Should I quit my D1 XC/Track team?

Before you walk away from the money and I sport you once enjoyed you should consider doing a couple of things.

1. Talk to your coach about your training. He sounds pretty old school/hard headed but it's worth a try. Have an individual meeting about how your body is feeling. Can you both tweak some things to perform better.

2. Are you doing everything you can to recover? Are you getting 7-9 hours of sleep a night, eating a balanced diet, getting enough protein, enough quickly after workouts, ice bathing when neccassary, taking iron, vitamin d. I'm sure you aren't doing things perfectly on your end.

Transfer to Goshen College if you don't mind living in Indiana.

If not, take one or two of those workouts less seriously and just focus on going hard once a week and make the other two medium effort. It will seem like you're not getting gains, but it will make your season last longer.

Oh, and do what the guy above said, talk to your coach.

After you talk to your coach, if he won't help you out, stick with the team, but slack on the strength workouts or take a class that conflicts with practice on tuesdays and thursdays and do them on your own, but really recover. You might look like a fool, but everyone will shut up when you're pr'ing in races.

Been similarly burnt out and decided to stick it out (only 5th year outdoor left at that point). Life is too short to keep doing shit you don't want to do. Quitting running does not mean you have to stop running. Talking to the coach is probably the best, but, will it actually change anything if you run less?

Money is another great issue. Transfering or loans may be only options

Talk to your parents. That 40% scholarship is probably worth $10 - $25K/year (after tax). Out of respect for them, you shouldn't just assume that you can walk away.

Second, think of it as a job. You're getting paid $10 - $25K/year to run. It beats flipping burgers.

Third, what others said, like talking to your coach, really recovering, getting sleep, eating right, etc.

I don't agree with the sentiment that life is short, etc. Life is long. We're talking about maybe 5 seasons of running left. Man up and make it work.

You're going to be confronted with much harder challenges in life than 'I'm unmotivated to continue running on a D1 scholarship'!

Stick it out since you have a scholarship and are a junior. Almost done. Good luck.

I'm with slowing down your workout times. My son had the same problem in high school. He had a bash coach. Everyday was hard or semi tough. I told him to back off and run with the slower guys. Both during daily runs and intervals. He began to recover and get stronger.

You don't have to stay up with the fast runners.

So bottom line: show up. Run a much easier pace.

Race hard.

edward teach wrote:

After you talk to your coach, if he won't help you out, stick with the team, but slack on the strength workouts or take a class that conflicts with practice on tuesdays and thursdays and do them on your own, but really recover. You might look like a fool, but everyone will shut up when you're pr'ing in races.

This is what I'd do or some close variation.

Your training schedule is very common in college. Running hard is your job, it's how you get better.

You lost your drive and passion. If you really love running talk to your coach and stick it out.

Be honest but do not attack your coach. (Like telling him his workouts are too hard and he burns people out). Instead tell him very specially you are not recovering. You legs are heavy. You are fatigued all the time and are concerned about a relapse medically.

You never know, it could be low iron or something medical. Really though, you're in college. You probably have days with 1-2 classes and that's it. Try sleeping 10-12 hours a day, EVERYDAY, for 3-4 weeks and see if you recover better.

How much are you sleeping?

If you are willing to take the scholarship, you need to give it all you have. It reflects poor on your character. Running is your job. I tell my runners that all the time but I follow it up with hopefully you love your job - saying running is your job is not a bad - I love my job. Second, your workouts are very typical - without getting too much into it they look adequate. Maybe on the Tues/Thur you can slow your pace down for recover - many good points on this thread such as getting enough sleep/proper nutrition, ice baths etc. I am assuming you are a MD runner - just a guess - maybe you could try a slightly diff. distance to "light the fire" 1500M - try a few 800M / 5000M guy - try a few 1500M - especially early in the season -

Lastly, nothing personal, but my #1 criteria for the runners I sign - they have to love to run. It eliminates so many of the problems coaches have - I talk to several people about them to see if they love it -

Good luck - Jr. year - hang in there - you will be done in no time

Since you're from the northeast i'm just wondering, do you run for uconn?

The Donger wrote:

Your training schedule is very common in college. Running hard is your job, it's how you get better.

You lost your drive and passion. If you really love running talk to your coach and stick it out.

