Rick Riley's X-Country Camp

Good thing I brought run gear. I took the morning off to head up to Spokane and meet with Rick Riley at his annual running camp. Due to the multitude of highway repairs, I managed to arrive only five minutes early. I'd been hoping for thirty minutes.

The kids were already assembled, tweaking shoes and sunglasses as they got prepped for the day's session. Unlike a lot of camps, Rick runs a day camp with the sessions going about 2 hours officially. Since everyone (except me) arrives early, it is closer to 2.5 hours.

The other point that jumped at me were the ages. Most of the running camps I'm familiar with cater to the high school athlete. The Rick Riley X-Country Camp encourages all ages to attend. I think the youngest this year was Katie, age eight. I didn't get Ryan's age but he's right around there as well. A couple of other were nine. Rick has a pretty fair number of his St. George's squad helping out as coaches for the youngsters, along with TJ, a former Spokane Falls decathlete.

I asked Rick about how young a runner he'll allow. "first-grade on up," he said, "and we'll figure out how to make it work for them." Very different from most camps, indeed.

On the other end of the spectrum were the high school kids. These headed out for a 45 minute easy run just after I got there. Pacing them on the boys side were Nathan Vanos and Emrek Danielson for the guys. The ladies were led by Marika Morelan and Madie Ward. Madie was on a bike for the week as she heals up from a lower leg issue. Coach Riley was hoping that she'd be back on the run in a week or so.

On a side note, it was my first exposure to these runners on a non-race day. Lots of cheerfulness and smiles. It's easy to forget that the race day face the kids wear is only a small glimpse of them.

The rest of us took a warm-up lap around Audubon Park, where the North Central team holds its home meets. Once around, and then the teaching started, first with the coaches leading the group through a stretching routine. Rick followed up with the philosophy behind the stretching, just enough to get their attention.

Then it was out for some easy running. I managed to land on a recovery day, which was helpful. When the youth coaches asked the kids how they were doing, a variety of aches and pains were reported, mostly calves and quads. When Rick asked five minutes later, all those miraculously healed and everyone reported, "Fine!"

Off we went on an easy run. The coaches bounced up and down the group, providing feedback and encouragement. Lots of encouragement, actually, which is awfully nice to hear. I hung out with the little kids, both because I wanted to chat to TJ and also because it's been a lot of years since I've run with kids that only come up to my waist. The shorter girl wasn't even that tall. Pretty much they're all Chatty-Cathy's, so I just listened in. When a couple dropped off pace, TJ dropped back with them and I ran with the rest.

Next came speedwork, disguised as a game. Rick picked the littlest kids to be the team captains and then ran a relay. Again, a lot of smiles, though the team captains looked a bit overwhelmed by the responsibility at first.

As the kids cooled down from that, Rick had them settle in for a short lecture. Today, he covered goal-setting. He gave them a ton of ideas on how to go about setting goals, had Nathan and Madie talked about their goals from the previous year, and talked about his experience when he set the National Outdoor record. 

Then he hit them with the kicker: you got to do the work.

If you're interested in Rick's camp for next year, you can click here for the info.

Determined Runners by Justin Lagat, A Review

In Determined Runners, Justin Lagat penned a nice synopsis of the advantage that Kenyan runners enjoy. The book, a compilation of articles published elsewhere and bound by the thread of experience, takes just an afternoon to read.

If you're looking for that one killer workout that will make a difference, you need to head over to Runner's World instead. What Lagat has put forth is not the specifics of training, though some of those are certainly present, but the mindset necessary to run like a Kenyan.

Lagat is, as with it seems every other fit young man in Kenya, a distance runner who has trained with the best in the world. A writer as well, he contributes to RunBlogRun.com under the column The View from Kenya, offering the perspective of a professional athlete in a region where running is neither a recreation nor a sport. It is very much a business, and the athletes treat it as such.

For fans of the sport, Determined Runners gets the inside scoop of the running camps, the efforts of the athletes, and a sincere desire for Westerners to compete on their home turf. In discussing the running camps, he makes the point that many of the best athletes left, not because of training differences but of the attitudes of the camp managers, who sought to treat adults as high school athletes to the extent that there were bed checks and asking permission to be away from camp on personal business. It's hard not to hear an echo from Keyna's colonial past in this, with the big camps assuming entirely too much control of the life of the athlete. Being held out of completion was a close second on the list of camp complaints. Access to races and sponsorships is critical if you want to earn a living on your legs.

