u/pumpkinspeedwagon86

I'll try to keep this short. I'm a rising sophomore in high school and since last year I've been running for my school's varsity cross country & track team. I guess I enjoy running itself but the biggest draw of the sport is the competition, which I love.

Pros of leaving

• Escaping a coach who I think could be described as toxic. This is the main one. My coach has pressured me to train through injury (leading to a tibial stress injury), constantly questioned my commitment and character when I'm sick or injured, complained to athletes about each other's performance, publicly humiliated and shamed us, using my "potential" as leverage, and the like.
• Preserving my enjoyment of running. I feel like running has been so tied up with this environment that it's caused me to burn out before and question whether I even want to try my best or to train.
• Not getting stuck in a cycle. Last year I decided to join cross country and it eventually snowballed where I forced myself to do indoor and outdoor track "since I've already made it this far." I think it's fairly realistic to assume that if I do cross country this season I'm committing to at least another full year of this.

Cons of leaving

• No other opportunities to do competitive running. This is probably the biggest one. I've extensively searched club teams in my area and none of them are realistic logistically, nor is the option to compete unattached. I would essentially be giving up cross country & track.
• Not having a goal to work towards. A lot of what I'm motivated by is the competition. Without the competition I don't think I would want to seriously train on my own, so I doubt I would run that much.
• Loss of identity. I've only been doing running for a year but it's basically become a major part of my life.
• Potential regret. I know that regret doesn't mean I've made the wrong choice but I'm scared that I'll look back wondering how good I could have become if I'd stayed.

I'm four days into the season, I've constantly dreaded practises and cried before or after them, but I feel trapped, like the cost of leaving is too high even if I don't want to stay. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

EDIT: Thanks for all the replies, many of you have suggested escalating to the school's athletic director, this is something that has been tried repeatedly for a decade by parents, captains, and athletes, to no avail.

I'm a rising sophomore in HS and I've been questioning whether my coach is considered toxic or not. Public humiliation of athletes, inconsistency with injuries (sometimes shaming runners for mentioning injury concerns, sometimes praising us for listening to our bodies), isolating people, and being results-obsessed in the sense of creating wedges in the team by complaining to individual athletes about others' performances.

I had a fragmented (because of injury) but overall successful freshman year that I'm proud of. I don't want to abandon that, and I like my team environment overall and the friendships I've formed on the team, but the coach has made it hard for me to love running and contributed to a lot of burnout for me after three seasons last year.

I signed up for the season because of the deadline and my preseason starts tomorrow morning. I'm really dreading going and the entire summer I was hoping for clarity and never really committed to a decision of whether to stay or to leave. Has anyone been in a similar situation and would anyone mind sharing their experience or a word of advice if they have? Thank you!

Hello sprinters, I'm a rising sophomore (female) and I'm interested in trying out the 400m as a secondary event. I primarily do 1500, 3k, and cross country (5k) and am also working on the 800m, but I would like the 400m to develop more speed endurance and help with my kick.

I already regularly do 150s & 200s at 800 race pace at the end of my easy runs and occasionally longer 200-400 (800-1500 race pace) sessions as standalone workouts. Does anyone have suggestions for workouts that can improve my top speed?

Thanks in advance

Hey everyone, I don't mean to discourage anyone with this post. I'm a rising sophomore in high school and I finished my outdoor track season a month ago to finish off what was overall a successful year, having the opportunity to run varsity and race championships. If it matters, I typically run middle-distance (800, 1500 & 3k) as well as 5k for cross country.

I've been feeling increasingly negative about running since ending my season, and I'm struggling to tell the difference between temporary (although severe) burnout and a more permanent disengagement or loss of love for running, at least in this format. Even the idea of an easy run pretty much feels torturous, physically and mentally, and I have not been running consistently since outdoor season.

I am seriously contemplating not doing cross country (which begins in mid-August) and taking a break from running indefinitely, but I'm not sure I can make a rational decision right now in this state, so I would appreciate some advice. I've summarised some pros/cons of that below.

