A/R/tist in the spotlight - Testosterscone

Duanington

RayCun wrote: »

In fairness, when he sticks on the beard he passes for 18

barely!

Murph_D

Duanington wrote: »

barely!

When I met the newly bearded L at the 1000 PBs thing I didn’t recognise him. I thought he was that other runner who looks a bit like him. :pac:

RayCun

Murph_D wrote: »

When I met the newly bearded L at the 1000 PBs thing I didn’t recognise him. I thought he was that other runner who looks a bit like him. :pac:

I saw that other runner at the lakes 10k and thought it was him for a minute

AuldManKing

RayCun wrote: »

I saw that other runner at the lakes 10k and thought it was him for a minute

I was doing a warm down with L at Raheny 5 and a runner going by says 'hey Eoin'. Dont even think he had the beard then.

annapr

Testosterscone wrote: »

Controversial :P

If it attracted kids to increase activity yes but the ones that are doing it tend to already be active so I don't think it has the same lifestyle impact as it does for adults. In my experience as well many of the children tend to be products of the people who have turned there lives around through parkrun themselves and while that can be commendable they are missing out on the fundamental movement skills developed through club training. LTAD is something I feel is important to children (and something I feel is missing in many adult marathoners as well) I would prefer them to avoid the same mistakes and develop in to well rounded active children that can cope with training when they are old enough to be able to train in a structured sense. For me a game of British Bulldog or Snatch the bacon is actually more beneficial to a childs development than a parkrun.

Hopefully I'm sneaking in before you finish. Just read this whole thread and thank you L for the honesty and insights. Knowing some of your coachees IRL , I have seen how much they trust you and have faith in your advice... and that mutual trust comes through in your answers.

Couple of short questions for you:
1. this may be a stupid one but what is LTAD ? (Above...)

2. Have you ever gone to a junior parkrun on a Sunday morning?
(I'm biased, but don't agree with your 'controversial' answer... to see the joy on a 4 year old's face as they complete 2k in up to 20 minutes, usually running beside a parent or family member... it may not be a source of future athletes but it's a very positive introduction to activity for many and often for their parents too. And it's getting kids into a park on a Sunday morning...)

3. How did you choose your own coach? And is it remote coaching?

Thanks!

HelenAnne

RayCun wrote: »

I saw that other runner at the lakes 10k and thought it was him for a minute

Me too!

Testosterscone

annapr wrote: »

Hopefully I'm sneaking in before you finish. Just read this whole thread and thank you L for the honesty and insights. Knowing some of your coachees IRL , I have seen how much they trust you and have faith in your advice... and that mutual trust comes through in your answers.
Thanks!

I'll get to this one. Currently in process of securing the next victim volunteer for the next version of this thread

annapr wrote: »

1. this may be a stupid one but what is LTAD ? (Above...)

LTAD is Long term Athletic Development.

I have linked a general overview but the idea behind it is having kids approach sport in a health way and develop a more holistic way both physically and mentally. Given the non linear rate of development in kids (growth spurts as well as the different rate in growth making somewhat nullifying the use of age groups as a leveller it makes sense to manage expectations of competition and focusing on skill acquisition early on in life as a primary driver.

annapr wrote: »

2. Have you ever gone to a junior parkrun on a Sunday morning?
(I'm biased, but don't agree with your 'controversial' answer... to see the joy on a 4 year old's face as they complete 2k in up to 20 minutes, usually running beside a parent or family member... it may not be a source of future athletes but it's a very positive introduction to activity for many and often for their parents too. And it's getting kids into a park on a Sunday morning...)

In recent times I have been in Marlay on walks a number of times while these have been taking part.

Don't get me wrong I am not against activity or even the distance but road running or distance running is a singular plane activity (i.e forward motion) there is very little rotation and as such you are working on an isolated set of muscles, it is also an activity which can be done with poor form and promote negative movement patterns, much like the 1000s of people who take up the marathon and suddenly get ITB issues, calf issues and many other common issues that majority of new to sport runners get.

