Unspoken Rules

1. Staying Safe While on a Run 

The biggest safety concern while on a run is traffic. For this reason, some precautionary measures must be upheld. When you get to a cross walk, always press the light and wait for the walk sign. It might seem silly sometimes, but the habit can save your life by eliminating risk of oncoming traffic.  In order to remain safe whenever there is no sidewalk, run in a single-file line if with a group, and stay on the left side of the road so you can always see traffic coming, unless it is a blind corner. 

2. Pushing Pace

No one likes a pace pusher. Pushing pace during a base run simply defeats the purpose of it. You don't need to be a hero, and besides, running faster is what tempos and workouts are for. Just going with the flow of the easy run not only guarantees a productive run, but also makes it more enjoyable for you, and everyone around you. Pushing pace every run can lead to injury and burnout, so please, just don't do it. 

3. Fuel and Recovery

This component is obviously talked about, but I feel like people don't take it as seriously as actual training, even though it is a crucial part of running. Working your butt off at practice and  then going home, eating Cheerios for dinner, playing video games till 2am and expecting to PR is like shooting yourself in the foot and expecting a PR. Newton's third law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Stay with me now. Every time you take a step while running, you generate a force two to three times your body weight, This force gets put in to the ground, but it also gets absorbed by your legs and body. Over time, your body begins to break down, and the only way to make sure it builds back stronger is by fueling with nutrional food preferably high in protein, and getting enough sleep at night. If you don't, all the work you put in at practice is essentially for nothing, since your body is unable to adapt because it cannot recover. To summarize, work and recovery must be treated with equal discipline if you want to improve. 

4. Track Awareness

Throughout my time as an athlete, I have seem numerous people either get narrowly missed by runners on the track, or straight up layed out by them. I have also had my fair share of near misses while doing a track workout, either by yelling "track!" a million times, or by swerving out of the way. Not being aware of your surroundings while on the track is very annoying to the people doing their workouts, but also very painful if you don't get out of the way. You should never just be wandering on the track, especially lane one, unless you you are positive that no one is using it. And just like crossing the road, always look both ways before crossing the track. I am not perfect, I have had my fair share of close calls due to not being aware, and you most likely will as well. But limiting those close calls as much as possible is the goal.

5. Support Everyone no matter what

No matter how fast someone is, or how long they have been running for, everyone is still showing up day in and day out and putting in the work. You can't ask for much more than that. Therefore, drop the ego, and support and cheer on your teammates no matter what, because the team culture is what gives life to the sport, and what allows it to be so fun and exciting.