard. I won medals at the nationals and olympic trials with out a coach.

If the school you want is too fast, then train on your own and enter the events you can. I am sure you can find running partners.

Enjoy your self while you can still do it.

The coach must be a jerk. None of his scholarship fairies could meet that standard.

If a coach is asking for a sub-20 4 mile for a walk on I hope that they are a very good (or the coach is being a DB). Back in my day I had a scholarship at a top DII school with PR's of 49, 1:54, 3:54, 9:11 SC and 15:12. I dipped under 20 on the road during practice a few times. 3x10 minutes was our key indicator workout. We didn't have GPS and we ran different routes for each effort so we purposefully didn't know how far we were running during those intervals; the focus was a measured effort over the entire workout.

M.Smith wrote:

Iowa state is the school that requires a 19:10 4 mile time trial. Think its on the track usually done solo.

That's interesting and surprising since he used to have a 20:00 standard for walk-ons when at Wisconsin. How many of his current runners can actually do that now? Are they just all preferred walk-ons?

If I were you, I'd run 10:30 for 2 miles, and tell him you were just about to pick it up when your mom came, you had to leave.

First of all, thanks for all of the thoughtful responses. A little more info, I am actually already a freshman. During my senior year, I wanted to run in college and talked to a few coaches, mainly at ivies, but didn't end up running fast enough at the right time to get their support in the admission process, and I didn't get in. I managed to get into another very good school which I am really happy at, but the only problem is that the track and xc programs are a little bit too competitive for me to be a good fit. I decided that I wasn't going to run, and just worked out whenever I felt like it this fall, but after a while I realized that I really miss competitive running. Also, the lack of structure in college is a bit of an issue for me. I am realizing now that daily training in high school really helped different parts my life, and helped me be a productive, healthy person. I'm pretty determined to walk-on, because I think that running became such a central part of my life in high school that without the structure which it provides, I will have a tendency to slide into an unhealthy and unproductive lifestyle.

That said, the program definitely isn't an ideal fit. I have gotten to know a few guys on the team, and they seem like really nice kids, and it would definitely be a great group of people to become friends with. However, as some of you have suggested, the coaches definitely do have a reputation for being a little bit elitist. It's kind of frustrating because if they would give me a chance to try out, I'm confident that I could hang with the mid-d guys, and show the coaches that I am willing to work.

I am going to start putting in lots of mileage, and I know that if I put enough time and effort in, I can hit 20:00 for 4 miles, its just a question of how long it would take. As many of you have alluded to, I am more of a mid-d guy, but I never really focused on endurance in high school, so I think that if I start running high mileage I should be able to get into good enough aerobic shape to make the team. Thanks again!

I think you are wasting your time working to get on that team. You will be better off training by yourself, or finding a good club coach or even a pro coach with time to help you. Is that 4:17 a 1600 time? With 1:57/4:17 times at your age, I would work more on those events and not move up. You said you were concerned about the team being a bit too competitive; that is wise, you could end up burning out or getting injured running with a team that races in workouts and/or follows a brain dead training program. If you take it slow and progress gradually, I think you have a chance of running sub-4 for the mile. How fast can you run the 400? the 100? Try to assess your innate athletic ability to determine your best event(s) then go for it. If your basic speed is slow, then maybe you should move up in distance, but it sounds like you have very good talent at 800/1500, based on running those times on only 60 miles/week.

You might want to be aware that the coaches that you are calling elitist may read these boards.

Think About It wrote:

You might want to be aware that the coaches that you are calling elitist may read these boards.

There's nothing wrong with that. Maybe they will realize that they are being elitist and they should be a bit more openminded.

Good luck OP! There's nothing better than proving someone wrong!

runnerlegend99 wrote:

if you cant run 20:00 for 4miles, then im not sure you're cut out for ncaa running (assuming we are talking about d1). the coach is right.

I could not run 20:00 for 4 miles going into college. 2 years later was running 30:00 10k XC. D1.

You and the coach are idiots.

There is absolutely no way a 4:17 miler shouldn't be allowed to try out for a team.

It's Eyestone at BYU. This is their way to filter out good athletes they don't want to work with.

I would expect a 4:17 miler to be able to run 20:00 for 4 miles without too much trouble, so when you say "... and I know that if I put enough time and effort in, I can hit 20:00 for 4 miles." that is a hint your physiology is likely geared more towards middle distance and perhaps even 400/800. You need to explore what distances you are best suited for.

Sounds like you ran maybe 2-3 years in high school. It would be best to put together a 10-12 year plan. The problem with the US, has been high school coaches squeezing as much as they can out of runners in 3-4 years. Those tough enough to survive and perform get "rewarded" with another 4 years in the ringer, at a significantly higher level of competition. That is the main reason a country with 200+ million population produces so few elite middle and long distance runners compared to countries with way less population. This a problem for mid and long distances, which require building a strong aerobic house, which takes years of gradual improvement. So why put yourself in the ringer? The most important thing is your education, your grades and getting your degree. Most of the Kenyans I've known in the past came here on athletic scholarship to GET AN EDUCATION, not to run professionally.

Another aspect to your situation, is your motivation behind wanting to run for your college team. You say the discipline of running on a team helps in other areas of your life. Do you think you can adhere to such discipline on your own accord? If not, then yes you should run on a team. Both types of people can do well, but I've always felt the ones who can work mostly on their own and keep their own counsel do better.

Definitely doable, just get your act together, start building consistent mileage and keep training smart until you get there. Will probably will take until the fall, though, since you'll mainly be working on the aerobic system and running economy: they're two slow sons of bi***hes to build.