This article is something I’m quite proud of, an article on Speed Development, that I was fortunate to be able to write for Running Times magazine. The article lays out three different elements of a speed development workout as a simple progression that can be done over several weeks. I was also fortunate to be asked to produce a video for them as well; the video is based on the article so I’d start with the article and then watch the video.
I’ve had several good questions about the video and article and for that reason we’ll make this a series of posts.
The only thing you need to know before viewing this video is that the only athlete I work with in the Brent Vaughn. That said, there is a very good, very open training culture right now in Boulder where many athletes will jump in workouts together. Brent and I were fortunate that Steve Jones’s group let Brent run many of their Tuesday morning sessions this fall.
You can read James Carney’s blog for his opinion of the 2010 Bolder Boulder.
The 2010 Bolder Boulder was simply a lot of fun. I work with two athletes who had the good fortune to run in the race. Renee Metivier-Baillie was the first American, finishing ninth; Brent Vaughn‘s fourth place made him the first American. The elite race is scored like cross country, with three person teams totaling a score. Renee ran for Team USA, who finished third behind Ethiopia and Kenya. Brent ran as part of Team Colorado, which finished second behind Ethiopia’s perfect score of six points.
I will share some thoughts throughout the week on the race that are germane to training and the weeks leading up the race. Two articles were very complimentary, one for Boulder’s Mike Sandrock and one from the Denver Post.
…and one of my favorite former athletes, Anthony Chiulli, also had a part in the festivities. Check him out at the 3:45 mark of the video below.
Question: How does this uncut video of 3x12xlunges relates to the question, “What can we quantify?” I HIGHLY suggest turning off the volume as you watch it so you don’t have to listen to the background audio of practice as it takes away from the video.
This video was shot after a running workout, which means that athlete was less than 100% and to some degree fatigued from the workout.
But how fatigued?
So fatigued that the practice session should be changed, with no general strength? Was the running workout not challenging enough and more work should be done to get the appropriate overall stimulus for the day? Continue reading →
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?”
Preface to the Post: When I first read the following email I thought, “I would love to share this on the blog, yet I don’t want coaches to think I’m encouraging students to transfer from their current program and coach.” In the coming months I’m going to write several posts on this topic for the simple reason that the process is a waste of time for college coaches, HS coaches, families and HS athletes. I honestly think some amount of everyone’s time is wasted in this process and my thesis will be that candor is needed early and often in the process, yet everyone in the process is afraid of being honest with each other at the risk of offending the other party. Fine, yet an athlete can only go to one school and that means that most coaches will hear the word “No” more than “Yes.” That’s just the way it works.
I received the following email from Jim McMahon, head cross country coach at Midland Luthern College in Fremont, Nebraska (Jim’s a family friend as my father was once the men’s basketball coach at Midland).
The reason I am contacting you is you might be in contact with a variety of runners who might be looking for a place to continue their education. Midland got a new president in March, and he has instituted a policy to encourage transfers from two or four year institutions. Any student who transfers to Midland for the 2010/2011 school year will receive free room and board for a year, in addition to all other institutional aid they might receive. I am looking for runners who have the ability to run sub 30:00 in cross country 8K for males, sub 22:00 in cross country 5K for females. Continue reading →
On the last day of January in 2010 Brent and I ran together for the first hour of his long run. I brought up Chris Solinsky’s season opener of 3:55.75 and simply said, “You should be envious; envious of his consistency.” Consistency in coaching, training method, in teammates and in training local. One coach for the past seven years, the same training partners for the last seven years and only two different towns. That, coupled with a low incident of injury, gives Chris a level of consistency across all of the important running variables that lead to a fantastic performance (and yes, personally/socially he seems happy too as he’s engaged or married).
Congratulations to Chris, Jerry, the fellas and agent Tom.
PS – Want an example that the US Olympic team is the toughest team to make? Chris, a sub 27 minute 10k guy, isn’t an Olympian today but ran well in the 2008 trails. Tough team to make indeed.
This warm-up is based on Physical Therapist Gary Gray‘s Lunge Matrix. Personally, I do this before every run, i.e. I get out of a car or walk outside our house to the alley and I do the lunge matrix. No doubt there are other ways to warm-up, but this is the first thing – and often the only thing – I do before a run.
