How Tough Are You?

I want to go ahead and dispel some misinformation that I have seen as of late, especially in response to works like Sports Gene.  I've seen some loathing the findings that indeed certain people are predisposed to be successful with respect to biological functions like acquiring muscle mass or running fast.  A sense of fatalism grips some people as if they just realized all their hopes and endeavors are pointless.  Well they aren't.  Perhaps many of these people just aren't mentally tough enough to rise to the challenge.

I think any good scientist will say, yes there are some people predisposed to have success with less work based on genetics, but by no means is that nearly the whole picture.  And truly it may even be a non-factor.  Physical capability is only the entry point to being a great athlete.  And much of that can be trained up even without exceptional athleticism.  Think of what the immortal Paavo "Flying Finn" Nurmi said: "Mind is everything.  Muscle, pieces of rubber.  All that I am, I am because of my mind."

At the lowest levels of sports you always have those special athletes that are vastly superior to the rest of the field.  It is obvious that those athletes have the intrinsic nature necessary to be a successful athlete in a sport.  We get that.  Each year, though, you see a few of these talented athletes fall a little closer back to earth and lose their vast advantage.  Now this could be for a couple reasons.  Maybe they lost interest in the sport.  Maybe there were circumstances that required them to leave the sport for a reason.

I tend to think it is one reason why: these athletes are not willing to put in the amount of work necessary to maintain their success.  Sure you have the issue of occasionally an athlete physically matures early and loses the advantage over their peers as they get older, but I find the early maturation excuse a little too often cited.  What I really believe is at play is that when the athletes were younger they didn't need to work hard to beat their competition.  Now that they have lost some or most of the physical advantages they would need to develop a work regimen on par with the rest of their athletic brethren.  I tend to think that is the true reason many child prodigies fall off.  They aren't willing to put in an elite level work ethic even if they have elite level talent.

Now take the athlete who was never particularly the most amazing athlete on the track or on the field.  He or she learned to work hard or suffer from mediocrity.  This athlete was always okay putting in all the hard work, sweat, blood, tears, and them some, necessary to achieve the next level.  Eventually he will catch up to that athlete who was always physically more prepared for success but never had it together between the ears.  For the average kid, the day that he caught up to the more "talented" kid it was simply business as usual.  For the one being surpassed, many different potential ways to handle the situation arise but history shows that the majority of these athletes choose not to go the way of the average athlete, by which I mean they choose not to develop an elite work ethic.

Now consider this: many athletes don't achieve the height of their athletic success until their late 20s and early 30s.  For most, that means they would have spend 10-20 years in their sport before they maximize their potential.  It takes an overwhelming amount of mental toughness and perseverance to stick with a single activity that long.  You want a short answer to if genetics is the reason why people don't achieve their maximum?  Hardly!  Most people simply don't reach their maximum because they either don't want to work hard enough to get there or they don't want to work long enough.  You'll never know exactly what you are capable of nor know how well you can compete against your peers until you give a good bit of yourself to training for an extended period of time.  If you aren't willing to do that, don't complain!

Envisioning Success

Before you read the next sentence I need you to stop, close your eyes, and think about what your goals are for the rest of the year.  You didn't cheat did you?  Okay, let's move on.  We've now got a little more than four and a half months till the year ends.  Are your goals SMART?  I've talked about goals before and you need to understand that I will continue to harp on them because they are essential to success.

Goal setting is a part of a process that, with mental and physical dedication, will eventually lead you to be in a better position than you were before you embarked on your personal quest.  In order to set more effective goals, check out the SMART protocol, and check on my goal setting post.  I want to move a little bit further along to a point where your goals are already set (like the ones you have for the rest of the year).

Between setting the goal and the end result there is the process of building the vehicle to get you to your destination.  Imagine that the goal is point A, the final result is point B.  There are many ways to get between the points, and equally as many ways to get off course.  One could ride a bike, or one could take a jet between the points.  Which do you think yields a quicker path?  Now obviously that is just an illustration and not truly how the process works, but you get the point.  You need to figure out the best course of action.  