Justin Lagat also runs a website called KenyanAthlete.com which is devoted to news from Kenya. Lagat, an outspoken critic of doping, also uses the site as a means of disseminating information regarding the various issues plaguing the sport. Per Lagat, "I want to be part of a clean sport and Kenyan athletes to be known throughout the world as those who can achieve greatness in our sport without the aid of drugs." The turmoil in the sport of running grows with each with positive test of a marathon winner, the accusations hurled at the Nike Oregon Project, and the apparent corruption of the Russian Federation. Lagat toils in support of a clean sport, writing that the doping problems in running hurt the youngest runners most as companies back away from sponsorships.

I recommend that for runners who want an understanding of the Kenyan perspective, Determined Runners makes for a great entry point. You can purchase Determined Runners at Smashwords.

Beast Mode and Running. Why Bother?

Running advice flows on a spectrum from "anything is great" to "it's never enough unless you win". Generally, it's the extremes that win out, as with everything else. Lately, I've read a lot of running stuff on the obnoxious end of the spectrum that presumes to tell you how to get into 'beast mode', or crush the competition.  

Now, this is the stuff that's past the four million "how to PR" articles out there. This is the wing of the running world that considers a race to be a mortal battle, treats running as the single most important thing in the universe.

The beast articles had an interesting effect on me-they annoyed the hell out of me and I wasn't sure why. Which, in turn, set me to thinking. What is the purpose of 'beast mode' and why the heck should I care.

Since I'm about as un-hip as they come, I turned to the internet, keeper of all that is hip, happening, and ten seconds from irrelevancy. Near as I can tell, beast mode has a dual meaning. First, to wig out and lose control of your anger as in "The dude went totally beast-mode and started smashing things.' Think The Hulk.

The second meaning is the one I think the running advice people are applying, to become tougher and more persistent to reach a goal. Generally, I'm in favor of toughness and persistence. I'm not the kind of person who likes to go out and do things half-assed, yet I still find the beast mode exhortations obnoxious.

It took me a while to figure out why. To get there, I had to revisit the reasons for running. In Born to Run, McDougall writes about the rise of persistence hunting in conjunction with brain development. What struck me in the book was the behavior described of the Kalahari bushmen and the games described for the Tarahumara. They both feature great runners at the front of the pack. They also both feature the pack, and the effort of those lesser runners to do their part to win the prize, whether a dead antelope or bragging rights.

In the case of persistence hunting, all the runners participate. First the weaker runners will do the early work of singling out the prey and driving it. Later, when the prey is weakened, the stronger runner closes in to finish the job. By spreading the work out among a group, the overall load on one runner is reduced, placing the prey at a distinct disadvantage. It is a cooperative exercise.

Likewise, the game played in the Copper Canyons was cooperative, with the teams moving as packs to keep the ball (I forget the term McDougall used) moving ahead. When it went off course, the pack split, retrieved it, and forwarded to the main group. Effectively, it's training for persistence hunting.

And that it the core of my antagonism toward the hucksters shouting at me to get into beast mode. I very rarely seen the term used by professional runners. The professional runner puts in work, usually in a team environment. Compared to the major revenue sports such as football and basketball, there's relatively little trash talking. They reserve the energy the wannabe's invest in beast mode for race day. They call it competing.

The beast mode attitude seems to be aimed at the lower tiers , usually either to establish self-declared the runner as one stage up the social ranking (much like pace is used to differentiate runners and joggers) or used by people who expect to make from those emotionally invested in that ranking. Pretty much to opposite of what the elites do, and what our ancestors did for survival.

Oh, and questioning beast mode is not allowed. Just ask someone who professes it as running philosophy.

Have a great weekend of running, however you like it.

Update on the Kenya Trip

Time for a fast update on the trip to Kenya. First, the new passport arrived. After jumping through the hoops presented by the powers-that-be, along with sending $52.25 to a service that will retrieve a certified, embossed copy of my birth records, the process was a breeze. I'm still a bit unclear why I needed a certified copy instead of the embossed certificate I had that was given to my mother on my birth, but it's the government. Arguing simply delays the inevitable, which surrender to the bureaucracy.

Next came the research phase and that will continue until wheels up, currently scheduled for December 27th. So far this week, I've read Kenya - Culture Smart by Jane Barsby,  How To Be A Kenyan by Wahome Mutahi, and Uncertain Safari by Allan Winkler. On the darker side, I've started Histories of the Hanged by David Anderson which details the Mau Mau rebellion. I also got a map of Kenya so I can build up my mental reference points for the places mentioned in the various books. All in all, a good start.

