arh,
well its that time of year , we send off our group to hawaaii , and then i go to a camp to be greeted with , a new batch of athletes that come in , to see if they can become a development scholarship member of team tbb .
these are not new to the sport ,but come with all their coaching processes , and average results, looking for the magic bullet .
my wife , comes along and shakes her head , and says , how do you do it every year .
yes , it seems like the movie "ground hog day " .
but ,also the american movies of basic training ,i keep getting flashes of lou gossit saying to the new recruits ,
the same statements ,the same speil richard gere , with the knowing smerk , i already got a handle on this shit .
lou blasting out , "where you from boy?" oklahoma ! well only 2 things come out of there boy ,
queers and steers , and boy , i dont see no horns " classic stuff.
or for girls ,
"you valley girls " coach i am from san francisco , we not valley girls .
well the boss tells them some of his geographical facts .
kid !
"i think , any girl that lives east of hawaaii or west of burmuda ,is a valley girl till she shows me different "
the older team mates , they do the smirking , as yeah i got this when i come in ,and the real old ones like aj , he just turns away , as he has heard it for 15 yrs .
but its still the same , you need to do this , those who dont know the job of coaching would call it brain washing .
well , i dont deny that , as i need to de program , the recruits from all the tri geek , information floating around in the head .
that boot camp , is there to wash them thoughts right out of the brain .
to see , who is capable of that , who is capable of putting up with the boss , on his not so cheery days , which their are many , can they fit into the group dynamics .
do they fit into being socially aware and active people in this department .
so much more to being successful in a group than people on the outside think .
the first rookie mistake is ,
"where is the team tbb pros "
the answer is always the same , "you not ready to train with them yet ,"
why ? we want to know the truth
i then jump in with another movie classic ,"the truth , the truth ,you couldnt handle the truth "
thank you jack .
so , why did i want to write a short story on the subject ? well , the reason i write all my stuff , education .
of course , some dont get it , and i am happy for that , as if they dont get it ,or have to work at getting it , then they are not going to make any way .
so , back to the story ,
i , gave the rookies a day of complete rest , at the time , they were so happy infact i thought the wongster , was going to kiss me ,steady girl , you must be tired .
so ,the boss looks like the fat bastard , on austin powers , he was out walking and wobbling trying to turn it around ,as no training for the squad i thought why not ,but as i am out there ,struggling away who do i see running past ? well its my resting rookies in 2 batches .
here they were good little angels thinking how disciplined they are , just doing their lifestyle thing ,
oh it was my little things , had that proud look of see boss , we are so self disciplined .
yet , the boss is furious , because , he dont see self discipline but weakness ,i see girls out there trying to give them selves stress fractures ,or shin splits .
not resting the bones , as the day before they did a hard 12 km run .
so when they are supposed to be resting they are not ,
but when they are training , they are also not .
why?
well my littel darlings , attack the swimming ,like being hit in the face with a wet fish , their intensity ,is so low , i dont know if they are falling to sleep , but they assure me they are "hurting"
on the bike
they attack the cranks with the all the ferocity of being mauled by a lamb , and then run
with every second sentence" is this recovery run" . simon lessing only been dead athletically for 2 weeks but he would be turning in his athletic grave .
welcome to the real land of rookie , or age group world , the slow or rest stuff done too fast or too much , and the real training done in that grey area of , wait for it , nothingness .
the rookies , are perplexed , they swim 2,500m one session and 4,000m the next day then rest a day .
they wait , for the next week to see the hammer come ,but no hammer but i cant lift my spoon up to eat .
they ride, no more than 3 hours so far ,and yet "oh my god coach, ithought i was fit on the bike "
welcome to the real world .
running ,coach
"we are always on the track since we got here ,bit boring ," hihihi,
boss " its not boring on the kona highway 30km into it ?"
dont we need to train for that ?
the biggest thing i have to teach , the rookies , is to listen .
ha you say easy as they do , oh i am listening but , people , nobody or most , under the age of 30
have any skill in listening ,
its the i want it and i want it now generation , ole suttos stories ,just get in the way cause it makes them think ,he must be stupid, cant he just say what he wants
people think they listen , they look at you , they twitch their ears but they are not listening , and when your not listening , your not learning .
of course "the doc" talks in riddles , he wants you to think , he wants you to learn , from other sports ,other life parrables .
he wants the rookies to see , the logic in what they are asked to do , and the illogicness of the sports conventional wisdom .
so rookie time , is here again, hawaaii is over and packed away ,the rookies dream the dream
while the boss ,helps ease their dillusions of granduer to the long hard road ahead .
the weapon of choice , time .
pros , rookies ,elite agegroupers , beginners , it doesnt change , you cant cram and expect quick fix .
the parrable , you work specific , then you rest ,
you dont rest properly then you cut your chances of success down ,just as if you dont work properly ,
there is no free lunch or free speed in this sport ,only in the shortcut brigades minds, you pay for it some where ,
and what happened to the rookies
well , they were told their rest day was terrible , so do it again , this time do as your told .
when i say rest , you ask "how much "
there are 2 types of rest .
active rest , and sedintary rest .
the rookies are now doing both .
while they sit there scratching their heads ,
i am doing less , then i do when i am home training , its so strange , as i cant move , every thing aches ."is he bashing us as we sleep "
the answer ,
welcome to team tbb , it is all not as it seems from the outside .
keeping it simple can indeed be very complicated .
arhh rookie boot camp , you got to love it
