throwing eggs against the wall

I watched a great lecture by Jack Daniels (the running coach) this morning. He talked about throwing eggs against the wall. I will elaborate on that in a minute. Over the past week I have done a lot of observing and a lot of listening. In lake Placid I attended a terrific free seminar by Rich Straus and Patrick McCrann of Endurance Nation on their "Four Keys". While I have read and re read their articles about it before..... you have to see them present it. They are a great duo.

One of the things I did during Ironman Lake Placid this weekend was simply observe. At the top of Papa Bear I tracked 30 athletes. both men and women, in addition to my own athletes who were out there, and the QT2 Team. I wrote down numbers and times. I wanted to see how the athletes who came up Papa Bear first on both the first and second loops, fared in the marathon.

Here are my results:

92% of the athletes who came off the bike first (of my little randomized personal study) were walking by mile 14 of the marathon. Many walk the hill, which is where I was stationed during the Marathon, and a lot of people walk that. I noticed that this 92% of the people I was watching did not run down the hill as they headed out onto their second loop. I called this group the "Great bike split group."

The QT2 team, the team of which I am a part of.... had incredible races. Most qualified for Kona. Cait Snow ran her way off a seventh place bike to second...... I knew that was the strategy for her.

Of all the athletes inside and outside of the 30 I was watching not one of the QT2 Athletes came up Papa Bear out of breath. They all looked in control, they all were steady, and they were not bombing up the thing as most were.

During the marathon from my vantage point on the hill not one of them was passed by another runner (doesn't mean it did not happen elsewhere) and not one QT2 athlete walked that hill. If you know who they are and you look at their splits.... the entire team is controlled on the bike and deadly on the run. As I am part of this team I understand how they pace their races and I am psyched. That's me someday. Someday soon.

I am a classic fly on the bike and die on the run. At the Musselman it was all I could do to slow down that bike and ride in control. I don't ride a 2:45. I was BORED. But it's part of the big picture and the big plan.

So the lesson I learned was: yes, people do not pace their bikes well. It shows up on that marathon. The people who I knew who insisted on these 3 hour long runs..... didn't seem to help their marathons.

Back to Jack Daniels. In his lecture he stated that a lot of coaches simply throw eggs against the wall. Meaning: they train their athletes as hard as possible, and hope that they don't crack. That is so absolutely true in this coaching world you would not believe it. I watch it every single day. I read about it, I hear about it. I see it result in more burnout and injury than I can bear.

I am a coach in progress and by no means do I tout myself to be the end all know it all coach of coaches. I don't really want to be either. I want to continue to learn how to build the best athlete that I can build with what the deck of cards we have to play. I really don't want to have the presence of the big Tri Teams out there. Train-This is small, it's connected, it's got a lot of depth. I take my athlete's programs very seriously. I take their programs personally. The challenge for me is to blend training with life, with recovery and progression and not throw each person against the wall so hard that they fall asleep at their desk by 9am or they can't pick up their children.

Training should have a progression and a purpose. It should have challenges and tests but not every single day. Throwing yourself at the wall only lasts so long.

The same thing with Ironman pacing. It's controlled, it's got a purpose. And I am talking about the age group athletes. I don't coach any pros, I am not even qualified to touch a pro..... I imagine they pace their day a whole lost different. For the most part the professional athlete's (with exception of course) job is to train + recover + race. So their lives are very different.

The pacing strategy of Ironman is one of the most interesting pieces of this puzzle. How I can apply it to my athletes is another piece. It's fascinating. It's just as fascinating to have watched the race in action, not distracted and not on television.

Watch an entire Ironman race, and study random splits. You can just see where pacing errors are made. Look at many of the top athletes (not all)..... look at the equality of their swim bike and run.

We can throw eggs against the wall and hope they don't crack. That's a popular strategy for those who want to make money and be popular and who don't really care about the quality of an athlete's life and well being. Or we can give it progression, purpose, recovery, allowing someone to live their life unaffected or not demolished on a daily basis.

And we can pace the Ironman, pace the training, pace life just so...... to keep it full of meaning and keep it fun.