What Can we quantify? – Part 1

Posted on May 10, 2010 by CoachJay

In the past few days I’ve come to realize that the question of, “How can I quantify _____,” is arguably the question that separates the science of coaching from the art of coaching. I’d been thinking about this since the Payton Jordan meet. How do you quantify the breezy conditions early in the meet (though it was a perfectly still night for last race, the Men’s 10,000m)? Brent was sick for four days leading up the race and woke up thinking he shouldn’t race; what was that worth? While one local 62 minute half marathoner says nothing, a local who once ran under 2:10 at Boston thinks 28:05 is then 27:20-27:30. Who’s right? Who knows, but if you throw me in there then we have three people that are all trying to do the same thing – quantify sickness/illness in the context of a measurable performance.

While I’ve had this question of what is and is not quantifiable near the front of my brain the last few weeks, it was after reading this post by Vern Gambetta (who wrote about Rodger Banister last week as well nice) that I knew I needed to post something here. Vern points out’s that,

In a trite manner we talk about the art and science of coaching, and then lean toward the science. I love the science of coaching, but I absolutely embrace the art.

Last week I was fortunate to have runner come watch a couple of practices; this person knows as much about the sport as anyone I’ve meet. As I was during these two practices that I was changing the workout from the paper to the track, so that what was assigned at 8:45 often changed by 10:00 am and again at 11:00 am. I still don’t completely trust making changes, yet the reason the change comes is that while you can’t quantify how hard they’ve worked in a workout, yet you can get a feel for how hard you want them to work before the workout starts and if during the workout they’ve reached that limit, then you can back off. This is not to say I did a good job at this last week, only that I did change the workout based on feel, subjectively changing the workout plan, a document that we often view as objective instructions for the day.

So there you go, a simple question we can discuss below. “What can we quantify?”

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  • http://www.strengthrunning.com Fitz

    Quantifying fatigue has always been difficult for me. It affects everything in a training program and can be affected itself by sleep, diet, and stress. How do you quantify stress?

    A few strategies I have began implementing are checking my pace during the first ten minutes of my run. If I'm significantly slower, I can tell that I have little pop in my legs and I'm still tired from a longer run or workout. Also, I like to run 10″ hill sprints after easy runs 1-2 times per week. They're a good indicator of CNS fatigue. It's certainly not an exact science and I think the best we can do is make a reasonable decision based on what we know and what we feel.

  • Scott Douglas

    This is some of what I was trying to get at when I asked about your coaching/compost metaphor. There are people who claim to know exactly how to make the perfect compost. Even if they're right, that would seem to take some of the wonder and magic and fun out of it. That's why I like cooking much more than baking. Cooking is more of an applied art, with lots of improvisation based on what's available and how things look once I'm underway, while baking as I'm capable of it is nothing more than following a strict set of instructions.

  • NickMartinez

    Jay,
    I think we can quantify the context of a singular performance. As a coach, training logs and training plans feel static and rigid, so the explanation of supporting/external factors helps me frame the context of each performance. This helps me plan the next logical step for progression and consistency's sake, and provides flexibility for plans and benchmarks.

  • Anthony

    This topic is probably a coach's toughest battle, balancing the art and science of coaching is a constant process. As one of the posts said below, everything in your life as an effect on your training. As a runner, when I do workouts I'm remembering a simliar workout I have done previously and wonder why I feel better or worse. There are so many outside factors that can make difference on training. Thats why it is so hard to quantify fatigue.

    Also, as a runner, it is hard for me to maybe back off on a workout when it isn't going as smoothly as it should. But this is the art side of coaching I think. Cause if running was a science, we wouldn't see unpredictable performances, such as Solinsky's first 10K on the track, which makes running great!

  • TroyAllen

    I think we can quantify fatigue or energy levels independently at the end of a run or workout. I've been running easy runs and I like finishing them smiling and wanting more.

  • ryanwest

    Quantifying performances and workouts is difficult to do with the multitude of factors involved. I am curious what coaches quantify on a daily basis? How much data do you record and what observations do you make during or following practice and races? Do you record every split, pace of long runs, fatigue or stress levels? I'd like to take more data but I'm not sure what is helpful.