If You Want To Do Things You've Never Done Before...

Here’s a phrase I love to use with athletes: 

If you want to do things you’ve never done before, you’ve got to do things you’ve never done before. 

You asked your kids to do things like a new warm-up or new post-run work to run PRs in May.  

Now that it’s May you are going to ask them to do things they’ve never done before: 

• Go out at a faster pace 
• Sit back longer and trust they can make a hard move earlier in the race 

• Run a different leg on the 4x800 than they’ve been running for a reason that is obvious to you but makes no sense to them 

I’ll never forget the snowy day in the track season when my coach said to me, “You’re stuck at 4:40. Run 68s today.”  

I didn’t think I could do it and I didn’t like the plan, but I did what he suggested. 

I ran 4:32. 

Two More Things 

You’ve got to sell the plan – the thing you’re asking them to do that they’ve never done before. Take a moment before you approach them to make sure you know what you need to convince them of. 

You’ve got to be mindful of your body language and tone with all your athletes. I don’t understand or know the various reasons so many fit kids deal with pre-race anxiety in 2022, but they do. Take ownership of your posture, tone, and energy in hopes that they can mimic your confidence. 

This short message was emailed to high school coaches last week. Don't want to miss the next email? Click here to sign up.