The Sport Factory Coaching Desire

Coaching Desire

One of my favorite movies is "Prefontaine," the portrayal of runner Steve Prefontaine. During a pivotal part of his career he turns to his coach and expresses doubt about his willingness to go forth with his racing. Instead of giving him the expected pep talk, his coach replies "I can't coach desire."

Even the most well designed and efficient training plan is useless without the determination and desire to follow it. Every athlete goes through phases when training is not fun, monotonous, boring, and they are self doubtful. During these times it is important to re-examine your goals, gain perspective, and perhaps adjust your training plan.

Race More: Races are the reward for hard training. If you only race several times per year this may not be enough positive influence between training periods. I encourage my athletes to race throughout the year in a variety of formats. Even a secondary event such as a 5k or 10k can help motivate you, especially if you are making quantifiable progress.
Get a training partner: There is not doubt that training with another motivated athlete can have a positive effect on your work outs. Select your training partner carefully. Make sure they have like goals, and are a motivated in their training and mindset. A slightly faster training partner will make you work harder!
Have Purpose: Each work out should accomplish something. You are more likely to adhere to a training program if you know what that is, and can see progression. Remind yourself why you are training. Qauntify your training results and set goals for each work out. Nothing motivates like progress.
Stay Positive: Start your work out with a positive affirmation and continually reinforce it. Visualize the results your work out will give you. A successful, negative athlete is hard to find.
Focus only on what is within your control (your performance). Race placements and/or beating other athletes is outside of your direct control. These are not good goals. You may have a great race performance wise, only to be dissappointed by your placement. You can not control who shows up for a race.
No Excuses: Often the only difference between you and the person who just passed you is that they wanted it more and trained accordingly. Remind yourself that making excuses or rationalizing your missed work outs, bad performances, and a lack of consistency is a key barrier to your athletic success. Success starts between your ears.

I will take a less talented athlete with the right mental skill sets, determination, and consistancy over a more gifted one. Mental barriers can be harder to overcome than physical ones; but they can be overcome.

"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine

Matt Russ has coached and trained elite athletes from around the country and internationally for over ten years. He currently holds expert licenses from USA Triathlon, USA Cycling (Elite), and is a licensed USA Track and Field Coach. Matt is head coach and owner of The Sport Factory, and works with athletes of all levels full time. He is a free lance author and his articles are regularly featured in a variety of magazines such as Inside Triathlon, and Triathlete. Visit www.thesportfactory.com for more information or email him at coachmatt@thesportfactory.com

Published in: Quick Tips