The Current Running Red Foxes
(photo courtesy of greg masto's facebook pictures)
College Running
I was your typical freshmen in college. I thought I knew it all, trained the bare minimum and lived for racing. I listened to my coach and got hyped up for every season only while I was finishing up whatever season preceded it. I was sick or injured at the end of almost every season and barely ran over the summer much like what Tim Broe talks about in this video. Actually, as I listen to it now, everything he is saying is basically how I was except I didn't go down to Australia to realize things. I realized everything while abroad in Alicante, Spain in September of 2005 at the end of a year long lower back injury. I came back telling myself that I didn't want to be a good runner, that I wanted to be the best I could be for now on.
Since that point I had to battle the College running scene. If you have experienced it then you will already know what I am going to say. For those of you who don't I will try to explain the scene the best I can. Basically it is a battle every day. Every day you have someone on your team who is feeling great that day and they want to push the run. After a brief name calling session (i.e. "Let's just pick it up, just a little." or "Don't puss out on me now!") you match the pace. Same thing goes for workouts. Recovery or easy days are far and few in between with an easy season completely out of the question, but college distance runners are expected to somehow. It has been proven impossible to run at top form for all three season. Something eventually gives and it is usually your body or your school work (and school work is a whole other dilemma).
However, upon returning from Spain after a year of serious thinking I knew what I had to do. I had to up my mileage (avg. 20-40 to 50-60) and take the easy days easy. Taking the easy days easy was very hard and I usually ran those days on my own or with a person who I could yell at to slow down (yeah, I know, bad. Sorry!). I watched my times come down to near respectable times (8:35 3k and 9:09 3k steeple) and I felt great. I trained over the summer and was dedicated. For my 5th year I had the goal of running well during cross country and outdoors. It was a hard concept for my team to understand and my coach, but god bless them, they went with it. I also had the luxury of living off campus and a busy schedule so I had a lot of time to run and train on my own and when I didn't I had Matt there who had similar goals and training philosophies. This rubbed many people the wrong way and others just said that it probably wouldn't work. My mom thought I was too skinny and that I was killing myself. My teammates did not like that I'd show up for a workout day after missing a few runs due to student teaching and I'd direct the workout and try to get them to do it my way. I understood everybody's' feelings but I knew what I had to do.
In the end, I went against the grain and I put 100% into it. It worked for the most part. I ran 14:42 in the 5k and got in some great base training for the first time in my life. Today, I still feel the effects of that training. But, the whole reason for this post is because I was talking to a former teammate about training and I felt as if I was preaching the Lydiard ways like it was an unknown concept or theory. I have only come across Lydiard's theory on training in the past few months, but since January 2006 I have more or less have trained this way (except for the higher mileage). I was trying to tell my ex-teammate to run based on feel and not by splits. That everyone needs to run off of feel or else they be over-trained or a poor racer that doesn't know what it feels like to run 4:45 back to back. I felt like some of the words were lost on him who is a good friend and was a great teammate. I know he was being as understanding as possible, but I know that it's hard to concider Lydiard when in the college ranks because every day there is some force to take you off of your plan. Kudos to all of those that have ever executed their plans to success. Actually, also to those who have failed, as long as you went at it 100%.
Training:
Wednesday:
Duration: 00hr 31min 00sec
Distance: 4 miles
Comments: Early run. Felt ok.
Thursday:
Duration: 00hr 32min 12sec
Distance: 3.5 miles
Comments: Didn't eat enough today and felt light-headed. Had to turn back way early. Will try again tomorrow.
I was your typical freshmen in college. I thought I knew it all, trained the bare minimum and lived for racing. I listened to my coach and got hyped up for every season only while I was finishing up whatever season preceded it. I was sick or injured at the end of almost every season and barely ran over the summer much like what Tim Broe talks about in this video. Actually, as I listen to it now, everything he is saying is basically how I was except I didn't go down to Australia to realize things. I realized everything while abroad in Alicante, Spain in September of 2005 at the end of a year long lower back injury. I came back telling myself that I didn't want to be a good runner, that I wanted to be the best I could be for now on.
Since that point I had to battle the College running scene. If you have experienced it then you will already know what I am going to say. For those of you who don't I will try to explain the scene the best I can. Basically it is a battle every day. Every day you have someone on your team who is feeling great that day and they want to push the run. After a brief name calling session (i.e. "Let's just pick it up, just a little." or "Don't puss out on me now!") you match the pace. Same thing goes for workouts. Recovery or easy days are far and few in between with an easy season completely out of the question, but college distance runners are expected to somehow. It has been proven impossible to run at top form for all three season. Something eventually gives and it is usually your body or your school work (and school work is a whole other dilemma).
However, upon returning from Spain after a year of serious thinking I knew what I had to do. I had to up my mileage (avg. 20-40 to 50-60) and take the easy days easy. Taking the easy days easy was very hard and I usually ran those days on my own or with a person who I could yell at to slow down (yeah, I know, bad. Sorry!). I watched my times come down to near respectable times (8:35 3k and 9:09 3k steeple) and I felt great. I trained over the summer and was dedicated. For my 5th year I had the goal of running well during cross country and outdoors. It was a hard concept for my team to understand and my coach, but god bless them, they went with it. I also had the luxury of living off campus and a busy schedule so I had a lot of time to run and train on my own and when I didn't I had Matt there who had similar goals and training philosophies. This rubbed many people the wrong way and others just said that it probably wouldn't work. My mom thought I was too skinny and that I was killing myself. My teammates did not like that I'd show up for a workout day after missing a few runs due to student teaching and I'd direct the workout and try to get them to do it my way. I understood everybody's' feelings but I knew what I had to do.
In the end, I went against the grain and I put 100% into it. It worked for the most part. I ran 14:42 in the 5k and got in some great base training for the first time in my life. Today, I still feel the effects of that training. But, the whole reason for this post is because I was talking to a former teammate about training and I felt as if I was preaching the Lydiard ways like it was an unknown concept or theory. I have only come across Lydiard's theory on training in the past few months, but since January 2006 I have more or less have trained this way (except for the higher mileage). I was trying to tell my ex-teammate to run based on feel and not by splits. That everyone needs to run off of feel or else they be over-trained or a poor racer that doesn't know what it feels like to run 4:45 back to back. I felt like some of the words were lost on him who is a good friend and was a great teammate. I know he was being as understanding as possible, but I know that it's hard to concider Lydiard when in the college ranks because every day there is some force to take you off of your plan. Kudos to all of those that have ever executed their plans to success. Actually, also to those who have failed, as long as you went at it 100%.
Training:
Wednesday:
Duration: 00hr 31min 00sec
Distance: 4 miles
Comments: Early run. Felt ok.
Thursday:
Duration: 00hr 32min 12sec
Distance: 3.5 miles
Comments: Didn't eat enough today and felt light-headed. Had to turn back way early. Will try again tomorrow.
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