From the Archives,pt.3, Beware the Nouveau Riche Runner

Before reading today's article I would urge you to read my post from this past March 11th entitled,An Old Timer Looks at Today's Racing Scene. In many ways it relates to what you are about to read. The following was written sometime in the mid to late 90's. It profiles a type of runner that was very much a part of the Western New York racing scene at that time. Safe to say he was(is) the antithesis of a Stotan athlete.Perhaps you have runners like this in your area.

Beware the Nouveau Riche Runner

You may have seen this runner before. They are usually,but not always, male and under 30 years of age. They prowl the chat rooms on certain websites,always looking for the key to the magic training formula that will bring results easier and quicker. They dismiss Lydiard as being archaic and think Percy Cerutty was a grade B British actor from the '50's. The Nouveau Riche runner(N.R.R.) was heavily into the Daniel's program but has reached a "sticking point" where his 5k times have gotten slower instead of faster. However,he's convinced that he needs a coach who has a background in exercise physiology because, "they really know your body." The N.R.R. believes he's hardcore because he never reads Runners World,thinks Running Times is the "Bible" of the sport.Oh by the way,he is very seriously considering doing a triathlon.

The Nouveau Riche runner is generally someone who was an excellent runner in high school. He may have run for awhile in college but gave it up for some reason(editor: possibly due to repeated injuries or no longer being the big fish in a small pond). Since college he has emerged as the local hero,kicking some serious butt at the road races in your area. You may have even seen him around. He's the guy wearing the $300. Gortex suit and sporting a singlet and shorts that cost more than your shoes(editor: forget that,his Oakley sunglasses are worth more than your shoes).You may have even spoken to him although he's not a very good listener. He'll talk endlessly about his chronic painful hamstring(editor: caused by too much track work) or next weekend's race. Your casual comments about the Fukuoka marathon are met with puzzlement and indifference. The N.R.R. can only speak of "the Kenyans" when referencing elite runners past and present. His talk of hot tubs,Gold's Gym for twice weekly weight training sessions,$150.running shoes and getting to the track early(editor:10:30am) have your head spinning and looking for a polite way to get out of his presence. As you walk back to your car reaching for that cold drink and thinking about your late afternoon run,the N.R.R. is rushing off to Starbucks hoping to make it home in time for the Final Four Basketball Championships on television.

Dave Power on Coaches

Come on now,admit it,when most of you saw the title today you said Dave who? Often forgotten when discussing Percy Cerutty is that he trained many champions besides Herb Elliott. One of those athletes was Australian Dave Power,a bronze medal winner in the 10,000 meter run at the 1960 Rome Olympics.He offers some thought provoking comments on Percy as well as coaches in general.What he has to say about Cerutty is something that all coaches should provide their athletes.
Power had this to say about him: "He was motivational and gave me alot more confidence in myself. Up until then I'd been playing second fiddle to the likes of Al Lawrence and Albie Thomas. Once Percy convinced me I was every bit as good as them,if not better,I started to win races." Offering his opinion on the coaches of today as compared to those of the past Dave remarked:"We had better coaches then you have today, coaches who taught from the heart and experience like Cerutty and Lydiard." The subject of coaches is always an interesting one. For instance, I tend to agree with Tom Osler when he said, "there are just a few good coaches in the world. Coaches are mostly drill masters. There are only a couple of original thinkers out there." Osler then went on to refer to Arthur Lydiard and Bill Bowerman as being great coaches,who among other things, "knew not to hurt their runners." I like what else he said when he provided this interesting insight: "Talented runners will succeed,then the coaches are asked what they did." This thought came to mind as I read that,have you ever noticed that many top American runners are either injured or recovering from an injury and this seems to be an ongoing situation with them? Do you also ever wonder why the focus in regards to that injury is on the runner who got injured, while the coach, who lays out the training schedule, is never mentioned as possibly being responsible for that athlete's injury? But as Osler said,when this runner has success, the coach is always a part of that success and is held in high esteem because of it. Bill Bowerman was very careful about his runners overtraining,that was one of the qualities that made him such a great coach. What many coaches don't realize today is that there is more to being successful at coaching than team victories and winning events and races. There is no question that these things are very important but they don't encompass all the qualites of what makes for a good coach.Minimizing injuries,instilling confidence and taking the time to help a runner reach his full potential,among other things, should be included in the criteria for determining who is an exceptional coach. On a related note, in the archives I posted an article several months back entitled,On Coaching Runners that you may find interesting.

