Darren A Coaching

Quotes that I use to inspire me in my Coaching I have been fortunate enough to have a lot of people to help, inspire and mentor me on my coaching journey. This blog is about 2 quotes that I try to follow when coaching athletes and helping other coaches. The two quotes John Quinn “There is no such things as secrets, it is how you use it (the information)” Mike Boyle “God gave me two eyes, two ears and one mouth for a reason” I tried to find a source for these, the best I could come up for Mike Boyle was by Socrates We have been given two ears, two eyes, and one tongue. This means that we should hear and see more than we speak.” Socrates (469 BC–399 BC) John Quinn came to Hobart as the head track and field coach in the early 1990’s, and as an athlete who was also a qualified throws coach I had some contact with him during his 7 years here.   As is the case, you don’t realise how much of an impact someone has on you until they have gone or as you get older and wiser.   At a coac...

It has been awhile since I posted something on this blog. In previous blogs I posted draft training for a 100m and a 400m runner in the GPP and SPP phase.  This blog is going to step away from this and talking about the planning and time required to organise training for a group of athletes who are entering the first meets for the track, or one of major road races or some who are just training. In the next four weeks I have two athletes preparing for regional school events who are both sprinters (400m and below), a middle long distance runner preparing for the the final 10km road race for the year and two athletes who are training but will lose some training time due to travel requirements for study and work. How do I go about organising the weights sessions to help them individually and to make this as easy as possible to manage.  Ultimately, it comes down to preparation and structuring the programmes to allow as much interaction with all athletes. Training for the al...

Following is a week in the SPP of the 100m and 400m.  The sessions now become more specific, and the extensive tempo work becomes higher for the 400m runner 100m Specific Preparation Phase The preparation begins to become more specific, in this term I mean specific in running and specific in developing the necessary energy system to perform. Mon           Short Tempo + Bodyweight                           Do 20 push ups then run, then 20 crunches then run etc…                   Set 1: 4 x 100 @ 70%, 3 minutes rest between sets                   Set 2: 1 x 100, 100, 200, 100 @ 70%, 3 minutes rest between sets      ...

18 months ago, I started writing, for myself, programmes for 100, 400 and 800m.  The aim was to allow me to review periodically to see if my ideas and thoughts now had changed from the previous period.  The next few posts I will post the different phases of training, that I believe need to be undertaken to acheive a level of performance.  The programmes I will post are for the 100 and 400m only.  The 100m is suitable for a sub elite experienced athlete, who has a few years of training under the belt.  The 400m is set up for an athlete who is looking at running 48 seconds and have 3 years of full training under the belt. My reason for choosing this type of athlete is that this is what I would consider most athletes of that type be capable of.  If the athlete is not at that level, or cannot do the training, you can change the programme. But for now here is the GPP of the 100m and 400m Any thoughts and feedback is welcome. 100m General Prepar...

Peaking What is Peaking? Peaking to me is the ensuring all elements involved in sport are working together at their best.   Sometimes this doesn’t mean that these elements are not at their individual peak.   What do I mean by this?   As coaches we deal with humans, who have emotions, get sick, have niggles and sometimes just can’t be stuffed.   We can control training of these athletes, but only have a minor interaction with the other elements discussed.   Sometimes we can perform above expectations because one element is in superior condition, but to achieve optimal performance we need to try and ensure that the mental and physical elements are as high as they can be and that they work together. The table below, is the structure I follow for setting up a peaking phase for sprinters.   The table was initially developed for a hammer thrower, after reading Charlie Francis. The idea of the schedule isn’t to follow the session plan religiously it about ensuring...

Coaching is one element of sport, other elements include officials, administrators, supporters and athletes to name four.  All elements need to work together to create harmony and develop the sport.  The sport I am involved in, coaching seems to be the element that is most undervalued, in a support and monetary terms. As a coach, I think it is more important than my day job because, I coach, teach, mentor and provide other help and experience to athletes.  Because of this I take improving myself very important.  How do you I do this? My number one improvement tool, is through my athletes and their feedback.  I also write general overall training programmes in the events I coach, and review these at least annually and change the programmes based on changes over time.  I have programmes for 100m and 400m sprints, I am working on resistance training programme for sprinters and a 800m running programme. Other methods are have mentors, this is probabl...

I am a level 3 sprints coach, who spent 20 years throwing hammers and a lot of time reading, learning and trying things in strength training.  This has lead me to be coaching 80% of the athletes I coach are in the gym.  Does this mean I am an expert in resistance training, no - but probably better than a lot of others due to practical experience. What does this have to do strength training and females, nothing. One of my athletes, who is a female middle distance, has been staying I don't want big bulky legs.  My argument is this isn't going to happen due to lower levels of testertone etc...   This hasn't washed due to my inability of being able to provide scientific evidence but also to what this athlete was taught at school.  This led me to read through my books and try and provide more empirical evidence as to why it isn't going to happen. I guess a starting point is to look at what is considered the base for different elements of strength training;...