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A/R/tist in the spotlight - Testosterscone
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06-10-2018 8:02pm#1
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1. When will you do another marathon?
2. Reckon you'll ever give sub 150 minute marathon a good rattle?
3. Fave restaurant in Dublin?
4. What's your fave running gear? Any particularly nice or preferred tops/shorts/etc.?
5. Top 3 concerts you've been to.
6. What keeps you coming back to boards?
7. Do you have any treasured running paraphernalia, like old race numbers, your first pair of running runners, Raheny 5M plaque etc.? Or at least hang on to any of it? Or is it straight into the bin?
8. Any claims to fame?
9. iPhone/Android/I don't like smartphones?
10. Do you run with music/podcasts/etc?
11. Why do you coach people? What do you get out of it?
12. How has becoming a Dad changed things for you?
13. When did you realise you were talented at athletics?
14. Who's the most famous runner you've physioed
15. What's the deal with yourself and Safiri?
16. Who do you look up to (any or all of career, personally and running)?
17. What newspapers do you read... sorry, it's not 20 years ago, what online news sites do you read?
18. What's the best race in Ireland?
19. You win Euromillions. Serious money. What do you do?
20. What's your pre-race routine like?0 -
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6. What keeps you coming back to boards?
I learned alot from boards and continue to learn. Running is a small knit community as well so unlike many message boards there is less of an anonymity feel to it. There is a tendency for people on boards to have a greater desire to improve and learn moreso than any other Irish Social media community for running. I won't lie I am not as active as I used to be for a number of reasons over the past few but I still enjoy seeing the progression of people. With the number from here I coach as well the logs help give me an extra layer of info as sometimes there is key information made off the cuff without the person even realising when they are talking about there training which helps me.7. Do you have any treasured running paraphernalia, like old race numbers, your first pair of running runners, Raheny 5M plaque etc.? Or at least hang on to any of it? Or is it straight into the bin?
Not really a sentimental type (The OH had to stop me chucking out my marathon medals as the move) I have a number of medals won from younger age (County/Province and National level) which I am sure I will appreciate as I get older but for now bar a Ras Na hEireann medal from back in the day there is not too many which I hold sentimental value from
I still have my 1st pair of spikes (gold and navy Aasic spike) and I have a singlet which I got signed by Linet Masai, Chris Derrick and Lisa Uhl (2 popular NCAA athletes at the time) at the World Cross Country in Punta Umbra back in 20118. Any claims to fame?
I used to be able to beat Brian Gregan in sprint finishes both in training and XC growing up :P9. iPhone/Android/I don't like smartphones?
Currently use I phone its handy but to be honest if I had a bit more tech inclination I think Android trumps Apple pound for pound
10. Do you run with music/podcasts/etc?
I used to religiously run with music though it was a bad habit that managed to get myself out of. These days only time I listen to either is in work.0 -
11. Why do you coach people? What do you get out of it?
I coach people because rather than complaining about decreasing standards I want to try and buck that trend. I was lucky enough to get great input through the years that I want to give back. The huge surge people running coincides with the decline of the clubs as majority people aren't putting anything back into the sport as such many of the life long volunteers have been stretched to breaking point. With that in mind we have lost a huge amount of coaches and there are very few actively coaching in clubs. If I can help people improve and in turn those people learn and can help others helps the sport overall and takes pressure off an already stretched coaching pool within clubs.
I get the buzz out of good performances. An athletes PB is almost as nice as a PB for myself (and coaching a number of athletes that gives alot more opportunities for that feeling)12. How has becoming a Dad changed things for you?
It has definitely changed my focus although the last 2 months things have been up in the air with a short term move and our living situation being thrown into disarray. I don't think I have had a chance to fully settle into live with himself just yet but he is definitely my number 1 priority.13. When did you realise you were talented at athletics?
Haha, truth is I didn't. This might come across as disingenuous but I wouldn't consider myself as talented.
I grew up training in a group where 3 athletes went on to represent Ireland. From there I went to college where I was a back of the pack runner for the most part (it was a middle distance group primarily) and from there I trained under 2 marathon runners who were running 2.14-2.16. I tend to shy away from big fish small pond races for the most part also.
In terms of my fitness I tended to lose it quick and have to train alot more to get to same level as others.
