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Phar lap
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Joined: 20 Jun 2003
Posts: 1006
Location: A flawed Utopia
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 Posted: 03/28/04 - 06:19 Post subject: More random thoughts. (a bit of a dog's breakfast)
Anyone here who has been around the running scene for a while must be struck with the waves of fads which come and go like the fashions.
Like a pendulum it swings from one extreme to another, from 'quantity to quality' from 'speed work to long slow distance' and so on.
This often leads to loose generalisations which tends to confuse proper analysis of separate factors involved in what are, very individual cases.
Unfortunatly there are a large number of people and I'm not talking about anyone here on Running Forums, who have the mistaken notion that if you have done some running yourself you are also competent to coach, the longer you have been running or the higher the level of standard you have achieved for yourself the more competent you are to coach others.
Coaching is as easy as FALLING OFF A LOG.
Let me make a confession. I used to fancy myself as a bit of a Home Handiman. I thought I'd picked up all kinds of skills around the house simply by trail and error but in the end I had to call in the skilled tradesmen to avoid the house becoming a complete wreck.
At least with a house you can muck around for 30 years or so, for a runner you can stuff things up in a much shorter time.
Over here,(Oz) after a period of obsession with more and more miles, 7 days a week and often twice a day, and an absence of consistant success, there is a rush to the opposite extreme with the catchcry 'more quality'.
Instead of the rash of hourly steady hammering they go to shorter heavy pounding and, predictably, a rash of over-use injuries and little if any greater success.
There are sincere people out there who really want to coach and have valuable experience to assist them in understanding the theories underlying various methods. Some of them feel that because of their extensive experience, sometimes greater and higher level than other coaches and lecturers, they would not benefit form attending coaching courses in a systematic fashion.
Maybe they are overlooking the fact that their own success in athletics is a result of a systematic application which probably has been 5 years and sometimes more in the making.
We all have the desire to lift the standard of our sport, it is immarterial weather we are lecturers, graded coaches or beginners, ALL CONTRIBUTE
(Thank you Running Forums) to a better understanding of a very complex subject through an exchange of ideas and facts.
The recognition of an athlete being coached, or coming for advice, as an individual is also a contribution to learning as a coach. Questions, discussions and debates as aired here on Running Forums throw up new angles and approaches for most who take part.
Now before I bore you all to snores, let me just finish up by saying - Weather coaching or running, success is based on a systematic building up of
the various components that go into making a better athlete/runner, they cannot be done all at once (TAKE NOTE YOU PEOPLE I HAVE PM.'ed)
It is a matter of finding the right combination of long/short, easy/intence,quality/quantity, effort/recovery,etc. at ANY GIVEN TIME and for THE ONE INDIVIDUAL. That requires sympathy, patience and if you are coached consious co-operation on BOTH SIDES you are partners working towards building a common achievement.
We all tent to be impatient at times. There are pressures all around us to produce quick results - work, careers, school, peer groups, etc.
JUST DON'T FALL OFF THE LOG.
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