Crappy Coach

I'm not sure where you are, but I know Santos (Stanford) lets people do their own training.

heck, have you tried talking to your coach? If this is your first year at a program, then maybe he's got a longer-term plan that hasn't quite been realized yet.

Seems like people are running well already. Maybe you should commit to it? Sounds like the only athletes with issues are the ones who aren't very fast.

You really should check out Coach Dahl in San antonio. I believe he coaches at lady of the lake university. It's easy to get into, but not cheap. He is very passionate about his runners and the sport. I think he's also bilingual.

If he's speaks fluent Spanish, then it probably secured his position there in San antonio. I wouldn't be shocked if they even offered him a higher salary compared to those who are not bilingual or trilingual. Having that asset is a big deal nowadays, especially in certain cities. Is it the entire reason he got the job in San antonio? Probably not. But I bet my butt that it sure helped him if they saw that on his application.

The #1 make or break issue with coaching applicants is having the attribute of G.A. experience. Many would-be coaches can't gain their initial tertiary employment because nobody ever gave them any experience. Nobody gives you anything in life. You have to work for it. This is where alma-mater graduate assistant coaching work becomes not only beneficial, but an essential road to your future networking web. It's not like coaches go to job conventions or have internships thrown at them. Sadly, coaching jobs are far and few in between. Sounds like he saw a vacancy, hopped all over it, and had a positive reaction from the interviewer, and is now gainfully employee at a post secondary institution in San antonio.

Note- just because he coaches and/or teaches in san antonio, does not mean he necessarily has JOB SECURITY there.

The bilingual quality really can stick out like a yellow corvette in the eyes of job interviewers. If that is legitimately on his background portfolio, and it didn't explicitly exist within the other applicants portfolio, that I guarantee you that's why they gave 430miler the coaching position as soon as it was vacant.

All in all, as long as you have taken the act or sat, have a highschool diploma, and lettered atleast 1 year in track or xc, then you need to run for coach dahl at lady of the lake. Atleast submit an application or recruitment form. It doesnt hurt.

Best of luck to to your team this indoor season. ■Honest Miguel 2.0■

Welcome to college coaching. There are a lot of bad college coaches out there. Many cover it up with good recruiting. If you are a distance runner just build up some mileage and that can overcome some of the poor coaching.

A couple facts, according to you:

It’s your first year. You more than likely have a lot to learn about training as a college freshmen (my input)

The two “elites” are running well. something is clearly working for them.

It doesn’t sound like you’ve talked to your coach. I would recommend, for the time being, committing to the program. Talk to your coach about the training plan, and establish what your long term and short term goals are. perhaps you just aren’t seeing something that the coach is. it’s also possible the coach isn’t great. it also sounds like you’re prioritizing getting an education (good for you) over running. that means none of this is absolutely critically important right this second. Take a breath and enjoy your time there if you can.

This sort of complaint comes up here constantly. The first question that comes to mind when I read one is whether or not the person making it has talked with his coach. If you've talked to your coach you need to tell us what came of that conversation. If you haven't talked with your coach, why not? So that's maybe the first problem I see that makes it hard to tell you what I would do other than to say I'd talk with my coach.

The second problem for me with giving a response is that all you say about your workouts are that they seem like high school workouts only longer. Why is that a problem? There is nothing wrong with high school workouts generally and doing the same things but making them longer (which by the way, means they really are not high school workouts) seems a logical way to go. That doesn't mean that a specific workout or two is necessarily a good one but it also doesn't mean it's a crap session just because it reminds of the giant economy size version of something you did in high school.

Without seeing your schedule and knowing more details, it's hard to know if your coach is actually crappy. In college I had no idea if my coaches were good or not. Coach B got me better results than Coach A. That doesn't mean Coach A was a bad coach, he had a lot of success with a different type of athlete. They both did things extremely different from my high school coaches, and I don't think my HS coaches were necessarily bad. I didn't feel like it was until many years later, after college, with a lot more running under my belt, that I felt even remotely qualified to assess the validity and efficacy of a training program.

They forgot to include him on their website...oops.

ollusaintsathletics.com

Men's Track & Field

Men's Track & Field

Link:www.ollusaintsathletics.com/sports/mtr...

You should probably provide examples of how the training is bad. Then we can assess and give you advice.

If you can’t do that, then maybe you are the issues and your teammates. Culture matters and a couple moldy berries ruins the bunch.

If this is a situation where X friend did Y workout last week at Z school, and now you want to do that….then just stop posting. Many athletes look at workout and training in the moment and not how it sets you up to do certain training in the later parts of the season.

On second thought, why am I entertaining your question again? You should just quit the team or transfer. You are a coward that is complaining on a forum about someone else instead of approaching them directly.

Thanks for everyone's responses.

A. many of you guys are right, I need to discuss training and performance with my coach.

B. about the workouts. When I say they seem like High School workouts, I mean they seem to constantly burn athletes out and lead to nearly everyone peaking much to early in the season.