The one talent I reckon I do have is that I have had a pretty injury free career. I think most of this came down to focusing on looking after myself so much to try and reach higher levels that often came easy to those around me (focusing on core, nutrition etc early on when many just ran hard in sessions and it worked for them) Work capacity is something I do feel I have built up well over the years14. Who's the most famous runner you've physioed
Overall probably Hannah England (World 1500m silver medalist) or Brie Fenagle (US NCAA 1500m Champion)
From an Irish perspective I had opportunity to work on Jason Smyth 2 weeks before his World Championship double in Lyon back in 201315. What's the deal with yourself and Safiri?
Didn't realize there was a "deal"
I think we have had a difference of opinion on training stuff recently I don't think there is anything underlying (unless I am mistaken) Difference of opinions is how we learn or even re-affirm our own beliefs if you can't stand by your training beliefs what is the point in having them. Sometimes I probably come across as having a pop but generally it's the material content that I base my opinions on "Attack the post not the poster" for the most part is something I think gets lost here as it should never be personal (given it is an anonymous message board essentially despite the community atmosphere that most would have)0 -
16. Who do you look up to (any or all of career, personally and running)?
From a running perspective Eliud Kipchoge's humbleness and get it done mentality with no distractions is commendable especially after he had already achieved so much for so long before being a marathon runner.
For sheer balls the Robertson twins. They had a dream and went after it rather than sitting around and just talking about it. Not many will walk the walk outside of there comfort zone especially at such a young age17. What newspapers do you read... sorry, it's not 20 years ago, what online news sites do you read?
Generally the only one I would look at would be Reuters. Aside from that I generally don't follow any one new source and rely on links via social media from people I follow and repect the opinion of18. What's the best race in Ireland?
Armagh 5k. Manages to bring grass root kids right up to Elites together and all for a reasonable entry fee (£15). They open up to all with the 3k while still aiming to push standards with the Entry standard for the 5k.19. You win Euromillions. Serious money. What do you do?
Honestly outside of house and covering day to day costs not much I would want. I have been time poor for so long that not having to work and focus on what I enjoy would be the biggest benefit.
Having said that I would probably put alot of focus into club, perhaps buying local gym to provide a bit of part time employment to cover some bills while allowing upcoming athletes to train. I remember reading Bowerman's biography back in the day and his efforts to integrate his athletes into the local community creating network links for his athletes. Could go a long way with keeping some in the sport and perhaps work towards making club self sufficient in supporting athletes20. What's your pre-race routine like?
On an ideal race day.
- French Toast with coffee
- Plenty of water to follow up
- Couple of Youtube video's (a number of ones that help get me worked up but Al Pacino's speech in any given Sunday is one of the staple)
- Arrive about 2 hrs prior to race to collect number etc
- Warm up 1 hr prior to race - 3 miles, + 20 min drills + change socks on with racers and singlet
- Sneaky strides past start line with walk back to prevent being pushed too far back0 -
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Delighted to see you doing this, and thanks for your ongoing input.
Q1. A good few years back the three best ever mods on this forum were looking after things at the same time (best ever being Wottle, yourself, and me, in that order
). Did you enjoy those times at all (having a bit of input into the forum's direction), and (another question!) were you then happy/relieved to "step down"?
Q2. How do you (as a coach) motivate someone who has signed up to your stable, but isn't training/performing as well as you expect them to? (Assuming you do motivate them)
Q3. How long can you swim underwater without taking a breath? (Most important Q of the 3 ) 0 -
1. Are you a believer in shoes needing to be neutral or support depending on pronation. I know there are mixed views on the subject.
No. Simple fact is that all the science behind this would actually state comfort is a better guide to shoe choice than anything else (I will see if I can find a good meta-analysis from a few years back which covered this) . For me shoes won't correct any issues they just force the issue elsewhere. If you have issues more than likely weakness / tightness will influence your gait. This comes back to the point about getting fundamentally active before you start running. If you just do miles you work the same muscles over and over. They condition themselves to tolerate this repetitive motion to a point but when fatigue sets in the body looks elsewhere to support these muscles.
This is half the reason why people start picking up niggles and injuries usually half way through a marathon plan. It is also why you see many people who come with a background in field sports usually out performing those who have been sedentary. Normally it is put down to residual fitness but more often than not they tend to be able to sustain a better work capacity due to the multi plane movement done over a duration.2. Any chance of a grads grads plan? ;-)
We will talk come Nov3. If you could run one race again, eliminate the 2/3 mistakes that are made in every race...which one would it be?
