I read this bit on Peter King's column on SI.com, I thought it was pretty good. About Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis:
'1. Marvin Lewis is not kidding around. Not many things I see on video make me sit up and say, Whoa. But when HBO's "Hard Knocks'' captured Lewis ripping the tar out of his team after a sloppy preseason loss to St. Louis, I thought, Marvin's tired of getting pushed around.
Lewis screamed at his team to "be f---ing pros!'' And it not only got my attention -- it got his vets' attention. "Oh, I remember the moment,'' said cornerback Johnathan Joseph. "His message was pretty clear -- whether it's the preseason or regular season, he's not going to tolerate us playing like that.'''
Friday, November 13, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Recapturing
After USC's surprising loss at Oregon, USC coach Pete Carroll responded to critics with the following:
"We don't change our philosophies after something like this, because we believe in what we're doing, and we believe in the stuff we've done over the years. How we respond is to go back to the truth of who we are and demonstrating resiliency. It's not about changing -- it's about recapturing."
I like it!
"We don't change our philosophies after something like this, because we believe in what we're doing, and we believe in the stuff we've done over the years. How we respond is to go back to the truth of who we are and demonstrating resiliency. It's not about changing -- it's about recapturing."
I like it!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Lifestyle
Some months ago I was reading a piece in Runner’s World (!) and in it, Marty Liquori explained the reason why his training group lived in Gainesville, FL: It was a cheap place to live, with good weather year-round and decent places to run. And I immediately thought, how many pro triathletes would be caught dead in Gainesville, let alone live there?
I coach athletes that live in Alabama and Louisiana. When they mention that, they might as well have said they lived in Iraq or Afghanistan, given the scorn they receive from other triathletes. It seems that in our sport, unless you are living in Boulder, San Diego or Tucson, you are a loser. If you can’t live in one of those places, then at least it needs to be a place with at least one Whole Foods (Boulder has FOUR!) and several independently owned coffee shops populated with thick-frame glasses hipsters and fixies. All this because, in triathlon, the established culture tells you that living the lifestyle is more important than performing. Living the lifestyle is more important than winning.
But let’s face it, unless your name is Matt Reed or Laura and Greg Bennett, or you work 60 hours a week or you’re independently wealthy, you can’t afford to live the “cool” lifestyle. If you coach a few athletes and you’re spending more money traveling to races than winning in prize-money, you can’t afford to live the lifestyle. And you end up having to make options in order to live the lifestyle. You compromise and every day you’re further away from your goals.
There is a lifestyle culture in triathlon that is detrimental to (high) performance. Because it tells you that being cool and living in the right place is more important than doing what it takes to be successful, to win races. But one thing I’ve come to realize, not every elite athlete is interested in winning, which is somewhat puzzling. The subject for a future blog.
I coach athletes that live in Alabama and Louisiana. When they mention that, they might as well have said they lived in Iraq or Afghanistan, given the scorn they receive from other triathletes. It seems that in our sport, unless you are living in Boulder, San Diego or Tucson, you are a loser. If you can’t live in one of those places, then at least it needs to be a place with at least one Whole Foods (Boulder has FOUR!) and several independently owned coffee shops populated with thick-frame glasses hipsters and fixies. All this because, in triathlon, the established culture tells you that living the lifestyle is more important than performing. Living the lifestyle is more important than winning.
But let’s face it, unless your name is Matt Reed or Laura and Greg Bennett, or you work 60 hours a week or you’re independently wealthy, you can’t afford to live the “cool” lifestyle. If you coach a few athletes and you’re spending more money traveling to races than winning in prize-money, you can’t afford to live the lifestyle. And you end up having to make options in order to live the lifestyle. You compromise and every day you’re further away from your goals.
There is a lifestyle culture in triathlon that is detrimental to (high) performance. Because it tells you that being cool and living in the right place is more important than doing what it takes to be successful, to win races. But one thing I’ve come to realize, not every elite athlete is interested in winning, which is somewhat puzzling. The subject for a future blog.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Problem? I don't see a problem...
I was just reading this, and came upon this section:
"At the risk of dismissing its value, the coaches probably gained enormous value from other coaches' presentations - Bob Bowman (Michael Phelps' coach) would have heard some valuable tips from Terrence Mahon (Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor, among others), and vice versa, but I dare say that the science would not have changed the way any of the coaches are approaching altitude training for their athletes. They already had a strategy, and I doubt whether the science showed them anything to improve or change it.
And this is a typical problem (...)"
Is it? I don't see a problem with success. Here are some of the most successful coaches in the World explaining some of the methods that got them this success, and for (some) sports scientists, it is a problem if it goes against the science, which when it comes to endurance training still has huge gaps.
The problem I see is scientists that instead of looking for the scientific basis for success that I am sure is behind the success of those coaches, prefer to throw rocks from their precariously founded ivory towers.
The author goes on to expand on how he sees coaching as "the ability of the coach to engage in a scientific process", which is something I strongly disagree, and it shows the traditional lack of understanding that (some) sports scientists have of the coaching process.
"At the risk of dismissing its value, the coaches probably gained enormous value from other coaches' presentations - Bob Bowman (Michael Phelps' coach) would have heard some valuable tips from Terrence Mahon (Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor, among others), and vice versa, but I dare say that the science would not have changed the way any of the coaches are approaching altitude training for their athletes. They already had a strategy, and I doubt whether the science showed them anything to improve or change it.
And this is a typical problem (...)"
Is it? I don't see a problem with success. Here are some of the most successful coaches in the World explaining some of the methods that got them this success, and for (some) sports scientists, it is a problem if it goes against the science, which when it comes to endurance training still has huge gaps.
The problem I see is scientists that instead of looking for the scientific basis for success that I am sure is behind the success of those coaches, prefer to throw rocks from their precariously founded ivory towers.
The author goes on to expand on how he sees coaching as "the ability of the coach to engage in a scientific process", which is something I strongly disagree, and it shows the traditional lack of understanding that (some) sports scientists have of the coaching process.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Paulo's Mailbag
Reader "hal_jordan_1" posted this on the comments section of this blog:
"ok, this is unrelated to your post but it's something that bugs me. You should seriously rip this guy appart, he is loosing it. Not only Wellington has shitty technique, now all the TBB's that have gotten FISTed by him got good results because of him, starting with Biscay.
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/cadence_P2539875/
"
Dear "hal_jordan_1",
Thank you for pointing me to that thread. So you mean to tell me that someone with zero coaching credentials or creditability is posting nonsensical and delusional pseudo-advice??? You mean to tell me that someone is wrong on the Internet???? My goodness... that almost never happens, especially on that site... ;-)
Whenever you get riled up by what some people write, I recommend you to read the cartoon below. I find it very soothing :-)
"ok, this is unrelated to your post but it's something that bugs me. You should seriously rip this guy appart, he is loosing it. Not only Wellington has shitty technique, now all the TBB's that have gotten FISTed by him got good results because of him, starting with Biscay.
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/cadence_P2539875/
"
Dear "hal_jordan_1",
Thank you for pointing me to that thread. So you mean to tell me that someone with zero coaching credentials or creditability is posting nonsensical and delusional pseudo-advice??? You mean to tell me that someone is wrong on the Internet???? My goodness... that almost never happens, especially on that site... ;-)
Whenever you get riled up by what some people write, I recommend you to read the cartoon below. I find it very soothing :-)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Not that I am keeping score...
Back in January, I wrote some blogs regarding the USAT HP program, and it turned into a UK versus US competition. Not that I am keeping score, but I thought this article was a good follow-up.
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