Should I just quit?

Snowflake is right. Do the 30 minutes in the morning if you want to get faster.

The workouts sound fine. Not great. Fine. You have an indoor track team where you live. That is lucky. Take advantage of the opportunity. Some of the workouts sound totally fine. What you are calling crossfit sounds like just core work, which is a great thing to spend time on during the indoor season. Strides are good.

Sure, you could have a better workout plan with an elite coach. Staying on the team is better, for the social aspect, than running on your own.

Are you the only one complaining about the coach? Do your teammates think the same as you do? It would be more effective in talking to the coach and AD if there are others that feel the same as you do. Talk to your XC Coach and see what he thinks. Maybe he could talk with the track coach about training philosophy.

I don’t get all these kids who come in complaining that their coach doesn’t give them enough work. Fair enough if you feel like your coach is hammering you into the ground, but the other way around???

Just run more in the morning and weekends, stop complaining about your coach not giving you good enough practice. No one is stopping you from staying back after practice and doing more reps after a track session, or doubling easy in the morning. Sounds like the only one holding you back is you.

coach yourself and run at unattached meets

you sound like you have limitless potential.

no reason why you can't run sub 15 in xc.

fix your training a bit and focus on strength work during harder days

Here is a sample week:

Mon: Long Run (70 min. 6 x 100m strides) (LIFT)

Tues: Easy (35 min)

Wed: Speed (25 min w/u. 5 min uptempo. 10 x 150m hill @mile effort w/walk-jog rec. 20 min c/d) (LIFT)

Thurs: Moderate (50 min)

Fri: Easy (35 min)

Sat: Strength (25 min w/u. 4 x mile @3k pace w/ 3 min rec. 4 x 100m strides. 20 min c/d.) (LIFT)

Sun: Easy (40 min)

Have you considered switching teams? I think you should switch teams if possible. Your coach doesn't sound very nice and you're training doesn't look good. You shouldn't be waiting around and doing nothing for 20 minutes. Join another team/club.

First don’t misinterpet the guy telling you to run 4xmile @ 3k pace and do that every week; that’s a doozy of a workout and the overall volume of that week is NOT something to hop into with where you’re at.

I’ve been in this exact same position. I knew my potential, I knew the coach was a f*cking idiot, and I knew that i would be FAR more efficient with my own time than my coach would (i.e I could get in 2-3x the volume and quality in 1.5 hours vs a 2.5 hour practice).

This is what I did: Quit the team.

The coach was an imbecile and could not be reasoned with. The AD hired the coach and would stand behind him unwaveringly, and like you, just running 5mi every morning easy wasn’t going to help much with my 4 AP classes and the ~15mpw of a$$ workouts that were happeninng after school.

I quit the team, I upped my volume and improved my workouts. My fitness skyrocketed and a season later I was absolutely toasting my former teammates in races. 15mpw and idiotic workouts wouldn’t cut it for their 2 mile races.

Was it lonely and maybe took some fun out of things? Yes. Was it occasionally a pain to have to find somewhere else to workout (bc the team was at my school’s track)? Yes. But was I satisfied with the results and with the mf grind? You BET.

I do, however, also support the idea of being as secretive as you can and hust staying on the team, if only so that you can stay in mainstream HS competition. But if it just won’t work, then quit and train yourself. But don’t get excited and work way too hard, just reasonably so.

To follow up: Anyone telling you just to stick with your coach, and that if you BELIEVE and trust the process that you’ll be fine is full of it.

Most of these people have never had a truly awful coach, or if they did they’re the kind of runner who will improve leaps and bounds by just getting in ANY training stimulus and racing.

Since his workouts are very short and not very good, I'd recommend running 30-45 minutes on your own after each practice. His stuff seems to be all speed based and exercises, throw in your 4-6 mile run after the regular workout and I actually think you'll be in a pretty good position. "Mileage matters, and it matters a lot".... If you get that extra mileage after the practice to get you to a reasonable amount you'll be all set.

snowflakegirl wrote:

Snowflake is right. Do the 30 minutes in the morning if you want to get faster.

