Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

I have been a lurker for many years. There are reasons why people lurk. In my situation I had a lot to read before I could even pose intelligent questions that would move the discussion forward…to avoid being bashed

I second imitating the athleticscoaching.ca example.One if the reason interest was high in 2002 is because of the mystic of the program at LSU. People wanted to know what was going in there and you are an insider with credebility. “that is the sort of info that arouses interest”. With your connections I believe you could return to that level of interest using the same approach.

Oh Great One,

Might there be value in publishing your current and/or past Q & A’s you have had one on one, off the reservation/website with folks.  Similar to a Frequently Asked Questions section?

I have a least a ton of worthless advice I have given out over the years, so I figure you must have at least 2 tons of far better stuff.

Chad Williams - 02 September 2008 05:26 PM

Mike, when the volume was the highest, what was the reason for it? Were there great topics to post about? Were more people doing training journals?

I don’t think there were more training journals but there was more discussion of training journals. Really I just think it takes a little more posting because one new post often creates 2 more but if things sit stagnant activity dies down.

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. I think I’ll try to do the following:
*Add a vlog (video blog) of either some screencasts or snippets of info I’m looking at at the time
*Get an occasional interview from prominent friends in the sport
*Add some of the correspondence CFKA pointed out
*Try to occasionally stir the pot on some more controversial or thought provoking issues

One really valuable response I got was bridging the gap and making more applied info on the site since many of the articles are fairly abstract or solely information based and not very easily applied for most coaches. Any ideas on how to best bridge this gap. One of my athletes is going to be posting a blog of the training we’re doing so that might be a start but are there any other suggestions?

Would there be any interest for a wiki type setup where any and all members can contribute to a knowledgebase ala wikipedia. It could be a source for training plan design and other general topics, etc. I’m personally kinda iffy on this one but want to explore all options.

For the blogging incentives, the easiest way to handle it would be for each blogger to put either their own google adsense ad in their entry or a link to something they sell or are an affiliate with. That way it wouldn’t be dependent on if anyone posted. If you’re interested in starting a blog or adding this to your pre-existing blog let me know via PM.

agentwinburn8604 - 02 September 2008 07:09 PM

Cockysprinter, if you need more basic information there is a lot of books for good deals that will address what you describe as cookie cutter information.  Just look at the recommended reading list on the USATF website.  Or go register for a USATF Level 1 cert?  Anyone can get a Level 1 cert.  You probably know this, but hope it helps anyway.

I believe the reason for less discussion is for members who do post their thoughts for discussion, are BASHED HARD by other members who strongly disagree.  This could make a member not want to post in having to deal with the post being bashed constantly and petty arguments.  Sorry Mike, I have no solution for this one.

the cookie cutter information isnt as useful to me as it was 5 years ago.  for the people just starting to train on their own its useful to have something there that says, ‘this is what they do.‘  and then modify as you learn more.  obviously you can buy books (and i have a collection), but for those that dont want to spend $60 gleaning tidbits from supertraining, or spend $20 to download training for speed only to realize you have to print it out and read interviews with cf, then i think something a little quicker and dirtier helps.

on the second, maybe ban davan and ut?

It appears Mike has brought convinced another lurker into posting. I’ve been lurking on this site for a couple years because it’s always been a great source of information and I never really gave much thought to putting in my 2 cents. I was a sprinter in college and am now a PE teacher and a level 2 track coach. Hope I can be of some help!

“...bridging the gap and making more applied info on the site since many of the articles are fairly abstract or solely information based and not very easily applied for most coaches…“

Kinda what I was getting at in my earlier post.

Maybe you did a good job with the new search engine? :D

If you make use of this or any site, contribute however infrequently or in whatever manner.  Even if only say every 10th time you came looking for information from the articles or FAQ.
athleticscoaching.ca has a wealth of information, the audio interviews give a bit more of a personal touch BUT from what I have seen, for whatever reason, their forums are as close to “dead” as they can be…under almost every heading the most recent contributions are from back in 2007.
IMO there is certainly no need to move towards mimicking running sites that are largely results driven.