Not a history or cultural guide, Determined Runners by Justin Lagat was an interesting read and short enough to complete in one sitting. This was the first book I've read on my new iPad and a part of the test on which computer to take with me. Anyway, I thought the book offered a different and will put up a short review later in the week. Justin is a regular contributor to RunBlogRun.

Did you know that Kenya uses 240v, 50 hertz power? Nope, neither did I. Looks like I need to find out where to get a transformer once I get in-country. I've played this game before, in Australia. The plug-ins are different, too, but I can buy adapters for those before I leave.

This assumes that I will be in an area with power. I have an invite to Nandi Hills, home ground for Kip Keino, Henry Rono (one of my favorite runners and author of Olympic Dream), Janeth Jepkosgei (with the totally cool nickname of "Eldoret Express"),and Mike Boit. If I end up in the outerlying villages, which hopefully I will, power and running water may be a bit on the iffy side.

I also have checked in with Richard and Andrea Kaitany who run Simbolei Academy. The Academy exists to expand the opportunities for Kenyan girls who live far from the urban centers. Due to the economics of the region - culturally very rich, but cash poor - girls often are not able to attend school past the primary grades. Richard and Andrea recognized a need and sprang into action. Building the Academy takes time, though, and money. Buying seven acres of land from a closed sawmill, they've begun to transform the property into a school. They also have a cottage for rent. No word on openings during my visit, but I'm very hopeful.

Found a fun sounding B&B style house for the time I'm in Nairobi.

There's a whole slew of vaccinations I need, plus malaria medication. Frances, my doctor, will be thrilled. She'll also question my sanity, but she's been doing that for years anyway, so it's no extra bother.

I checked out driving in Kenya, and decided to rely on public transportation. They drive on the wrong side of the road (Yank perspective) and I won't be there long enough to make the adaptation to driving on the left. It should be enough time to reawaken the Australian habits of looking right, left, right before crossing traffic. I'll just have to remember to keep my head on a swivel when I get back, lest I get caught looking the wrong way and step in front of a bus.

Not worried about food. If it can't outrun me, it counts. Except for Brussels Sprouts. I have a catch-and-release program for those.

I plan on running while I'm in Kenya. Fortunately, I'm pretty sure the Kenyans are much too polite to laugh. Unless they've imbibed Chang'aa - their version on moonshine. The literal name means "kill me quick." Still, I can't go to Kenya and not run. Shoot, I can't go to Indianapolis and not run. Indy is not nearly as exciting. So I'll be running.

You know the punch line for the joke about out-running a lion? - "I just need to outrun you!" Know how fast the Kenyans are?

Really hoping not to come across hungry lions.

May I Listen?

As part of a new book that I am writing, I've been taking a look at communication. Since the book is about coaching, I went looking for someone with very particular skills.

I found her, and her name is Neely Spence Gracey. If her name seems familiar, it might be because she's an 8-time Div. II champion. Also, the daughter of Steve Spence, Olympic Marathoner. I discovered that she coaches when I came across a comment of hers on Letsrun.com. She got bonus points in my book for posting there using her real name, plus she exuded a positive attitude.

In addition to being an outstanding athlete, Neely coaches other runners to achieve their best. She was kind enough to reply to an email that I sent her out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, and agreed to help me out with my book project.

Now, I have to confess, I am fascinated by communication and not just in the realm of coaching. My regular job has me working with homebuyers, most of whom I never meet until the day of inspection, most of whom are under stress with the home-buying process. In the three hours or so that we're together, I have to find a way to build rapport, and to identify how best to deliver the information I divine from the crawlspace, attic, or electrical panel.

One of the highest compliments I've ever received came from an agent in Moscow, Idaho, who told her client that I was a great educator. That is, in essence, how I see the core function of my profession. All the technical knowledge in the world won't help if I can not accurately transfer it to the client, both for the defects that might be present, but also for all the other systems present.

This is also the reason I like having the client with me - I never know when they will ask a question that may take us into a discussion that, while not strictly inspection-related, is important to them. The client may not care that the electrical panel is fine, they expected that; instead, they want an open floor plan and need to know if a particular wall is a bearing wall.

