<p>Hey everyone,
Long time no see as I took a hiatus to gear up for sophomore year. This is a bit of a weird question to articulate in that I don't know what it is specifically that I'm asking, but I'm just generally confused.
So I signed up for winter track this upcoming term, but the thing is, I have this recurring knee injury from last year (patella femoral) that keeps screwing with me. The fact that I am currently sick with a cold and unable to workout over my break means I will be VERY out of shape this term. Also, my coach asked us to buy running shoes in the range of $80, which being someone on FA I can't afford.
Given these reasons, do you think it'd be wise to continue with winter track? The primary reason I'm doing it is to have some activity for colleges to look at (and I did it last year, so it shows evidence of continuity...hopefully?).
Any and all advice, from my injury, to getting fit, to shoes, to whether or not to follow through is welcome.
Thanks for reading,</p>
<p>^ The patella femoral thing is something that a lot of runners especially girls struggle with. Basically what you need to do is make sure that you work the muscles in your inner thigh as much as possible to balance out all the strength in your outer thigh that you get from all of the running.</p>
<p>Shoes wise what I recommend is talking to the coach about it but I know that can be kind of embarrassing so I’d go to a website like eastbay or something. They typically have some decent shoes on clearance that don’t cost as much. Shoes are definitely important though, they are an investment inn your health.</p>
<p>What event do you do?</p>
<p>Last year I ran the 800m but this year I think I might be trying out sprinting.</p>
<p>You should try hurdles</p>
<p>i too run track, but i have a knee/groin/hip recurring problem that probably needs surgery. i’d say try to stick with it and run when you can, if you have a trainer at your school talk to him/her about your knee problem. as for shoes, talk to your coach or look online. maybe go to a running story on friday (black friday) or online monday. workouts…i always find short hill sprints useful because they build strength. also 400m repeats. pyramid runs (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m) are a great workout too. biking is a good way to build leg strength and it porbably won’t hurt your knee much.</p>
<p>hope this helped and good luck!</p>
<p>well, it seems to me that you have more of a passion for how track looks, not really running. that’s not a bad thing per se, but since you’re getting injured and having a hard time getting a nice pair of shoes, you’re really likely to injure yourself even more. Thus, I don’t think it’s really worth it in the long run; plus track (at least at my school) is really hard to go through if you’re not into running. I’m a runner too, but I’m more into running, and not track. (Winter’s not really my thing though; I do XC and spring)
if you’re concerned about the loss of an EC, try forming a running club at your school; that way, you can still run AND show that you take initiative.</p>
<p>I do not understand why you would try sprinting if you have a knee injury. Sprinting is extremely hard on the body. You could talk to the coach but in the end you will still need a good pair of shoes. Your coach is not requiring you to spend $80 on shoes; he just wants people to have good shoes to prevent injury. IMO running shoes are worth paying $80-100 (of my personal $)</p>
<p>btw you could always do another activity…swim?</p>
<p>^ Swimming is more expensive than running (according to the swimmers on my school’s swim team)</p>
<p>^I agree but it is also cheaper than a visit to the doctor</p>
<p>Everyone, thanks for the advice and suggestions. I’ll look into hurdles and will try those exercises once I get rid of this pesky cold.
@doad - the “running club” idea will probably be scoffed at and not supported, especially by members of the track team who are rather clique-y and condescending.
@megaton The honest truth is I don’t know how to swim and the reason I’m sprinting is because I don’t have the endurance to run long distance (our track team is undefeated and extremely competitive; when I was a middler last year I was usually dead last by a long shot…)
Thanks to everyone for your help!</p>
<p>You actually do need 80 dollar shoes if you want to run. If you get bad shoes, you could get injured and have costs that are hundreds of dollars for the medical bills.</p>
<p>Got the shoes. Not Olympic material, but they’ll do, and if it turns out I am indeed not in shape enough, I already have a “backup” (set crew for the winter play) planned out. Whoot whoot!</p>
<p>What school do you go to?</p>
<p>Sorry for the super late response, I go to Peddie in NJ.</p>
<p>Go to conditioning! It helped me a lot for cross country.
Also are you going/did go to therapy for your knee?</p>