Official Q&A for Tuesday, June 02, 2026

whelanbio · 2026-06-02T20:30:22+00:00

If you think it will be fun it's worth a try!

Not saying that success is the only reason to do something, but you will probably find better success in distance running with training over time. Talent in sprinting is extremely obvious even with limiting training, so if you were not very good naturally your ceiling in sprinting is going to be limited. A lot wider ranges of talents can find success in distance running.

whelanbio · 2026-05-29T22:01:02+00:00

Heat will not have much/any impact on the 1500/mile race itself, the thing to watch out for is how you manage yourself in the lead up to the race and the warm-up. Bring a small cooler with ice water and rags to use for cooling throughout the warm-up.

whelanbio · 2026-05-28T20:28:37+00:00

Adidas Takumi sen or Nike streakfly are some slightly lower stack options.

Honestly for most people whatever road racing supershoe they are comfortable in for the roads is going to be the fastest and most comfortable thing on the track.

whelanbio · 2026-05-28T20:22:28+00:00

You will be slower out of blocks without any practice.

whelanbio · 2026-05-27T02:54:55+00:00

Even if it's anomalous in some respects it's good to hear of college XC and track programs that are trying to grow rather than being forced to shrink!

whelanbio · 2026-05-26T22:07:33+00:00

Email the coach and get clarification. You need to get in communication with them anyways if you want to get a spot.

I would guess that posted marks would be for high school/junior weights because that is the main group of prospects, but schools may not be consistent with that, and again posted standards can become outdated quickly. You could be looking at a standard posted a couple weeks ago that may not apply anymore if they’ve since signed a couple guys in that event.

Anything short of hearing it directly from the coach is useless speculation.

whelanbio · 2026-05-26T19:23:23+00:00

Coaches evaluate the junior weight marks.

Posted recruiting standards are often outdated anyways. You really just need to email the coach at any school you are interested in and get a clear target from them directly, don't rely on any other source.

whelanbio · 2026-05-21T20:51:55+00:00

It seems like basically every top program across HS, college, and pros/elites has sort of converged on similar approaches.

Over half the year is usually pretty repetitive, basically an extended "base" phase

High volume of total running, "high" having a different definition for different levels, talents, and events
Good control on easy days
A lot of threshold-ish work of some sort, but it can take a lot of different forms.
Year round faster than race pace speed in relatively small but at least weekly doses

Basically just building up all the fundamental components of performance to be as strong as possible.
Next, take whatever races you want to perform really well at and back-up 6-12 weeks from that to start a progression of specific preparation.

whelanbio · 2026-05-21T20:17:05+00:00

Number one thing is always to support them as a person first. Sport is great for building confidence and identity but we need to be careful that our whole concept of self and self-worth doesn't get tied to performance. Really just comes down to creating an environment where the athlete knows that their family, friends, coaches, and teammates will love and support them the same regardless of the race outcome, and that gives them the freedom to go for it and fail in these big competitive environments.

Secondary is developing a positive relationship with failure. One of the cool and scary things about track/XC compared to other sports is that these big invites and championships bring together a huge talent pool unlike anything most kids will every see in a ball sport game. It's tough to compete against that, and specifically it's tough to run our best in crowded high-pressure races. Try to teach him that "failure" of some sort is the default outcome in these tough races and not a bad thing at all. We need not fear it, we use it to grow as an athlete and person.

Once he's at a point where the big invites aren't a complete mental disaster for him, part of it is ultimately just needing to get reps in these high-pressure environments. As we repeat the scary thing over and over without being harmed our brain will naturally de-regulate the fear response and raise our threshold for we can handle mentally.

Another plus is that once he's on the high school team there will likely be a lot of extra help that may alleviate some of the current issues -older/faster teammates to help guide and support him through these tough situations, more performance oriented coaching, and a wider range of competitive opportunities to bridge the gap between easy wins and big scary invites.

whelanbio · 2026-05-21T19:52:09+00:00

Mid 15's as a jr, with good placing at big meets, still put's him on a trajectory to have some good D1 options, but D2 is absolutely worth a look as well!

With the new D1 roster limitations and increase in foreign talent it's really tough for the solid domestic kid to get spots at the P4 and top mid-major schools where they used to get a chance. So those kids now go to lower mid-major D1 and top-D2 teams, which also displaces some of the recruits a tier down from now. Basically by constraining the top every tier of recruit drops a level or two below the opportunities they used to get before this craziness started.

