Establish the Culture

What kind of culture do you want to establish at Haslett?

This is 100% in your hands. Do you want it to be a great culture? It is up to you to do this. I (your coach) can only do so much. I have been working my tail off to try to get it through your heads that it can be done. That a sub-4:30 mile for a boy and a sub-5:30 mile for a girl can be the norm. Let me say that again...

A sub-4:30 mile for a boy and a sub-5:30 mile for a girl can be the norm!

The main thing that you should be concerned about is running fast. When the day calls for a fast/medium effort or intervals at race pace you need to put it on the line. Train your mind and body the except nothing less than the best.

Here is a quote from Letsrun.com that inspired me to write this post.

"On a track in Kenya, say, you have a great number of Olympians and major athletes all there at one time. They're all watching each other and pushing each other all the time. Some of them are earning lots of money, but they're living in camps with no electricity, no water, that are horrible, dirty, awful. I remember saying to one of them 'Why are you staying here? This is a pretty awful place.' He said: 'See that beautiful house up there on the mountain? That's my house. If I live there I'll become fat. Here, I'm sharing a room with a 17-year-old who wants to kick my backside. I'm not going to let him do that.'"

Another quote from the article....

"But what I would say in addition, which they may not want to hear, is that what appears to produce the quality guys assuming they have the right genes is how hungry they are. And often that is dictated by how hard their living conditions are."

Boys and Girls... both need to help establish this culture. When others are running faster than you question this. Why can't you be doing this? How can you reach that level of fitness? Don't come up with excuses. Come up with answers.

I have proscribed the training to get you there. It's up to you do to it passionately and with an effort that can't be described with words. Get focused!