Coaching Philosophy

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Summary

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Love for the sport is the single most important aspect of my coaching philosophy.  At the root of all aspects of the athlete’s experience must be an underlying core love for what he or she is doing.  The more that an athlete strays from this overarching love or appreciation for the sport, the greater that performance and growth within the sport suffers; the suffering affects all parties: self, teammates, spectator, the sport, and coach.  Every person comes to the table with a different set of assets and backgrounds which can improve the experience for both coach and athlete as long as there is an open dialogue of communication built on a foundation of trust within the relationships of team, athlete, coach, and sport.  While the science behind what is done is important to the fundamentals of training, an athlete can provide a lot of information in their posture and attitude before, during, or after a workout or race, as well as in their verbal feedback; how we think affects how we feel and how we feel affects how we think and the sooner that feedback is interpreted into understandable patterns, the sooner growth can occur.  Nurturing the fundamental relationships between and within everyone helps to ensure that the reasons for love and appreciation of the sport become internalized within, creating a sense of accountability, empathy, and support for when the going gets tough or everything is just clicking.  The goal is not for the immediate success in one random moment, but concerted successes for specific moments that can lead to long term success within the sport, school, and life.  I firmly believe that running creates universal bonds in a language of adversity often only felt or experienced in high intensity situations, formulating opportunities where authenticity of self can be expressed through the development of those bonds.  Learning how to create meaningful moments anywhere and develop emotional control to “turn it on” or “turn it off” when necessary is something that can be appreciated by everyone and inspire onlookers, teammates, athletes, and coaches alike, but most importantly – self.

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Core Values of Coach-Athlete Dynamics

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Trust: 

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An athlete needs to trust a coach and a coach needs to trust an athlete.

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Communication: 

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Trust is necessary for both the athlete and coach to communicate honestly with one another.  The only way to understand one another is through communication.

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We Are All People:

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In order to get the most out of one another as both coach and athlete there needs to be an open understanding that no one is a robot and that we are all people with emotions, stress, dreams, passions, and lives. These all overlap at the juncture of sport but sport is not the only facet of any of our lives.  Pretending or believing that sport is the sole identity of either party is the best way to lose out on love for the sport, trust, communication, etc.

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Individualization:  

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While we are all similar in how we fall on a spectrum in relation to strengths and weaknesses specific to the sport of running, each person provides and requires specific differences in training, attention, and coaching to have the most positive effect on growth and development as a person and within the context of the self and sport.

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The Sport Is Larger Than Ourselves:  

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When individuals have a world view lens that extends beyond the first-person perspective the ability to learn, empathize, and endure increases drastically. 

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Long Term Development Of The Athlete: 

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Athletes can be seen as cogs in a wheel that help keep the engine rolling, being replaceable and disposable to the next best person of the roster as the latest injury swallows an athlete into a potential abyss. While our sport can be brutal and no one is exempt from the risk of injuries or burnout, these issues are only exacerbated with a lack of attention to the athlete’s development over the course of training.  In almost all cases, athletes should not stagnate for years or be benched on the sidelines indefinitely.  When the wheels fall off, if all other values are in check, the problem can be assessed and the athlete’s potential and mental state preserved or at least made no worse.  A few days is never worth months or years or to quote Andrew Wheating, “I’d take 80% fit and 100% healthy to 80% healthy and 100% fit.” Days are highlights not definitions.

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Family Culture:

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When everyone is invested in everyone else a sense of purpose, social belonging, and accountability is created, all of which help to boost morale and focus during strategic situations during competitions as well as during training and outside of the sport in day to day living. The support of the people closest to you in your own endeavors as well as your support to them in theirs can make all the difference.

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Transparency And Purpose: 

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Showing up is half the battle.  Most people will not show up every day even when it sucks to show up.  Knowing why you show up is equally important.  Showing up can even be just knowing it's time to not show up because recovery takes precedent.  As a coach I feel athletes should know why they are doing what they are doing.  If there is no plan and no reason for why something is being done then my experience is that athletes begin to trust less and identify solely by each performance metric more critically which begins to affect all aspects of life.  Helping athletes take their individualized purposes to sharpen purpose is critical and built on the relationships and trust.  Common purposes only make those bonds stronger.

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Balanced Life: 

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While we are here to ensure the development of the athletic side of life progresses as well as possible, being aware of athletes who are isolated or depressed is equally important.  Giving athletes time to be people and space to thrive is as important as making sure that the ship is running full course ahead in a straight line.  Knowing where the balance is is important. The coach is the coach and the athlete is the athlete but life requires balance and where it can be helped, knowing if athletes’ lives are not in balance can be important in knowing why performances may be off kilter or when to adjust workouts.  This ties back to family culture, trust, communication, and coach-athlete relationships in general.

