What should I do for this race that I don't want to race?

You should talk to your coach, listen to him/her, and then do what that person says. Perhaps your coach isn't as worried about these two meets as he/she is about the meets that *really* matter at the end of the season.

Lib Rules wrote:

You should talk to your coach, listen to him/her, and then do what that person says. Perhaps your coach isn't as worried about these two meets as he/she is about the meets that *really* matter at the end of the season.

this guy is right

but no matter what you do...dont kick at the end of wednesday's race. you could probably run close to PR pace for 3 miles and as long as you don't go nuts at the end, you'll feel much better after the race.

You should tell your parents to call the coach and tell the coach that you are NOT going to run on Wednesday. You are their child not the coach's.

If the coach talks to you tell him to 'Suck It!'

1. You run 18:40s get over yourself.

2. You should race every race. Let your coach decide if you are fresh or not. Dogging 1 race, makes it easier to dogging 2 races...That's not how you get better.

3. You run 18:40s you need to race more. If you want to try a different strategy in a dual meet, go ahead. But you should strive to improve some aspect of your race every chance you get.

4. to dog a race is disrespectful to your opponents, coach and teammates. Do this at your own risk.

5. You are running 18:40s, in high school, you don't need to stay fresh for Saturday. You will be fine on Saturday, its not like it will take you days to recover.

6. Most dual meets are workouts, no matter how hard you try, the pace and intensity is still that of a really hard workout, maybe.

If you're on a team, you've committed to race at every meet on the schedule unless the coach instructs you to do otherwise. If you have a problem with that, then don't come back next season.

As far as this specific situation. as long as you don't fall in a hole and break your leg, nothing you do on Wednesday will negatively affect your race on Saturday.

I would recommend option C, though I don't understand what "damaging to aerobic system" is or how 6:05 is tempo pace for an 18:4X runner.

1.) Thank you everyone for the responses, I always welcome feedback of any kind.

2.) To clarify the 18:4X or, that was on a hilly and very hot/humid race with the winner running 16:43. His 5k pr is sub 15:30. It is the notoriously difficult course and everyone runs it about 1min slower than normal. So yes, 6:05 is an ideal tempo pace for me (I've sustained it before) at this upcoming meet since the weather will be much better.

3.) I don't want to race this dual meet because they're will be no one to race. Its literally two schools and I'm the only runner with a 5k pr faster than 20minutes...

4.) I guess right now I'll plan on a tempo pace without kicking so I don't need much recovery.

5.) Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Blahbaba wrote:

1. You run 18:40s get over yourself.

2. You should race every race. Let your coach decide if you are fresh or not. Dogging 1 race, makes it easier to dogging 2 races...That's not how you get better.

3. You run 18:40s you need to race more. If you want to try a different strategy in a dual meet, go ahead. But you should strive to improve some aspect of your race every chance you get.

4. to dog a race is disrespectful to your opponents, coach and teammates. Do this at your own risk.

5. You are running 18:40s, in high school, you don't need to stay fresh for Saturday. You will be fine on Saturday, its not like it will take you days to recover.

6. Most dual meets are workouts, no matter how hard you try, the pace and intensity is still that of a really hard workout, maybe.

This. If you're fast enough to "just run to win" and still take it easy, by all means cruise it in. You're not that fast.

Agreed. Just cruise in without kicking, you can only kick hard so many times so I understand where you're coming from when you claim to be "aerobically gassed" but you also should try keep it as honest as possible. I'd say 90% effort, this is our teams approach to unimportant races.

[quote]BdotAdot5 wrote:

1.) Thank you everyone for the responses, I always welcome feedback of any kind.

2.) To clarify the 18:4X or, that was on a hilly and very hot/humid race with the winner running 16:43. His 5k pr is sub 15:30. It is the notoriously difficult course and everyone runs it about 1min slower than normal. So yes, 6:05 is an ideal tempo pace for me (I've sustained it before) at this upcoming meet since the weather will be much better.

So why did you not run faster on a flatter course? ~Nothing wrong with your time just don't get in habit of making excuses

If this first race is going to be a slow pace then just race it to win without killing yourself

When in doubt, ask yourself what would Pre do?

Thank you, dingleberry. Made my evening!

The rest of the guys on your team will think you're a jerk if you skip a dual meet. Your coach will think you're a whiny brat. The dual meet is important to them, so if you're part of the team, it had better be important to you.

But -- what's important to them is winning the meet. They don't care what your time is nearly as much as you do. They just want to see you bring in that 1 point for the team.

So there's really no conflict here. Run the race fast enough to win, and then you're done. Don't do anything stupid -- like let the other team's number 1 runner get too far ahead of you to reel in, or let him outkick you at the finish line. Just move to the front, stay well ahead, and jog it in for the victory. That's all anyone is asking of you. Then go knock yourself out at the big invitational.

1.) Case in point!! I ran at a low-key invitational and got top 20 with sub 5:50 pace 17:5X without even kicking and I feel great right now.

2.) I now know if I don't mind getting passed by a few people at the end, I can instead cruise in and still have a good time. Also, I feel a lot better than after my other races where I kicked HARD.

3.) Bdot OUT!!!!!

1.) Boom!!! Bdot IN!!!

2.) So I cruised the dual in first and no one seemed to notice or really care because I was faking it as if I was going all out at the end (more like 5:00) pace for last 200m. My coach was strangely infuriated when I asked him how hard I should take the dual before I raced because he ALWAYS wants me to take EVERY race 100% so that was stupid.

3.) I felt really good after the race and two easy days later I ran a huge pr at the big invitational in 17:1X although the field was too fast for me to medal top 10.

4.) Thanks for the advice to everyone who was kind enough to give such.

5.) Bdot OUT!!!!!!

BdotAdot5 wrote:

4.) I guess right now I'll plan on a tempo pace without kicking so I don't need much recovery.

This is a mistake. If you're going to loaf through the race at tempo pace, then you should at least kick like hell at the end to practice that in a race situation.