Speed only kills if you don't have it!

November 15, 2024

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Location:

Riverton,UT,

Member Since:

Jun 19, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Short-Term Running Goals:

 2022 Running Goals:

Stay fit and healthy.  Run a decent Boston and St. George marathon.

 

 

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep fit and stay semi-competitive as long as I can.

 

Personal:

I have a wonderful wife and son and we live in Riverton/Herriman Utah. I am a high school teacher, and head coach for cross country and track at Mountain Ridge High. 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 4.00 Year: 168.05
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles: 66.60
Saucony Kinvara 8 Green Lifetime Miles: 131.90
Hoka Speedgoat 3 Lifetime Miles: 444.95
Nike Zoom Fly (Black) Lifetime Miles: 236.85
Saucony Endorphin Pro Lifetime Miles: 59.50
Saucony Endorphin Shift Lifetime Miles: 235.50
Saucony Triumph 18 Gray Lifetime Miles: 131.20
Nike ZoomX Invincible FK 2 Lifetime Miles: 113.25
Altra Rivera 2 Black Lifetime Miles: 31.62
Nike Zoom Alphafly Lifetime Miles: 35.10
Under Armour Infinite Pro Lifetime Miles: 35.10
Nike Infinity React 4 Lifetime Miles: 47.10
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.500.000.000.000.008.50

Well, yesterday was the worst experience of my entire career! My girls choked at State and ended up 9th place after being ranked top 4 all season. My boys who have been ranked Nationally decided to run the worst race of their lives and instead of winning a State title and  we ended up clear back in 5th place! Unbelievable! I was seriously considering retiring as a coach and just being the AD after yesterday.:) I have never had everyone of my kids do so terrible, and hope I never do again. I still can't figure out why either?  We probably lost our spot to be in the Nike SW Regional Championships yesterday. I hope they will really learn from this experience and use it to make them better in the future.

I needed a stress relief, because of the big bummer over the kid's lack of effort. We did a practice and not many showed up this morning. Although some of the varsity boys showed up. I ran over to Rosecrest Park to meet them and then we did a loop out around the Cove pond and back (5.25 miles). I ran the first couple miles with Macy, who dropped by to console me on his break from UVU. Haag and Greg ran with me after Macy stopped to go potty and run back with the kids. I ran home from the park when we finished. 7:03 for the 8.5 miles. The run felt good and helped after my bummer day.

I have spent the last two years building this program at Herriman and yesterday was a big let down, makes feel like I have just been wasting my time with these kids in a way, but I hope I haven't. If they learn from this it can still be a positive, or at least it will be someday. They are the most physically talented kids I have coached and the absolutely weakest mentally and I am not sure what to do about that?  I would think they would be a little more experienced, but maybe not. 

Also,I have decided it is time to start taking care of myself and getting myself back to where I am healthy and strong enough to compete again this next year, and that is what I am going to do.

Off to Lava Hot Springs now.

Asics 2150 Miles: 8.50
Comments
From Andrea on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 14:50:00 from 72.37.171.52

Sorry to hear your teams weren't able to perform to their potential. Mental attitude is just as important as the training.

But, as a coach, you have developed these high schoolers into runners and athletes. They will appreciate that for the rest of their lives.

From Jake K on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 15:11:29 from 155.100.226.53

Boy I'd hate to be one of the kids who under-performed yesterday and then read this.

I understand why you are frustrated considering you probably put in a ton of work with them (often times coaching comes at the expense of personal & family time)... but this reads as if they were all out drinking before the race and bombed on purpose just to piss you off! They're high school kids, and I know when I was that age and had a bad race, I'm the one who felt bad about it... and it was my excellent high school coach (who is still one of my best friends and biggest supporters) who helped me see the bigger picture, learn from what went wrong, and bounce back. After experiencing the other kind of coaching in college, where it was more about what could be done to make the coach feel good about himself, I really lost interest in running competitively for several years.

Use the poor performance as a motivational tool for them to work hard in the off season and bounce back and tear up the track in the spring! There are ALWAYS more races!

I hope this doesn't make me come off as a jerk. I just know how I would have felt at that age, and reading that I was a "waste of time" for my coach wouldn't have motivated me to continue to work hard and put forth my best efforts.

From TBean on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 16:29:42 from 63.241.173.64

It's got to be hard as a coach to see the team not perform at potential but I'm pretty sure not one of your top kids didn't try hard.

I always like coaches that look inward and can take some of the blame. Without that it's hard to become a better coach for next year. Hope to see you coaching next year, Herriman had a great season not counting state.

From James on Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 00:08:53 from 71.213.49.233

Thanks for your comments and concerns.

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