aztec the moronic wrote:
barbelly wrote:
Mom is making them actually do what they learned from Schwartz. She's like Jo Frost for runners.
While I'm not particularly impressed by these results, we can all agree that Tinman was a bad coach. They are clearly doing better WITHOUT Tom Schwartz.
They are doing better in the first year with a new coach. These guys all also PRed in their first year or two with Schwartz. Whether it sustains with this new coach remains to be seen and will be the true tale of whether they are actually getting good coaching.
The fundamental issue probably isn't even the coaching. These guys have thirsty hearts to gain the status of competing at the WC or Olympics. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have their heads screwed on in a way to commit to the lifestyle that will give them the smoothest road to that. They don't have enough pressure to succeed to a higher level, externally or internally. It's not unique to them, it's a rather common American affliction (see also: Engels). This shows up symptomatically in widespread thrill over a 2:08-2:10 marathon, for example. Or equal thrill over putting up merely solid contemporary marks on the track in January: a step forward from their previous two or three steps back is good for them but not exactly indicative of anything grander.