Through listening to their words and watching the body language, I can see what is important to them, and simultaneously figure out the best means of presenting information. For some, bluntness is best. Others need to be led to the information in baby steps with supporting data at each point.

Similarly, when I am coaching with the junior high kids, listening and watching are mandatory. With the kids, all their emotions write themselves across their faces and their posture. Also, because they're pre-teen/early teens, those emotions flutter faster than a hummingbird's wings, the process never stops.

In one of Neely's responses to me, she mentioned that her dad started by coaching 13 year-old her like she was a college athlete. Her answer reminded me of coaching my own girls. I quickly understood I couldn't treat them the same way I did myself. Our motivations, expectations, and fears weren't the same.

Relentless positive reinforcement works. Bashing them doesn't and the athletes simply check out. Presentation counts. Kids don't like backhanded compliments, they need the truth straight up, with zero snark. Joking and humor work, but running people down, even ones that aren't on the team, makes them think about what you're saying about them when they're not around. Once you've destroyed that trust boundary, you might as well quit. When I work with the kids, I focus on what they're doing right. We build on that, one baby step at a time.

I also look for the triggers that influence them.

One young lady would get nervous to the point of hyperventilating while standing at the start line. The solution that worked was to get her to the line just in time. Her warm-ups we did off the course, with friends. Once they dropped into that easy getting-going rhythm, they'd chat about a dozen things, none of them race-related. When she got to the line, there was no time to panic.

This is the antithesis of my warm-up and thought process. I operate very differently, with long warm-ups and visualizations. A couple of the kids work the same way, but most don't. By watching them, and listening to the emotions below the words, I could see and feel her concern. As Neely Gracey said to me, "Just like actual coaching, communication needs to be individualized and adjusted based on need. Creating an environment for confidence is so critical . . ." 

In one simple statement, Neely hit on a point that everyone can learn from. Most people, when considering communication, talk about talking. How to present yourself, highlight your ideas, how to convey your instructions, how to modulate your tone to influence. All of that focuses on one-way communication. Sadly, this often leaves the speaker talking to themselves.

Good communication is a two-way process and constantly adapting on the part of all the participants. Average coaches can tell you what you need to do; great coaches listen, adapt, and lead.

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For those interested in getting coaching from Neely Spence Gracey, visit her at her website. Neely is incredibly approachable and open, and has been through the running wars.

Racing the Rain is out

My three copies of Racing the Rain, John L. Parker's best book to date, arrived today.

Why three copies?

One for me, obviously. One for the XC team, so I don't lose my copy like I did (twice!) with Once A Runner. To be fair, I lost a copy or two to family members as well. The final one for the school library - that way, I can send the junior high kids down the hall with a recommendation on a book they'll love.

Below, the review I wrote back in May for the advance copy. Next time I see John, I'm getting my copy signed. Hopefully, that will be the Olympic Trials next year in Eugene.

Still envious of that cover . . .

For those that want to order a copy, feel free to use the link to the side. I'm an Amazon affiliate. Not much money is involved, but a latte a year isn't too much to ask, is it?

Run gently, friends - or curl up with a brand new book and head off for an adventure on Florida's Gold Coast.

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Racing the Rain delivers the goods on young Quenton Cassidy with Parker’s flair for inspirational running scenes, an intriguing cast of characters, and a verdant setting above and below the surface of the Florida Gold Coast.

Parker opens the novel with scenes from an American childhood that will seem alien to most of his young readers, but that resonates with authenticity for the age; and, of course, there’s a race.

The boys in the story—Cassidy, his friends Stiggs and Randleman—roamed freely as the story unfolds, the early years touched on at the highlights, until Racing the Rain settles into the early teenage years when Cassidy turns serious about sports even as he searches for his identity.

For Cassidy, identity gets bound by the character of the Florida Gold Coast and by Trapper Nelson. Trapper, who as Cassidy thought of it, “. . . was supposedly bigger and stronger than Paul Bunyan, had more powers than Superman, knew more about animals than Tarzan . . .”  is the first to suggest that Cassidy pursue running, and was wise enough to wait for the seed to germinate. Trapper lives alone in the Everglades and the two form a relationship built on a mutual appreciation of each other and the Glades.

Parker’s ability to write a race scene that leaves your pulse pounding was the backbone of Once a Runner. In Racing the Rain, he adds a graceful skill in describing the natural world of Cassidy, whether describing a foray to capture bait fish amongst the cattails in the tide pools, scuba-diving in coral “so exotic they seemed not the product of the natural world, but of some schizophrenic jeweler,” or the feel of the oppressive summer heat as he works for Trapper maintaining an exotic menagerie. Parker’s affinity for Florida helps him paint the scenes with details that allow the richness of the place and time shine through.

