Pot Pie?

So I just scanned the headlines on the CNN website. At first read I thought one said,"Police find pot pies in Bieber limo" and I thought, like, chicken pot pies? Who cares? Then I realized it said "pot pipes" and then I thought, who cares?

Is this pre-pubescent celeb, someone who I couldn't even pick out of a police line up really worth all that attention? Now, I'm not going to take it upon myself to determine whom the public should pay attention to. That would be far too much effort. (Although many people seem buy into the fact that they need to have some say (or a lot of say) in the lives of others... that’s another article all together.

But I want to do something a little unexpected. I want to relate this Bieber headline to my observations in the athletic world.  Specifically, the idea that too much too soon never seems to end up well.  It's unfortunate that Bieber seems to be struggling.  My impression is that too much fame/attention too soon in life is taking a toll on the kid.

Though as I alluded to earlier, I don't pay much attention to him and don't really prefer his music but somehow, through some kind of streaming power of mass media osmosis, I somehow gather that he is spiraling. Well, on with my point.  I want to address the concept of the “too much too soon” scenario.

When we get excited about something it’s easy to become consumed with it. For example, this can be illustrated by the initial excitement one feels about doing a triathlon. In 20 plus years of coaching, I have seen folks, discover triathlon on Sunday, decide that they actually want to do one on Monday, and then by Wednesday, after hours on the internet, they are signed up for an event.

This is not always a bad thing. Finding inspiration is always cool. Taking initiative and signing up is certainly a good thing.  But in this case, I’m talking about someone who has very little training background and to often they sign up a long distance race like a 70.3 or even the old 140.whatever…

As a coach, I encourage new athletes to get into the sport by setting their sites on doing a sprint distance event. Maybe an Olympic distance event is reasonable and further one that is geographically close by. Logistics are easier and there is sometimes a chance to become familiar with the course by training on it occasionally.

The process or road you take to reach your goal matters.  I want to drive this point across to my athletes.  As I stated, too much too soon is not good.  There is a training principle that is essential to consider and adhere to and that is the principle of progression.

In order to have an effective training program, we need to have the element of progression. We need controlled progressions in the frequency, intensity and the duration of our training sessions. However, the progression that many athletes take, if plotted on a graph would have way too steep a curve – I’m talking about an angle that require a rope to climb if it were a hill.

Progressing to quickly is a sure path to overtraining and injury. It often results in sitting on the couch day after day with ice on your knees, bummed out, and probably eating on some chicken pot pie – ugh, and a grim story that is. Having to take time off means you will not be progressing and you will certainly not be getting any closer to your goals. 

So, take a smart approach and take that initial excitement and plan to spread it out over a few seasons. See how much you can get out of very limited doses of training.  Finish each initial training session with the feeling that you could do more. Hire a coach to help you – hire me for that matter!

Finally, let’s just wish our young celebrity friend the best and hope he pulls it together.  And if you haven’t picked up this, I don’t like pot pie. It’s the only known food that I won’t eat.  

Coach Dave