Weekend before last, I attended the Houston Running and Marathon Seminar here in The Woodlands, put on by Team Green Running. While I expected per the usual to learn a thing or two/geek out with fellow runners/catch up with Coach Doug, I was utterly blown away by keynote speaker Dr. Joe Vigil. Like I wanted to squirm around in my seat I was so pumped up from what I was hearing. That doesn’t happen much!
For those unfamiliar, Coach Vigil boasts two Olympic marathon medalists-you may know them as Meb and Deena Kastor-and countless NCAA D2 championships during his storied time at Colorado’s Adams State University. Currently he works with top middle distance runner Brenda Martinez.
Credentials aside, this guy is an INCREDIBLE speaker. His training methods and results speak for themselves, however, his philosophy on what running does for a person and commitment to his athletes and values system really shone through. I could crank out an entire post recapping his stuff that I learned, but I risk watering own or messing up his central message. There are some things that I took away to immediately apply with my runners I work with and also in my own training. A lot what Vigil discussed I found I already believed or agreed with upon hearing it.
Here are some principles that I took away that were helpful, practical, or just plain fascinating:
1. The principle of “deep training”. I always thought I knew the gist of what that meant. I was wrong. So often we go out on a run and really don’t think about what we’re really doing. I’m a fan of using association to really dial in to what your body is doing in space and feel out paces, but it was brought to my awareness that how the more we focus, especially on long runs and workouts, the more muscle fiber recruitment and myelination of nerve cells form. In short, if we don’t think about how tired we are and just focus on our body’s actions and how much force to apply per stride, etc. It becomes easier to access. Unfortunately, carrying on a conversation and thinking about what we will eat and drink afterward (while still important!) really doesn’t apply! Embrace the suck. Or is it really the suck?
2. Vigil also mentioned that there really isn’t much of a place for emotion in racing. I believe you want to feel the ‘right’ things before and especially after the race, but your emotional reserves should be mostly fixated on the task at hand. For me, it’s a balancing act, finding just the right ‘blend’.
3. Belief and confidence. Vigil spoke highly of the use of sport psychology and sport psychology professionals (yea!), and confidence is really the bedrock of all improvement.
4. Speaking of improvement, my last takeaway was that our long-term focus shouldn’t necessarily be on any outcome, but a lasting commitment to improvement. Simple stuff, but love it. Makes me want to go out and do things.
5. Lastly, the discipline of running makes us better people: not just athletes, but professionals, friends, family members, and students. It’s up to us how seriously we access this in our own training and racing lives-elite or recreational.
1. The principle of “deep training”. I always thought I knew the gist of what that meant. I was wrong. So often we go out on a run and really don’t think about what we’re really doing. I’m a fan of using association to really dial in to what your body is doing in space and feel out paces, but it was brought to my awareness that how the more we focus, especially on long runs and workouts, the more muscle fiber recruitment and myelination of nerve cells form. In short, if we don’t think about how tired we are and just focus on our body’s actions and how much force to apply per stride, etc. It becomes easier to access. Unfortunately, carrying on a conversation and thinking about what we will eat and drink afterward (while still important!) really doesn’t apply! Embrace the suck. Or is it really the suck?
2. Vigil also mentioned that there really isn’t much of a place for emotion in racing. I believe you want to feel the ‘right’ things before and especially after the race, but your emotional reserves should be mostly fixated on the task at hand. For me, it’s a balancing act, finding just the right ‘blend’.
3. Belief and confidence. Vigil spoke highly of the use of sport psychology and sport psychology professionals (yea!), and confidence is really the bedrock of all improvement.
4. Speaking of improvement, my last takeaway was that our long-term focus shouldn’t necessarily be on any outcome, but a lasting commitment to improvement. Simple stuff, but love it. Makes me want to go out and do things.
5. Lastly, the discipline of running makes us better people: not just athletes, but professionals, friends, family members, and students. It’s up to us how seriously we access this in our own training and racing lives-elite or recreational.
So no back to thesis stated in the title and like last post indicated, I’m really trying not to overthink anything in my training and just try to stay in the moment as much as possible. Saturday that moment came in a great start to a 12-miler (the longest I think in at least 6 months) and getting very hot and uncomfortable towards the end. The mindset was think about what I’m doing when I feel good, and really think about what I’m doing when not feeling so good: form, relaxing my shoulders, reminding myself that it gets easier and continuing on.
Perhaps a better application of just getting out there and executing the workout would be this morning. I had a steady-state run at a not crazy fast but challenging enough pace to cause me to pay attention. Given my issues with acclimating to the heat and humidity this summer, I could have approached this tentatively, but instead of focusing on something that takes away my energy best used in the run, I simply ran to stay on pace, and more importantly just focus on the immediate moment. Not the next mile, not how much is left; basically get lost in what I’m doing for about 20 mins. You know what? I was close to getting that down. It was warm, there were a lot of workers at the park, but I simply told myself to “run on” and not worry about anything; not where I was at, how much left, etc.
Each time I do one of these workouts, I feel a little stronger and the pace becomes easier to just access and sit in. Plus, the less I really have to think, the better. It’s already a busy fall season and I’m a week into it at the office-so if I go out and give a degree of effort and not have to think much of it-that’s fine by me! Slowly, by doing these, the belief that I will improve becomes more galvanized, and that is the most important part.
Hope you enjoyed my ramblings, observations, and that I have done Coach Vigil justice.
Thanks to Team Green Running for putting on the event.
Stay the course.
3 comments:
Really love number 4! Sounds like such a great, informative session and right up your alley, too! Glad you could apply it right away. Cool stuff!
Sounds like an interesting seminar to attend. Thanks for sharing what you learned!
Oh man, what an awesome seminar to hear! Thanks for sharing the deets!
On another note, I really love the new formats on the blog. The pics and new font look great!
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