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after my first two seasons in cross country and track and field, the hardest course for me is definitely Mt. Sac. what else are the hardest courses around?

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I am a freshman in high school and this is my story of my awful cross country district race.

Ok so to start, I am middle of the road as far as speed goes. My 5k or is 16:59 (ik just barely under 17) and mile is 5:02 and 3200 is 10:50. I had a chance at going to state and I was very, VERY set on making the cut. the bus ride to state was 8 hours and this girl I liked for a long time (about a year) was definitely going on the bus so I really wanted to spend 16 HOURS with her cuz like who wouldn’t wanna do that. My goal, was to black out at the finish line and have nothing left so that I could go on this trip to state. As you’ll soon find out that kinda didn’t happen. Key word “kinda😅

Ok so the race was on the hardest course in our area and I had to be top 7 and because I had so much adrenaline built up I started the race in 3rd right next to my best friend on the team. I held that spot at like a 5:20 mile for like half the race. I became very fatigued at about half way which is normal but trust me it gets worse than just being “tired”. so at like 1.5 I dropped to 4th but the 5th place guy was far far behind me. At this point my legs had the most lactic acid build up I’ve ever experienced and I dropped down to like a 6 min mile pace. I know sometimes cross country sucks and I understand the pain but… this was like seriously different. 2 mile mark was when I realized I was screwed. The birds that fly around your head in cartoons came out and people watching later said I was no longer running in a straight line to say the least. But I kept going. I’m just thinking “ state state state state” over and over in my head. Half a mile goes by and I’m down to 7 min mile but the 5th place dude STILL hasn’t gotten me yet. So I keep going. At about .2 miles left is when things get bad. I have never tried so hard for anything this hard before in my life. You guys are distance runners so I know you know what it feels like to get a or something but I was like physically fighting to stay upright. this is when the finish line was in sight and there is a big big BIG downhill that goes into the finish. Unfortunately, it has trees on either side of it. So I’m running down it full speed and I black out run head first into a tree and tumble down the hill for like a meter. Then I wake up and am thinking “state state state state… that girl… state state state state”. So I keep going. I get up and hobble for 10ish meters and try to keep running but I fully black out this time like completely. This is the part of the story where it is not what I remember and more what I have been told by people who were there. I was out for about 5 minutes and my that feeling when you finish a race and you are sucking in as much air as possible? Ok think of that but you aren’t getting the air. That’s what happened. I woke up and my coach was like actually shaking my head trying to get me awake. I cannot tell you in words how bad my chest hurt. In the moment I thought I was going to die like for real. I had 3 heart ministers hooked up to me by the local like doctor/parent people and/or garmin watches and for 7 straight minutes I was over 200 and I peaked at 227 bpm. The paramedics eventually got there and even after like 10 min I was still in and out of consciousness. The parts where I was awake I just remember impulsively saying “state state state”. I ended up being driven to the hospital and they ran tests on my heart and said that I didn’t have a heart attack I had more of a heart failure because I literally did what every cross country coach says to do which is “go 100%”. They basically told me that that was my limit and I crossed it. I had to stay over night because my heart rate would not go down to resting and it just stayed go for a long period of time. The next day it was somewhat back I normal so they let me go home. I did not qualify for state and I did not get top 7.

I was hurting bad because I obviously worked really hard then didn’t stretch at lol or recover I just payed down and didn’t move. But the real reason I was hurting is that I missed the state trip with the girl I had always liked. Or at least I thought…

Turns out there is a qualifying rule that if you should have qualified but a obstacle outside of your control (suck as a heart issue) stopped you from going, then you get a free one way ticket to STATE! I managed to go to state but the coaches stopped me from running. But like who cares at least I went!!! And it was amazing and so fun. So that’s my story and I hope you liked it thanks so much for reading it!

Update: i am doing a half marathon fun run with the girl this weekend just me and her! Wish me luck please! God bless and happy running🏃‍♀️

Currently a sophomore in high school not on the cross country team. If I were to join I would join junior year. I’ve been running for a while, a month ago I ran a 1:45:51 half marathon and last week I ran a 5:37 mile. I’m starting to train for 5ks, and was wondering if it would be possible to get recruited, and if so how fast I would need to be. Also if there are any things I should do to boost my chances of getting recruited. Thank you.