Hmmm good questions I reckon Clonee from last year was one with a few regrets. Went into the race with a poor mentality, body a little stiff and I over reacted to it and probably a bit too cautious and let the lads get away from me early on in the race and worried too much about the watch. In the end I snapped out of it and came back strong only 4 seconds shy my PB but that was after coming through half way almost 30 seconds up so a major negative split. I was in the shape of my life but convinced myself there wasn't a good time for the taken there and ultimately it was a missed opportunity of a PB I was targetting that year.0 -
Kurt.Godel wrote: »Q1. A good few years back the three best ever mods on this forum were looking after things at the same time (best ever being Wottle, yourself, and me, in that order). Did you enjoy those times at all (having a bit of input into the forum's direction), and (another question!) were you then happy/relieved to "step down"?
I think back then modding was a bit easier and were luck in having such proactive posters The likes of the BAC Handicap race some of the meet up training days and the regular Group training runs really drove the birth of a virtual club so to speak.
There was a naivety to the place pre sock puppet accounts, the re-reg phenomenon and ulterior motives within posts.
It was a handy time and I was younger so had an idealistic view of encouraging people into the sport. I think things have changed on social media as well which I feel probably influencing how people interact here as well compared to previously
By the time I did step down though I was glad to be done with it I don't envy the mods these days as it is a one way street there are less boards projects and even some of the positive efforts in the last year or two were tarnished.Kurt.Godel wrote: »Q2. How do you (as a coach) motivate someone who has signed up to your stable, but isn't training/performing as well as you expect them to? (Assuming you do motivate them)
In a luck position at the moment where there are decent groups around the same level so performances and camaraderie seems to be working for motivation and driving each other on.
Having said that I do tend to focus on outcomes from races more so than times. We look to external factors and are willing to change things up if things aren't going to plan
Generally though most of the people are work with I do so because the is an internal motivation and drive I see long before I agree to take them on. As coaching is mostly remotely I need to know that a) they will be completely honest (if they bail from a session or go out too hard they own up to it) and b) aren't looking for excuses as they are wasting there time and mineKurt.Godel wrote: »
Q3. How long can you swim underwater without taking a breath? (Most important Q of the 3 )
I can probably manage a length of a 25 m pool at a push0 -
1. I've often wondered how you decide on specific approaches for given athletes you coach. For example, the likes of me, Duanington, AMK and others all have different types of sessions even if we are training for the same distance. What is it you are seeing that decides your approach? Is it, for example, that some are speedsters and need development of their endurance and vice versa?
I only snuck this one in as I saw you had caught up with all your answers 0 -
Testosterscone wrote: »I think back then modding was a bit easier and were luck in having such proactive posters The likes of the BAC Handicap race some of the meet up training days and the regular Group training runs really drove the birth of a virtual club so to speak.
There was a naivety to the place pre sock puppet accounts, the re-reg phenomenon and ulterior motives within posts.
It was a handy time and I was younger so had an idealistic view of encouraging people into the sport. I think things have changed on social media as well which I feel probably influencing how people interact here as well compared to previously
By the time I did step down though I was glad to be done with it I don't envy the mods these days as it is a one way street there are less boards projects and even some of the positive efforts in the last year or two were tarnished.
Great answer L, I was always taken by your enthusiasm. They were more innocent days, shame that enthusiasm becomes replaced by naivety as the defining word. In any case, enthusiasm and positivity always win out.Testosterscone wrote: »I can probably manage a length of a 25 m pool at a push
Sure I could probably manage a 2:29 marathon myself at a push Thanks for the answers. 0 -
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Swashbuckler wrote: »1. I've often wondered how you decide on specific approaches for given athletes you coach. For example, the likes of me, Duanington, AMK and others all have different types of sessions even if we are training for the same distance. What is it you are seeing that decides your approach? Is it, for example, that some are speedsters and need development of their endurance and vice versa?
I only snuck this one in as I saw you had caught up with all your answers
When I look at an athlete a few of the factors I look at for sessions
Strengths/ weaknesses
How many miles they can handle
General running background
What kind of strength work they do
How they have responded to sessions in the past
Where I feel they have struggled in races in the past
These are just a few factors from there while the specifics might be different often the outcomes are actually the same.
A post in one of the logs actually sparked an idea regarding compiling a case study of a long term approach that I may do over the next few months either in the group or here on boards.0 -
Kurt.Godel wrote: »Great answer L, I was always taken by your enthusiasm. They were more innocent days, shame that enthusiasm becomes replaced by naivety as the defining word. In any case, enthusiasm and positivity always win out.
Sure I could probably manage a 2:29 marathon myself at a push Thanks for the answers.
