Why boot camp can change a rookies fortunes !

hi guys ,

i just wanted to collectivelly, answer a question that has been asked by more than one of you about coming to intitial camps , and how short can i come , to be suitable for you.

First point ,
all should be making them selves familiar with the web site , atleast joining the forum ,reading and going thru old topics , as there is a wealth of information ,on our philosophy on many things triathlon .
There is healthy debate on all the matters , and i believe can help you get better aquainted with the way we approach most things .

the 2nd point is
that several of the last released stories have been about
athletes who came to rook ie camp , and with in that 3 to 5 week period , it has transformed their triathlon results in a miracle ammount of time .

WHY?
The answer is coming to camp in the first place .
not the facilities which is another , seemingly important question for some of you , that will be addressed in another memo.
Is it the famed mystic training ? No, most went home saying ,they did less than they did under themselves or other coaches .
The reason is ,that athletes are told so many things ,by the experts and tri magazines that may be fine in theory , but dont work for the individual .
Coming to rookie camp , allowed me to say , this is what your trying to do? yes , well kid stick around for 4 weeks and see if you can build a bit of belief in me , and if so , then we will talk , about why this is so counter productive for you .
Its false information for you , now anybody that on me saying if you spend the money you can come for a month with me and try out for our development scholarship, that does take the leap and comes , really dont need 4 weeks to get to trust me , they want to know what i would do different strait away .

This allowed them ,to take on board some changes ,train em for 3 weeks then head home , and then as you can see in their own words , instantly , ,they are kicking arse ,much to their own amazement .

