fly!
Today my athlete, Alex, is leaving to drive 13 hours north for the Canadian national track & field championships. I timed him on his final interval work-out last night … 5 X 200m with 200 jog done this way: 29, 29, 27, 24, 29 (steady, steady, fast, sprint, steady) … and I am reminded of Mihaly Igloi’s terminology. Igloi instructed his athletes to run “fresh” and “good” and “fast” rather than giving them times to hit. I could have told Alex I wanted two fresh, one good, one fast, and one fresh. I also use the horse term “breezing” for work-outs where I want as little effort as possible. In a true taper, all your mental and physical energy is being conserved - resting, storing, building - for the peak performance, so those last few work-outs should be effortless and easy. You almost feel like you are out of shape, it’s that easy. The hardest thing for a distance runner to master is peaking, because, IMHO, endurance athletes are addicted to fatigue. It took me years to accept that fresh feeling as a good thing, the best thing. I was fat with energy! So many distance runners think dead legs = dedication. Unfortunately, dead legs at the end of a season only equal deadication. Overtraining is stupid.
When Alex was describing his race plan for the trials, he said, “Even if my legs are dead I should be able to run 3:50 which will make the final …” “Whoa!” I interrupted, “There’s no way your legs will be dead. You’re going to feel perfect.” “Uh, okay …” Alex replied, warily.
I don’t know if he believes me, but he does trust me. There’s a big difference between belief and trust. He will know for sure around the 800m mark when he gets this irrepressible surge of energy - like a gift from God. It’s a mystical thing … power and joy and, yes, faith! … a perfect moment when your body, and mind, and soul all come together - kind of like it does for Jonathan Livingston Seagull - in the book I required Alex to read before this race. I have given Jonathan to only half a dozen or so athletes I’ve coached over the last 20 years. You have to be ready to receive its wisdom, you know?
“When you have come to the edge of all the light you have
And step into the darkness of the unknown
Believe that one of the two will happen to you
Either you’ll find something solid to stand on
Or you’ll be taught how to fly!”
. . . fresh, good, fast, sprint, fly, Alex, fly!
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I started running under Joan’s coaching on January 5th. I didn’t know what to expect from her and to be honest, I didn’t know if anyone could ever figure me out. Very good coaches such as Ron Warhurst have tried to do great things with me. They saw my potential to run fast but were never able to complete the ultimate recipe that would turn me into the best. I am happy to say that I have found that one person who can take not only my body, but more importantly my mind, and shape it into a big ball of success. Since training under Joan, I’ve broken two of my P.R.’s and have gained all the confidence needed to race with the very best in this country.
Comment by alex — 7/31/2006 @ 2:47 pm
Joan - thank you for your statement that “endurance athletes are addicted to fatigue”. While I disagree on the wording (I have some very definite notions about “addiction”) I can’t agree more that we have an inappropriate relationship with being tired. My spiritual advisor likes to joke that I can’t really have had a good workout if I’m still standing up.
In re: JLS - I call 40 miles/week “level flight” - it’s my normal, not-training-for-anything and not-falling-out-of-shape volume. “First, let’s begin with Level Flight…”
Comment by Fat Charlie the Archangel — 7/31/2006 @ 4:35 pm
I’ve had the pleasure to talk with Horace Ashenfelter about his Olympic gold, and he described it as the realization as he got passed that nobody remembers second place. I have confidence in Joan because of all the wisdom in her blog. Alex, when the time comes, grab it. The resources will be there, I have no doubt.
Comment by Scooter — 8/1/2006 @ 10:04 am
Scooter,
Who coached Horace Ashenfelter?
Comment by Joan — 8/1/2006 @ 12:37 pm
I have to confess needing to look it up on the Running Past website (and article I’d written, so I knew it was there). It was Chick Werner, who was the 1952 Olympic coach, but had also been Ashenfelter’s coach in college (Penn State). I have to confess that I don’t know if he was working with another coach between college and the Olympics, but I do know he was friendly with Fred Wilt, and may have gotten some advice/coaching from him.
Comment by Scooter — 8/2/2006 @ 5:53 pm