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One of my players asked me about this program. Is this a legit company? And if used, has there actually been improvements or do they recruit 1000 kids and then post about the 10 that are late developers.

I’m a collegiate runner about to go into my Junior year next season, and I’m trying to figure out how/if it is beneficial to build my leg strength through lifting etc. My aerobic ability is always fine during races as I’m never held back because of breathing struggles, it is mainly always that my legs get too tired to keep pushing though. I mainly train for 5-10k. My coach tells me I need to just get stronger but what would be the best way to go about this? Anything helps :)

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This thread reposts every 4 days

Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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This thread reposts every 4 days

Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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This thread reposts every 4 days

Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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This thread reposts every 4 days

Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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📷

High School XC/long distance track runner. My teammates are trying to get me to lift with them. The days they usually lift are the recovery days after workouts or our long run days. Our coach has not said anything about lifting. I am wondering if lifting actually has that much of an impact on how well you run. In track, I run the mile and two mile, and in XC I have about a 19:00 5k as one of the top JV runners, if that helps. Thanks!

This is going to be a half injury, half training question and may be a bit long but bear with me because I am really struggling here.

I am a senior in high school and it’s approaching the end of the school year and my college decision has been weighing upon me heavily. Half way through my cross country season I hurt myself really bad. At my school, our summer workouts are super tough to prepare us for the season and it gets even tougher when you’re fighting for varsity. Being my last year, I pushed harder than I ever to protect my spot on varsity and it was going pretty well until my shin splints turned into me taking 4+ tylenol pills per race just to have pain right as the adrenaline wore off. I thought this was normal because for as long as I could remember there was pain with running but never this bad. For the preceding 10 months of track and cross country, I had shin splints which sucked a lot but I always powered through pain and that wasn’t going to stop then. So at a meet half way through this past season, I collapsed post-race (after doing decent).

I got an x-ray and MRI which showed severe damage and small fractures on my shin bone. They classified it as a “stress reaction” and made me wear a boot and quit running. I missed the whole rest of my season including my team going to states but I stayed there the whole time. This was all back in October/November and I haven’t ran more than 7 minutes so far but still I have pain even from walking around too much during the day let alone attempting a “return-to-running” program and have been doing PT where they have been progressively loading the bone and trying to get it to heal (even using acoustic shock therapy every week to attempt to stimulate bone healing), taking large amounts of vitamin D and resting them at home instead of doing more laborious work. While it has certainly improved, I cannot run very long without pretty tough pain.

TLDR: I have a handful of NAIA offers which greatly play into my college decision but I am worried about 2 things;

1. Getting my cardio and speed back to what it was when they first started looking into me so they don’t feel like they’ve lost value.
2. Actually be able to run by the time their summer workouts start and get rid of stress reactions and shin splints for good.

So what I need to know is how do I fix this without waiting for forever as it feels like life is passing me by and how do I keep my cardio up so my offers aren’t worth anything?

Hey guys how’s it going? I’ve never really posted anything like this online but I’d like to hear what some have to say regarding this.

So I started coaching distance at a local high school track and field program. The head coach and I are rebuilding and shaping the culture here because it was in shambles years prior.

My group is young (mostly freshmen and sophomores), are new to track and field, did a sport in the fall, and have a lot of potential especially if they truly commit to summer training post spring track. But most of them immediately reject the idea of cross country or say that they’ll do soccer or football and perhaps do XC later in high school. I ask them why and they either say they just don’t want to or because they don’t like the thought of running a 5k OR because they think they’ve got a varsity spot reserved for them in the sports they played in the fall. Most played soccer or football back in the fall and if you look at them you’ll see they’re clearly built for XC rather than tackling or bodying other people on the field. The guys for the most part are lean and naturally quick. The girls are also hard workers and aren’t afraid to push themselves. I’m really proud of everyone’s progress. Behind the scenes, other coaches and the AT implied that they’re better off doing XC because they’re not really doing much in the other sports mentioned compared to their progress in track thus far.

Their progress has been great and some of my guys are already wanting to go sub 5 (they’re currently in like 5:20-5:30 shape right now) I also have 2 girls with alot of potential too and aren’t afraid to feel pain. They’ve all been responding great to the steady mileage build and track workouts. So I would hate to train them and have it all go down the drain because they decided to go play on teams with toxic coaches and sit on the bench most of the time. I realize I enjoy coaching especially because these kids are the future so I want to be able to help them be successful and feel fulfilled.

