Identifying the Kink in the Pipe
by George Blackwell
In one of my previous newsletters, I highlighted Alan Couzens’ work as a primary source of CPD for my physiology knowledge. For this week, I thought I’d discuss another go-to source of information of mine – Steve Magness’ online teaching portal, “The Scholar Program.” It is a community of coaches engaging and discussing the information shared by Steve, including sections on coaching philosophy, biomechanics, physiology and much more.
One of the reasons I’m such a big fan of Steve’s work is his ability to use language that is easy to understand and which resonates with both coaches and athletes.
An article I recently read was “Identifying the Kink in the Pipe” – in essence, what is the limiting factor that’s preventing an athlete from improving their performance, and how, as a coach, you can identify it.
Usually, this comes from testing or an assessment process, where you might evaluate an athlete’s anaerobic versus aerobic abilities, strength, speed, or psychological approach to training/racing. Once you combine this information with a pragmatic view of the demands of a sporting event, you can set priorities and work to improve on weaknesses over a given period of time.
Steve also acknowledges that these things will change over time, and are even more important with young or less experienced runners/athletes. Through the coaching process, you’ve got to continually review and reflect to ensure what you’re doing is most effective for the athlete at any given point in their journey.
You can access some of Steve’s resources here:
https://the-science-of-running.teachable.com/p/art-of-training-301-high-school (payable resource)