This is where its so important , i cant guarrantee all of you overnite success , but with in triathlon ,,there are many athletes that can improve overnite ,as they are practicing things that are really handicapping them .
Lets take the 3 that have posted, so far
duracell,
now , she dived in and was swimming ok technically fine but no power what so ever , we changed nothing in the stroke ,
but everything in the gear department and her training regime to aim at her lack of specific strength .
the bike ,her weakest link , she told me , looked fine ,hardly changed her position , i thought she can ride , but she was spinning herself into a frenzy of slow , just like donald duck , when he takes off on his run.
we introduced working her legs into the bike , nothing more , just said stop that and do this , you have the style to ride this way , put up with a little pain and if you want to be a player forget what you have been doing , its killing you .
NOW READ HER POSTS .
transformation , she is winning short course races , and surpising her self in many ways .
james ,
walked in to camp , a coach himself , but a strapping piece of raw power , if ever i saw it .
he dived in , and in the water we had perfection , head position , bent elbows break of wrists on exit 6 beat ,kick
the obligortary bi lateral breathing , it looked like a work of art , and i could tell ,james and i were going to get on fine ,right there ,cause here is an attention to detail type of guy , i just needed to give him the right details to attend to .
James swimming looked so pretty ,but it had one ,what i thought major problem , after 25 m , which was just his natural strength , he didnt go no where , the power in his stroke , was that of a mouse rather than a hulking power house .
then on to the bike , i was looking foreward to this as the bulging quads were yelling at me , watch me monster these
cranks i go thru a bottom bracket a year , because i generate so much torque , but alas , i was again dissapointed .
he looked like a painting on the bike , and it moved just as fast .
Again totally berift of power and rythem but he looked like a statue ,again i thought ,how much effort he has put into that ,
got to respect how hard this kid tries to do everything so right , run was the same looked like a 400 m runner , and so
after 2 run sets , when each rep of a big set ,he started out
like a hurricane , it took 2 talks or one talk and one ear bashing , and james
got to know if he was going to work with me , we were going to harniss his power , and use it to his advantage , and not hide it to all his competitiors , because of theory .
With in 2 weeks the other coaches started to say boy his swim stroke looks worse , but the kid is starting to move and out on the bike , they said , shit , what a transformation , he could be dangerous .
and so he went home , not armed with a series of mystic training sessions but a list of wrong things to do and follow
that happen to suit his body .
you can read his post .
lastly and not because , of his lack of ability ,but most importantly because , looks are decieving .
keegan williams , was signed on after some talks , and a recomendation , of one of our old team mates luke , then 2nded by chris mc ,yeah seemed a nice kid , but doc , he dont train full time .
so keegan and i went thru 8 months of learning and training sessions before he landed in subic well ,
before me .
the coaches there , were puzzled , coach you seen this guy in the flesh , well no only pictures , why ? well he dont look much , well he dont look like an athlete at all really .
he swims , very slow , he has the weirdest set up we have seen on the bike and well when he runs , he not very fast .
no slur on the coaches ,as thats what every body he dealt with before seen , and thats why , he still working , they all advised dont give up your day job .
Well aussie respect the kiwis a little more than most , because they are always competing against the bastards , and most are as hard as nails , rather a good fight than a good feed , but coach this one is like supa quiet and shy , dont look like a fighter to me .
so i assured them my new little kiwi will be fine ,dont judge a book by its cover.
on arrival ,
we took one look at his swim , 2 days later he had changed his stroke from looking like ian thorpe but with an anchor on ,
to sir richard hadley , nz best ever fast bowler , now dont ask if richard could swim and what did it look like ? cause we copied not his swim action but indeed his cricket bowling action . after 3 weeks coaches were mighty impressed with not just keegan but ole doc ,
he looks like shit , but he is swimming 30sec a 400 faster than when he was training with us . sorry guys but it dont suprise me .
his bike , well we got him a much bigger frame , did we change the weirdness, well it sort of looked comfortable to me
and every time i wound the window down to start to shout out the orders to change it , something in my gut said shut up ,
he looks like it really suits him , unlike james or matty , keegan is a mr puni verse , why set him up like the hulks .
he is sticking in and they are not dropping him . no , we get him a bigger frame and thats the way we go ,keegan style .
Lastly the run ,
again looks are decieving ,on the track and as the boys power around all full of ego and macho ,keegan was struggling to hold on to the young filapinos, but struggle was the word , the heat was killing sheep boy , the training was killing him , his girlfriend was killing him ,a bout of sickness was killing him
but he was still hanging in looking awful and strugglling , but he was like most kiwi pests ,hanging in .
what you going to change about that run style ? he got a stride length of a drain . but again where the doc ,got to be there again kicks in . melvin , its a thing of beauty . i love his run , i love it , when keegan asked what i need to change coach , and that is another of his positives he changed anything i said like a pair of dirty underpants .
just done and onto the new , no regression the old was gone ,
he nearly fell over when i said ,dont change a bloody thing ,one day that run style is going to carry you past so many supposedly fast runners .
He was gob smacked because no one had told him they loved his run style , but for me ironman perfection .
Why?
Listen to them all run past at the same pace ,stop looking , listen to em , 4 laps later we standing 6 lanes back and say3m in the outfield .
we can hear them all coach , except keegan , if we keep our eyes shut we dont know when he passes .
wulla precisely, he is like a hover craft , he loses so much less energy ,hitting the ground , than the others , one day when i fix the rest this guy is going to levetate 42 km in under 2h50 , you can bet your arse on that , he might not be fast , but he is as smooth as a babies bum .
so he went home ,
with his new cricket swim style his weird set up on a much bigger bike , and the same run but with the confidence , that
the guy that does know , thinks i got the best technique to run a marathon out there .
Read his blog ,
2nd in a 1/2 beaten only by keiron doe ,
who is a swim and bike monster , on a world scale , and team tbbs little age grouper hovercrafted his way past the rest to finnsish only 5 min down ,on a world class 1/2 ironman specialist , he got out the water 3packs earlier and held his own on the bike .
mystic training sessions? at a facility that has every mod con
known to triathlon . ?
NO!
Guys , i cant promise nothin, but my best efforts to make you the best you can be , but , some of you might be like , these 3 out of the 9or 10 there , that i spotted , where they were hammering down the wrong path , for what would suit them .
i yelled stop , come back here , and go that way .
All 3 had the brains to say ok thanks i am heading the sutto highway , or the nievity to do so ,
sometimes , ignorance is bliss .
however , whatever the reason , they transformed their performance , by little changes , that had they not came to camp never knew could exist for them .
the intial camp , i cant say how important it is or what a time saver it could be for you .
chrissie wellington , when asked , what she thought her biggest single help was in winning hawaii, said
"the intial start of season boot camp ,which was like 3 months
minmum was what made my hawaai , it gave me such a base ,that when i had little problems thru the season i had time to adjust ,my last month into hawaaii was fine tuning ,
it had all been done in the previous 2 camps "
Dont worry about the facilities ,the most important facility will be there every day .
its only in subic bay , No other sofisticated training facilities all over the world have it or will get it , so get to camp as long as you can , and use it well .
You, too could be like the above mentioned , and just need something tweaked , to make big change in performance ,
it does happen .

cheers the boss