The Round Table

Hi,

So the other day I found myself at a "Coaches Round Table" at Crystal Springs Uplands High School in Hillsborough, CA. It was a group of running nerds, me included, that got together to talk about running for 6 hours. Sounds like fun right? RIGHT!

Let me start by saying that have never been a fan of classes or school or any sort of lecture. Sorry, that's probably an understatement, I loathe all of that stuff. I can make it about 15 min, before I get antsy and want to move around and get out of Dodge. I have been that way for as long as I can remember and it's one of the reasons I will never go back to school for any sort of gradaute degree. Three cheers for the people that are able to do that stuff but high fives for everyone else like me who just want to work and never read a text book again. Now that I've set you up for a rant about how bored I was, guess what? I enjoyed myself. HOLY CRAP! I mean hey, it wasn't exactly the most thrilling experience of my life but I found myself very interested in what other coaches had to say. Here's a breakdown of what we know...

- Running is hard.
- Sometimes you get sore.
- Sometimes High School Cross Country runners whine.
- Sometimes they whine non-stop.
- Every once in a while when you are really frustrated with a kid or a practice, a breakthrough workout or happy kid can come along to remind you why you love the sport.
- Cross Country involves teamwork, sacrifice, sweat, tears, chaffing, more tears, body glide, smiles, bruised egos, inflated egos, throwing up, throwing down, falling down, getting up, mud, dirt, and perseverance.

Now that we've gone over what we know. Here's what we don't know.

- Anything


That pretty much sums it up. There are so many schools of thought and so many different ways to coach a kid, that it's impossible to know everything there is to know. I'd say I know a fair bit about running but to put it in terms we all understand...

My running knowledge is to "The Cyanobacteria Nostoc" as the amount of running knowledge available is to "The soil that it lives in."

That made sense right? Just kidding. Let's just say that I know a small percentage point of everything there is to know.

Either way, the point of this whole disjointed post is that I walked in to a discussion of ideas with other coaches and was able to walk away with a few tidbits that I could store away and implement the next time around. A new season is always around the corner and I am learning that one of the fun aspects of the job as a coach, is learning new techniques and trying them out. They aren't always going to work of course, but when they do, it's pretty darn rewarding.

If you are a fan of Northern California running, a blog I frequent most days is
Cross Country Express

Conor