Raw Dogs,Living the Stotan Life,pt.2

The following is part two of a previous article entitled,"Raw Dogs,Living the Stotan Life." Part one was posted last month on September 19,2011. As I mentioned in the previous article a member of the Raw Dogs had called me recently and we talked for quite a while about what has been going on in our respective lives. What he revealed was fascinating,as well as encouraging. Frankie,as he likes to be called,said that in 1999,he and six other members,as well as one wife and two girlfriends,left Dryden and moved out to Boulder,Colorado.Working from notes I took at the time,Frankie recalls: "we figured that was the place to be, it was supposed to be the Mecca for distance athletes. We hooked up a place to stay with the idea that we would get something more permanent after we got more familiar with the area. I'll never forget the first time all of us walked into a section of Boulder a day after we arrived. It was like realizing you had just made the worst mistake of your life. Looking back on it I can laugh but it was anything but funny at the time. For those who haven't been there, Boulder represents the worst aspects of what happened to the hippie movement. There is this pervading preoccupation with the self accompanied by crass commercialism under the guise of being hip or should I say being a hippie?You know what I mean, things like girls in organic cotton peasant dresses that cost at least $15o+, guys wearing $130+ Birkenstocks,16oz coffees going for close to four bills. There was every kind of weird ass religion,guru and philosophy you could imagine,they had as many yoga places as they had bars in Buffalo and you know how many bars there are in Buffalo. The worst part though was that we weren't getting a very friendly vibe from the locals,especially some of the runners. When we went into a couple of the running shops to get ideas on places to run I got the distinct impression that many of these people thought we were just a bunch of rubes (translation by me: hick,bumpkin). Domenic went off on one guy at a shop when the guy suggested that he probably wasn't ready for the kind of terrain he and his buddies ran on. You remember how Dom is,we had to walk him out of the place he was so pissed.There was a fairly brief period where we were all very discouraged. But, what did Cerutty say? These obstacles are part of the process and can be overcome, inevitably making us better people and athletes. So from the first week there we decided to make the most of it while looking for a place that was more suitable for the Stotan life.We soon found the trails and did some great training runs,we got temps jobs, "the professor" hooked up a per diem gig that really helped us get through it all. Two of the girls did the waitress thing,we were in pretty good shape financially. After six months we found a place not too far from Boulder in a town called Pinecliffe. It's about 8 or 9 thousand feet above sea level, we are on three acres of land with a huge house that, to put it kindly, needed repairs. When we first got there the bathroom was a shack in the backyard,how do you think that went over with the girls? But we had the option to buy and buy it we did as soon as we could,once again,thanks in large part to the professor. This area is heaven, we've got access to trails and the Golden Gate State Park and all that surrounds it. We are redoing the house bit by bit because the focus continues to be running and living the Stotan Way.We've developed a garden that goes a long way towards taking care of our food needs,we've even been able to sell some of it. It's all organic,uncertified of course. The beauty is that we pool our money to meet various needs,if someone doesn't make enough cash then there are things in the house and garden to do which cover their lack of funds.There is minimal bitching because we are all working towards the same thing and the option is always there that you can leave. The beauty is that we don't view things the way "the world" does,we are not hung up on having lots of stuff. Among other things, we want to achieve physical excellence in the way Cerutty taught,some of the guys have done Pikes Peak,others have run Western States as well as various mountain and trails races.We all have specific running goals and we are all working together to achieve them. Two more of the old gang want to move out here but we have to put up some kind of additional housing,temporary or permanent, or we'll all be living like rats in a box. Of course we continue to work on the The Stotan Manual: A Guide To Stotan Training and Living. It's now at 500 pages but almost done except for revisions on certain sections.Think about it,we've been working on it for 8 years,8 years! The professor is contacting various publishers with little success so far. A rejection notice feels like we've accomplished something,at least they've gotten back to us. The question I keep asking the professor is, do you really think that publishers like Human Kinetics or Rodale Books are going to publish such a book? We keep telling him to contact the smaller indie publishers but..... As far as the name Raw Dogs,we've dropped that and gone back to calling ourselves what we are,The Stotans." In closing I asked Frankie what the families of the members thought of what they have done and the way they are living, he said: "some thought we had lost our minds but a few of them didn't think that way after they came out for a visit. I mean think about it,what are the alternatives? Become a breadhead,buy lots of things like cars and toys,live in a house you can't honestly afford while telling yourself over multiple alcoholic beverages that this is the life? All this while watching your body deteriorate because you made the wrong choices your priorities? I don't think so! That's a lot of what we get into in The Stotan Manual. People have to realize that there is a better way and Percy Cerutty revealed the way a long,long time ago. Because of the way the world is today,his message is more relevant in these times than it was back then." You've got that right Frankie.

