Lessons from Bobby McGee

My coach here in Australia Warwick Dalziel was recently at the National Junior Camp in Runaway Bay, Queensland.The camp is an opportunity for the National Talent Identification Panel to identify those athletes that may represent Australia in the future. Legendary running coach Bobby McGee was present to help the Triathlon coaches gain another perspective on how to coach running to their athletes.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bobby McGee  check out his bio on his homepage here http://www.bobbymcgee.com/about.html. Briefly , in his time as a coach he has coached Olympic Gold Medalists, World record holders and World Champions.

A lot of what I’m doing here in Australia since my arrival is based around skills. I guess because I grew up playing soccer and basketball the fundamental skills of Swimming, Cycling and Running passed me by. Back in October the education process began. This has involved a level of trust in what Warwick is preaching.  Attention to the little things will hopefully make the difference at the end of the day. I have been fortunate to learn from one of the best and continue to learn . You have to buy into the system and believe what you are doing will ultimately work.

Warwick is constantly looking to improve his coaching methods and looks for any edge over the competition. In his quest he sought some input from Bobby McGee. We have taken some of the things Bobby practices and incorporated them into our program. So far the results have been positive. Bobby focuses  a lot on good bio-mechanics and high rate or high turnover running. The drills we have incorporated into training have challenged both physically and mentally. Bobby McGee is not the first I’ve heard talking about this kind of running. Daniels Running Formula is another great read http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/daniels-running-formula-2nd-edition?isbn=9780736054928

and a proponent of high rate turnover.

It’s not about over thinking running but rather refining whats already there to make you a more efficient runner and better athlete. The drills help to condition the process much like swimming drills in the pool. We have a core set of drills but we also have individualised drills.

For some members of our squad like Mike Lori this might help him win a medal in Budapest this September and for others it might help bring a new PB.

For those interested in further reading from Bobby McGee check out his blog

http://www.bobbymcgee.com/blog.html

I definitely recommend it. Some of the topics discussed are very interesting.