Seven Lessons That College Running Has Taught Me

Yesterday was my last regular season meet of my freshmen year of college and with conference only two weeks away and nationals only four weeks away, I thought I'd share some lessons that my first collegiate season of running has taught me for anyone else who is running in college or soon to be.

1. Your training will probably differ, either slightly or radically, from high school and that is perfectly fine. Even the best runners in the world don't have a perfect training plan, but they trust their training nonetheless and perform at their fullest potential because of their trust in themselves and their coach.

2. Due to that change in training philosophy and style, you might not have a great freshmen year. In fact, you might not even have a good freshman year. Freshman year of college usually entails higher mileage, longer practices, increased stress due to academics and athletics, longer race distances and more freedom in making decisions that could help or harm you on the course. It's okay not to be a standout freshman, just try your hardest every day and continue to adapt to college life and running. The results will come.

3. Respect the easy run! Higher mileage always increases your risk of burnout or injury and if you're upping your mileage from high school, it's important that you're not pushing your easy runs. Nobody has ever gotten injured from too much recovery.

4. Workouts are meant to prepare you to race, but that doesn't mean race them. If you have two runners running a workout together a few days before their next meet and one decides he'll really get after it and push the pace to prove to himself or this other runner that he is dominant, I almost guarantee the runner of equal ability level that doesn't kill the workout, but instead hits his target paces like his coach instructs will come out on top come race day. Your coach is giving you workouts to challenge you and strengthen you and they may even tax you come race day, but never allow them to tax you more than he or she originally intended.

5. That being said, there's no point in forming rivalries towards your teammates or feeling like you have to show them up. If you are side by side with your teammate in the final stretch; sure get competitive and attempt to out-kick him or her, but you should be even more driven to do the same to your opponents. Whether you finish 34th and your teammate finishes 35th or vise-versa, it is the exact same points for your team and that's all that truly matters. Running in college more than ever is about the team and what you can do to help the team, not yourself.

6. Don't expect to consistently finish in the same position on your team. In high school, teams are prone to getting into the mindset that this person is the top runner, then this person second, this person third and so on down the line. The issue with this is it puts runners in a box and forms a belief that they can't race higher up on their team, potentially holding them back. In a competitive college program, you may have a top runner consistently, but expect there to be packs that are constantly changing and challenging one another. When everyone is striving to finish as high as possible and perform at their best every race in a team with depth, you'll likely get surpassed by individuals some races and pass up other runners in other races. Expect it, you're running with the best of the best.

7. Rebuild your confidence. Maybe you ended your high school career as a dominant runner who had confidence they were the best in the race every time they toed the line or maybe you weren't so confident even as a senior in high school. Regardless, college has a tendency to make you question yourself again your freshman year. But you are running collegiality for a reason. If you weren't a good runner with potential to become even better, you wouldn't be on your team's roster. So don't be afraid when you toe the line; this is the same sport we've been involved in for as many as six or seven years. You are still just as good a runner as you were in high school and likely even better, so be bold! Don't let fear pin you down.

Thank you so much for reading and I wish the best to all of you as we find ourselves either already in or approaching the most important meets of the year! Run boldly.

- Anonymous