Well, it has been a long time, and this won't be a long post either, but I promise to try to post before the end of this week :)
Actually the main thing I wanted to post was 2 web sites that should be incredible interesting to all you athletes and orienteers out there.
The first one is Attack Point which is a online line training logbook. It's a really great way to write your diary and let everybody know how your training is going. Additionally I'm finding it to be a bit of a motivater as well, as I hope to move up the attack Point ranking over the next few months (currently about 700). I see that Richard Lange is using it (maybe he is not aware of it) to enter his OL splits, and is ranked about 400 at the moment (a good aim to go for), but it would be nice if some of you guys down SA way could use it, so I could see how you are training :) My training logbook is called "richi", please feel free to add me to your favourites!
The other great link is Route Gadget and is aimed for all you OLers out there. It is relatively easy to set up on a server, and then check out my clubs homepage to see what you can do with it - A really cool piece of software.
So hope you are all well, till the next post...
Monday, October 30, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Can of Worms
It seems that I have inadvertently opened a can of worms with my last post about training. On the weekend more fuel was added to the fire when Christian won the Junior Match and therefore proved that his race in mid-summer wasn't just a one off result. Of course, I was extremely proud of this, as I have worked closely with Christian as his personal trainer for 4 years now!
I would just like to state for the record. Although the trainer of a top athlete is important, and although I believe the training plan and method is vital to performance, it is without a doubt the athlete who is ultimately responsible for the result. Christian's attitude to training and working professionally, his honesty and openness in accepting praise, criticism or the truth about his performance, his realisation / analyses of his mistakes and his limitations and most importantly his ability to train hard set him above the rest and make him what he is today. Not me, not his parents, not his running buddies, not the club, not even the Austrian team - although we all do play a part. It is still Christian Wartbichler himself that makes it all possible.
So well done to him, Congratulations Christian - you are on your way to becoming one of Europe's finest orienteerers - I wish you all the best in the coming years.
Anyway, through this win, there has been some new discussions on the official mouth piece of the Austrian Federation. It the forum, one of Austrias' leading trainers (Wolfgang P) made some comments as to "Trainer of the Year", and this call was re-iterated by one of the youngsters who trained with me a while back (thanks Andi). I am personally not looking for any awards, nor do I spend many of my spare hours doing it for recognition. I do it because I love it and I know that I can, and that is enough for me. If my athletes win, that's just a bonus for me!
However, although this award actually does exist (Trainer of the Year) since the beginning of the year, I will not be eligible to win it because I do not have the qualifications as set out by the รถ–fol with regards to trainer qualifications. Naja, no surprises there, but disappointing anyway (for the why, read the post below). I hope there are some more comments made on the forum - I personally do not think I should add my own comment - but I feel more should be said on the subject.
So that was my trainer blurb for today - I post a description of the last few (shockingly bad) races in the next days :)
I would just like to state for the record. Although the trainer of a top athlete is important, and although I believe the training plan and method is vital to performance, it is without a doubt the athlete who is ultimately responsible for the result. Christian's attitude to training and working professionally, his honesty and openness in accepting praise, criticism or the truth about his performance, his realisation / analyses of his mistakes and his limitations and most importantly his ability to train hard set him above the rest and make him what he is today. Not me, not his parents, not his running buddies, not the club, not even the Austrian team - although we all do play a part. It is still Christian Wartbichler himself that makes it all possible.
So well done to him, Congratulations Christian - you are on your way to becoming one of Europe's finest orienteerers - I wish you all the best in the coming years.
Anyway, through this win, there has been some new discussions on the official mouth piece of the Austrian Federation. It the forum, one of Austrias' leading trainers (Wolfgang P) made some comments as to "Trainer of the Year", and this call was re-iterated by one of the youngsters who trained with me a while back (thanks Andi). I am personally not looking for any awards, nor do I spend many of my spare hours doing it for recognition. I do it because I love it and I know that I can, and that is enough for me. If my athletes win, that's just a bonus for me!
However, although this award actually does exist (Trainer of the Year) since the beginning of the year, I will not be eligible to win it because I do not have the qualifications as set out by the รถ–fol with regards to trainer qualifications. Naja, no surprises there, but disappointing anyway (for the why, read the post below). I hope there are some more comments made on the forum - I personally do not think I should add my own comment - but I feel more should be said on the subject.
So that was my trainer blurb for today - I post a description of the last few (shockingly bad) races in the next days :)
Congratulations
Well, can you believe it! Well done to Christian for winning the Junior European Match U18. After his win in the Junior European Championships (U18), he has now proved that this just wasn't a once off result, and won again in an even stronger field. Well done, Christian - an excellent result.
