High School Track Meet

I was officiating a high school track meet tonight. I was the starter for the running events. During the 3000 there was a girl whose running strides looked so relaxed and fluid. She wasn't the fastest of the girls running, but her gait was impressive, knees coming thru her stride, back kick high. She looked light on her feet as her feet during her turnover. 

As I watched her, my thought was she will get faster. But even if she doesn't that running form will allow her to run as many miles as she wants. I hope she has good coaching.

What I have observed during my time as a track and field official is that more track coaches have actually been track athletes and have knowledge about coaching runners, throwers and jumpers. When I was in high school, my distance running coach was an English teacher who had never run before. His coaching was running a series of 70 second quarter mile repeats, with the thinking we should race that way to achieve a 4:40 mile. At the time, it sounded logical. In reality, it doesn't work like that. At least it didn't for me. 

I needed more mileage to build up endurance. Then fine tune with pace and speed. Even in college, repeat 440's were the standard speed workout. As a steeplechaser very little, as in none, work on hurdling the barriers or water jump technique. I am in awe of the current few steeplechasers who actually hurdle the water jump! 

I don't blame my coaches. They were a product of the time and the training philosophy at that time. Distance runners ran. We didn't life weights, we stretched a bit. Flexibility? We could touch our toes and touch our nose to our knees when doing hurdle stretches. Running made you fast and fitter.

I'm glad today's athletes are getting more quality coaching than I received. Or maybe I should say more knowledgeable coaching. For the most part, the training I did was what most training programs followed.

But it was also the beginning of the scientific approach to running training. Coaches like Bill Bowerman, Jack Bacheler at Florida State (Frank Shorter's coach), Jack Daniels, exercise physiologist, who experimented with what we now call "tempo runs."  There have been so much more progress on the science of running training and these coaches and others were the experimenters during that time.

So, where is this thread heading. Who knows? But I do know that I'm finally receiving the benefit of all that science related to training, body functions, etc. I won't be as fast as I once was, but hopefully I'll be running for years to come.