What am I doing WRONG?!

Okay, bear with me hear, you're going to see a few lines of idiotic wangst. Anyway....

Do to a long, painful story, next year I will have to be on my school cross country team. For the record, this past year I ran a mile in 6:54. I was in the top 10 of my gym class. Anyway, upon telling this to my uncle, he immediately insisted that I join the cross country (due to the aforementioned long, painful, story.) He also told me that I would have to spend the rest of the summer on a strict running schedule (14 miles a week, two rest days). Since starting this, my best time has been eight minutes. And that was practically a freak accident. Lately, I've been having to put forth TREMENDOUS amounts of effort just to get a ten minute mile. I don't know why this is. I tend to run better when I'm with a group (and become more competitive) but I seriously doubt that would result in a THREE MINUTE DIFFERENCE. Anyway, I've been trending at about eleven-to-thirteen minute miles, which is incredibly frustrating, even to a non-athletic person like me. It also doesn't help that while I'm running, I encounter frequent cramps, lack of motivation to continue running, and the fact that all I can think of is how much I detest running. It's practically ruining my summer.

So, any advice? Anyone?

edited 18th Jun '11 10:42:38 PM by Kexruct

They call themselves seamstresses -Feet Of Clay

For the cramps, try more potassium in your diet. For the rest, maybe your stride is off, maybe your pace since you say you run harder in groups.

Or do you want advice on how to deal with your family?

You detest running. That right there is the key.

It's not something you like, it's become a job that you have to slog through. Joy makes it much easier to do well, and to keep trying when you hit a bad spot.

The other very real possibility is that 14 miles a week is simply too much at this time. You may well be over-stressing your body, and not allowing the muscles time to recover. How much did you run in the average week when you did your 6:54 mile?

edited 18th Jun '11 10:51:12 PM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Well, I can't exactly quit now. Long, painful story and all.

Edit: I hardly ran at all. Seems I can only do good when I'm not expecting to.

edited 18th Jun '11 11:28:56 PM by Kexruct

They call themselves seamstresses -Feet Of Clay

Well, pretty much, if you detest it, you won't ever be good at it. You mkight want to inform the people around you you're unhappy, because generally, somehow who is unhappy isnt going to perform amazingly.

Well, it depends on what his or her motivations for sticking with running are.

If it's all that important to him or her to be in the cross country team, for whatever reason, then it may make sense to keep working on it even though he or she does not like it at the moment.

This said, some observations:

• I am no expert, but your running schedule might be a little excessive for you at the moment. If you don't give your body enough time to recover then your performance will degrade, not improve.

• Nutrition matters. Are you eating enough, and are you eating the right kind of stuff?

• Sleep matters even more. Are you getting enough of it?

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

As for nutrition, I'm not ENTIRELY sure, but I tend to have a relatively reasonable diet. As for sleep, I'm on TV Tropes, what do you THINK?

I'm male, by the way.

They call themselves seamstresses -Feet Of Clay

I think that you need at least eight hours of sleep per day, and if you don't get them you'll pay for it. Seriously, nuke your computer if necessary but get enough sleep.

edited 19th Jun '11 12:34:36 AM by Carciofus

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

You sound just like my tennis instructor! Luckily, today is one of my "rest days" anyway. I generally get enough sleep on the normal days though. The fact that I have to get a good amount of sleep annoys me though (Not as valid a complaint as I thought when I thought it. :| ). I planned on staying up late this summer, and this kinda ruins it.

edited 19th Jun '11 12:44:46 AM by Kexruct

They call themselves seamstresses -Feet Of Clay

Agreeing with the folks saying 'explain that you hate running', etc, etc. If you can't do that due to the LPS, then you may want to try to find someone else to run with (preferably someone who actually does like it). Having company when you're doing anything athletic works wonders for a couple of reasons- You've got someone to compete with, you've got something to concentrate on besides how bad your legs hurt and how you can't breathe, and (though YMMV on whether this is ''good or not), you've got someone who'll be disappointed in you if you don't show for practice.

They lost me. Forgot me. Made you from parts of me. If you're the One, my father's son, what am I supposed to be?

How long has it been since you ran the 6:54 mile? What kind of exercise have you done in between now and then?

And how properly recorded was that good time? How regularly could you repeat it?

Now, I could tell you're overworking yourself and you should get more sleep, but that wouldn't fix the fundamental problem.

See, the fundamental problem is that you don't like running. And my advice, LPS or not, is to stop running. If you don't, you are going to waste a lot of time and a lot of effort on a thing you hate to do.

I'm convinced that our modern day analogues to ancient scholars are comedians. -0dd1

I ran the 6:54 mile sometime in early May. Naturally, I had no idea that I would end up being essentially FORCED into cross country (LPS, plus the fact that I don't want to disappoint anyone), so I didn't do much excercise.

I can't quit running. Even without the LPS, I've already committed to this and I can't disappoint all my family.

Thanks for the advice, and yes, having someone to be disappointed in me would definently help.

edited 19th Jun '11 8:43:55 AM by Kexruct

They call themselves seamstresses -Feet Of Clay

Let's see:

• Diet
• Environment (I can gaurentee you that a nice sidewalk on a day with a cool breeze will be better conditions than most "cross country" type deals.)
• Clothes (shoes/pants/whatever&etc)
• Mood (jogger's high is definitely an important factor in running distance; mood can affect it.)
• Time of day
• Sleep
• Injury (perhaps you aren't running as well BECAUSE you have tried to hard and thus worn down your body and increased stress.)
• poor focus
• Inaccurate measurement/timing of running distance
• Water consumed
• Various other bodily factors (stuff pertaining to when you last went to the bathroom, whether your back is out of alignment, and so on.)

Is that enough?

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! ~ GOD

Yeah, that helps.

They call themselves seamstresses -Feet Of Clay

Your welcome then.

A few more that I just thought of:

• Poor breathing rhythm (not too fast, not too shallow, not too deep, and so on. Experiment a bit.)
• Pacing
• Pacing
• Pacing
• Yes, pacing. (You should be able to sing "happy birthday to you" in full without gasping or anything. Yes, that song, seriously.)
• And most important of all, poor form. (This one can make a big difference, and I'll explain the best I can. Running is a complex thing for you body to perform, so you need to pay careful attention to every last one of your muscles. Even your toes, neck, abs, and back have a huge impace, so don't forget to use EVERY aspect of your body to get moving. When I refocus myself to this, I can run nearly twice as fast for twice as long. Make sure that you are standing up straight; pushing off with every muscle in your feet; tightening you abs, building momentum by swinging your arms properly; EVERYTHING.)

edited 19th Jun '11 10:02:56 AM by TheMightyAnonym

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! ~ GOD