Manfred Steffny: Regarding the Marathoner

As we are now into the fall marathon season, what follows is a description by German marathoner and author Manfred Steffny into what the sometimes forgotten benefits of being a marathon runner are,or for some,should be.Too often the mental,physical and spiritual benefits of our training are overlooked due to our preoccupation with achieving excellence.Steffney writes:

"Civilization,hand-in-hand with its readily available poisons, is robbing man of innumerable physical perceptions: of the sensation and internal feelings through limbs and organs. Nowadays we are aware of our insides only when they begin to hurt yet the body is man's greatest resource. The marathoner has his body well under control. This gives him a decided advantage in his life. He knows how much he can do physically, and in many ways he's able to transfer his athletic abilities into the occupational or private sphere. He becomes skeptical about blind acceptance of the automation of our lives and he is wide awake to assaults on the enviroment. The marathoner is aware that his car can take him quickly into beautiful running country,but he also knows that the auto is the reason he doesn't like to run around his own block.

The marathon runner counts his capital not in houses and cars,but in the reserves of his own body. Rising health care costs tell even the man who's nailed fast to the dollar that he is wisest to let overtime and penny-pinching go in favor of investing a few hours in his body."

The above,written in 1977, reaffirms many of the truths taught by Percy Cerutty. For those of us who live for the run, we should never forget them.

Tomorrow's post will be an update and conclusion to the Raw Dogs article written last month.

The Training Diary

The following gives some convincing reasons why runners should keep a training diary if they truly want to race well. Personally, over the years I have kept a very sparse running log. To be honest, the reason for my not keeping a proper diary can be attributed to laziness. The excerpt you are about to read is from a booklet written in 1967 entitled,Olympia Cross Country Clinic Notes, no author is given.

"One of the reasons why men stop running is that they lose their belief in future development. Without a training diary,a runner cannot see the pattern of training that preceded his own best performances and his own best seasons. Nor can he see the differences that led to poor performances and poor seasons.The diary keeps track of the quality and quantity of training and allows one to plan on which of these should be emphasized depending on event and time to train. Evaluations,predictions,comparisons, and future planning can be made with greater accuracy and reliability as a result of information accurately recorded in a diary. The benefits available are well worth the relatively small effort involved in the daily upkeep of a diary."

Another reason people stop running is because of repeated injuries. A running log or diary has the potential to help us avoid injuries and poor performances.

More From Dr. Sheehan: Rise To the Challenge

Dr. Sheehan reminds us that ultimately our view of success is a personal thing, unique to each individual. Too many have lived unhappy lives because they attempted to achieve a type of success that was determined by others,not themselves'. The following quote can also apply to those who feel your passion for the run is excessive and inappropriate.

"Live your own life. Success is not something that can be measured or worn on a watch or hung on the wall. It is not the esteem of colleagues,or the admiration of the community or the appreciation of others. Success is the certain knowledge that you have become yourself,the person you were meant to be from all time."

The Man Who Thinks He Can

As we approach the fall racing season most runners will reflect on the months of preparation done prior and consider their readiness for "the big race." As has been addressed so many times on this blog,one's mental and emotional state will go a long way towards determining if a runner will achieve their goal(s). There are certain moments during a race when fatigue or pain can raise doubt in our ability to reach those goals. Football coach Vince Lombardi uttered this famous quote that probably most of us have heard before but is worth repeating: "fatigue makes cowards of us all." If that isn't a quote applicable to running and racing I don't know what is. So,if we've done the preparation for THE race and the weather is not a factor, then what else do you think could potentially sabotage your race? You guessed it, it's your head,your mind,the way you think.The following by Walter Wintle may seem simplistic to some but it brings up truths that need to be considered before a race which you have spent countless hours preparing for.

The Man Who Thinks He Can

"If you think you are beaten,you are;

If you think you dare not,you don't;

If you want to win but you think you can't,

It's almost a cinch you won't.

For in the world we find

Success begins with a fellow's will,

It's all in the state of mind.

For many race a race is lost

Ere even a step is run,

And many a coward fails;

Think big and your deeds will grow,

Think small and you'll fall behind;

Think that you can and you will---

It's all in in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed,you are,

You've got to think high to rise,

You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win the prize.

Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But sooner or later the man who wins,

Is the fellow who thinks he can."

A key line in the above is,"life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man." I've seen many a time when the faster athlete on paper didn't have the proper mindset to win the race. Don't ever underestimate the power of your mind,next post tomorrow.