Also congratulations are in order for that wonder runner, Dion. D, you are always surprising me with your excellent results and a 3rd place in the Voet is a result to be proud of. Additionally, congrats on the Table Mountain Race, The table Mountain Challenge and the Tokai Forest Run - all excellent wins! This must be a record year :)
Additionally, well done to Richard for his virgin marathon (he claims the Jungfrau doesn't count, and by that standard does the Voet count?) in the excellent time of 3hrs 23 - very good dude, especially considering the only orienteer in field got lost and you ran an extra KM!
Way to go to you all.
Also congratulations are in order for that wonder runner, Dion. D, you are always surprising me with your excellent results and a 3rd place in the Voet is a result to be proud of. Additionally, congrats on the Table Mountain Race, The table Mountain Challenge and the Tokai Forest Run - all excellent wins! This must be a record year :)
Additionally, well done to Richard for his virgin marathon (he claims the Jungfrau doesn't count, and by that standard does the Voet count?) in the excellent time of 3hrs 23 - very good dude, especially considering the only orienteer in field got lost and you ran an extra KM!
Way to go to you all.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
I'm sick and tired of it!
Really I am. I am getting sick and tired of Austrian people telling me that I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to training. What I fail to understand is how some of these people take the time to criticise or analyse my training methods without looking at their own training first, or that people who have never been a top athlete or trainer, have never even started a trainer education themselves can speak out against my training.
I was very fortunate in that I was able to grow up in a country like South Africa. There are many differences to Austria, but one of those is that in SA you HAVE to do sport at school, and this from the early age of around 8 years. I was never a ball man (i.e Cricket, Soccer or Rugby were not my strong points - I was too small) and so I took to other sports where my smallness wasn't a problem. At that time it was Cross Country running and I have stuck with it my whole life - it has become a way of life for me and one that I have been following for 26 years.
When I was 11 I won my first school championships and although I have only ever won 2 running races in my entire life (thanks Dion :)) I have trained regularly since I was about 11 years old. Then I hit the jackpot. After school I went to University, where I joined the UCT running club. At this time, and throughout my entire Uni life, I had the pleasure of a coach called Chris Sole.
Chris is without a doubt, and will remain until the day I die, my absolute idol. He was possibly one of the best coaches in South Africa and had a personality that made him one of the most successful athletics coaches the length and breadth of South Africa. Chris himself was the only person ever to run 26 consecutive South African X-C Championships. Chris's love was for the forest and hill running and he instilled in me a deep respect for the simple things in life and hard training. I cannot remember how many times I ran with him through Newlands forest with my other running buddies and we discussed training.
Chris did 2 things as a coach that I feel made him exceptional. One was that he was always able to explain to me why he was doing what training, so that I learned to understand what we were doing, when and why, and second was that he ran with us, trained with us, knew our strengths inside and out and trained us accordingly. If I had a problem Chris always knew where to start with the diagnostic. I never questioned him. If he said run, I did, if he said stop, I did. I did not pretend that I knew more than him (nor will I ever), and I never argued with him (I was only in my early twenties and he was in his mid thirties) about training. I just listened and learned.
In Austria it all works different. In order to be recognised as a trainer, you have to qualify and pass a trainers exam. What a load of crap. Here in Austria, every second person thinks they can be a trainer just because they have done the education, doesn't matter what their actual experience is or their age. The other side of the coin is that if you don't have this qualification, well then obviously you cannot know anything about training can you? Well I've heard it from various people and I see it all the time, that is just not the way it works. Most of the trainers here are quite useless, especially the trained ones, and the more successful ones are often those that come through the sporting lines and are not qualified - go figure! This is the opinion of a large part of the coaches who train athletes here in my own Salzburg area.
I have even thought about getting this qualification myself once or twice, but you know what, I don't think I'll bother. It occurs time and time again, where I see that my training is not only more effective, but also based on sound principles that help the runner improve and learn at the same time. I model my training on Chris Sole - that's good enough for me,
and apparently for the Junior European Champion as well!
I have read books, spoken to top athletes and trained with some of the best runners the world has to offer (I have trained with Paul Tergat once). I believe I can provide a certain amount of experience when it comes to training. Last night one of my running buddies again told me I was talking crap, contradicting myself and not making sense. He claimed he has read all the same books as me and come to completely different conclusions, that he has spoken to top Austrian athletes and heard other stories, that he reads lots of web sites from the top athletes and knows how and what they train, so I did him a favour and went through those books and web sites, just to ensure that I wasn't talking crap - and what did I find out? Well you guess!
Please do not misunderstand me. I know that there are a lot of people out there who have different ideas about training, and that these ideas also bring success. I do not pretend to know every thing about training, and I am constantly learning. However, in my 26 years of running, I believe I have tried just about every form of training that there is and I still try new forms all the time - I take what I finds works best (through experience) and use this. The basic principle works for me, as well as for a top runner, as well as for a social jogger.
