No mystery the purpose of the post. Drugs. A lot of tweeting and very little action here. I am not going to comment on the positives (ironic term) this Sunday, but will comment on the reactions of athletes, coaches, and some of the media. Today I was alerted to an update by Gabe Sanders, who made a wonderful post on drug free sport on Facebook. Gabe posted a while ago on his emotions of knowing his athletes were safe after the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Today I have a few athletes flying down to get therapy and had some time to reflect on what to do about drugs in sport. While this is elitetrack.com, people need to be honest it’s affecting all sports and even areas that nobody would think such as the law enforcement and military. Getting an advantage by any means necessary is as old as man is, so we can treat it like a recent problem. Ironically enough, Thomas Hicks won the 1904 Olympics with a strychnine laced brandy drink that nearly killed him. Eight years earlier Boston native Thomas Burke used a crouch start to beat the field for the Olympic gold. Both competitions had innovation in biochemistry and biomechanics to win, and now one is banned and one is standard. What people want are natural ways that are safe and effective, not just ones that are powerful and quick to work.
Instead of tweeting about shoe companies, agents, coaches, athletes, and drugs, we should talk about training and ways to get people better. If people have problems with specific people or companies, why not do something about it? Nobody wants to be Edward Snowden or Frank Serpico, as we know how that goes, but without skin in the game we need people to rethink their words a bit. If you are not coaching actively, meaning each day you are the direct coach to an athlete, rethink what you are doing to make a change in the sport. Some master coaches are no longer coaching athletes, but they are teaching coaches what they learned. Do something!
before 1954 multiple doctors said the human heart would explode if a man ran faster than 4 min. in every personal best I’ve had I always felt that there was one thing that I coulda run a little bit faster so I’m in the opposite camp. can’t let some bad apples spoil the bunch.
My solution is to work on education, both coaching science and real world apprenticeships. Right now we see a lot of education, but much of it is not valid because without records and data, evidence is very self confirming bias wise. Also we need better communities of coaches, not organizations that have borderline agendas. Here are solutions I support.
The Windsprint Meeting and Seminar- The track meet and seminar is run by Hakan Andersson. I am working feverishly to make the educational video available at cost to ensure the speakers are compensated fairly for their expertise by getting it filmed. Everyone wants information but somebody has to do something about it. People complain about internet materials but don’t provide better options. Also, something about a good intimate track meet feels good to me. Chicken Soup for the Track Soul.
The Kinetics Manual- Neil Baroody has elected to take all of the notes, binders, and unpublished materials to help with a formal apprenticeship manual. It’s the culmination of internationally traveling to find the truth. Sometimes the visits are not as magical as they appear on youtube videos but you have to be there and witness the truth, not just an article online or a stack video. I have posted about this project and the purpose is giving information back to hands of the people that need honest information. Click here to get involved.
Your local Coach and Farmer- With people taking drugs, I wonder what the nutrition and coaching is like? We need to start off with supporting the little guy more as the marketing machines are killing off the people that make the world go round. Honest people and services mean everything and I feel that we are not doing enough to ensure that those in the trenches are being supported with referrals or a visit to pick up a few free range, organic, or cage free products.
No more rants, I felt compelled to say something positive instead of being negative.
Carl Valle
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