Mike,
First, I thought the USATF coaching schools were stopped until further notice? I guess I didn’t get the “notice” that they were back.
Second, I am tying to decide when and where I will attend my level 1 school. My options are…
1. Furman University – Sept. 17-19
2. Florida Atlantic University – Oct. 1-3
3. Virginia Commonwealth University – Oct. 22-24
Will you be at any of these locations? If not, where will you be?
Lastly, EVERYTHING I do in my training is set up to prepare my athletes for the unexpected. I tell them this from day one. Even for the athletes that haven’t run decent times to date, I do this because as i tell them, you never know what you might come up against. As said in the blog it could be weather, unfamiliar surroundings, or even pressure. I do not plan certain days to do this, for I do it randomly because these situations are in fact random. Even when I randomly present them with a challenge, I do it whenever I think of it, that way it’s “random” for me as well. My theory is that by doing these things, they will be prepared for anything and any pressure situation. In a similar but unrelated topic, I have an athlete who will be attempting to walk on at Clemson this fall, who never ran track in her life, and was never any good in her other sport. She (as well as I) am very confident that she’ll make the team and actually become a solid contributor at some point soon. She has this mindset because I’ve “trained” her to be prepared for anyone and anything, and not allow herself to succomb to the pressure of going from being a track “newbie” to running for a VERY good D1 university.