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I recently was afforded the most amazing opportunity of my professional career. I was selected as one of fourteen Endurance Coaches to attend the USATF Elite Coaches Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista California. Upon landing at the San Diego airport, I anxiously waited to be picked up by the OTC. As the van with the Olympic Rings pulled up, I marveled at the opportunities that awaited me and the butterflies in my stomach felt like I was on the start line for the mile!
As we pulled up to the OTC complex, I was mesmerized by the magnitude of the facilities and the picturesque mountains that served as the breathtaking backdrop. We each took turns checking in and got our official badges, which granted us access to all areas of the campus. I tried to contain my level of excitement which was comparable to that of a high school freshman. “What would the program consist of?” “Would I be the only female?” “How would the men treat, the little blond girl coach from Florida?” “What would I contribute to my class of highly successful coaches?” “What exactly will we have to do in the learn by doing classes?” I was comforted by the fact that I would have fellow Floridian Paul Baur of Pine Crest in my Endurance program.
My first order of business was to scope out the track. As I stood there, I imagined the Olympians running intervals and vaulting on the track which boasted the majestic Olympic rings. I turned in astonishment to see an entire field of all throwing rings, over ten each of both the shot and discus! At lunch, I met Jeremy Fisher, the accomplished professional jumps coach of one of my favorite jumpers Will Claye (Go Gators). He laughed as I told him I had just taken a picture of a picture of Will hanging outside the cafeteria and he mentioned that I should just take one of the actual person, since he trained here! Throughout the week, I gravitated to the jumps coaches during some of the breaks and meals, as they were a small but super accomplished and funny group. They got to watch Will and several other athletes train and I snuck a few peaks when I could. They laughed as they saw me in my Gator shirt slowly drifting their way!
Later that evening, I realized only five women total were in the program. Two throws coaches, one jumps coach, Miami Northwestern’s Carmen Jackson (best roommate ever) for sprints and me. My suspicion that I would be the only woman Endurance coach was right. Before I came, I had “stalked” (as the kids would say) the email list and tried to surmise the names by nondescript email addresses and schools. I had looked up a few of the coaches and all were male and all were incredibly accomplished. Our group consisted of some of the most storied high school coaches in the country, as well as Division 1, 2 and 3 college coaches, a former US Senior team coach, and one adult Marathon coach. These men had coached National Champions, NXN teams, just to name a few! I later found out that many had done that same thing with the emails and one coach told me “you know your stuff, I googled you.” I was beginning to believe the course description “Must demonstrate the ability to coach future Olympians.”
We were told as we started our first intense session, that we would cover material equivalent to USATF Level 3 or 4. “Bring it on!” I love to thrive on knowledge! As the clock neared 9 pm, all of us East Coasters stifled yawns and pinched ourselves to keep awake after a long day of traveling. The information was interesting but I had woken up at 2:50 am!
Our keynote speaker Dr. Jason Karp (buy his books J) covered everything we needed to know to have a deep understanding of the science involved in middle distance and distance running. As the week progressed, we learned about how to integrate the science and mix in the art of coaching, while developing a training program. All of our speakers were men, Karp, Olympic Champion Joaquin Cruz, and Mike Holman. At the beginning of the week, my classmates were cognizant that a female was amongst them, but by Wednesday I was just one of the boys. I took that as a compliment that they saw me as an equal and valued my opinion. We sat through interactive classes and broke into groups formally and informally and developed training plans, shared workouts, argued over mileage and training philosophies and various other topics. Some of my favorite moments were sitting after class sharing ideas with David Frank (Central Catholic, Oregon), Robert Belo (Mission Vejo, California) and Rob Hewitt (Germantown Friends, Pennsylvania).
We all became comfortable and started dishing back jokes to our knowledgeable and personable speaker Karp. Joaquin Cruz led us through his running gymnastics and drills and proclaimed to each of us that we were “Wrong, wrong, wrong, and consistently wrong.” If an Olympic champ tells me my A skips are wrong, I believe him! One of the high lights of the week was when a few of the guys and I spotted former high school sensation, Lucas Verzbicas in the lunchroom and invited him to eat dinner with us. What a humble, hardworking and kind young man! On behalf of the running community, we are rooting for your continued recovery!
The Elite Coaches camp reaffirmed many of the training principles I have already implemented in my current and past programs. It also enlightened me in several ways that I look forward to incorporating into my team’s training. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience and am ecstatic that I have a new network of some of the country’s finest coaches. I am proud to have represented the distance community of Florida and am grateful for the opportunity I was given by the USATF and Mike Holman. I will continue to brainstorm with these remarkable coaches for years to come. Good luck to all in their upcoming cross country and track seasons. Go Wildcats!