As an author, Parker also added some misdirection to his repertoire as he gently builds a training program for young runners under the guise of telling the story. Gone are the sixty quarter miles, replaced by the guiding wisdom of Archie San Romani through Trapper, and later, from his coaches, especially Mr. Kamrad. The running is interspersed with basketball. It’s on the court that Cassidy first stars, learning the lessons of diligent practice and focus to reach beyond the barriers that had been applied to him.

Parker does a smooth job of bringing the previous book’s characters back to round out the scenes. Readers of Once a Runner will recognize many of the characters, not the least Mizner and a young Jack Nubbins and the race finale takes place at Southeastern University, the setting for Once a Runner.

Parker continues to blend in the science of training with his racing, but does so subtly. He sets basketball as the prestige sport, with cross country and track distant also-rans in the school hierarchy of popularity, not so different from the reality for most runners. As the plot develops, so does Cassidy’s character. The reader watches the writer deftly molding young Cassidy into the man that he will be in Once a Runner, the athlete with an almost visceral rejection of stupidity masquerading as authority. The tension builds through the second third of the novel as Cassidy is forced, by a combination of his own talents and decisions as well as the internal pressures of the sports programs with the prestige to decide on his future.

The result is less a one dimensional running book like Once a Runner and more a coming of age story for Quenton Cassidy, teenager. As such, it should have wider appeal to more readers. And yet, there’s that Parker touch, and the runners will recognize the magic that Parker brings to running fiction, that makes it special to all of us that once dreamed of being that runner.

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Paul Duffau writes novels about running and works with junior high cross country runners part-time. His first novel, Finishing Kick, was recognized by Running Times in their Summer Reading list July, 2014. His newest novel, a high-octane adventure set in the mountains of Montana, is Trail of Second Chances. He blogs on the running life, running book, and interviews people that he finds interesting at www.paulduffau.com .

Catching up over the weekend.

Northwest Runner arrived just before the weekend, and for once, I had some time to settle in and read. One writer that I've been enjoying with each issue is Greg van Belle. This issue had his take on the trails versus roads debate. Quoting Greg, "I've done the math and trail running is 100 percent better than street running. You can't argue with math." The whole article is plenty fun. You can follow Greg on Twitter at @gregvanbelle. While you're at it, I'm there at @paulduffau.

Dana Richardson & Sarah Zentz have put together a documentary on the Tarahumara that won a prestigious Award of Merit from IndieFEST and the Golden Palm Award from the Mexico International Film Festival . The movie, Goshen: Places of Refuge for the Running People, explores the efforts of the Running People to maintain their way of life against the assaults of the modern world. For more info, you can head to GoshenFilms. The movie is available for sale - a reminder that if you want more running related stuff, you need to support the artists involved.

Finished reading a cultural guide to Kenya. The description of their driving habits convinces me that I should be hiring people rather than attempt transporting myself. Also, the advice never to get between the hippo and water seemed pretty obvious, but given the hippo is the deadliest critter (can something as big as a hippo be called a critter?), it probably needs repeating. Also, I've booked four days at the High Altitude Training Centre. I need to find out who was the slowest runner ever to stay there. I might be able to claim a somewhat dubious record.

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One disagreement I had with Scott Fishman was on the subject of setting a goal that I wanted to enjoy every run. Scott maintained that enjoying a run was not quantifiable and thus could not be used as a goal. He also maintained it wasn't realistic to expect to enjoy every run. He was wrong, at least on the first point. The second is open to debate and would depend on the individual.

To quantify the enjoyment factor on a run, we simply need to borrow the tools used by the medical profession with the perceived level of pain or the Borg scale of perceived effort for exercise. I now use a scale 1-5 to rate my running enjoyment with 1 representing 'it sucked' and 5 representing 'awesome'. The goal is to always stay at a 3 or above, and I adjust workouts to make that happen. If running in 105 degree heat will result in a 2, I find a different time to run or a cooler location.

Yesterday I was up before dawn and on the trails up North Asotin Creek as the sun broke, surprising a flock of turkeys - one momma and a half-dozen poults. Later I saw a pair of 3-point bucks. In between, I traversed from the grassy valley, raindrops that clinged to the taller stalks glistening in the rising sun and up the pine-scented canyon. I started creaky and finished feeling comfortably tired, exactly what I aimed for. That was a solid 4 on the pleasure scale.

