“Coach”  – is responsible to train the athlete by providing the appropriate workouts that will lead to success.  A coach also teaches the athlete through encouragement (telling them what they do well) and correction (telling them what they don’t do well and what needs to be fixed).  A coach also provides motivation, guidance, communication, care, love and respect to the athlete.  A coach is a source but not the primary source of motivation for the athlete or team.  If the coach is doing more to motivate the athlete or team than they are themselves, the athlete won’t reach their potential.
 
“Athlete”  – is responsible for the final result of all training.  The athlete must execute the training to their best ability.  The athlete is the primary source for all motivation, drive, encouragement, leadership, commitment, communication, learning, injury prevention and "coachability" for both themselves and the TEAM.  A coach will provide resources but the athlete is ultimately the one who needs to get it done.  

“Team” – two or more people working together toward a common goal.
 
“TEAM”  – a group of people who have committed their time and energy toward the goal of being perfect (ie – to reach their full potential).  Each member sees the other members of the TEAM as being as equally as important as themselves.  TEAMmembers help each other out and support each other.  Jealousy does not exist.  Love does.  In order for one person to reach their potential, the TEAM must reach its potential.

​“Someone who likes to run” – a person who looks outside and sees the sun and 70 degree temperature and feels as if it would be fun to go out and run.  Or a person who feels they ate too much pizza the night before and wants to burn it off.
 
“A Runner” (*) – a person who is training to reach their full potential as a runner and they want to run as fast as they physically and mentally are able.  A person who looks out the window and sees the rain or snow or 90 degree temperature and is tired from the long day but they still go out to run in order to train to make themselves better.  A runner sacrifices in order to reach their running goals.  If you can’t make a list of things you have sacrificed to reach your goals, you are “someone who likes to run”.

Working smart refers to going 100% when you are 100% healthy and with the confidence that you will be able to go 100% tomorrow.  Working smart is also knowing that when you aren’t 100% healthy, you find ways to work hard in areas that you are able to work 100%, while also backing off in areas that you are injured or compromised . Banging one’s head against a brick wall over and over again won’t necessarily cause the wall to fall. Often times, it leaves you standing on this side of the wall with a headache.  Sometimes, you need to go over or around the wall or take some time to find a tool to break through the wall.  Harder is not always better.  Be smart.  When you know that working hard will make you better, work hard.  Don’t blindly work hard or blindly quit based on emotion.  Work hard and work smart!

Going 100% all of the time, regardless of the situation.  Anyone can work hard when it is fun or when life is going well or when the results are immediate.  It takes a true competitor to work hard when life isn’t going well.  Working hard is a choice and most choices aren’t easy to make.  Working hard requires the decision to make sacrifices and to be uncomfortable.  Working hard is not a comparison with others.  You know whether you worked hard or not when you compare yourself to a previous experience.  If you put in more time and/or effort and/or sacrificed more and/or became more uncomfortable, than any moment before, then you worked hard.  

Success is never guaranteed.  However, the probability of success is increased dramatically by the amount of effort that a person invests into the process.

​All training programs assume that the athlete is 100% healthy.  The reality is that remaining 100% healthy is very uncommon.  If you are an athlete and you are 100% healthy, then your goal is to do every component that exists in the training program, as prescribed.  If you aren’t 100% healthy or have never been 100% healthy, then the responsibility of an athlete is to use your brain to discern what to do and what not to do, and then to communicate with the coach about possible alternatives.  We are not animals that merely respond to our urges.  We are human beings, with brains that must be used to critically think about what is best for us and then to communicate with the coach so that they can best guide the athlete toward their goals.

​We compete WITH our TEAMmates.  We compete AGAINST other teams.  There are too many other runners to compete against during a season for us to add TEAMmates to the list.  Your TEAMmates should push you to be better and help you to reach your goals.  Competing AGAINST your TEAMmates in meets and practice will only cause bitterness, jealousy and resentment.  Competing WITH your TEAMmates in practice will raise the level of effort for both individuals to achieve better results.  Competing WITH your TEAMmates in races will increase the advantage from “1 on 1” to “2 on 1” or “3 on 1” or to even “7 on 1” and dramatically increase the probability for success. 

Opening gifts on CHRISTmas morning.  That is what racing should be for a runner.  Racing is the end result of training.  If you don’t find value in racing, then training has no purpose.  A person who trains without racing is a person who buys groceries and makes the meal and then throws it in the garbage without eating it.  Racing is different than training.  Training is an opportunity to practice the skills required to race. For example, pace in practice helps us to push ourselves.  Running pace in practice helps us to train our body to race.  However, running pace for pace sake in races is detrimental.  Throw away your watch on race day.  Once the gun goes off, the pace keeps you from going too fast or too slow but it should not control the race.  Competing with others is what should control the race.  Races are an opportunity to put the skills to the test.  Racing should be fun and should be hard.  Races are an opportunity to benefit from the hard work and long hours of training.  “Racing” is to “Performing Surgery” as “Training” is to “Med School”.  Paying all of that money and putting in all of that time and stress to earn an MD and then sit around looking at the framed diploma is like an athlete who trains hard for weeks and months and years and never races.  

​Runners run.  Running happens on Sunday through Friday at practice.  Running happens during the summer.  Running is what helps us prepare to race.  Running is a technical skill.  Running more miles doesn’t automatically result in running faster.  If you run improperly, you merely train yourself to run improperly.  More bad form isn’t better.  Running better miles with better technique and working on the better mental aspect while running will result in faster times.  Running isn’t the goal of races.  Racing is the goal of racing.  We run during the week so we can race on the weekend.