15 minute Time Trial. We cannot wear a watch. Top 7 farthest runners make Varsity. Advice?

just realized it's .5 mile loops, adjust the distance to 4 loops before you do anything

My coach did something similar to this to pick varsity for the first CC race every year back when I was in HS (almost 20 years ago). I always liked it, and I won it a couple of times. I always pushed from the start with a couple of the stronger guys and tried to run steady, so if you think you're a top 2-3 guy, I'd do that and it will sort it self out. You know (or should know) about what your 5k race pace feels like, or at least what tempo pace feels like from your summer running, so that is about where you want to be for a 15 min TT. If you're closer to the bubble, I'd try to stay in contact but let the lead pack(s) sort out for the first 2 laps or so, and then work my way up to the the 5th place guy and stay right on top of him. Pretty likely that one or two guys will go out way too hot and fall off, so that should be a safe place to be to secure your spot, even accounting for late kickers. If the top 7+ are out in a pace that still seems totally suicidal after the 2nd lap, I think your best bet is to run within yourself (even if in no man's land) for laps 3 and 4 and then ratchet it up on lap 5 and try to pick off the stragglers. Good luck!

I can't believe this has not been suggested:

CHANGE HATS EVERY LAP!!!

800 dude wrote:

This is stupid, especially for something with such high stakes. Maybe the idea is to take kicking out of the equation?

It's not high stakes, it's a freaking scrimmage in August.

What is this high school? Who gives a shit who the coach says is varsity before the first race? I wouldn't even show up to this crap and tell the coach to get stuffed. Race day is all that matters. If this is college then your program sucks and your coach should be fired.

800 dude wrote:

This is stupid, especially for something with such high stakes. Maybe the idea is to take kicking out of the equation?

As another poster pointed out, the coach will already have his top seven 90% formed in his mind. It's a great opportunity for someone to surprise the coach and his or her teammates. Your use of 'stupid' is like toilet paper stuck to your shoe. For god sake man, have some self-awareness.

A good program will almost always have at at least four of the top seven returning. If a coach does this every year then the athletes know what they need to do. For those who don't know, a Cooper test is also used to measure VO2Max, so I'm sure the coach uses this to run those numbers as well.

OP, if all runners go out at the same time it is not a time trial, but a race. I run this so every runner is against 'self' and this is a true measurement of any athlete's mental and physical fitness.

Run as far as you can in 15 minutes.

Bring with you a multitude of hats to change during the trial, in order to stay cool.

Here Kippy Kippy Kip Kip wrote:

As another poster pointed out, the coach will already have his top seven 90% formed in his mind. It's a great opportunity for someone to surprise the coach and his or her teammates. Your use of 'stupid' is like toilet paper stuck to your shoe. For god sake man, have some self-awareness.

No, it is stupid. It's a gimmick that nothing to do with racing. It probably makes the coach feel like he's very clever, but it's counterproductive. In every real race, athletes have benchmarks they can use to pace themselves. They have the clock or they at least can see the finish line (and they should know the entire course). And athletes absolutely run faster when they're able to pace themselves.

What this does is tilt the playing field away from mentally tough runners and towards the more physically talented ones. The ability to push oneself closer to the physical edge isn't as much of an advantage when you don't know where you are in your race.

As for the coach's mind, the great thing about athletics is that it isn't supposed to matter what the coach thinks. What matters is what the clock "thinks."

What you describe is the antithesis of racing. When you race, the benchmark is the guy in front of you. OP, cover moves made by others. Even if you crash and burn, you would have learned something about yourself. Go for it. You might surprise yourself. Good luck young man!

OP,just count to nine hundred. Beat the coach at this mind game with your mind.

Devastator wrote:

What you describe is the antithesis of racing. When you race, the benchmark is the guy in front of you. OP, cover moves made by others. Even if you crash and burn, you would have learned something about yourself. Go for it. You might surprise yourself. Good luck young man!

Yes, racing is about beating opponents, but it's about beating them over a defined distance or course. Your opponents are not the only benchmarks. Without a course, there's no race. In fact, for young runners, the most important thing to learn is how to pace oneself over a defined course. Older runners sometimes get to the point where they focus too much on pace vs. the course, and not enough on their competition, but both are essential components of the sport.