By planning the runs around the pleasure scale, I've been much more consistent with the running and it's showing in my fitness. I'm also having more fun than ever. You might give it a try yourself.

Deer Drinking from Sprinkler

In lieu of actual content, I offer this picture, taken from my front door.

How Can You Tell If a Scientist Lies?

Let's start the discussion obliquely by pointing out that science education in the United States probably could do with a thorough make-over. It's not a huge secret that the majority of Americans are under-developed in their ability to understand science. According to the United States National Center for Education Statistics, "scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes . . . " Our schools do a better job of forcing kids to ingest facts that they do of establishing processes.

So, with that as a starting point, if becomes unsurprising that anything stamped with the "Done by a REAL Scientist" label in the media gets treated with immediate deference. For most of their educational career, children have been lectured (or hectored, depending on topic) on science while lip service was done for getting them to both understand and use the scientific method.

When it comes time to decide whether to swallow something patently absurd, or to apply critical thinking skills and a healthy dose of skepticism, the default is to follow the lead of the authority figure which, in this case, is the scientist.

Even one who puts out a study, as Dr. Johannes Bohannon did, stating that eating a chocolate bar on a low-carb diet accelerated weight-loss.

Um, no. 

"There are smart people out there who are getting fooled by this stuff because they think scientists know what they're doing."

 Those are the words of Bohannon after his 'study' - the data and methods were deliberately falsified - went viral. It was good news, and people wanted to believe. And a scientist said so. The science is settled.

This happens not just in the food and health field, which has seen eggs go from shell-encased heartaches to okay, margarine from savior to second place in the butter sweepstakes, and the recent news that cholesterol in the diet may not be such a big deal. It happens in pesticides (killing bees in Europe), vaccinations (causing autism), and cellphones (causing brain cancer). 

So, back to the question that started this whole thing. How can you tell if a scientist is lying?

First, remember the old saw, "If it's too good to be true . . . " In science, this is called skepticism, a term that unfortunately has been co-opted into a negative by the forces of climate change policymakers.

A good scientist is inherently a skeptic. Without that trait, the normal investigative process they pursue gets short-circuited. With it, they develop a hypothesis, test it, and see how the data supports or fails to support the initial idea. If the data does not support the hypothesis, they change the hypothesis.

A bad scientist changes the data, or in the case of NOAA, renormalizes it to make unfortunate results disappear. In the case of the recent scandal regarding the study by Michael LaCour that appeared to support gay marriage, the results were falsified in their entirety.

In a perfect world, the out-right frauds would be quickly caught as other scientists tried to replicate the studies. Sadly, that doesn't happen often enough. To help, Stanford opened the Meta-Research Innovation Center which is systematically identifying problems in medical research.

Second, if it appears that legitimate concerns about a fact or study get answered by invective instead of data, it is a pretty good sign that someone has an agenda that is more important than the pursuit of knowledge.

Finally, remember the adage first offered by Nobel Laureate (in Physics) Murray Gell-Mann, dubbed the Gell-Mann Amnesia Affect. Apply to all instances in which a person appeals to the authority of an 'expert'.

"Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”

Amazon Giveaway in Progress

I'm running a giveaway over at Amazon for four free copies of Finishing Kick. I have no idea how this will turn out (though I suspect it will cost more money than I get back in sales), but thought it would be interesting to try it out.

The link is https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/f955d115882fed9f .

If I can ask a small favor, could you share this on Facebook, or retweet on Twitter, when you see it? Or, if you get this by email, think about forwarding it to one or two (please, not your whole contact list!) that might be interested.

For my author friends, email me in a week or so and I'll let you know what I think.

Ten Reasons to Hire a Running Coach

This is the first part in a series that will eventually become a book on how to choose a running coach. For the record, I am not a coach, so this is in no way a solicitation.

A Good Coach Will . . .

Give You Confidence

No matter where your training and fitness levels currently exist, a coach can identify the path that leads to more success and pleasure. Since she’s made that journey successfully before with other athletes, she acts as a Sherpa up the mountain, handling the heavy lifting. With a trusted coach, you will discover a tremendous amount of confidence that you will end up at that peak.