The workouts sound fine. Not great. Fine. You have an indoor track team where you live. That is lucky. Take advantage of the opportunity. Some of the workouts sound totally fine. What you are calling crossfit sounds like just core work, which is a great thing to spend time on during the indoor season. Strides are good.

Sure, you could have a better workout plan with an elite coach. Staying on the team is better, for the social aspect, than running on your own.

+1 for this

Just get your extra mileage in on your own in the morning or after practice, throw on some hill repeats on your own on Saturday. Make sure you're getting in enough mileage since your regular practice isn't very much mileage. Do core exercises on your own. Seems the coach's workouts give you enough top end speed, so it's not like you're not doing anything with him. Add in your extra mileage and you'll be good.

I was you in middle school up through track season my senior year. Had my head up my a** and thought I was hot stuff. Too good for my coaches workouts because I read books and posts online about the “right” way to train.

Senior year I didn’t do track because it wasn’t fun for me. Instead I did what I thought was fun and began marathon training. I, too took numerous AP courses and still found time for 60+ mile weeks and 2 or 3 two a day sessions.

My advice is this: if you’re just going to b*tch about your coach and make excuses then don’t stick with him. If you can gut it out and learn some time management you’ll be just fine running for the team.

High schoolers all think they’re so busy, which I find laughable. Wait till mom and dad aren’t feeding you and you have to work AND study in college. Or until when you graduate and have to bust a** just to feed yourself. Then tell me about how little time you think you have.

You can either piss and moan about “not reaching your full potential” or you can suck it up and take matters into your own hands. Whether that means staying on the team and running extra or going solo is up to you. It’s a personal choice that you’re gonna have to make. Welcome to life, hombre.

I absolutely think you should quit - I am serious. I'm a high school senior in the same situation. A few points:

1. you don't owe the coaches anything just because they happened to be appointed coach at your random posing high school. They're there to help you and if they're not doing their job then you should look elsewhere.

2. Running is an individual sport and if you have goals you must do whatever it takes to get there.

3. Don't listen to the boomers here who will say that because they are "The Almighty Coach" that they know best. Many do not.

4. If you have goals and your coaches are impeding you you have every right to do what you feel is best for you. This is not just s running thing but for any sport in general. The only caveat being you shouldn't be a dick to your coach (unless they're an absolute turd) no matter how poor they are

5. Indoor track is unnecessary - 3 seasons of racing is too much and really every high schooler would be better served getting in solid base training. So you aren't missing much by quitting. When spring track rolls around, however, it is different because you need to be on the team to race - I've outlined what I do below.

My personal story: I promised myself at the beginning of high school that I would do whatever it took to go sub 4:20 in the mile, and that I would not get complacent in training. Long story short turns out my high school coaches in track and XC are tools and were not giving me enough to help me achieve my goals. So, what I'd do freshman and sophomore years for example is if they told me to go for a run I'd go out and do a 25 minute tempo and some 200s all out of sight while the team just did like 30 minutes easy. Coaching change junior year made that impossible - new coach had us on the track every day doing no more than 3 miles... obviously not enough to improve to where I wanted to be. So, what I do now is do my hard workouts in the morning before school (easier now as a senior because I have a free first period) or I would cruise the workouts the coach had us do and then wait until everyone left, hop the fence back over the track and do a workout all by myself. It's brutal, but it's working because I put my head down and do the work. It is absolutely possible and I think you should do it but just know it is a long and lonely road to your goals.

Progression of PRs:

Freshman 5k XC 19:45 1600 5:00

Sophomore 5k XC 18:00 1600 4:42

Junior (train wreck year mentally) 5k XC 17:20 1600 4:38

Senior 5k XC (this year) 16:15 and I had more in the tank, never put a perfect race together on the right day. 4:32 1600m time trial all alone on the track.

Even with mediocre talent, anything is possible through hard work. Go get it done and report back, fellow runner