Be honest but do not attack your coach. (Like telling him his workouts are too hard and he burns people out). Instead tell him very specially you are not recovering. You legs are heavy. You are fatigued all the time and are concerned about a relapse medically.

You never know, it could be low iron or something medical. Really though, you're in college. You probably have days with 1-2 classes and that's it. Try sleeping 10-12 hours a day, EVERYDAY, for 3-4 weeks and see if you recover better.

How much are you sleeping?

Tell him very specifically, if you tell him "very specially" he may get weirded out.

Also, what are you talking about regarding a "medical relapse"?

I've known several D1 and D2 guys (and girls) who lose the love for running during soph and junior years. Most fall in love with it again by the time they graduate, and then don't want to stop running (and some don't want to graduate and enter the 'real world'). Anyhow, if it is just 'motivation' related, then I'd stick it out and look for ways to make the training 'more fun.' Chances are that you re-discover your love for running as well as the 'pop' in your legs.

However - there is a big caveat. Some guys run on 'full' scholarships, and others run on 'partial' scholarships. Rules regarding the size of partial scholarships seem to differ across programs. Anyhow, I know a D2 girl who more than recovered the money lost on her 'partial' scholarship by earning tips as a part-time waitress.

Low D1 isn't what its cracked up to be. You are unmotivated because you don't have a reason to compete. You will never compete with the top teams, your team will never really improve much, simply no opportunity of achievement. Don't run track and transfer to a nearby NAIA, D2 or D3 school. You will find that you still love to run and compete. You just want to preserve as much eligibility as possible.

I wanted nothing but to quit after my sophomore year, but I stuck it out, finished up (slow and hurt) and took a few months off. Got back into it on my own terms and am PRing now post collegiate being 3 years removed. Stay for the money You wont want that debt later in life

Blahbaba wrote:

Low D1 isn't what its cracked up to be. You are unmotivated because you don't have a reason to compete. You will never compete with the top teams, your team will never really improve much, simply no opportunity of achievement. Don't run track and transfer to a nearby NAIA, D2 or D3 school. You will find that you still love to run and compete. You just want to preserve as much eligibility as possible.

I have to agree with the statement here that Low D1 can be a very sad place to be. A lot of bad coaches, bad teams, bad conferences, etc. can make for a very unmotivating experience. Our team never improved, and to this day I feel like I peaked way too early, which made improving later a frustrating challenge I couldn't overcome with the type of coaching that I had.

I was in school during the recession, and I ultimately decided that instead of continuing on my scholarship I would rather move to a school I liked, improve my grades, and start working 30 hours a week at a real job (i.e. not coaching sports summer camps). I started to understand how important work experience was going to be for those my age in the future (do to lack of available jobs), and running wasn't going to give me that experience on the job that I needed (limited work experience in high school due to training at high levels year round). I don't regret my decision. Thus far, I've spent my career working at Fortune 50 companies and enjoy what I do. I also was able to bring my GPA up to a 3.9 without the stress and time commitment of D1 sports.

That being said, I think D1 athletics are an amazing, rewarding, challenging. and commendable endeavor. It depends on your personality, need for the scholarship money above all else, and long term goals in life and career. For me, I was happier without D1 sports. I continued running with a local club once I transferred.

I would put some serious thought into it ansd then speak to your coach. One of my biggest regrets in life is not taking my senior year more seriously. I was within 1 second of the trials qualifying time in the 800 my junior year, but decided I "just wasnt feeling it" my senior year. Now that Im 40, I wish I could go back and have a chat with myself.

I ran for a small northeastern college as well and ran into a similar issue. Ended up getting sick freshman year, mono sophomore year, and injured junior year at the hands of a coach I can only describe as a sadist. Luckily, everyone else found him to be a douche as well and he was fired. I agree with the other posters. Schedule a class (I was a science major so it was a lab) that conflicts with workout days and say you'll run them on your own. Cherry pick the good ones and recover as you see fit. I do disagree with the other posters in the sense that it shouldn't be a job. Your job is honestly to get good grades. Athletics is secondary. I nearly quit as well but my teammates and my love of the sport kept me going. I hope you find a way to stick it out but I wouldn't judge you if you didn't.

Reach Syracuse