 Help You Set Goals

You have an idea of where you want running to take you. Perhaps a faster 5K motivates you, or ramping up your mileage to handle longer runs on trails. Whichever direction you wish to proceed, a coach specializes in getting runners there. Since they already know the terrain, they can assist in building the goals, not just for the training program of miles and workouts, but the nitty-gritty details like diet, strength training, and rest that you need to incorporate to accomplish the task.

 Tailor a Program to Your Life

Great coaches look at the entirety of the athlete, not simply the running aspect. By gathering in-depth information about your work, family, and habits, they construct a program that fits your life. Some athletes respond better to increased intensity, others to greater durations. The great Bill Bowerman would build a different program for each of his athletes based on their responses to the workouts, both physically and mentally. A tailored program fits you like an Isotoner  glove fits a hand.

 Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

The best coaches are masters of communication.

They are able to take the training concepts and explain to you how the workouts will build you into a better runner. More importantly, they want to take that time. A good coach knows that an athlete who understand the reasons behind the training regimen will be more likely to compete the workouts correctly and have greater success. They always have something else to offer and are free with information.

More importantly, the best coaches are great listeners. Coaches know that a strong rapport starts with listening skills. By actively listening, the coach will catch nuances in what you say and how you say it.  They seek your feedback and accept it without prejudging it.

Great coaches understand that they are only half of the equation. To have a successful relationship with you, they speak and listen to you as a full partner rather than as a child receiving instruction.

 Support You When It Gets Hard

Let’s be realistic—at some point in your training, you will face some adversity. It may be a tough stretch of training or a poor race. When that happens, it’s helpful to have someone in your corner who will encourage you to keep digging in, that believes in you and your goals. The occasional “Atta girl!” can do wonders to lift your mood when you need just that little extra encouragement to tackle the next workout.

 Rein You In When You Want to Do Too Much, Too Soon

Also being realistic, sometimes runners get to feeling invulnerable. The training is going great at 50 miles a week, so they bump it up to 60 in one fell swoop. Or the track workouts are getting too easy, so the runner increases the pace until they feel the strain. For some runners, unless they are truly struggling, they don’t think they are working hard enough. A coach will review the feedback you send him and know when to increase the loads in the workouts. He’ll also know when to tell you to cool your jets and let the process build.

 Help You Avoid Injury

This almost goes without saying. Your coach wants you healthy. By analyzing the information he has (and if he’s local, watching you run,) he can determine which workouts deliver the most effective benefits. Due to personal bio-mechanics, there is no single program that will work for everyone. Some runners thrive with a high volume of distance, while others would break under the load of the miles. Personally, too much speed work breaks me and that I run best on a minimum of 60 miles per week. My best friend is exactly the opposite.

The coach will also be monitoring, with you, your status. If something tweaks, the coach works to find the cause. Once identified, he’ll find alternative activities while healing takes place, give you exercises to prevent a reoccurrence, and incorporate that knowledge into your long-term program.

Teach You

In the old martial arts movies, the wise sensei would have the student performing cryptic tasks that only later would be revealed to have value. Think “Wax on, wax off.”

In reality, the coach should be explaining to you why the elements of the program are in place. Each time you interact with your coach, you should learn something new. The good coaches are not afraid to explain the purpose of the workouts. They’re not afraid that you’ll learn so much that you’ll leave. Just the opposite, they understand that the engaged and informed athlete performs at higher levels.

Celebrate All Your Successes with You

We’ve all seen the iconic pictures of runners, arms thrust into the air, crossing the finish line. Most of us have celebrated the same way. Great coaches take it a step farther.

 I used to run with the San Diego Track Club, where Paul Greer coaches. Coach Greer is a spectacular example of a positive, athlete-oriented coach. One thing that he did that exemplified this was to cheer on the athletes in the middle of the workouts. Yes, he’d do the same thing at races, and he’d highlight and compliment runners afterwards, too.

What Coach Greer knows and what most runners forget, is that the race is built in the dark periods of training. A runner that completes every workout assigned for a month straight has accomplished something real and worthy of celebrating.

Expect your coach to cheer on all your little successes, the completed speed work or long run, the loss of a couple of pounds, correcting your diet to give you all the nutrients you need as a runner. They know that those little successes will lead to the big one that everyone else will see race day. They also know that those little ones are the most important.

