Newest Technology Means Faster Performances?

The US Olympic trials are in full swing. I watched the swimming trials and aside from great competition, what caught my attention were comments regarding the new Speedo LZR swim suit. Supposedly, it provides 5% less drag in the water. Rowdy Gaines, 1984 Olympic Gold medalist, talked of the suit. He tried it on (said [...]

Run Focus Take III - Smell the Roses

Bainbridge Island, early morning chill, two sets of foot steps echo off the forest towering above; an occasional car passes giving wide birth. (By the way - very courteous drivers here!)
My brother and I run in tandem without much comment in the first mile. Then I break the silence, “Look at the Buttercups!” Quickly I [...]

Run Focus - Lake Tahoe Relay - How to do it

Regardless of conditioning our focus can make us better or worse. This is an article on a recent race and how it should be done. (Read my next post for how not to do it.)
I went into the Lake Tahoe Relay race in minimal condition. I was running leg one; about 9.5 miles @ [...]

Focus Leads the Way

Focus - the ability to concentrate on a given subject - is a funny thing. (By the way, focus and concentration are used interchangeably.) I hear comments from coaches and parents in many sports telling their athletes things like - “You’re just not focusing.”, “Concentrate!”, “Focus!” Here is where they are all wrong - every [...]

Performance and Comfort Zones

In sports psychology a comfort zone is a zone in which an athlete continues to perform at a level which may not be indicative of their capabilities. They find it difficult to reach that next “breakthrough.” Sometimes it shows when we practice but most definitely shows while racing. The athlete may self-destruct on the verge [...]

The “Just One More” Focus

I was at the track this morning. Anytime I know it will be a challenging workout - my common refrain is “just take it one at a time” and as we progress further into the workout - “just focus on this one.” That happens to be what I started this morning’s session with when I [...]

From Excuse to Motivation

Thanks to a comment on my previous post, I’m going to elaborate a bit about the excuse list and its ties to motivation.
The list was created over the years by groups I coach - specifically High Performance Running Club and RxRunning & Racing Club. And the last portion of excuses dates much further back to [...]

The Myth of “I don’t have the time”

The National Sporting Goods Association did a survey of inactive people (less than 25 days a year fitness activity) and active people (more than 150 days a year of fitness activity). The number one complaint of the inactive people was that they lacked sufficient time to workout. I know as a coach of both experienced and novice athletes, [...]

Getting Mentally Tough Does not Require High Altitude

Sometimes, you get the most interesting quotes and observations about sports psychology from non-psychologists or professional mental game coaches. In a Arizona Republic article on the Center for High Altitude Training in Flagstaff headed up by the legendary physiologist jack Daniels, a couple of key quotes probably overlooked by readers offer insights into performance improvement. 
Jack [...]

Identfying Your Self-Talk

In a previous post I reviewed the importance of our self-talk and how it can affect performance. Recognition is a critical first step to improve our self-talk. This is actually easy to do. Take out a piece of paper and make two columns. On the left side list the different aspects of training, racing or [...]