As said I am all for activity and if that is the primary goal I don't have a problem but the enjoyment can be gotten from many different forms of activities from running around a playground, the likes of games like British Bull dog or snatch the bacon, plenty of less structured things that actually benefit the child from an overall standpoint. I do feel in this country the pushy parent syndrome can be as bad in PR as in Weekend Soccer or the likes (not saying it is all children/parents) as late returners to the sport tend to try and want to live vicariously through their child.

It kinda leads on to the point that activity is a very small facet of health. This is not a comment on any level of ability before I start before it is construed as elitism or some form but I do believe that there is a common misconception that runners are health. That by in large I feel is not true in the majority of runners (I would say 80% of us are not healthy and that goes from new to the sport to elites)

If I had to make a rough estimate I would say that in 60% of cases running injuries are down to our lifestyle outside of training IMO.

I know at times of some of my best performances I would probably say that I was not healthy and by that I don't mean under eating or anything like that I mean the likes of taking supplements (legal stuff before I have wada at my door like BCAA's and pre workouts or the likes) or "protein crap" for the sake of recovery or the session

Likewise there are those who feel that running is a license to eat all around them. Most have consumed more calories while on there run than they will burn that entire day.

This is a great documentary and while the training is seen as the primary focus one thing that really stuck out with me was the comments on nutrition around the asthetic pressure around training camps. This immediately stood out to me as a huge red flag regarding injury which was pretty much glossed over

Activity is great but a bit like the comments on coaching earlier in the thread it is only about 5-10% of the overall issue

IMO while everyone is pushing for PE in schools to be an examanable subject I think that Home Ec should be compulsory

annapr wrote: »

3. How did you choose your own coach? And is it remote coaching?

Currently at the moment I am without a coach. I completely fell off the wagon with stuff going on in life and I was wasting his time and my own. I haven't gone back yet and in some ways I am kinda reluctant to approach him again about it till I put a good block of consistency under my belt.

I knew him prior to coaching and we had a few chats (he was starting out as a coach at the time, not too much 1 to 1 stuff so threw bouncing idea's off each other I knew his general philosophies and knew the style of coaching he was using himself (as mentioned my last coach had been under the same coach as him so I knew there would be a bit of overlap) to be honest though I did not really care too much about the specifics of the plan, I trusted him the main reason I approached him was for accountability and objectivity something that is hard to do when you are self coached.

Majority of it was remote however did try to touch base for a Face to Face once in a while as well as the odd session together (well me well off behind seeing him in the distance) The training definitely worked and gave me a more holistic view to the approach definitely about not sweating the small stuff.

Testosterscone

Murph_D wrote: »

When I met the newly bearded L at the 1000 PBs thing I didn’t recognise him. I thought he was that other runner who looks a bit like him. :pac:

RayCun wrote: »

I saw that other runner at the lakes 10k and thought it was him for a minute

AuldManKing wrote: »

I was doing a warm down with L at Raheny 5 and a runner going by says 'hey Eoin'. Dont even think he had the beard then.

HelenAnne wrote: »

Me too!

I have been getting this for the last number of years alright. The amount of people who have came up to me at races and had to be stopped in mid flow to correct that I was not him.

Rumours were quashed back in May though as people saw the both of us in the same place at the same time when we were getting our medals at the Dublin's.

HelenAnne

Testosterscone wrote: »

I have been getting this for the last number of years alright. The amount of people who have came up to me at races and had to be stopped in mid flow to correct that I was not him.

Rumours were quashed back in May though as people saw the both of us in the same place at the same time when we were getting our medals at the Dublin's.

At least you’re both really fast though, so there’s good reason for the mix up. I’ve been mistaken a few times for two really fast runners in Raheny (I don’t look like either - they are both extremely athletic looking) but simular hair colours / heights obviously go a long way in people’s minds. I just assure the mixer-upper that as soon as the race starts they’ll realize I’m not either of them!

HelenAnne

Thanks for the really great thread, Testosterscone, really informative answers.

Back in Black

HelenAnne wrote: »

Thanks for the really great thread, Testosterscone, really informative answers.

a big plus one to this. Just read it from the start - a great read and fair play for giving so much thought to the answers and being so open.

diego_b

Excellent thread this, I'd love to nominate it for a thread of the year award....much food for thought.

HelenAnne

diego_b wrote: »

Excellent thread this, I'd love to nominate it for a thread of the year award....much food for thought.

+1

Seconded!