Average D3 runner--How do I become great?

run 100+ miles every week. Do it in the morning so your coach doesn't see you. Abstain from drinking and sex, and use Endurox after every run.

whey protein, every evening

Well for starters you def need to be putting in more miles otherwise you are not going to improve, I can guarantee you that. Start with that and do your runs in the morning before anyo e is awake to even see you. You say you'll do whatever it takes so waking up in the dark must become a habit.

I don't know if your coach has some strategy or not but if he doesn't have much coaching experience or wasn"t a decent runner himself he probably doesn't know what he is doing and that really sucks. Start with the mileage though and get your legs and body use to taking the pain.

I'm assuming your coach has you do speed work and tempo runs so keep doing those as they are very beneficial.

If he gets mad at you going to fast I really don't know what to tell you. Maybe do your hard workouts in the morning, as hard as this may be, and use the slower runs he makes you go on as a recovery run. In a few weeks you will see the difference. Just don't give up when you start adding mileage and feel tired....that means its working and you are getting stronger and faster. Goodluck

knight runner wrote:

Well for starters you def need to be putting in more miles otherwise you are not going to improve, I can guarantee you that.

I am willing to take anyone who guarantees that 65-70 miles a week is too little up on a bet worth their life.

I think the coolest part is that you chose your school for academics.

I was unhappy on my team in college, but the school was great academically. That really is the most important part.

I hard Don Kardong speak (years ago--I'm nearly 50)--he ran for Stanford and finished 4th at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Anyway, he said (and hopefully I'm remembering it right after all these years) that the two most important things in being a great distance runner are persistence and a burning desire to be great.

Persistence: the ability to keep at it, keep at it, through thick and thin

and that fire in your belly, that intense hunger to conquer all obstacles

Kardong said, (paraphrase) "If you have those two things, one of these days you're going to find yourself near the top."

I also agree with D-face. If 70 miles a week is all your body can handle, then that's what you need to do.

It doesn't make sense to run 100 miles a week if you'll just break down and stay injured. Pay attention to your body. I did extra work too. In fact, I ran over 100 miles a week pretty much all the time, and I thought it helped me, but that was my body type. My coach was a big, fat redneck that weighed 250 pounds and didn't have an ounce of compassion in his body.

Good luck to you.

Hey doucheface listen up...

Well I don't know what you read because no where did I say that 65-70 miles a week is little. The kid asked how he can become faster and as you can ask the majority of the people on here, besides doing faster type runs which I also wrote, adding extra mileage is an important factor. Especially if he hasn't done it before, how will he ever know if his body can or can't handle it??? That question is for the guy who wrote right on top of me after you. Like you said...everybody is diferent and maybe just maybe adding this extra mileage will be all this kid needs to get faster. Its been proven many times.

70 miles at 8mpm is a lot of training time. 50-60 miles per week is a good base but if that is only getting you down to 29 min 8ks you need to up your aerobic training stress. A couple ways of doing this 1) boost the intensity. Get 3-4 runs of 20-40 min at marathon pace to 10k (start at MP and run the last 2 at 10k) 2) increase duration of some runs. Get 2-3 90+ min runs a week. Work up to 2 hours. 3) increase overall training time. Some combo of longer runs and more of them.

Doucheface wrote:

knight runner wrote:

Well for starters you def need to be putting in more miles otherwise you are not going to improve, I can guarantee you that.

I am willing to take anyone who guarantees that 65-70 miles a week is too little up on a bet worth their life.

Only one man can help you. And that man is Arthur Lydiard.

thanks a lot for the responses

also, my coach is actually a good runner. he ran for Michigan in his college days and is rumored to be a high 14s guy. He is a really nice guy, so I feel bad for running behind his back when he asked for my trust.

The issue I have, however, is that I have been doing training very similar to this for the past 3 years and have been getting the same results. I can't expect to do the same thing and get something different. Right?

If you are running 29:xx for 5 miles then 65 mpw is probably too much. I assume that you have run for 3-4 years of HS and you have made it just to this level. There is a reason for that.

You might not be capable of running 24:xx for XC five miles. Some people aren't.

Follow your coaches advice and try to make it to 28:xx and then 27:xx and so on. He is not the reason you aren't running 25:00. If that was in the cards for you you would have seen some evidence of it by now.

You are in the middle of cross country season, with conference in a few weeks. Now is not the time to be adding considerable distance to your runs; that's for the offseason/summer.

Finish off the season trusting your coach's plan. Sounds like he has running experience and you have trust in him. Talk to your coach as to what his plans are for the season, and what you need to do after the season is over to prepare for next year.

Take it one step at a time. See if you can break 29 before the season is over. Good luck in the rest of the season.

It sounds like you run for my alma matter. I graduated last year, and see from the school website that we've got a freshmen leading with low 29's. Is your first name Andrew by chance? I could definately tell you a few interesting things about that team/coach...

mpj wrote:

You are in the middle of cross country season, with conference in a few weeks. Now is not the time to be adding considerable distance to your runs; that's for the offseason/summer.

Finish off the season trusting your coach's plan. Sounds like he has running experience and you have trust in him. Talk to your coach as to what his plans are for the season, and what you need to do after the season is over to prepare for next year.

Take it one step at a time. See if you can break 29 before the season is over. Good luck in the rest of the season.

BINGO! Absolutely correct--add nothing to your running volume now, and follow the plan you've had for the last X weeks--BUT make absolutely sure you're getting consistent sleep every night. That means going to bed and waking up at about the same time every day, *including* weekends. It'll make a big difference for you.

Damn. That is some fine detective work. Yea, just shoot me an email.

Gotta love letsrun.com.

Patience, grasshopper. You're just getting started. Stay healthy, listen to your body, and keep at it. If you average 65-70 mpw over the next 10 years, you will be a stud.

You've just started working with this coach. Give him a chance and do what he says for at least this year. Mileage is only one variable; just because your mileage isn't changing much doesn't mean that you're not doing better training than you were before. There's no reason to think that you can't improve by 2 or 3 minues doing 65 mpw.

PaavoNW wrote:

also, my coach is actually a good runner. he ran for Michigan in his college days and is rumored to be a high 14s guy. He is a really nice guy, so I feel bad for running behind his back when he asked for my trust.

I figured out who you are, too. Your coach was a mid 15's guy, and more of a strength runner. He has a history of coaching some great teams. I understand your concerns, but your team has a strong history of improving throughout the season, which is due to good coaching. They've had guys improve by two minutes from GLCA to conference. I'm not saying that this is going to happen to you, but have faith in the coach, especially since this is your freshman year. If you are disappointed after the season, ask him to get you on an individualized plan.

I'm an alumnus of your college and went from being an untalented scrub with an 18:00 5k PR in high school to a 25:30 8k by my junior year. Trust me, your coach knows what he is doing.

Interesting thread best of luck to you mate.

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