RACE OFTEN

“We don't test. What we do is we race, and the race is our test. We use that as a performance metric. If I want to run a test on somebody, especially one where I want to get really good data, usually you want to like take a day or two off in front of it, make sure the test is their best ability, and then they're going to have to recover from it, and it could be up to like five, six day process, and then you just lost a week of training.”

“We always try and do it straight after a workout. We finish on the track and go straight into the gym, and so the sessions are all done there. That almost mimics the breakdown of an athlete over time in their race. So as they're getting tireder and tireder, their form falls apart and they get fatigued and can't keep their posture very well. So if we go into the gym when they're in that state already, then we can help improve their positioning at that stage.”

“You should know how a workout is going to affect them mentally and emotionally. Has anybody, and I'm going to speak from experience here, has anybody ever gone through a very hard, long workout and just afterwards you're emotionally drained and you just maybe cry a little bit? Like, your athletes will do that too. And if that happens, how do you get them from there into the next workout?”

“A good example of learning was Sam, when he got busted around by the boys on the track in North Carolina, and that he just learned so much from that experience, having traveled there from here where he can dominate races or only have 10 to worry about in a group, and to face 10 guys who want to own the same track space he did. So you learn things in racing as well, which is important.”

“He's running probably in track season, about 60 to 70k a week. During the winter build, he was around 80km a week. So yeah, I mean, there's heaps of room for growth there. He can quite legitimately get to 140, 150 before he'd really be reaching his peak.”

“We started out kind of as training partners, and it didn't go into coach and athlete until I had back surgery. And then after that, it was more like I was just watching her more, but she doesn't like me watching her work out. So we go from there, but then she started to hand it over and she would trust me with it. And that is a heavy load for me that like, look, I don't want to break her trust. She will ask me every single workout, why am I doing this? And I have to have a reason because if there's not a reason for something that I write in her program, it doesn't get done.”

“Sam Briggs mentioned this about when younger athletes were coming in to CrossFit. And I have the utmost respect for all the young athletes, but I remember her saying this is that they just don't know how bad it's supposed to hurt yet. They don't know. They haven't experienced it. They haven't hit it. And so when they do, they just think that's right. Whereas as we age and we get older, and we know how bad that hurts, sometimes we're like, okay, I'm gonna go almost up to that.”

“Understand the difference and how they relate to correlation and causation. What is actually causing something to happen versus what just is happening at the same time as something else? If I program something or a week and the quality day of the next week, the athlete has a great fantastic day. Is it something that I did with the week before? Or is it something, did they get better sleep? Did they get better recovery?”

“Because of how heavy and important the running is in this sport, we don't stop. Yes, if you stop running, you would get stronger faster, but just because you're running doesn't mean you can't keep getting stronger. When I go into a strength block, it usually involves more specific sets and more touches to any type of resistance than it does mean eliminating my running completely. That volume of it goes from maybe 60 miles, 55 miles a week, down to 45.”

“I think the biggest takeaway for us is just being consistent. And I really believe that that is the biggest key to any training program. There's no point in trying to be a superhero in any particular workouts if you have to have a couple of days off because you've hurt yourself.”

“Availability is the best ability. If you're available constantly, always able to work, and that includes, you know, your quality days, your easy days. If you're available constantly, then you can stack good day on top of good day on top of good week, good months, good years, and over time, that's when you see the consistency really start to pay off.”

“Be an expert in the rule book. You should know the rule book as better or as well as or better than the athletes themselves. You need to be able to tell them what they are and are not allowed to use. They're going to come to you and say, hey, can I bring this with me? Can I take this gel? Whatever it is, you need to be an expert in how the rule book is set up.”

“When you're doing a workout, if you're not as fast as someone you're training with, then don't let your ego get in the way, and try and keep up with them, because you're probably just bearing yourself, and they'll be comfortable, and you'll be in a state of distress, and that is going to cause you problems in a couple of days' time. So, and that goes for long runs as well. So if you generally run your long run at like five-minute Ks, and you go out with someone, they're running four thirties, and you try and run with them, and yeah, you may get through it, and you survive, but you'll probably pay for it.”

“Hayden Wild was a big part of our environment for a number of years and, you know, he's won two Olympic medals. And so, for the young kids to be at the track or training in, you know, the same group as him and see that he's just a bloke with two arms and two legs and a beating heart and that he can do these things and he's from here and why can't I be successful? And so, when you can see it and touch it and understand that it's just a normal thing, I guess, maybe not normal, but like it's reachable, then it makes them believe that they can do it too.”

“He's got a contract with Nike. And because he was there so early, they invited him up to Portland, to the Nike headquarters. And so he had to look around there and he ended up going out to a barbecue. And when he showed up to the barbecue, was the top, all the heads of Nike running at this barbecue globally. So they were really welcoming and basically said to him at the time, you know, if you need to get into any race and you need any help with anything, then you make sure you let us know and we'll make it happen for you.”

“One of the things that I always have to do is actually pull them back. Hey, let's pull back for a minute. You're running too fast right now, you're getting burned out, you're not able to hit a good day after a good day. So before we get hurt, be the brakes, not their breaking point.”

“I program for their group, I always also follow, it is program for the best, scale for the rest. So I tell everybody on it that like, listen, this is a lot. When they are following it, I tell them, start out doing about 70% of each piece. That means that if I have in there a 60-minute run, go do 45 minutes, 42 minutes, whatever it is, the first week that you are on it. 70% of everything. If there is a four-round workout, do three rounds.”

“You could have a kid with a really high VO2, but just be, for the lack of a better term, a bit soft. And another kid who's got a low VO2, but extremely tough-minded and can hurt themself, and they're probably going to run faster and be more successful in the long run. So, yeah, I think numbers in the lab are just numbers in the lab. They don't always carry over onto the track.”

“I think hills is just at various paces, it has its benefits. But hills are just speed work in disguise, really. Just good strength and good speed. As long as you're not running down the hills too fast, then you'll be all right.”