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If you enjoyed this post, I encourage you to share it on Facebook and Twitter with your friends and fellow runners. If you have experiences, good or bad with coaches, I would love to hear of them. Hit the contact page or email me directly at thatguy at PaulDuffau.com.

copyright © 2015 Paul Duffau

I'm a Terrible Parent for Teaching My Kids How to Fail

Frankly, I don't get the need to hold graduation parties for kindergarteners. I know, we're supposed to teach our kids to succeed and nurture their self-esteem, but I didn't want to raise special little princesses. My kids got high-fives for striving and trying hard things, even if they crashed and burned. When they moped about the crash, they got a kick in the seat.

Too many people get wrapped up in the notion that failure is bad. It is not. The reaction to failure determines the value. Champions don't take failure personally. They understand that failure is feedback that the course you're on will not get you to the goals that you seek. The feedback itself is emotionally neutral and impartial. Understand the feedback, and make the corrections.

This is called learning. 

I do not know any successful person who did not fail first, sometime spectacularly. No runner breaks the four-minute mile without missing the mark a thousand times first. No inventor perfects a device on the first idea. Business get built by professional failures. Authors who are overnight successes have a decade of failed efforts behind them.

No one lives a life on unending successes, and children who are never allowed to experience the opposite of success never develop the resiliency and perseverance to handle adversities.

I encouraged the girls to "fail faster." That is, try things, evaluate, learn, move on to the next challenge. Grow.

So yes, I taught my girls to fail. Or, more accurately, how to fail.

Why Kids Should Not Train to Race Year Round

In youth sport after youth sport, the year-round club model is taking hold for children before they reach their tenth birthday. Indeed, making the club team for sports such as soccer and softball is more important than the local high school team for many athletes. The athletes that participate on the clubs often receive very high levels of coaching, though that is not a given. AAU basketball, for example, is more about showcasing talent for colleges than for skills development. 

The single sport emphasis of today's athletes arguably hurts their athletic development, and actually leads to more injuries. In a study presented by authors NA Jayanthi , C. Pinkham, and A. Luke, titled THE RISKS OF SPORTS SPECIALIZATION AND RAPID GROWTH IN YOUNG ATHLETES, they found a significant correlation towards specialized athletes and injury rates. Another study, done by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), supports the same conclusion, arguing that the increase in overuse injuries is reaching epidemic proportions.

In both studies, it was the level of organized activities that correlated most with injury rates. That organizational bent usually was the result of early specialization, which added time to the training activity on the assumption that more and early work would lead to improved skills. It also led to highly repetitive drills that created overuse injuries.

In recent NFL drafts, 80 percent of the players taken in the first round were multi-sport competitors in high school. I've talked with coaches, both at the D1 level and at high schools, most prefer athletes with a varied sports background. Rick Riley, in a conversation we had last year, suggested part of his success in running came from the varied activities - swimming, hiking, bucking hay - that he did as a youth. Each built different muscles and trained the nervous system to respond to new inputs and made the whole stronger in the process.

The legendary Dr. Jack Daniels concurred, writing in his book Daniel's Running Formula that "all runners can benefit from breaks in training." Bill Bowerman, as reported in Kenny Moore's excellent Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, despised indoor track, feeling that it interfered with the necessary base building activity that a runner need to engage in while recharging the system. After the Munich Olympics, he gave Steve Prefontaine months off, telling him to just keep moving until the fire came back.

Which leads us to a second concern about year-round training and racing. Along side of the injury issues are recurring stories of athletes burned out by the process. When the simple act of running becomes a constant grind of training, with each run measured by the success of the training stimulus and not the pleasure, it turns to work. For some, that hard work is it's own reward, but the number of individuals that can function on a constant diet of stress is minimal. Most kids break down, either physically or emotionally. We lose two-thirds of our athletes from junior high to high school this way.

There is a season for everything and every season has an end. For too many kids, the training begins to resemble the ordeal of Sisyphus, forever pushing a boulder up the mountain, but never destined to reach the top. At some point, the labors must be over and the hero gets both the rewards of the effort, and a chance to rest briefly on his or her laurels with the competitive fire banked until it's needed again. When it is, the passion will return and the athlete returns to the task renewed and stronger.

To quote Pat Tyson, head coach at Gonzaga, speaking of the goals for young runners, "Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that's cool too."

It's a great quote and shows that Pat Tyson has his priorities solidly founded on bedrock principles. There's a reason he won multiple state championships at Mead High School and is beloved by his athletes. It's not my favorite quote, though. My favorite from Pat shows how uncomplicated it can be and simultaneously deep.

Love the run.