Why do so many HS stars get so hyped up, go to a great school, and then vanish off the earth once they compete?

Also, I think another big part of it is self-discipline. As in, stay the hell away from BS like drinking, drugs, smoking, etc.

You have to find a way to incorporate running into your life that makes it remain a mere passion and not a chore.

Nothing wrong with having a true life outside of running, partying, etc. but a big reason why these kids fail is because they simply just choose to make other decisions (particularly bad ones)

Balance and management is everything. I think a true passionate runner wouldn't make all of those dumb decisions that would get in the way of why they're truly at the college to begin with.

Why do so many first round picks in the NBA, NFL, and MLB fail to make it in the pros? Because it is nearly impossible to predict how a teenager will perform in their adult bodies and brains.

Imagine how many phenoms run their first 70+ mile weeks in college while getting their asses thoroughly kicked by the upper classmen every race and say "Why in the heck am I doing this? This is horribly painful, takes an enormous amount of time, and my chances of ever getting a big pro contract are minimal."

The Americans become annoying idiots on this site, recycling hallucinations about their chosen [white] Norwegian runner and, recently, suggesting that they're ready to switch sides to Scotland (to another white male runner) should the Messiah fall, as well as reaching for the silliest reasons (previously; they're more comfortable saying why they don't like black people lately) to cheer for white European women over darker Americans.

Bro what

Bro, read.

i classify myself as a highschool phenon. my first year in grade 11. i beat all the hogh school runners, college, and men over 1500 m to 10 mile.

my coach had me doing 3 sessions per day. 4-5 miles 6am 30x 200m in 32 sec. 4pm. and universal gym weights circuit 9pm. my first season . veon evetything and was burned out. on my own i just jogged easy for 4 months to recover. smart.

i walked on in oregon. had scholarship elsewhere.

ran with sal chappa mcchesney and the rest. there were a ton of us walkons. it was the death of the dream in mass.

even a guy like chappa never got to the olympics . wtf.

mcchesney pre died in accidents. sal ran himself nearly to death.

david mack to jail. later on

the carnage is unbelievable.

i ended up in year 2 finally catching up to art borleau 29 10k flat guy. which means i may run in the big meets soon. but then broke an ankle.

they added a 4 minute miler and a new crop. in my absence. which was unnoticed.

so i quit. the olympic dream was too far fetched.

quit to concenteate on a carear in science. which was my focus all along and running was a distraction that i kind of loved. winning races was the drug like prize fighting i suppose.

i got sucked into the sport because i was naturally good. and was very happy to have done it. and not to the point that it damaged health.

some training sessions were most satisfying when you could keep pace with whos who. days when you suddenly say to yourself. maybe i know what i'm doing after all.

despite the dissappointibg end. very plesant memories remain ..

the solo guy gutting it out .. that is my kind if guy.

my theory is that fastest level high school runners ran 100 mpw, which gave them an advantage over the competition. i think many of the top runners (but not best) progress more slowly and maybe peak at 60mpw by their senior year. in situations like these, the 100mpw guy may beat the 60mpw guy in high school, but by the time the 60mpw guy gets to their freshmen or sophomore year in college, they may be running the same amount of miles as the 100mpw guy and turning out to be the faster runner.

Poster child for this is Cade Flatt. 1:59 in MS. 1:46 in HS. Then 1:49 in College and degrading.

I think kids like this reach their physical maturity much earlier than late bloomers. Because some kids blossom early we tag them as a talent. When in reality there are dozens of late blooming Cade Flatts that get to 1:46 in their mid-20s instead of their teens. Nutrition, good coach, weight training, etc...etc... eventually equalize the talents vs the harder workers.

Believe it or not, what you did in HS matters. The reason why HS phenoms don't pan out is they think training hard = success. Every hs athlete who is sub 4:10 I guarantee is training harder or just as hard as some collegiate programs. Once they get to the next level, you cant train hard all the time averaging 70+ miles.

I think those numbers are mostly more like 45-75 comparisons in high school, not 60-100. I think there are a lot of guys putting up great HS times on 70-80mpw and looking heavily trained, but there are also guys putting up times good enough for D1 on 40-50mpw. I’ve never heard claims that any HS phenom was over 80mpw.

That said, the heavy mileage in HS discussion misses the part where it might show that a kid is capable of handling high mileage. I know of a few runners who looked like perfect candidates for college progress with good times on extremely low mileage. But in college every time their college coach got them anywhere near even the lower end of college mileage, they broke down.

You would never throw boiling water on a frozen wind shield.

In picking a college, a high school athlete should not care about how enormous the football stadium is or any of the other fluff.

if he/she wants to be great when going away to college, it is important to remember all of the not so little things you did to be great in HS. Sleep, diet, expectations, rituals, etc. it should be a transition where one holds onto all of the things that made greatness. it’s hard for an 18 year old to realize these things. Telling this to a teenager probably goes in one ear and out the other.

it would be fascinating to see Bob Kennedy’s transition I imagine the overall stress level wasn’t that much different from spring of 1988 to the fall of 1988. be probably defrosted his windshield with Luke warm water.

this is how my college TF coach rolled. to me, is the flip side of coaches who get by on recruiting, and who hang their hat on the successes of the few. the worst coaches in a conference can usually accurately say they coached x amount of conference champions and perhaps even nationals kid.

i had always appreciated how my HS coach had invested in everyone and knew all the parents and told them complimentary things about their kids. and he wasn't some softy, he was a special teams coach. and we set a couple state records and had several state champions. but this is not at odds with doing your job more broadly with the full roster. it's just some of the main metrics available to AD bosses are stuff like conference or nationals individual successes that if you recruit competently or even well, can be achieved with limited coaching quality or effort.

I believe the best way to set up HSers for success is to focus on gradually increasing mileage and volume of stamina workouts. Way too many justify hammerfest VO2 workouts by leaning on the fact they’re only running 50mpw and therefore still have room to improve in College. It’s better to start preparing for the volume and leave room for improvement in the intensity of the workouts.

injuries, physical growth, response to training, change in lifestyle, mental struggles, motivation

but you can pick your pond and the extent of jump, would be my response.

i mean, the dead last kid in SEC -- a senior -- was 1:59 in HS, his PR is now 1:51, dropped 8 seconds. still 3 seconds on his best day from scoring points in SEC. same kid goes patriot league finishes 6th. same kid goes NESCAC finishes 1st. has to drop those 8 seconds anyplace he goes to do that. he's not going to nationals any way you slice it and is UF's 8th best 800 guy. why go anywhere to be 8th in line at your own school and need to drop 11 seconds to finish 8th in conference. but he can say he ran for UF and in the SEC, though he barely ever scored points in any meets.

Either you're new around here or just trolling. Nobody talks about this? This has been beaten to death on countless past threads.

Steph Curry took a similar route.

To clarify, instead of going to a top hoops college with the big guns, where he would be under the spotlight, he chose Davidson to further build his skills and confidence.

Is this an anti-Phillip Rocha thread?