6 Foot Training Program Launch

For the latest on the BMMC, or to train with us go to: www.thebmmc.webs.com

Last night the Doc unveiled his grand 9 week training plan for 6 Foot 2010. We have been working together for 12 months now and it is by far the best “athlete- coach” relationship I have ever been in over my time in sport. I have had lots of coaches, all have taught me something, even if it wasn’t always a lot about training.

His/ our program is fluid, yet structured. Damn hard, yet with plenty of rest. Overall, it looks like a tough 9 weeks coming up. I like it because it is developed by an expert, but is developed by asking me lots and lots of questions, I feel like I’m in control of it. He then tells me like it is, even if that is: “No you don’t need to do that, it’s pointless, what’s that going to teach your body? we are going to do X, Y and Z”. He will then explain how and what the body will do in response to the prescribed stress from training. This last bit is my favorite part because it builds my belief and confidence in the program.

I will publish the program, but not until after March 13, for two reasons:

Firstly and most obviously, I don’t want to give too much away.

Secondly but more importantly, it would be negligent and unsafe to encourage, or think that others may copy what I might be doing without them considering a range of factors about their own physiology in consultation with an expert, or other qualified person.

For example, I wouldn’t want to encourage anyone to get into the habit of just ‘cut and pasting’ another athletes program, particularly if that program is for an athlete of a completely different background, history and physical constitution, including genetics. You wouldn’t take someone else medicine if you were sick right?

The best advice to devise your own program I believe is find someone who knows 3 things;
1. They know YOU.
2. They know the concepts of endurance training well.
3. They know how to apply the concepts to you the athlete (the most important bit).

This doesn’t mean don’t try things out, not training with others and trying what they do, not experimenting occasionally, not learning from training partners, or from anyone. We all learn from each other. But it does mean being personally careful of key things like, volume, frequency, intensity and how they relate to your body (not someone else’s body).

Once you have your own program you need to believe in it and give it time to work. Have some faith it will get results. When you think about it you actually can’t do anything else can you?

This can mean ignoring everything else you hear for a while. (Eg.Anton K. ran 320k last week, wow!) Not that what you are hearing say from others is bad necessarily, it’s just that it’s probably not in the right perspective for you at that time, and it may allow doubt to enter your head about your program, which is the last thing you need at 5am on an LSD.

Every human has doubts; you don’t need to increase doubt. Doubt can easily turn to fear, which can turn to disbelief and then quitting. For me this meant not buying running magazines. Nothing is wrong with running mags, but I would read training articles and athlete stories, get all pumped up and think ‘yeah I’ll go do that tomorrow’ so I can be like them. This may sound silly, but we have all done it.

Enough ranting and raving for now.
See you out there, enjoy the training!