Which path will you take?

So what can you do to make sure you are on the proper path?  Well, envision ahead of time the requirements for success, as well as potential obstacles you may have.  If I think ahead of time about issues that will certainly come up, already have an idea of how to deal with those issues in a timely manner.  If I know that fundraising for my team will be an issue, do I really want to wait till the team bank account is down to zero before I think of a fundraising event?  If I feel that at a certain part of the year my team gets stale in their training, do I really want to happen again without a well thought out response to the problem?

The ability to foresee what can inevitably derail you from the path to success should also be coupled with the ability to foresee what actions you can take to to ensure you reach your potential.  What strengths of yours will you take advantage of to see your goals achieved?  What positive aspects of yourself or your program do you know will be the deciding factor in your path to the top?  That is how you envision success.  Have goals, plan ahead, think positive, and work diligently to finish strong.

Coaches, You're Doing It Wrong

I've been heckled before.  "You only do how much mileage?,"  "Your athletes will never progress," and "My kids would never do well in your system."  All pretty standard by today.  Actually, I've kind of realized that as soon as I start having people agree with my training, I may have gone "too mainstream."  I'm just kidding about the last part, but I want to illustrate a point: I don't want to be like other coaches.

Now coaches, before you get offended understand what I mean.  I do non-traditional training.  Blame Jay Johnson, blame John Cook, and blame Boo Schexnayder for entertaining my questions on distance running.  And I also probably listen to Scott Christensen too much too.  But all of this is okay.  These are coaches who are unapologetic about success and have some fine nuggets of wisdom to drop if you listen to them.  I am glad I don't follow the traditional training programs.

What do I mean about traditional program?  I mean the programs who put the miles before the important aspects of training.  Programs that say "you will run 70 miles this week" and then proceed to have you run distance runs everyday.  In reference to those who focus solely on running 100 miles a week, a wise man once said "The magic is in the man, not the 100 miles."  That man was a guy named Bill Bowerman, one of the greatest track and field coaches in history.  Bill also said "There is no such thing as bad weather, just soft people." That quote is for another day though!

Last time I checked our body is complex.  Running is hard.  The sky is blue and Tulane should have never left the SEC.  There are essential truths in life and just because you ignore them doesn't mean they go away.  Running distance runs everyday, especially in the oppressive heat of the gulf south, is not necessarily counter-productive, but certainly not as effective as other routes.  There is a wealth of training options that coaches seem to under and over value within certain respects.

Also, when did Matveyev go out the window?  I talk to coaches who train their athletes fairly hard with fewer recovery days that you would expect.  Or the coaches who have their athletes run 50-100% more volume than the ones I work with.  I'm not training greyhounds, but we can hang with several teams we shouldn't be able to compete with.  It is perhaps that our training culture has started to slink back to the cult of quantity.

On the other hand, plenty of programs have reverted to the cult of laziness because their coaches (or in better terms, babysitters) don't care to have long practices nor push kids in fear they will quit.  Kids will quit regardless of how hard you train them.  Just saying.

The high school I coach at, John Curtis Christian School, had the #1 high school football team in the country last year.  The crazy thing about them is not only did they outwork any and every team they played last year, they probably got in 3 times the practice than those teams too.  Sure, they may have practiced a little bit longer than the teams they played, but they practiced far smarter.  Every player got numerous reps everyday.  There was no sitting around or standing at practice.  They dared to be different.  It starts with the coach who isn't worried about being traditional.

So coach, or even athlete out there reading this, take this away from the article:  Be smart with your coaching.  Don't do training that is less effective just because everyone else does it.  Traditional doesn't mean better. Dare to do what other won't, or don't be afraid to try something new.   Also, don't be afraid to work hard, but training volume isn't necessarily the dictator on what hard work is.

Review of Sports Gene by David Epstein

I bought it, started to read it, then couldn't put it down.  The Sports Gene is one of those books that gets you thinking like you have never done before.  There are very few drawn out scientific sections where a layman would get confused despite Epstein being a scientist.  He also does a good job of connecting seemingly unrelated scenarios with each other and tying them together by the end of each chapter.