C. Should also clarify more about the 2 elite athletes, it seems that my coach's workouts seem to work for them but not nearly as much for the rest of the team (both guys and girls) he seems to soley base workouts on them

D. why the random stuff about the guy in texas? im not trying to transfer

Congratulations on your 2nd post under a new username 👏. Can you please give the OP a email for him submit an application.

i felt like my college soccer coach overtrained us and then didn't focus enough on skill work. over time i adjusted to deliberately taking certain days' practices easy. day before the game, for example. he would have us out there too long in the sun before games. i would stagger my pregame equipment rituals to give me some rest time on the sideline. start off in a tee shirt that had to be swapped for the jersey. leave taping my socks up until partway through the warmup, off to the sidelines, do my tape. i would then play every minute of every game almost. my attitude came from my select situation, where we were taught to have a california attitude. stay fit, try to play well but don't kill yourself in practice, and be loose on game day.

i know once every few weeks the coach seemed to detect my "gamer" adjustment and send a particular attacking player chasing me around, force my effort level up. so i know he noticed. but in the end it comes down to performance. if you do the job, only the biggest jerks will come after you about how you get there.

honestly i used to be mr. dutiful hard work but an XC coach got me anemic. and i work hard, especially on game day. but i learned after the anemia to do self-help. if it gets stupid, modify. find a reason to be in the restroom or with your gear bag. the idea is to max out on meet day and not leave it on the practice track.

i care deeply about my teammates, many of whom are still my friends, and am proud of what i accomplished but if i could have a redo i would. you only get to do this once. if you can transfer i would consider it. there's a reason i push "fit to school" when talking to wannabe recruits on here.

Same not capitalized letters for lady of the lake university in another thread by a different username. How many accounts do you have?

1. Double on the sly and add in things that you think you are missing. Some coaches have a cookie-cutter approach, maybe that's why a couple people actually do respond well. Ask your coach what the training plan is for the next few days...say that you have a test or project coming up, and need to put a lot of effort into school on easier days...then fit in additional training where it suits you in the training schedule.

2. Many coaches are waiting for athletes to step up to what they prescribe before they add in more nuanced stuff. If they are just high school workouts, but longer, I would think that you should be able to handle it...then tell your coach that it's not that hard, and you want to try more things.

3. Some training methods are "tried and true," which may be why your Coach sticks to them. Not everyone needs/should have blood lactate meters out a couple times a week for sub-par athletes... If you can't handle the 10x400 at 3k pace with 200-400 jog, that really might be telling about you/your teammate's abilities.

4. Talk to an AD and be respectful about the situation. The AD should want what is best for the program... Our AD's used to randomly approach athletes and ask about how things were going...not just because they were friendly people (they were) and fans of the sport (they were), but also because they wanted to be sure that the program was staying at a high level (kind of their job).

Can you give an example of the training you're doing?

Maybe post your last 2 weeks training?

It's hard to give advice when we don't have a full picture of what's going on. A lot of the time, poor performances aren't due to bad programming, but bad habits on behalf of the athlete. These can be difficult things for athletes to recognise, especially when they're deeply entrenched.

If you are miserable, then leave. Future you will thank present you.

You are doing the right thing by modifying the workouts. With such a large team he won't notice. If the degree is important enough to not want to transfer, then if the coach notices and gives you grief just leave the team and run on your own.

I was butchered in high school my Junior year and after doing my own research and figuring out the coach didn't know what he was doing, I decided to graduate early and not run for the high school team (was also unhappy with the academics.) First I went to the coach and offered him some books and articles on training, which he arrogantly dismissed, making him an arrogant clueless coach. I went on to train with a club team with some older guys from my high school who had qualified for the Olympic Marathon trial, ran with them on-and-off during and after college. The high school coach bad-mouthed the club team coach and he also told some local college coaches I was a "head case" who "abandoned the team" my Senior year. My Junior year I was the only member of my XC team who finished all races and prevented my team from getting blanked after two of our guys quit the race; we also missed getting out of sectionals when our #1 quit in the final (he developed a habit of quitting if he couldn't win and had a mysterious injury that would flare up before he had to face a runner he couldn't beat.) So yeah, I was the head case (LOL.) The basic problem with our high school training during season was high intensity workouts on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then an easy day Thursday before the meet on Friday (shift the days if the meet was on a different day.) I think even the most elite world-class athletes would break down on that type of "program." It was an amazing experience to train with the club team where the workouts were like play sessions (one hard day per week) and my health and consistency improved. We had a 14:08 guy on the club team (a good time back then) and a kid who went on to run an 8:45 2 mile in college. I also trained with a D1 team but wasn't on the traveling squad.

Bottom line - no one is going to look out for you except you yourself. Looking out for #1 is not a bad thing, it is a good. Unfortunately, distance running and track & field seems to be heavily populated by petty, jealous, egotistical little people (including so many of the coaches.) Maybe sports in general is the same?