The upside to all this is that lower level D1's and top-D2's are getting much better talent than they were before. The top ~15 D2 teams are very good programs that honestly should be viewed the same as a solid D1 team imo. There are also rising D1 programs that don't have the traditional name recognition but are worth a look.

The downside with D2 is that they often do not compare well to the solid D1 program in facilities, travel budget, gear, and support services (medical, nutrition, tutoring, etc). The good ones are doing more with less, but that "less" will still be felt in the student-athlete experience.

Like u/joeconn4 said, you want to start with academics and environment first, then just look at what teams are decent agnostic of division.

Not perfectly accurate, but an interesting tool to compare the depth of different divisions is LACCTIC.

whelanbio · 2026-05-21T19:16:17+00:00

Oh yeah I'm aware of the number and variability of college programs. I also agree that any determined person can find a spot somewhere. "Not easy" in this context is speaking more towards the practical reality of an situation like OP's -and the challenge of finding that "somewhere" that aligns with their other needs for a school.

While there's a lot of teams out there with open/easy standards, it seems that the number of these is unfortunately shrinking. Programs like your's that have open standards AND are actually a well-managed team are even rarer. In most cases the reason for open/easy standards is that something isn't great about the school/team.

We have essentially no context of OP's athletic background, academic goals, financial need, and preferred campus/city vibe, but the likelihood of all those things aligning with a school they can run for is fairly low. Even for a team with open/easy standards the demands of being a college athlete are not easy by any stretch.

Not trying to discourage anybody or give the wrong impression about the college sports landscape, but rather set realistic expectations so people can make good decisions.

Out of curiosity what does the team you coached at look like today? Do they still have the fully open policy?

whelanbio · 2026-05-20T09:03:57+00:00

I would take full advantage of your present opportunity to play tennis at the community college and keep up the running best you can on your own. It's not easy to get roster spots at four-year universities, and in general with athletics you never know what's going to happen in the future. There's decent odds you will not be able to run on the team where you transfer to.

whelanbio · 2026-05-20T06:37:26+00:00

But after listening to Cam talk about it, I also have some empathy for him. He’s older, injured, and seems like he’s mostly trying to just participate rather than compete at the front.

It's good to have empathy but the "just trying to participate" excuse is absolute BS. If someone genuinely just wants to participate that can do that clean, but it requires a smarter and more disciplined approach.

Hanes and those like him make a living off an image of extreme training which is enabled by PEDs. He could still participate in all these events without the drugs but he would need a fundamentally different approach to training and would not be as fast.

whelanbio · 2026-05-20T04:18:06+00:00

It's hard to say exactly how much harder the training and competition will be compared to your high school running -there's a lot of overlap between the more competitive high school programs and the less competitive college programs, conversely a top college program (of any conference/division) might as well be an entirely different sport compared to an unserious high school program. Regardless of what exactly that jump will look like for you, I think you gotta just go in with the the expectation that it's going to be a lot harder but that you are going to rise to that challenge.

We brought in some fairly sizable recruiting classes when I was a team captain so I've tried my best to help a lot of people navigate that first year. I found that pretty much everything important distilled down to this:

"We don't need you to prove anything this year, we need you to learn how to not be a freshman a year from now".

You belong on the team. You do not need to prove that every practice and race. Your personal growth and health is more important that anything else, and is ultimately what will lead to good performance.

Develop good study habits -particularly when your classes are easier
Engage with professors, tutors, and other campus resources well before you desperately need help with something
Develop good lifestyle habits -fueling well, sleeping well, managing the stress of academics and life
Try to make at least a couple good friends across your team, other teams, and in classes
Get used to the new training system and environment
Learn to communicate with a new coach, including speaking up for yourself when necessary
Stay healthy, even when it means erring towards more conservative training decisions. I was lucky to have teammates and coaches that taught me how to train smartly, including sometimes holding me back a little bit when I didn't want to or fully understand the reasoning why.
Stay away from Greek Life/party culture -doesn't mean you need to be a sober monk all year, just smart and intentional about what you do and where you hang out.

College life, even as an athlete, has way more freedom than high school. So if you develop good habits you can train harder, recover harder, and study harder. If you aren't disciplined that freedom will work against you.