There is something that you should think about as well: There are two types of non-fiction works. Ones that answer questions, and ones that raise them.  Interestingly enough this book does both.  The book is not for those who are afraid to admit that there are genetic differences in the human population.  Epstein's writing is not for those who think that simple determination is the root of all success.  What he exposes, and in a very terse manner, is that success is grafted from the combination of both work ethic, timely circumstance, and predisposition for greatness.

The key to all of what we consider athleticism is already inside you.

I don't want to give too much away because I highly recommend you read for yourself, but some points to highlight are as follows:

1) Epstein dispels the 10,000 hour rule that Gladwell talks about in his book Outliers (to be fair I haven't read Outliers yet and I don't believe that the 10,000 hour rule is totally Gladwells idea).  Epstein makes no bones about practice being a highly important aspect of success and that even those with high natural talent can't reach their peak performance without it.  He shows how international success can take only a few hundred hours of practice to achieve, while some people practice for over 20,000 hours and don't reach the ultimate level.

2)  Talent comes in many varieties.  Because our genetic code is so vast, there are many opportunities to have a certain "talent" or variances that manifest themselves.  One of his main points is, when athletes train in groups and they all do the same workouts, it cannot simply be work ethic that accounts for why some athletes do much better than their peers.  It is the combination of specific natural traits as well as work ethic that create the phenoms of sports.

3)  Iron will and determination are not without merit.  Sure, if your natural code entails you to be allowed to perform at a higher level at your peak than someone else, perhaps your higher ceiling will keep you above the competition, but so few people actually train to their peak abilities.  A person with "marginal talent" for a specific activity or sport can simply work harder (especially from an earlier age) and perhaps out perform the more "talented" competition.  This doesn't contradict the first point, it simply illuminates that there is no hard and fast rule on hours one must train, but training vs not training produces irrefutable results.  If you want to get better, you have to train.  Also, with a relatively lazy western society it is much easier to outwork the competition domestically.

Getting back to the fact that the book raises as well as answers questions, I would contend it does this:  Is an athlete relegated to a predisposition for their athletic endeavors and/or how does one progress?  There is an undeniable genetic limiting factor in athletes, all of them, though some have a higher ceiling for performance than others (within respect to specific activities, not overall), but one can overcome the odds if they are in the right place and the right time (the right sport with the right coaching or training) and they have the determination to succeed.

For in-depth analysis get a copy of the book.  I bought it on Google Play for eleven dollars.  It is well worth it.

Training To Be Your Best: August 4th-10th

As I stated in my update post from earlier in the day I am going to start a weekly training guide for athletes and coaches to follow which will help young middle school and high school aged athletes reach their potential.  This training program will be a well thought out guide that both boys and girls can follow.  The best part about it is that you can do it for FREE!  Yes, I do offer in-depth training programs for those who want a more hands on coaching experience with training that is tailored and customized for their needs, but this free training program offers the basics for teams to build their programs into championship contenders.

One note, though, is that almost every state has a different date for their championship meets so you may need to do some adjusting.  If you have any questions about peaking at a different time, or the training in general, email me at vpprotraining@gmail.com. Also, feel free to share with me the success your team has with this program and I'll mention you in a future post!

Jordan Hasay followed a strong and smart training program before she set the (now bettered) High School record.

Week of August 4th-10th:

Goals: This may be the teams first week back together for some teams, or you may have practiced all summer together.  This week is designed for coaches and teams to come together and start preparing for the championship meets in 3 months.

Monday- 35 minutes easy*
Tuesday- 20 minute tempo run**
Wednesday- 35 minutes easy
Thursday- 20 minutes easy, 20x strides***
Friday- 35 minutes easy
Saturday- 45 minutes of hilly running
Sunday- Off!

* Easy- A pace you can handle and have a conversation at the same time. Relaxed.
** Tempo Run- A distance run at a pace of 5k race pace plus 30 seconds per mile.
*** Strides- Not a sprint! Simply a short pickup of 50-100 meters at around 1-2 mile race pace. Full recovery.

