I have really enjoyed watching the World Championships this year. The first time in many years I have actually watched the majority of the coverage. The shots of the action have been super, unfortunately we have to listen to the endless drivel from Dwight Stones and Ato Bolden. Bolden would be OK if he would cut the verbiage down by about 75% and just let us enjoy the action. Dwight Stones is anot [...]

Track and field is all about numbers. The competition is certainly important (maybe more so) but most people are just as concerned with the numbers- the times, the distances, etc. With this in mind, I wanted to throw out some interesting factoids for you to chew on. Did you know:The average velocity of a top athlete running the 400 hurdles is higher than one running the 110 hurdles?The fastest rec [...]

You may recall sometime last winter I posted about Peter Callahan. Actually put up a picture of “Burn with Vern” that he and his teammates had drawn on the whiteboard in their weight room. Peter just graduated from Northshore Country Day School in Winnetka, Illinois and will attend Princeton University next year. That is an accomplishment in itself. The real story is that Peter is now the numb [...]

Today, May 30th, 2009 is a day Aaron Springer will remember the rest of his life. Today he was part of two relays which received medals at the Illinois State High School Track Meet in Charleston, IL and those two relays played a pivotal part in his team's 3rd place finish and a state trophy. Aaron has been posting his training log on Elitetrack since November, 10th of last year and while his e [...]

What is game fitness or match fitness? In some ways this is a little like the elusive mental toughness search. I do know that match and game fitness is not the ability to run X distance on a Coopers test or reach Y stage on a beep test of your choice. Let’s start at step one. How about a thorough analysis of the demands of the game or in Athletics how about the race or the event. The reason [...]

I was so pleased to go the Track and Field News website and see a very nice article about Elijah Greer and his coach Bob Williams. I met Bob four years when were both working with the Nike Oregon Project. Getting to know Bob and work with him was the high point of that experience. He is a great coach. He ran the steeplechase at Oregon under Bill Bowerman. He is a Bowerman disciple, I loved talking [...]

This article from the NY Times is almost too good to be true. I was almost in tears reading this. I am a sucker for the underdog and the unknown, but this tops them all. I am know who I am rooting for. It’s almost like this guy is the anti A Rod or Lance Armstrong. Here's an excerpt:Those who have heard the tale of Svein Tuft have wondered, could it possibly be true?How he dropped out of s [...]

Here's a nice movie series I thought I'd pass along. It's not our usual fare but it's good stuff nonetheless. There are about 6 parts to the series from Runners World. Make sure you follow the link and watch the entire series as it gets better with each part. This guy is motivated and once you get to part 2 and 3 there are some performance related tidbits on therapy and movement in there as we [...]

Most coaches of speed-power athletes plan at least one day of rest in to the training protocol. This is generally regarded as a time tested method of ensuring physical readiness for the upcoming week. In my "just a thought" blog series, I've promised to throw out some of the stranger training ideas that pop in to my head. I don't necessarily think they're valid so much as I am curious about t [...]

I've kind of taken to using a concept II rower from time to time as my warmup for weight training. I've had quite a bit of exposure to the activity, first from my high school, which is a perennial rowing powerhouse; and second from having Dr. Hagerman as my professor while at OU. Doc Hagerman, is one of the founding fathers of Exercise Physiology in this country and a long time physiologist for [...]