I am sick and tired of constant excuses and moaning. I continually hear about illness, iron problems, stomach problems, injuries, lack of talent, tiredness and demotivation. Cruches, all of it! I have one piece of advice to all you doubting Thomases out there. The time has come! I have proved I know what I'm doing, now it's your turn. It's your turn to shut your mouths and to prove to everybody that you actually do know what you are talking about. It's time for deeds not discussions. It's time for all you qualified trainers out there to prove me wrong. It's time for you athletes out there who believe your training is better to prove it. IT HAS BEEN LONG ENOUGH NOW!
Stop talking about it and show me!
I was very fortunate in that I was able to grow up in a country like South Africa. There are many differences to Austria, but one of those is that in SA you HAVE to do sport at school, and this from the early age of around 8 years. I was never a ball man (i.e Cricket, Soccer or Rugby were not my strong points - I was too small) and so I took to other sports where my smallness wasn't a problem. At that time it was Cross Country running and I have stuck with it my whole life - it has become a way of life for me and one that I have been following for 26 years.
When I was 11 I won my first school championships and although I have only ever won 2 running races in my entire life (thanks Dion :)) I have trained regularly since I was about 11 years old. Then I hit the jackpot. After school I went to University, where I joined the UCT running club. At this time, and throughout my entire Uni life, I had the pleasure of a coach called Chris Sole.
Chris is without a doubt, and will remain until the day I die, my absolute idol. He was possibly one of the best coaches in South Africa and had a personality that made him one of the most successful athletics coaches the length and breadth of South Africa. Chris himself was the only person ever to run 26 consecutive South African X-C Championships. Chris's love was for the forest and hill running and he instilled in me a deep respect for the simple things in life and hard training. I cannot remember how many times I ran with him through Newlands forest with my other running buddies and we discussed training.
Chris did 2 things as a coach that I feel made him exceptional. One was that he was always able to explain to me why he was doing what training, so that I learned to understand what we were doing, when and why, and second was that he ran with us, trained with us, knew our strengths inside and out and trained us accordingly. If I had a problem Chris always knew where to start with the diagnostic. I never questioned him. If he said run, I did, if he said stop, I did. I did not pretend that I knew more than him (nor will I ever), and I never argued with him (I was only in my early twenties and he was in his mid thirties) about training. I just listened and learned.
In Austria it all works different. In order to be recognised as a trainer, you have to qualify and pass a trainers exam. What a load of crap. Here in Austria, every second person thinks they can be a trainer just because they have done the education, doesn't matter what their actual experience is or their age. The other side of the coin is that if you don't have this qualification, well then obviously you cannot know anything about training can you? Well I've heard it from various people and I see it all the time, that is just not the way it works. Most of the trainers here are quite useless, especially the trained ones, and the more successful ones are often those that come through the sporting lines and are not qualified - go figure! This is the opinion of a large part of the coaches who train athletes here in my own Salzburg area.
I have even thought about getting this qualification myself once or twice, but you know what, I don't think I'll bother. It occurs time and time again, where I see that my training is not only more effective, but also based on sound principles that help the runner improve and learn at the same time. I model my training on Chris Sole - that's good enough for me,
and apparently for the Junior European Champion as well!
I have read books, spoken to top athletes and trained with some of the best runners the world has to offer (I have trained with Paul Tergat once). I believe I can provide a certain amount of experience when it comes to training. Last night one of my running buddies again told me I was talking crap, contradicting myself and not making sense. He claimed he has read all the same books as me and come to completely different conclusions, that he has spoken to top Austrian athletes and heard other stories, that he reads lots of web sites from the top athletes and knows how and what they train, so I did him a favour and went through those books and web sites, just to ensure that I wasn't talking crap - and what did I find out? Well you guess!
Please do not misunderstand me. I know that there are a lot of people out there who have different ideas about training, and that these ideas also bring success. I do not pretend to know every thing about training, and I am constantly learning. However, in my 26 years of running, I believe I have tried just about every form of training that there is and I still try new forms all the time - I take what I finds works best (through experience) and use this. The basic principle works for me, as well as for a top runner, as well as for a social jogger.
I am sick and tired of constant excuses and moaning. I continually hear about illness, iron problems, stomach problems, injuries, lack of talent, tiredness and demotivation. Cruches, all of it! I have one piece of advice to all you doubting Thomases out there. The time has come! I have proved I know what I'm doing, now it's your turn. It's your turn to shut your mouths and to prove to everybody that you actually do know what you are talking about. It's time for deeds not discussions. It's time for all you qualified trainers out there to prove me wrong. It's time for you athletes out there who believe your training is better to prove it. IT HAS BEEN LONG ENOUGH NOW!
Stop talking about it and show me!
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