Most annoying track coach habits?

The funny thing is that, as you age and look back at things, many of these things will end up being viewed as endearing traits of your coach.

My coach would always drop "You gotta go now!", a variation of the "Get out hard!" idea, but a bit more flexible because he could drop it on the opening flat section of the 8000m course at Van Cortland Park, or he could drop it with 3000m to go in the 10k. Really a quirk that is very rich in its adaptability.

In any event, when I or any of my teammates see our coach, we all drop a "Gotta go now!" on him as we are leaving.

He also used to read every sign on the road when driving the van to and from meets. It was only 20 years later that I realized that he did it just to keep himself talking to keep alert and awake. Ah, D-3 track and cross country back in the old days.

Constantly reminding us how tough he was as an athlete.

Constantly reminding us all the great athletes he's coached.

Always mentioning himself first in any interview. "I told Jimmy to get out hard. I am always telling him great race strategies."

Always sticking his nose in the top runner's business regardless of whether he actually coaches them or not.

My coach is a hobby jogger who took the position because they just needed someone, and his daughter was beginning high school. He doesn't know who Galen Rupp is, couldn't tell you the difference between tempo and VO2, and doesn't bother to educate himself on the sport. Oh the humanity!

HS XC coach exclaimed often, "This is the time of your lives!"

So fvcking annoying. My life's not getting better? WTF?

"Run 8 400m reps at 80%." 80% of what?????

Or calling it a "medium day" and then screaming you to go faster and pass the guy in front of you.

However the most annoying thing is how he doesnt individualize anything. Very little progression also.

Metoo wrote:

HS girl wrote:

Showering together with us.

Male or female coach?

Cuz if it's a guy showering with HS girls then you should call the police

Initiating and participating in "locker room talk" with athletes.

Using wrong starting commands when practicing block starts: "On You Marks". NOT "Runners take/to your marks"

Coach insisted on only taking us to Bojangles before meets. Needless to say, heartburn and puking was a regular part of meets.

I could go on about some of the coaches I've had, but one of my "favorite" quirks I've only seen from other coaches: No matter where they are, on any track or xc course, they feel compelled to yell out the time. I used to think the coach had planned something out (by this point you should be under 3:45), until one of the athletes on another team confessed to us he had no idea what to make of it. Just random time on a random spot on the course.

Pee Sack wrote:

As a runner, what would be some of the most annoying/weird things your coaches would do.

Mine would be making workouts too complicated. "Today you're going to run 4x3x380'a at around mile pace effort, cutting down each rep by half a second, with all reps beginning at 2:45." Uhhhh coach my brain hurts from thinking about this workouts.

Tried to talk to us about the porn he watched

this is it? wrote:

HS XC coach exclaimed often, "This is the time of your lives!"

So fvcking annoying. My life's not getting better? WTF?

It doesn't

i hate to break it to you wrote:

this is it? wrote:

HS XC coach exclaimed often, "This is the time of your lives!"

So fvcking annoying. My life's not getting better? WTF?

It doesn't

HS was good for me. After has been better.

It's instructive as a coach to attend meets where I have no athletes running, and stand next to coaches who do. Listen to what they yell at athletes in the midst of their races, when they are giving it everything. They yell things dictated by their instincts as a spectator, not helpful things. The most common is, "You've got to pick it up," to a runner who is hanging on by his fingernails. Maybe tell him to relax. I've asked my runners what they want to hear from me that might help. Most common answer: something encouraging, reassuring, like "You look great!" or "You've got a good one going. You're going to love your time." They always relax, and their hunched shoulders come down, and their stride smooths out. My girls like hearing "You're my favorite!" Knowing full well that I yell it to all of them. Makes them smile, and relax.

Gary Glitter wrote:

Constantly reminding us how tough he was as an athlete.

Constantly reminding us all the great athletes he's coached.

Always mentioning himself first in any interview. "I told Jimmy to get out hard. I am always telling him great race strategies."

Always sticking his nose in the top runner's business regardless of whether he actually coaches them or not.

This reminds me of my former college xc coach. He always talked about himself and all the great athletes he'd coached, championships won. He had his resume memorized.

And the most annoying thing was that he hired his wife as assistant coach. She was a so so runner with no coaching skills. She was such a witch to us and claimed to have healing powers and psychic abilities. Coach made us spend time with her if we were injured and it wasn't for massage but some kind of hands healing woo woo thing called reiki. She would yell at us all the time and we called her a mail order bride. Coach overheard us one day and pretended he didn't.

Looking back I can't believe he pushed her weird healing powers on us. She was crazy and made him look pvssywhipped. The team found her website once and had a good laugh. Coaches who think their spouse should be assistant coach are usually wrong. They're just trying to get more money coming in and it's a convenient setup.

I've seen many a male coach hire his wife who ran track in college. Always a bad idea!

other coaches wrote:

I could go on about some of the coaches I've had, but one of my "favorite" quirks I've only seen from other coaches: No matter where they are, on any track or xc course, they feel compelled to yell out the time. I used to think the coach had planned something out (by this point you should be under 3:45), until one of the athletes on another team confessed to us he had no idea what to make of it. Just random time on a random spot on the course.

That is hilarious! My coach does the same thing and the numbers he yells out are so random. I also laugh when coach runs across the field so fervently to give us another split time. It's like a random number that doesn't help. A word to help me relax would be way more helpful. I have my friends or teammates yell code words that make me laugh or smile to relax. And my brother is the one I count on to give me an accurate split time, not coach.

Not my coach but there was a coach at an indoor meet I went to who would sprint back and forth between the two straightaways during the 3k to yell at his runner. The 3k is 15 laps indoors so he went back and forth around 30 times and almost as soon as he got to one side he would have to run back. He also had to run over and around the dozens of other teams who were sitting on the infield. We all joked that he was getting a better workout than his runner.

He doesn't actually shower with us, but he watches us shower through some hole in the wall. You'll walk by this quarter-sized hole, and there's his eyeball peeking through it. I'm guessing we're all stars on pornhub at this point and don't even know it.

Too many prostrate exams. We've tried to explain to him that girls don't even have a prostrate, but he keeps giving us exams.