Knowledge is Power- August 2nd

As promised I am giving you some reads for the week/weekend.  These are articles I find throughout the week that I find very interesting or I think is great information for coaches and athletes to know about.  Hope you enjoy!

Uk Reuters article on David Rudisha- Why it matterst: David is the only runner to ever run 1:40 in the 800.  His head coach has coached several Olympic champions.  This is some insight into what his camp does to train to be the best.

Marks Daily Apple article on Sleep- Why it matters: Sleep is very important to a regular person for a healthy lifestyle, so imagine what an athlete needs.  This article breaks down why you are kicking yourself in the face when you don't get your sleep.

USTFCCCA article on Online Coaching Certification-  Why it matters:  Coaching certifications can help a coach bring his understanding of the sport to a new level and now you can take the course from the comfort of your home.

NY Times review of the book Outliers- Why it matters: While the review doesn't discuss much about the theory that 10,000 hours of training is needed before someone can become phenomenal at a task, it does discuss in good detail that concept of "right place, right time" that we should consider when thinking of success.  Take a look into the book or the theories of Malcolm Gladwell to see how he believes one must be lucky, but also work for a large sum of hours on a task before true success can occur.  This book is older and the article was more a prelude into the next link.

Letsrun review of Sports Gene- Why it matters: While I haven't read the book yet (it just came out yesterday), this review is very plain and gets to the heart of why we should take interest in the book.  Talent comes in many ways (not simply the ways listed in the review or book) and we should look to strengths to help foster the best athletes.

End of the Summer and the Coming Year

If you have worked with me for any time as either a coach or an athlete you have probably heard me use the phrase "arm yourself with knowledge."  That's what I look to do between this website and my twitter.  I have only been writing this blog for about four and a half months (although I've been on and off with LA Running for 10 years) but I have already started to reach out to help people, not just across the country, but across the globe!  As the AAU season winds down and the school season picks up within the next week or two, I want to talk about what to expect as the the blog grows and as I grow as a coach.  Like I have done in the past, I want to keep you all informed in what's going on not just with me but with the sport in general.

First and foremost, you have probably noticed some new pages and items recently on the website.  I have added a section on graduates of the Southern Athletics Club which I will add content to as the year goes by. For me, showcasing what the hard working athletes on the team are doing in their races and seeing how they are being rewarded by college coaches is great for the young runners out there to see that their diligence can and will be rewarded one day.

Brenda Martinez thinks this site is number one.  Well, she probably would if she read it.

The two newest pages are what I have really gotten excited about the last couple days.  There is now a downloadable documents section where information on the team and training options are available, but in the future I hope to add a lot of free training documents for other coaches and athletes to read and consider.  Building up the sport is a big part of why I started to write!  That is one reason why I have finally opened up the team webstore with the help of Jon Davis.  This will allow much easier access to coaching and training with Southern Athletics and Vintage Performance as well as a way for people across the country to get team gear.  You will also notice the Donate button has been added.  If you feel like supporting the Southern Athletics team or what I do here with the blog and Vintage Performance, feel free to show it!  Anyone who coaches in track and field can tell you that team funding is a huge part of what we do.

Two other items I plan on putting together for the future, in keeping with the philosophy of knowledge is power (as well as trying to give as much to the running community as possible) is a weekly (or so) update with some of the best articles I find that talk about track and field or athletic development.  As mentioned I will be putting up free training guides (as I finish them which could be a while!) under the downloadable documents section, but I also plan on putting up weekly training plans for high school and middle school aged athletes to follow.  It's a chance for coaches to get workout ideas, but can even be followed day to day to help foster athletic development.

Lastly I wanted to say congratulations for Hannah Ivory and Zechariah Blake for competing in the AAU Junior Olympics in Ypsilanti, Michigan this week!  Zechariah took home All-American status as he won the discus with an AAU record mark of 137 feet!  Great job representing Southern Athletics and John Curtis!

Adios, and see you guys soon.  I'll leave you with a video of Alan Webb setting the American record in the mile with a 3:46.  Enjoy.