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Chase the Faster Pace Mentality: 

Coach and athlete should always want to know more or be better.  There is always a pace or goal a little higher than what already is.  A thirst for growth, knowledge, and doing what it takes when necessary to move towards those faster paces, while not necessarily automatic, is a common thread in most all success stories.  No one who feels complacent is going to progress and may even just regress.  Always chase the faster pace of life, even if that means slowing down along the way; sometimes two steps backwards are necessary for three forwards.

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Core Values Of Training

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Goal Oriented But Process Driven:

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Having destinations is important but being consistent is more important than one stellar workout or a horrendous day.

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Sleep:

Recovery is where the athlete gets faster, stronger, and fitter. 7-9 hours is optimal.

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Balanced Nutrition:

Knowing when to fuel, how to fuel, and the ways that the body responds to different foods is important; athletes need proper fuel to have the energy to perform and recover.  Hydration becomes critical in Texas where the heat is present.

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Strength Training:

Run to get fast and lift to be able to run.  Muscle balance is important to a holistic training program and injury prevention

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Every Day Has a Reason:

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Doing the work is important and dually important is knowing why what is being done is done.  Being students of the sport will help to develop as athletes.

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Easy Days Easy So Hard Can Be Hard:

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Easier training days are designed to be easier and recovery is an important aspect of athlete development.  Overtraining, mental burnout, and plateaus are often a direct byproduct of non-polarized training schemes.

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Sports Psychology:

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Student athletes are students first and foremost and having a healthy and positive relationship with the pursuit of excellence as student, athlete, and developing person is crucial to an overall well-being ensuring that student athletes needs are met as people.

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Accountability:

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Student athletes are students first and athletes second, but in addition to being students of the classroom they are students of the sport.  Showing up to practice on time and getting runs in over the summer and on other non-meeting days is critical to the success of the athlete.  All athletes should and will have their own watch at practice; athletes should have a hunger for success and knowing how he or she is doing shows ownership of development. 

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Training Philosophy

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Periodization:

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I abide by the training ideology that suggests that the year is broken up into 2 main peak points when considering an entire year.  Between the 2 main peak points there are two weeks of being off which I believe are necessary at the end of the season to recover mentally and physically in a more complete manner than is possible during any given week or 10-day cycle with a day off.  When it comes to within season periodization, my training programs consist of undulating blocks in 3:1 or 2:1 up/down cycles of programming miles, where ups are more intense and or building in volume and downs are a slight drop in volume and or intensity to allow for some mental and physical recovery and adpatation. On a day to day basis there is a polarized approach to training and also a shift in each training block, seeing a more dramatic cut in volume to allow for a proper taper.  Speeds go from being more general to more specific and what skill sets are developed at earlier parts of the season are never abandoned but rather maintained during later aspects of the season. 

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Common Abbreviations and Definitions 

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E: 

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Easy miles run at a comfortable pace.  Conversation should be possible.  Makes the majority of training.

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M: 

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Moderate paced runs allow for light conversation to be possible but not extensive conversation.  Less commonly employed.

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L: 

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Long runs progress from an easier pace to a more steady and less conversational pace by the last quarter to one half of the long run in many cases though may include other components or just be for time on foot.

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F: 

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Fartleks which can consist of shorter or longer variations of speed play with varying recovery.  In season this is to be determined depending on how athletes are feeling and where we are in the training block.

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LT: 

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Lactate threshold will be the pace determined using pacing charts, race performances, and athlete feel for pace; most closely coincides with a pace of 10K to half marathon pace depending on structure of the session.  More optimally or accurately we would use a lactate meter however this is not accessible for most athletes.

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Tempo:

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‍Distances run will be at a steady state ranging from marathon pace to lactate threshold depending on the distance and purpose of the day as well as how athletes are feeling.  These runs are most always better to go out 10-15 seconds slower than desired, building into pace by the second mile rather than going too hard and being unable to finish the workout.

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VO2max:

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This pace corresponds with 3K race pace and will be more intensive than other repetitions run on the grass or track depending on cross country or track season.  Recoveries are a bit longer but can progress to as short as 2min for 800m repeats or as long as 5min for mile repeats depending on the portion of the season and purpose of the day.

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H: 

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Hill days are to acclimate to speed work as well as to get running specific strength work in as well.  Hills could be longer repetitions or shorter and steeper fast repetitions depending on what spectrum of speed being developed.

Speed: Speed days are for the purpose of working on maximal speed.  Maximal speed will be maintained or worked on during sessions like this or during post run strides which are ad libitum and to be determined during the progression of the season

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Speed Endurance/Turnover: 

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These days are primarily designed for the purpose of working on feeling smooth while running at race specific paces and potentially faster.  The goal is not to strain but to feel strong and powerful.

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Race:

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Races are for the purpose of scoring for the team as well as getting benchmarks and ideas of where fitness is while developing competitive racing skills; each may serve a different purpose.