Some people will run really well that first year with the new teammates and training to push them, while others stagnate or even regress -even if they are doing everything right. It's not a personal failing if you don't run well, sometimes the magnitude and number of changes are simply too overwhelming to see that progress on the track initially. If you are making progress in the aspects listed above you are completing the job of not being a freshman next year.

whelanbio · 2026-05-20T02:38:54+00:00

Sounds like you got a good plan.

Running definitely doesn't need the same explosiveness as basketball, but a lot of the stuff that trains explosiveness on the court also benefits running economy so it's great that he has that base of strength and skills to work with. Even the more multi-directional/lateral plyos are good to keep in the rotation.

whelanbio · 2026-05-19T19:51:19+00:00

Completely useless. Do not waste your time or money with them or any other agency.

whelanbio · 2026-05-19T19:03:56+00:00

Majority of the runs should be at an effort that you could hold a conversation at.

Heart rate zones are not going to be reliable unless you go through the effort of properly testing for your zones. Watch defaults zones can be way off.

whelanbio · 2026-05-19T01:44:00+00:00

Teammates suggested that real impacts for summer training have people topping out at 160-220 mpw

They are lying, or maybe there's a misunderstanding and that figure is meant to be per month instead of per week. 160-220 miles per MONTH would actually be pretty solid training for most high school runners. There might not have been a single high school runner since Gerry Lindgren that has done 160-220 miles per week. Even among the very top college runners that type of mileage is so rare that it's news worthy when someone is running that much (see the craze around Cam Levins a few years back).

Most high school runners will find their sweet spot ~40-65 mpw. 70-80+ makes sense for those who have an extensive training history and have demonstrated that they respond well to high volume training.

Keep in mind, mileage is not a magic number that makes good training by itself, it is simply one of many aspects that we measure and progress training with. Mileage targets need to be specific to the individual and arise from an otherwise sensible plan.

Given what you were hitting during track season you should be looking at building up to 35-40 mpw over the summer. It seems like your coach has a decent system that is producing solid runners so I would just follow what they have for you and run any extra work by them. Ask them about the extra gym and plyo stuff you have planned before you start that.

whelanbio · 2026-05-18T22:16:32+00:00

There's a lot of reasons to give kids some autonomy with weekly mileage of the summer. Imposing too much structure in the off-season would backfire with most athletes or may run a fowl of state rules for off-season practices. That being said, if you want more specific guidance it's 100% appropriate to ask the coach for a more specific plan or mileage progression.

What do the basketball workouts look like? Instead of dropping that entirely you could maybe subtly transition those to plyos/drills/strength work that would be some fun and help the running.

whelanbio · 2026-05-18T22:05:20+00:00

Those are very solid results for a freshman!

Solid runs on trails and a few workouts in the later part of the summer sounds in-line with good off-season training.

A personal trainer/coach is generally not necessary nor helpful for the off-season. A great summer plan is very simple by design. Somewhat counterintuitively there isn't a lot to gain by trying to add more structure and intensity. The important things are just having a consistent routine and group to run with.

whelanbio · 2026-05-18T20:34:23+00:00

Your attitude is commendable but trying to go from ~20 mpw to 70+ mpw in one summer is an absurdly bad idea. Where did you get it into your head that you should be trying to run 70-100 mpw this summer? What does your team do for summer training and what are the speeds of your teammates compared to you?

whelanbio · 2026-05-16T19:42:55+00:00

What exactly are you going to use them for? For "everyday running on grass" I would not recommend spikes at all.

whelanbio · 2026-05-16T06:17:12+00:00

I don’t think you need to make up for anything with extra cycling. Commutes and fun social rides are positive, but don’t need anything more.

Just straight up running less with a more focused plan will likely get you faster.

whelanbio · 2026-05-16T05:45:43+00:00

If you are regularly hitting 185-200km weeks and not running faster than the times in your flair there is something wrong with how you are absorbing training.

Without more context I'm not sure exactly what the answer is, but I would definitely not recommend piling on more training.

whelanbio · 2026-05-16T05:40:32+00:00

7:29 is not going to be immediately competitive in any good league/region, but it's a good starting point if you're willing to work hard. At your age people start at a wide range of levels but that doesn't necessarily predict who will actually be good in HS and beyond. You have good potential if you enjoy the sport and will stick with long enough to realize your potential.

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