Staleness (nervous overwork)"Condition" is mental and physical fitness for the event, attitude toward the work, enthusiasm through the "grind," triumph over mistakes, improvement in trial performances, full recuperation between daily workouts conserve nervous energy and indicate increasing fitness for the approaching contest. Danger signals of overtraining are loss of sleep, fretfulness, lass [...]

Along the way of becoming a better coach and educator in sport, I’ve come across in both academia and in real life six traits that I hold to be true of quality coaches that build not only strong individuals not only in body but in mind and spirit as well. In turn the athletes in most cases will meet these approaches with a stronger investment back in you the coach, the program, and in their own [...]

Hello everyone. For a number of years I might be what some have called a ‘lurker’ to the boards and website here. I’ve found no end to the stream of useful and thoughtful information that elitetrack has provided and continues to provide on a daily basis. I love the heated debates over training and science topics that come and find them rather entertaining at times. The reason I’ve yet [...]

I've been trying to get more information about Thomas Myers talk in Providence earlier this month. Several bloggers (Carl, Eric Cressey, Charlie Weingroff) all got a lot of Myers assertion that it takes 18-24 months for fascia health. I've been trying to track down info on this w/o much luck. I am not saying Myers is wrong, as a lot of groundbreaking insights are anecdotal at first. I believe th [...]

Spring high school track is in full swing across most of the country and even programs in the colder climates are getting going. Depending on your location and athletic department, early season weather and facility availability often make it a challenge to train. Allotment of time for the facilities between different sports, school schedule dynamics, and normal athletic association rules start t [...]

I recently picked up a book You Haven't Taught Until They Have Learned by S. Nater and R. Gallimore. I've read a few chapters, faxed a few chapters to friends, and started some interesting discussions. Wooden was the consummate teacher who was organized, demanding, yet humble. One of the best chapters is "It's What You Learn After You Know It All That Counts Most". I think back to some earlie [...]

For a limited time this month I am offering a DVD set with Tom Tellez, Dan Pfaff, and Boo Schexnayder. Tellez - Methods to Improve Sprint Starts and Sprint/Hurdle Mechanics (2 DVD set) Over 2 hrs of lecture, demonstration and video analysis by the master.Pfaff - Technical Problem Solving - 80 min lecture on how to detect and solve technical errors... covers a myriad of overlooked topics.Pfaff [...]

We often think of Plan B as something we go to when things go wrong (e.g., when athletes get beat up, weather conditions, injuries). But what about going to Plan B when things go right?Yesterday we had a Sprint-Float-Sprint workout planned with 6-8 mins break. The first run went so well, exceptionally well, that I had to make an important decision. I could:a) adhere to the rest/recovery time on th [...]

Last year I read Malcolm Gladwell's excellent book Outliers. In it he talks about success and some of our (mis) conceptions. At one point he talks about IQ and says, "Over the years, an enormous amount of research has been done in an attempt to demonstrate how a performance on an IQ test... translates to real life success." He then goes on to explain some scoring ranges (e.g., people below 70 a [...]

Everyone who has ordered so far will have their dvds shipped on Monday. I have received some emails and queries from people about getting individual dvds instead of the whole set. Here is what you can do:Boo Schexnayder - Planning Microcylces/Speed & Power Development/Training Design (2 dvd set) - $45Dan Pfaff - Training Design, Injury, and Plan "B" - (2 DVD set) - $45Dan Pfaff - 200m and up Tra [...]