Pros

• Mental recovery. I think this is the most obvious one. I had some negative feelings towards running and thought about quitting during winter (indoor) season and parts of spring (outdoor) but I have never felt so negative about running until now.
• Avoiding a toxic coaching environment. Honestly, my coach has been a huge part of the reason why I've contemplated quitting in the past and why I am debating it now. I had a tibial stress fracture for the first half of outdoor season and I was pressured to recover faster so I could compete for the team.
• Physical recovery. Thankfully, for over a month I have been medically cleared to return to training and racing from my injury, and ran quite a few PR's when I got back during outdoor season so I could salvage at least part of it. I would be able to give my body a break overall though which could reduce the risk of overuse injuries in the future if I go back to running.
• More free time. I could focus more on academics which were sometimes deprioritised. I also had pretty significant academic burnout around the time of outdoor season's championships from being stressed out generally and I think stepping away could be beneficial. Also, I could try other activities and strengthen non-running friendships.

Cons

• Loss of identity and structure in my life. This would probably be the most significant one, I can't imagine what my life would be like without running and competition as it has affected so many parts of my world.
• Social considerations and team bonds. I have made some of my closest friends through running and it would feel weird to leave that behind.
• Loss of fitness. I know I could replace this with cross-training like cycling, but I'm not sure how much I would actually do that in practise.
• Internal regret. Deep down, I believe that I still care about running, it just doesn't feel possible in the current environment. I would have trouble sitting with the "what-if" of achievement either way, whether or not I choose to return to running eventually or not.

I apologise for writing so much; if anyone has been in a similar situation or could share a word of advice, that would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hey everyone, I don't mean to discourage fellow members of the running community with this post but I am really in a dilemma right now and don't know if I'm in the right mental state to make a rational decision so some outside perspective from people with far more experience than me would be really appreciated right now.

I'm in high school and I had a generally successful (but injury-ridden) freshman year running varsity and having the opportunity to race at some of the championship meets. I'm nowhere near elite or top of my team, but I would say I'm in a position where it wouldn't be realistic for me to consider looking into the D3 recruiting process by junior year if I continue to improve (I know how difficult it is to predict trajectory by senior year, and I am not saying this is my primary goal in running, it is far from it and a distant consideration that I would be able to more realistically reassess year-by-year. I included this to show that, at least at the time of my peak season, I had every intention to continue running in the future, at whatever level)

I had an ankle issue (likely a sprain) at the beginning of cross country season but I recovered and salvaged the season, motivating me to do indoor track. That was the first time I started to consistently experience feelings of dread related to running, and seriously contemplated quitting. I decided to push through because my times weren't good enough to make me a scorer for indoor anyway and so I had a pretty short season as a result.

I planned to start a Summer of Malmö-inspired summer training plan based on my coach's recommendations but I've been struggling to get outside going, and so far easy runs at a much slower pace than what I was hitting during track season have felt mentally and physically horrible and I'm struggling to run over a mile without stopping.

• I had a tibial stress fracture at the beginning of outdoor season. The recovery process was slow and frustrating, but I was determined not to lose fitness and cross-trained fairly aggressively. When I came back, I started to hit PR's after a few weeks of regaining race sharpness and that was probably the peak of my season.
• I haven't felt the joy of running consistently in a while, even during successful periods of each season. The end of outdoor track was pretty bittersweet: both sad and grateful that structured training had ended and I was on my own. Easy runs have felt draining, physically and mentally, with added pressure from my coach not helping things.
• Since outdoor track ended I haven't really felt like myself. I've been sleeping way too much and my appetite has been up and down. The very idea of going outside for an easy shakeout feels horrible. Running is a huge part of my identity though and I would probably have regrets if I quit eventually, but feel good initially.
• My motivation has been up and down pretty much, but I'm not completely averse to the sport generally. I'm still able to consume running content inconsistently but have random floods of anger, frustration, and regret sometimes when doing so. Watching the elites (such as Diamond League, getting to see the 800m women's WR attempt recently) has been really enjoyable.

Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thank you in advance.

Hey everyone, I don't mean to discourage fellow members of the running community with this post but I am really in a dilemma right now and don't know if I'm in the right mental state to make a rational decision so some outside perspective from people with far more experience than me would be really appreciated right now.