Between club/NGB politics and exploitation of athletes from bottom to top that enthusiasm takes a more cautious approach these days as everyone tends to be in it for themselves for the most part
The 25m might be ambitious alright as you can tell don’t spend too much time in a pool I do have good lung capacity though which offsets poor swim technique0 -
Delighted to see this!
- You seem to have an endless amount of good grace and patience, which isn't really a question, more of an observation and a 'thank you' I guess.
- How would you best advise someone to ditch the technology and run by feel?
- It's a bit soon yet but are you already thinking about when to get your son running ?
- Are there people who are just not cut out to be runners and if so, what would your advise to them be?
- What are your thoughts on the explosion of parkrun?0 -
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Annie get your Run wrote: »Delighted to see this!
- You seem to have an endless amount of good grace and patience, which isn't really a question, more of an observation and a 'thank you' I guess.
- How would you best advise someone to ditch the technology and run by feel?
- It's a bit soon yet but are you already thinking about when to get your son running ?
- Are there people who are just not cut out to be runners and if so, what would your advise to them be?
- What are your thoughts on the explosion of parkrun?
Regarding technology off top of my group running cross country and running cues some good starting places ultimately though practice makes perfect.
Regarding my son running it would be nice to share that with him but ultimately I refuse to push for it. Want him to be active and involved in sport but ultimately his own passion will keep him there so needs to be his choice. Have seen what pushy parent syndrome can do and as such live by the rule never coach your own. It’s impossible to separate supportive parent with concerned coach and you don’t give the child a chance to switch off outside of training.
The sport is so diverse I don’t think you can rule out running some may need more work on co-ordination etc but ultimately everyone can run, a shot putter often has great explosive power to sprint short distances as an example off the top of my head
Park run is great and a health movement but ultimately I think it’s bad for the sport as it’s stretching the usual suspects who give time to clubs as coaches volunteers etc as they tend to be the same people who steward at PR. I think AAI/UKA are piggy backing the movement for the sake of inflating participation figures for grants etc to tick a box for government mandates0 -
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AuldManKing wrote: »(1) Who's your favourite out of me, DD & Swashbuckler
Your all special snowflakes (though if I was a social media influencer would have to do a collaboration it would have to be the man with the Tan simply for his kudos followingAuldManKing wrote: »(2) Do you realise that we await your 'kudo's' on strava and if it doesn't arrive, we fear we've messed up the workout.
Admittedly I have dropped the ball in recent times with some emails, texts and kudos so apologies to all
Don’t worry though you know yourself if you mess up you are told ðŸ˜AuldManKing wrote: »(3) Whats the qualities of an ideal athlete (from a coaching perspective).
Ambitious, realistic, level headed, willing to listen, open to trying new things and process driven more so than goal (aim to improve by any means necessary rather than I want to hit X I’m willing to do Y get me from A to
AuldManKing wrote: »(4) Have you ever 'copy and pasted' workouts into someones plan as you were under pressure?
Wouldn’t say copy and pasted as such. Most week structures are copied from previous one and details changed so there can be errors (like the one in your plan this week)
I have thought at times when doing up someone’s plan that session I gave someone else would work well for them to but it’s always taken in context of the overall goals
Would rather send a plan late that send a cookie cutter templateAuldManKing wrote: »(5) What/how do you develop your training methods?
I remember tergat talking previously about coaching and came out with a great line as coaches we read learn and steal anything and everything we can as a coach. I am always looking at training plans learning from others as I mentioned before I feel I learn as much from bad training as I do good at times Strava let’s run, interviews etc it’s all info to be analysed and processed
From there it’s about learning about the runner you are working with the longer you work with an athlete the better you begin to understand what makes them tickAuldManKing wrote: »(6) Marathon training - whats your views on multiple (6 or 7) 20 milers for a sub 3 athlete?
Depends on the context most sub 3 aspirants don’t have the years of mikes background to be doing 20 miles that regularly and those that do sometimes you have to question what stimulus are they getting from it.
Long run should be maintained at a general level that could be done week in and week out without taking too much out of them for most that is at a mileage much lower0 -
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Embrace failure. Try new approaches. Failure is only a negative thing if we don't get anything from it. You will never know your limits till you attempt to push past themMellow Yellow 26.2 wrote: »Not a question, just a observation. This is a quote from you here a while back.
I'm not sure if its a famous quote or something you made up but it really stuck in my mind when I read it. My coach has a similar outlook to this which maybe why it struck a cord with me. But its a great outlook, i just wanted to add that.
It's great though, something to bring to all aspects of life 0 -
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