XC is a rewarding sport and underrated when talking about the more mainstream sports like soccer, football, and basketball. I’d love to train them and continue aiding in their progress. I know they’re young and their priorities and decision making aren’t the best at 14-16 so I want to try and steer them in the right direction. I know that as long as I’m around they’ll always have someone wanting the best for them.

I’ve been pondering on this for awhile now and I figured I’d ask you guys for some tips or something. They’ve got their first dual meet tomorrow so hopefully that will encourage them to continue working hard like they have been. They’re goofy and young but also put in the work once they get going.

Don’t really know what to expect but any response would be greatly appreciated. Cheers to track and field and XC. I hope everyone has a great season.

Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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This thread reposts every 4 days

Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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This thread reposts every 4 days

Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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My son runs HS CC and distance races and needs a runners watch. Ideas?

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We've all heard athletes who say they want to run D1. What do you mean by that statement? Lets look at three examples of D1 teams: Oklahoma State, Charleston Southern University, and Louisiana State University. I'm looking at men's teams specifically but the question is open to the ladies looking to run at a D1 program.

OK State has been an elite D1 program for years. Coach Dave Smith has lead the team to 4 National Titles in XC during is tenure there. Great athletes like German Fernandez and Isai Rodriguez have gone through the program.

Charleston Southern University has had a lot or success in the past decade. They've won the Big South for years in a row. To my knowledge, CSU has not sent a full team or individuals to nationals, though a few have earned All-Region awards. To say this team has had a huge turn-around would be an understatement. The D2 team I ran for (07-11) used to beat CSU routinely and it was never close.

LSU is bottom of the pack in the SEC. They would be an average D2 team if they were D2. To my knowledge, LSU has never sent a men's team to nationals or any individuals.

What do you mean when you say you want to run D1? Or be good enough to run D1?

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I feel so lucky, if anyone is wondering I was at the Indoor Champoinships Semi Finals at the New Balance HQ in Boston. I would post the pictures but I get a little self conscious when putting myself on the internet. They were all so nice and fun to talk too. Congrats to Nico on his win today!

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Back in December a high school runner came to me with with some issues no one at his school seemed to be able to help him with. Not his coaches or the school's athletic trainer. The issues were shin pain and pain in the lower calf. He'd finish his easy runs feeling like his calf muscles would explode. He worked with me mid-december to mid-january

First thing I did was watch him run for 15 minutes to get a good look at his form. Kid has a really strong stride but he came down really hard on his toes. The primary reason for the hard toe strike was his coach teaching him form drills specifically for sprinters and hurdlers.

The second thing I did was lower his mileage to reduce the pain and teach form drills to shift the runner to a mid-foot strike. After a few weeks the shin pain went away but the calf pain did not.

From the start of his time under me, I encouraged the runner to get into a PT clinic to get his calves checked out. I'm a workout and conditioning guy. Not a physical therapist. I know what I can do and what I can't do.

The way he described his pain (like they're going to explode) I thought it could be compartment syndrome. A condition where the calf muscle is trying to expand but the fascia is not expanding and just acts like a vice grip on the muscle. B/c the calf can't expand, blood starts pooling in the muscle, adding to the pressure being felt. Runners can go as long as they can tolerate the pain but there is a chance of developing permanent nerve and muscle damage if left untreated. That was not the problem though. It was the Achilles tendons.

Once the runner got into the clinic, he discovered that his Achilles tendons were too short as a result of running on his toes for a long time. The shortened tendons were the reason for the calf pain and caused him to struggle with dorsiflexion as well. He started rehabbing at the clinic and gained flexibility back in the Achilles tendons. As a result of the rehab, this runner opened his outdoor season with a new PR of 4:33 after running 4:58 at an indoor meet in January.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to teach proper form and mechanics to young runners. It's unfortunate most of the ADs in my area only hire yes men and "one team" philosophy bs minded people to coach distance runners. The general assumption is that distance is just long sprinting and it's causing irreparable harm. 3 girls from the same school, over the last 8 years, have dealt with injuries that permanently keep them from running ever again. One had a complete tear of the IT band and two others have permanent knee damage. One AD told me during an interview he was tired of seeing his runners come in 2 minutes behind everyone else and then hired someone incapable of changing the situation. I have nothing but antipathy for these ignorant creatures.

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