"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." Steve Prefontaine.
I met with a young woman yesterday afternoon to help her with her off-season preparations for the upcoming track season. She is a talented runner with limited direction. She had some sense of what she wanted to do in the coming season, but had never sat and written or articulated it before nor did she have any solid ideas about what she should be doing during the winter months to be prepared for a run at the state meet.
“Make no mistake about why you’re here,” I said. “I’m all about getting you to run as fast as you can and have a place on the podium next June.” I could tell from the expressions on her face as we talked that she believed she could achieve the goals we were discussing. She knew I had done it many times before with other runners, but she had been afraid to approach me since her coaching staff at the school had told her to “stay away from that guy.”
I’ve heard this before from other runners I’ve assisted. It started after I’d volunteered to assist the distance running program for the school only to be rejected by the coach with the excuse that parents weren’t allowed to coach their kids in the Mayfield schools. When I asked him how it was that the head football coach was able to have his son on the team, he looked at me blankly. “If you don’t want my help...just tell me. Don’t make up some bullshit lie,” I replied. We haven’t had much to say to each other since that day.
So I went ahead helping kids anyway. If they’re not going to do something to help these talented runners...I will. I don’t care if they don’t like it...or me...because I’m only interested in helping these young runners achieve their goals and nothing else. It drives me crazy that they have received so much negative reinforcement and have never had a coach sit down with them to ask what they hope to achieve with their running and then map out a program to take them there. Why? I can only speculate. It takes time, knowledge and most importantly...an interest. They’re missing one...or maybe all three...I don’t know, but I do know that many runners have approached me over the years for help and if they take the initiative, I’ll do anything I can to help them win...school coaches be damned.
I pulled another double in preparation for a second Christmas party in two nights. The Survival Workout was less than scintillating as I seem to be on a plateau. I pushed myself through it though and added a couple of short sprints into the woods off the trails. This kind of running...high speeds through woods with no trails...is good for so many things. Agility and coordination come into play quickly if you want to keep from tripping over downed logs and sticks or smacking your face against a tree. Bending, weaving, ducking and jumping are part of almost every step and I do this for between 30 to 60 seconds before looping back to the bridle trail. Once there, I slow to a walk, trying to catch my breath while my heaving sides return to normal. I call it Indian running since it is the way I imagined Native Americans may have pursued prey when dense forests covered the continent.
Once back in the car, I headed home and climbed on the trainer for more calorie burning. I managed only 40 minutes...I’m really getting sick of this already and it’s only December...before having to stop and get ready for our night out...which ended up not happening. Holly has been sick for a week and moving towards bronchitis. Her lung hacking coughs were enough to convince us both that she needed a night at home.
Survival Workout: 60 minutes. Bike duration: 40 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150 for SW, 120 for bike.
Calories burned: 600 for SW, 550 for bike.
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