Saturday 10 February 2007
Sat 10 Feb 07, Little A's & a recovery session
Surprisingly I woke just before 7am, just before my alarm and got myself ready for coaching duties at Little A's. Talking about coaching duties, over the past month or so, I have found that my coaching comments are not just directed at the U6 & 7's now, but with four years with the On Trackers (U6s) I am finding that I am taking a very keen interest in the kids that I have formerly been involved with and also a handul of siblings and a few other kids I have regularly spoken too. I have found that I am regularly giving advice to about 8 kids (& parents) that are not in my Sat group. I have completed the VLAA Orientation Coaching Course and also a handful of On Track seminars/courses but I am now strongly considering the Aust Track & Field Coaching Association (ATFCA) Level One course in the coming months so I can more formally consolidate my coaching but also so I can feel more comfortable in 'possibly' creating my own squad (wow I've said it aloud).
Anyway...after Little A's, at 1.30pm I had arranged to meet Clare for her interval session. Normally I would do a short tempo sessin first and then finish with Clare, but today I was running slightly lare and also I was still slightly 'buggered' from yesterday's meet, so i just did Clare's Sat hill interval session. Even though this session i would normally find quite easy, today it required a lot more effort than normal, which obviously is related to yesterday's races.
Fri 09 Feb 07, Shield Round 10 at Olympic Park, twilight meet. What a LONG day, at work just after 7am, a minimal lunch break (5-10 min), left work at 5:40pm, walked to Olympic Park for the North West Region Comp in combination with the AV Premier League (State elite comp).
A nice walk around a part of the Tan with a coule of the teenagers from club (who happened to be walking past whe I came out of work) and arrived at OP just after 6pm in time to chat with Thorny, a VAL (Pro) runner who was running invite tonight and is considering joining an AV club, maybe Geelong or maybe Western A's. Thorny ran the first heat after the PL in the 1500 & 800, he ran 4:09 and wasn't overly happy, so I hope he decides to join Western A's and show us some of his real form....
I planned on running the 1500 (7pm) and the 2nd heat of the 3k at 10:15pm, but I ended up throwing in the 800m in the middle too and now feel very tired. My 1500m race was in a heat of 4:50 - 5:10 and as I was expecting to run 5:05 I knew I was at the back. My first lap was 78, not sure of the other laps but with 300m to go I was just over the 4 min mark surprisingly and finished 5:01.01, I think the soft surface of OP was a factor in this race, when it got hard I noticed the soft feel int he track and I think that took my mind away from my 'pain'.
After a cool down jog a few of the other open age guys turned up to run the 800 & 3k and so I took off when them for a slow jog and ended up talking myself into running an 800m race. I was in the third last heat, the 2:20 pack, the first lap was a tight affair, 12 in the heat, after 1 lap (69 for me) I was in 10th but only 5m behind the leader. Funnily I thought the pace was too fast, but when I saw the lap time I thought, shit that's where I wanted to be... floated the back straight and held my position and then with 90 to go I surprised myself (& coach) and passed 3 in the straight and finished 7th in 2:23.
Next up for me was the second heat of the 3k, 11 min +, 35 in the race, I finished 10th in a very tired 11:34. But surprisingly I was happy with the run, normally that far off my PB I would be a bit grumpy, but overall i thought it was a well paced race which was fairly well controlled.
A late night, the 3k finished at 10:40ish and after cool downs, chats, a walk to get my car, drop offs at mates place and Cam's place it was just after 1am...Little A's was going to be a struggle!
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5 comments:
Stu, coaching kids is such a great thing isn't it. I've coached kids basketball for the last 12 years or so, and it sounds like you enjoy your aths coaching as much as I do my basketball coaching. You can have a lot of influence on those kids, not just in teaching them the particular sport, but also in teaching them some life values as well. I did my Level 1 and Level 2 Coaching certificates. I think I certainly needed to do these more than you do,(I was a know-nothing Dad when I started, whereas you seem to know a lot more about running/aths than I did about basketball).
However I'd still encourage you to do the next level and progress your coaching. Purely based on the great level of advice and encouragement you give on the forum (and on peoples blogs), in my opinion you have a lot to offer those kids - so go for it!
I read this before I headed out for my long run today, with a planned 24 or 25Km in mind.
But I felt like crap from the start and turned back early for 21km in a touch under 2 hours. My decision to turn back early was partly influenced by me thinking, "well, Stu would tell me to keep in to 2 hours" :-)
Seriously I say go for it and don't be shy about your ambition. You obviously love coaching the kids so why not get the certificates and increase your knowledge. This sport needs as many people as possible with the passion, and you never know, you may already have the next Buster, Tamsyn or Benita in your midst (not that it is all about the Elite's of course)
Good Stu! It'll give you a great deal of satisfaction. Seeing the kids learn how to run, and develop over the years is something special.
Wow, what a big night of racing. Well done!
wow - when you get your ATFCA certification I might just have to hire you as my running coach.... LOL just kidding. But seriously now, it's a great thing to be able to give something back to your sport.
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