How to get out of the 4x8 (already had a talk with coach)

Run the 800 at between 1600 and 3200 pace - that's a great warm-up. Tell coach someone stepped on your foot. Magically it clears up before your main event and you run a PR.

Pissed off 800/1600 dude wrote:

I was entered in the open 800 this Saturday (large invitational, good place to run fast) when two kids on the 4x8 scratched and said they weren't going to the meet. Naturally, my coach decides not to just drop the 4x8 team but instead decides to put me and another kid on (both of us were looking to run PRs in our respective main events, this is one of the only opportunities we have all season to run fast). We both talked to him, saying we weren't going to try and that there was no point in running it, and he decided to be a hardass and didn't budge. How do I get out of this?

This isn't a troll

-your token high school 2:06/4:40 guy

Working against your argument young fella:

1) Your coach is not telling you to race 4 x 800m in a small silly dual/tri/quad meet. It's a large invitational.

2) Your coach is telling you to race 4 x 800m due to two runners not being able to race for some reason. Your coach didn't make the decision as a "hardass" as you said.

3) It's early April. Six more weeks to set PB.

4) You may not know it. T&F is a team sport. Relays is about making a personal sacrifice for the good of the other three on relay team; for the good of the entire T&F team. Others have posted that you should give an awful effort on 4 x 800m relay. If I were the coach, if you were to intentionally race a 3:00 800m relay leg on my 4x800m relay team, the only individual event I would allow you to race the rest of the season would be 3200m. I would tell you: I am sorry. I misjudged your talent. You obviously do not have the speed to compete as an 800m athlete. You are now our 3200m specialist.

Pissed off 800/1600 dude wrote:

We both talked to him, saying we weren't going to try and that there was no point in running it, and he decided to be a hardass and didn't budge. How do I get out of this?

You told him you don't want to run it. That's enough.

Have the other two guys tell him as well.

In any case, show up well in advance of your event to warm up, and don't show up for the relay at all.

Get the 4 guys together, and all of you completely disappear, from at least an hour or more before the start of the relay. Then get ready and visible before your events, but on the track, not having any contact with the coach. Avoid him, as much as is possible. If they don't let you run your event, then you can't, but make every effort to do so, and the same for your teammates.

The coach is only looking out for himself, and doesn't give a s*** what happens to any of you.

Don't let him get away with that. It's probably a good idea to get your parents involved at some point, in particular if he starts abusing you more and/or threatens to kick you off the team.

If you can't double back in the open, then don't bother having high hopes to make a championship final. Whether a few hours apart or back to back days, you will need be able to run hard more than once. If you don't think you can then why bother showing up on Saturday.

My senior year in HS I wanted to go for the school record in the 3200m at the Conference Championship. My coach refused to let me skip the 1600m as I was ranked 1st and undefeated. I jogged the first thousand and crushed everyone over the last 600. By the time the 3200 came up winds kicked up, it started raining and even hailed three laps in. The result was a time much slower than the school record, and slowest podium (1st -6th place) in years. Had I not ran the 1600m I would have had nothing to show for my final Conference Championship.

Um, it is called racing. The race is the thing. Times are just some arbitrary measurement. Who cares about times. The race is the experience. You want to not race so you have a better chance of running getting some pointless PR. Just go set up your own time trial.

Or better yet, maybe we could just chip in and buy you a shiny medal and then you wouldn't even have to show up.

I used to have the run the 4x8 at the most big meets espeically when I was going for a fast 8. You just go first leg so you get an extra 6 mins of rest and mentally move on to the next race.

I’d run 1:55 anytime I went first leg. I was a 1:48 high schooler tho ??‍♂️

My 800 times were in the same ballpark as yours, but I never got the chance to run the 4x800 in my life. I'm a bit jealous.

BrianE wrote:

My 800 times were in the same ballpark as yours, but I never got the chance to run the 4x800 in my life. I'm a bit jealous.

Same ballpark as the OP's. My coach never entered us in any meets that had the 4x8.

You are being a terrible team player. Also, at your level, you should be able to get good competition at dual meets to go for PRs. You have a long career and lots of races ahead of you.

BrianE wrote:

BrianE wrote:

My 800 times were in the same ballpark as yours, but I never got the chance to run the 4x800 in my life. I'm a bit jealous.

Same ballpark as the OP's. My coach never entered us in any meets that had the 4x8.

In MN, 4 x 800m is a standard high school event.

Dude...you are a freshman?

1) You don't have the power to not let it stand. Again...horrible attitude on your part.

