A Letter to my HS Coach, Thank You !!! - struggling d1 freshmen

Dear HS coach,

As a 5k/10k runner in college thank you for building my mileage up over my years of HS and getting me started on long runs so I would have the aerobic development to prepare me for college running. Oh wait... that didn't happen. You were all about low mileage and intervals.

Never mind.

been there 2 wrote:

Dear HS coach,

As a 5k/10k runner in college thank you for building my mileage up over my years of HS and getting me started on long runs so I would have the aerobic development to prepare me for college running. Oh wait... that didn't happen. You were all about low mileage and intervals.

Never mind.

Shelby Houlihan ran low mileage and intervals and ate McDonalds frequently. Didn't stop her from winning NCAA title in 1500 and running Olympic 5000m. Talent for next level is either there or its not.

Alternative Letter wrote:

To my High School Coach,

I am not sure whether you know who I am but am guessing you don't. We never met but I heard about you. I was the best long-distance runner in the School District and probably still have the School 10km record. Thank you for reading.

0/10

What HS has a 10k record? Be a little less creative next time.

Speed may be developed but one has to start very, very early. A high school coach wants to and needs to develop as many sub-50 second 400m fellas as possible. If the high school coach cannot develop sub-50 400m guys, hopefully he can develop sub-55 400m guys who have a shot of racing sub-2:02 800m. You have your twenties and thirties to develop your VO2max and race Marathons.

xzcvxcv wrote:

It was that the quotation contradicts the claim earlier in the letter. The quotation says to run through pain, while the letter praises the coach for evaluating even small pains to see whether they were anything serious.

RIGHT!? That's what I was confused about.

The OP is clearly a thoughtful and sensitive person who is having a rough time. Can any of you see that?

Some D1 track programs feel like a factory and make the runner feel like a factory worker. As a result, the runner loses a connection with what made running click for them before. If it feels like an art, if it feels like a passion, then it is worth it. If it feels like factory work, then it is not.

Her high school coach sounded like a warm person. It seems like her current program is lacking a human element. Sounds like it's just drudgery.

oh boyyy wrote:

StrugglingD1runner wrote:

As I ponder my future in this sport, I think back to the quote you wrote in my yearbook

"Push yourself until the pain comes, and you feel you cannot survive. Then go on. Here the ego will let go. Here you will be purified."

Thank you,

X

FWIW- that quote is pretty creepy. Who asks their coach sign their yearbook anyway? Sounds like you had an unusual relationship with your HS coach, and I don't mean that in a good way.

I hope you're joking- I coached for 20 years and signed many year books and I was invited to graduation parties.

IMO indoor track is pretty much what's wrong with the sport of running in general for our youth. These kids have relatively few years of training behind them and instead of just building them up as runners we throw in this dumb indoor track season to prevent them from just training through the winter. Suddenly we expect them to hammer out races on tiny tracks at top speeds and then we act surprised in the spring when they didn't get much better over the winter. High schools and colleges need to race their kids less and work more on incremental improvements. You might get your team 1 more point at one indoor meet, but isn't it better to be a monster athlete a year later and getting your team 10 points in a meet? Coaches can be very short sighted.

i know i'm a douche wrote:

I'm guessing you won't be writing a similar letter to your HS English teacher.

Brilliant

Of interest to me is that HS sports is so important in America.

We had 2 track meets a year in my school. One to pick a team, and then it was voluntary entry contest. And then a regional school's competition for the winner of the first meet.

I never had a coach. And I medaled in the Olympic Trials.

A coach can't put in what isn't there. And if its not in there, no coach is ever good enough to put it there.

Run, jump, whatever and control your own destiny. Be master of your own domain.

runn wrote:

oh boyyy wrote:

FWIW- that quote is pretty creepy. Who asks their coach sign their yearbook anyway? Sounds like you had an unusual relationship with your HS coach, and I don't mean that in a good way.

I hope you're joking- I coached for 20 years and signed many year books and I was invited to graduation parties.

Yes, we're not surprised. Did you love your athlete, too, no matter the outcome?

Part of college is learning that you need to make it on your own. I can tell your coach did their best to instill a lot of confidence and fulfillment in you and your running. You now need to take what you've learned from them and find it within yourself. Don't quit just yet.

ironside wrote:

Speed may be developed but one has to start very, very early. A high school coach wants to and needs to develop as many sub-50 second 400m fellas as possible. If the high school coach cannot develop sub-50 400m guys, hopefully he can develop sub-55 400m guys who have a shot of racing sub-2:02 800m. You have your twenties and thirties to develop your VO2max and race Marathons.

OMG. LOL. In HS for runners 1600 and above it really is about aerobic development. All the low mileage HS coaches for distance runners are a f** joke.

Back in the day at the Golden West track meet I roomed with the best HS 400m runner in the nation that year. He ran track for the first time about 6 weeks earlier and was HS state champion and then the Golden West champion.

You don't develop speed.

bump, simply because I was randomly browsing and found this thread.

That. Was. Awesome.

Probably a good time to talk about this again now that freshmen just finished their first year of College XC. Most guys running D1 are used to getting attention from their HS coach because they were the fastest of the 40 guys on the team. Now they are the slowest of the 20 on the team and they think that the coach does not care. Think about the 30th guy on your HS team and then think about how much more your HS coach really cared. Most coaches care, it just seems like the college coach doesn't care as much because you are used to being at the center of your team, family, and coach's attention.

She also was doped to the gills over the past few years, hence her drastic improvement.

duddddddddde wrote:

runn wrote:

I hope you're joking- I coached for 20 years and signed many year books and I was invited to graduation parties.

Yes, we're not surprised. Did you love your athlete, too, no matter the outcome?

Four Example:

Ah chooooooo!!!

stick man wrote:

D1_coach wrote:

Here's a quote for ya:

Suck it up.

You're welcome.

Suck it up? That's terrible advice. No one outside of the running world cares that you were a scrub D1 runner (no offense). No one in the real world will care that you decided not to run after one year, I promise. No one will care if you decided to run for all 4 years either.

Life is short, there is no point in wasting 4 of the best years of your life doing something you don't enjoy. Here's some life advice: if you don't like it, quit, there is absolutely no point doing things that don't add to your well being.

+1

It's funny how on the coaching thread, all these guys are bitching about females being hired. Maybe because "suck it up" doesn't work. Throwing athletes at the wall and seeing what sticks isn't sustainable if you actually give a crap about a human's well-being.

e·mo·tion·al in·tel·li·gence

noun

the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

"emotional intelligence is the key to both personal and professional success"