Boulder, Colorado - I spent the weekend of January 12th-15th at Jay Johnson's Boulder Running Clinics. I had the pleasure of giving two talks, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The event was spectacular and I was able to meet so many great coaches. I thought I'd share some of my takeaways from the event. Before I start, here's a tip: It does not matter if you are an experienced or a new coach, go to clinics, talk to colleagues and improve what you do.
Shannon Thompson of NAU is a rock star. Shannon is the mental performance coach for the NAU cross country and track teams and works for HYP02. She seems to be on the cusp of revolutionizing our sport. She has individual strategies for runners and a powerful understanding in performance. I am a fan. Check out this great podcast with Shannon.
Howard Russ of Beavercreek High School in Ohio has some big time MOJO. Howard has coached some great runners including Taylor Ewert, who almost won NXN over Kaitlyn Tuohy in 2019 (watch it here). He constantly adapts his training and continues to grow as a coach. However his strength is in his excitement for his team and this wonderful sport. MOJO is Beavercreek's motto to live by and comes straight from Coach Russ. I am excited to chat with him in the coming months and years.
Kelly Christensen is handling the pressure of coaching the sons and daughters of America's best runners. Kelly coaches at Niwot High School just outside of Boulder. Members on his team have last names of Culpepper and Ritzenheim. I can imagine it is hard to coach such pedigree, but Kelly has done an incredible job. He helped Cruz Culpepper hit 4:00.10 in HS. His speed development program seems to work great for his team. I cannot wait to dive into more of his work.
Jay Johnson is changing HS running with this clinic. The group of presenters (I may be biased) was solid, but the attendees were even more impressive. Coaches from a few dozen states, all walks of life, different sized schools and many levels of experience spent hours sharing ideas. We, as coaches, could not ask for a better few days.
Speed Development is a big thing right now. Many of the best coaches at The Boulder Running Clinic have differing ideas on training, but it seems like speed development is becoming a more powerful tool. I think finding the best mix of speed, threshold and everything else is key. I am excited to dive into this topic in the coming months.
Educating kids is important to elite coaches. Most coaches at the Boulder Running Clinic put leading kids into a great future over running success. There are a few coaches, Mike Smith of NAU comes to mind, that are changing the way we think about success. We absolutely strive to be the best, but learning how to live better or simply learning about who we are is a great result of running on a team.
Coaches at small schools are impressive. I coached in a smallish school, Holmdel High School. With that said, it's amazing to speak to and hear from coaches that coach at TINY schools. Jessie Magoto from Ohio has won 14 state titles at a school of about 270 students. The creativity and work ethic these coaches have is amazing.
Camaraderie of coaches can bring our sport to a higher level. Dave Frank of Central Catholic set up a monthly coaches social, which became a weekly Zoom call during the pandemic. The Portland area coaches help each other improve. When we put down our competitive lives, we should feel confident enough to share our secrets. I plan to get this type of event rolling in NJ.
Thor Esbensen of Ida B. Wells HS in Portland is a good human. He's kind, inspirational, intelligent and cares a whole lot about his kids.
Preparing for these presentations helped me become a better coach. I am confident in my training and ability to build a positive culture on my team. However, preparing these talks forced me to look inward and assess my own practices. I dove into my strengths and found many weaknesses. I plan to fix those weaknesses and use the resources I have to make myself a better educator.
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