sprinting

Embracing the Unknown: The Island of Knowledge and Coaching

Recently, I reread Marcelo Gleiser's great book, ‘The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning,’ and — as always with almost every book I read — reflected upon its implications in sport performance and coaching.   One of the primary themes in the book is that of ‘embracing ignorance’.   Gleiser argues that the acquisition of knowledge...

Meet the neighbors

How often do you speak to your neighbors?   Do you even know them? Research shows that most Americans don’t trust their neighbors.   Why not? And what has this to do with speed, you ask? Today we will discuss the relevance of an increasingly isolated world, and how that might affect your understanding of lots of things as they relate to...

Just a Dumb Coach

Jodie Williams is smarter than me.   As hard as it is for me to admit that, it is true.   Anaso Jobodwana is also smarter than me.  So is Lolo Jones.  And Kaillie Humphries.  And Ameer Webb.  Andre De Grasse.  Steve Mesler.  Christian Malcolm.  Glenn Smith.  And a few hundred other folk who have had the (dis?)pleasure of my...

Polarization Of Intensity

This short excerpt is from Module 4; Section 6 of the Foundation Course, entitled ‘Loading Methods’. Module 4 is an awesome Module, written primarily by our friends Derek Evely and PJ Vazel. This section includes an introduction to polarized training - an increasingly topical subject over the last few years, as well as a few case-studies, describing its use with...

Life as a Competition

"How can we apply this understanding of the increased motivation and drive experienced through competition, and harness it into increased performance? And how do we do this specifically within an individual sport such as track & field? While lining athletes up next to each other for sprints and drills is an option, it is not always the best option from...

From High School, to High Performance: Sprinting Tips for the Development Coach

The majority of coaches can tell you that training high school and elite athletes should be different, but what does this look like in application? How do you as a coach adjust the details of your training to provide an environment that allows your athletes to develop the abilities that elites execute so well? ALTIS World long sprints coach Mike...