Monday 24 September 2012

Running questionnaire

Cross country season is upon us. At least for those in school. Pity how XC is focused on high school and university. Us older folks must subsist on a diet of road races.

Back when September meant a new season, I was curious what newbie university thought about running in general.  When I was running XC (in grad school) I saw a lot of different backgrounds in people. And in later years I remember instances when teammates didn't have many answers. Once, on the bus ride home after a race, one guy said he didn't know why we ran many of the workouts we did.

Around that time I thought if I was a coach I'd want to know what thoughts people had about running. So I made up this questionnaire for some future use. Naturally it never saw the light of day. Until now! Sort of.


Questionnaire

1) How many kilometers did you run per week, on average, during the summer?

a) ________kms              b) don’t know               c) don’t care    d) did other sports

2) How many kilometers do you want to run this fall?

a) ________kms              b) don’t know               c) don’t care

3) After university how much do you expect to run?

a) ________kms              b) don’t know               c) don’t care             d) Probably won’t be running by then

4) What do you think is your weakest link to running faster? (you can circle more than one)

a) speed         b) endurance               c) body weight       d) technique    e) injuries   
f) health         g) other________________________

5) How many pairs of running shoes do you own?   ______________

6) What’s your favorite running distance/event?__________________________________

7) If you were forbidden to run forevermore, what would you do instead?

a) Mope          b) study more           c) play more ____________ (e.g. baseball, ultimate…)
d) more socializing          e) read more                  f) other_________________________

8) How many hours of sleep do you get per night (including naps)?__________

9) How many years have you been running “competitively’?_______________

10) Have you ever heard of the following people:

            Jack Daniels               Y          N
            Arthur Lydiard           Y          N
            Bill Bowerman           Y          N

11) What are your thoughts on vitamins and supplements?





12) If you knew a teammate who cheated (drugs, manipulation of results etc), what would you do?




13) Why do you want to compete on a running team?
(i.e. do you want to win, enjoy competing no matter the result, enjoy team atmosphere,  other benefits)



14) What injury, if any, do you frequently experience while running?




15) What's your favourite running/sport book/movie/documentary, if any?