2) College coaches don't look at freshman times, ESPECIALLY not in an 800 and up except in VERY rare instances. Ohio had a freshman win the D1 state title last spring, and he ran 1:52 during the season...a college coach might notice that, but they aren't interested until you are a junior, and no college coach is excited about seeing a 2:04 from a freshman. Little story for you -- a guy who was on my son's HS track team ran exactly 2:04 as a freshman. He destroyed all the other boys on the team. Two other freshmen on the team that year ran 2:15. As seniors, the 2:04 guy had gotten to 1:57. The 2:15 guys got down to 1:54. 1:57 is a walk-on at a mediocre D1 school. The 1:54 guys are scholarship guys at NAIA schools.

3) Who says the point of an invitational is to run fast in an open race? You might WANT that to be the point, but it isn't. You have to do what your coach wants you to do.

4) If you ever are fast enough to get the attention of a college coach some day, he/she will want to talk to your high school coach. They will ask things like: Is he a team player? What are his strengths and weaknesses? Is he coachable? What are your overall feelings about this athlete?

You are making a mistake by having such a horrible attitude with your coach. Not your call on what you get to run. Perhaps you put in a couple of good years he might let you run for a fast time as a junior. You need patience. You need discipline.

I see a bad rest of your high school career based on your attitude alone. You and the guys on this 4x800 who all told the coach they wouldn't try should be punished. Again, if you said that to me, you would NOT be running in this meet in any event. I would give you another shot in another meet, but if you ever talked to me again like that, you would be off the team.

You can be a bratty freshman (and you are based on your own description of your behavior) without being rude and flipping off a coach. Good lord. If you flipped off the coach (if it were me), you would be off the team right then and there.

Your coach wants to field as many events as possible. There is nothing wrong with this.

You are currently a 2:06 800 runner. Good luck finding meets that will allow you to run in unattached. You are being foolish.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

1) You can run the 4x800 and still run a PR in the open 800.

not bloody likely.

All that guff about the coach is in charge, and wrong attitude, goes nowhere after a lie like that. Start by saying PR's aren't everything, maybe.

Sure he can when he's a 2:06 runner. I just saw a kid do this on Tuesday night! He went 2:07 in the relay and then 2:04 in the open 800 for his PR. Lots of traffic for him in the 4x800 and it was windy. By open 800, no wind and little traffic.

Could he have run 2:03 if he didn't do the 4x800? Maybe.

Firstly take a look at the bigger picture. You're in high school there will be many more races to run this year, next year and on in the future. Beyond that in ten years time what you did in a 800m at high school really won't matter to you that much. So do what the coach asks and do the relay.

That said, if none of you wants to run the relay, then get the first guy to drop the baton, or run out of lane and get DQed.

If you're one of the later legs then evaluate the situation. If your team can win it, then give it your best. If you're 100-metres behind in 8th place just cruise round.

Pissed off 800/1600 guy wrote:

Listen, dude, I get where you're coming from. That's a nice story. But if I know what's better for me then it's hard to sit by while my coach has me doing 6x400 3 days a week. I understand the attitude of trying hard in everything, staying humble and just waiting to see results. I just want to drop a solid time in an invitational without having to worry about the damn 4x8

What's wrong with doing 6 x 400m workouts three days a week? Is that too hard or too easy? Do you want more variety? Do you want to do 12 x 200m or 9 x 300m? In college, sub-47 400m 800m athletes often can speak up and have a say in their training. Run a 50 or 51 400m. Until, do the 4 x800m with a smile on your face.

Ask to be the first leg or the anchor leg. If you're first leg, then you can count your split as your PR, if you are anchor leg and get the baton and are out of contention, then you can sandbag. If you get the baton and are in contention, then run as fast as you can. You will get the same effect in a relay as you would in an open. Since the race is the same distance and is not a critical meet, this should not be a huge issue. The only time I wish I would not have had to run the relay was as the regional meet my senior year of track. My state had a rule that prevented one from running more than two races 800 meters or longer. I got put into the relay because we had the fastest qualifying time leading into the meet. Well the three other guys decided to get drunk and chase tail the night before the race and ended up running 2:15-2:20 splits leaving me with the baton way out of contention. I won the state in the open 800 and probably could have won the 1600 as well if my state didn't have the damn rule. So much for being a team player.

The 800 and, to a lesser degree, the 400, should not be run twice a meet. They are the hardest races in track and running too many has negative effects. However, I do not think running both once in awhile is so bad.

I'm going to have to do what most people are suggesting about time trialing the first leg.

I'm not in the wrong here, people. I've had to deal with my coach's crap all year. I want to run one 800 for myself. One. It's not selfish, I don't have the wrong attitude.

Why don't I want to do that at the other invitational? It's smaller, less competitive and bad weather is forecasted. I could do so, but everything is lining up so that this Saturday is the perfect time to go for as fast open 8.

I think my coach is kind of being spiteful since I quit early in the XC season. He knows there's no point to this 4x8.

I will update you guys (for the maybe 2 that care) what I run on Saturday.