I'm in high school and I had a generally successful (but injury-ridden) freshman year running varsity and having the opportunity to race at some of the championship meets. I'm nowhere near elite or top of my team but I have been recognised with all-conference and the like.

I had an ankle issue (likely a sprain) at the beginning of cross country season but I recovered and salvaged the season, motivating me to do indoor track. That was the first time I started to consistently experience feelings of dread related to running, and seriously contemplated quitting. I decided to push through because my times weren't good enough to make me a scorer for indoor anyway and so I had a pretty short season as a result.

I planned to start a Summer of Malmö-inspired summer training plan based on my coach's recommendations but I've been struggling to get outside going, and so far easy runs at a much slower pace than what I was hitting during track season have felt mentally and physically horrible and I'm struggling to run over a mile without stopping.

• I had a tibial stress fracture at the beginning of outdoor season. The recovery process was slow and frustrating, but I was determined not to lose fitness and cross-trained fairly aggressively. When I came back, I started to hit PR's after a few weeks of regaining race sharpness and that was probably the peak of my season.
• I haven't felt the joy of running consistently in a while, even during successful periods of each season. The end of outdoor track was pretty bittersweet: both sad and grateful that structured training had ended and I was on my own. Easy runs have felt draining, physically and mentally, with added pressure from my coach not helping things.
• Since outdoor track ended I haven't really felt like myself. I've been sleeping way too much and my appetite has been up and down. The very idea of going outside for an easy shakeout feels horrible. Running is a huge part of my identity though and I would probably have regrets if I quit eventually, but feel good initially.

Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thank you in advance.

Edit: removed the part about recruiting as I think some people misunderstood what I meant, I'm not saying I have a guaranteed/likely shot at D3, I was just trying to give some perspective on where I am in my development

Hello psychiatrists of reddit, I'm a high school student interested in forensic psychiatry. I'm particularly drawn to philosophy and ethics and I think this is a fascinating field with the potential to make a big impact.

Could you share more about your work on a day-to-day basis and how you deal with the moral complications of being involved with criminals and the criminal justice system? Are you satisfied with the field overall, and do you have any advice for how to determine whether this is really the career and specialisation for me?

For reference, I am also considering (aerospace) engineering and applied maths.

Thank you in advance.

Hi everyone, I know it's quite early to be thinking about this as I haven't raced distances over 5k, but I would love to be able to train for long-distance races.

I currently compete 800-3k (mainly 1500 & 3k). Any middle-distance runners who have become marathoners that could share any advice?

I'm a high school student interested in both aerospace engineering and medicine (specifically psychiatry). While I enjoy applied maths and machine learning, I'm afraid that I'll feel detached and somewhat isolated if I pursue engineering. One of the primary reasons I'm interested in psychiatry is because there is a clear human impact tied to it which isn't necessarily present with engineering.

So I'm curious to know how engineering students with the lived experience feel about this. Thanks for reading.

Hello,

Does anyone have experience with the engineering undergrad programs (specifically for aeronautical) at ITU? How are the career opportunities within Türkiye?

Thank you in advance.

Hello,

Could anyone who has studied undergrad engineering at AUB share their experience with career opportunities either inside or outside Lebanon? Considering the current political climate, would you recommend AUB for US international applicants?

Thank you in advance.

I remember reading the novel Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, which centres around a minister's son in Phippsburg, Maine who befriends a girl from a community of freed slaves on the neighboring Malaga Island. I essentially went into a rabbit hole of the historical context and accuracy of the book and I've been left with a few questions.

• Historical accounts show that many of the island's residents were descendants of Benjamin Darling, who settled there in the late 18th century. By the time of its eradication, it was home to a thriving mixed-race community. How did this come to be considering the racial tensions of other areas of the U.S. at the time?
• The residents of Malaga Island were evicted in 1912 by the State of Maine. Was racism or the desire for financial gain the main driver of this?
• The history of Malaga Island remains relatively unknown to the general American public, from what I understand, and isn't taught in most schools' traditional history curriculum. Why might that be?

Thank you for any and all responses! Feel free to suggest sources or books on the topic.

I once heard the triple jump described as

>boing boing boing

and I'll never forget that.

400 is by far the easiest though, it's only one lap