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Coaching Philosophy
Coach Tone has been working with Endurance and Sprint Athletes for twelve years including Swimmers, Cyclists, Runners, Triathletes, Cross-Country Skiiers, Strength & Power Athletes, and your every day person. His philosophy is ever changing and adapting to new and more efficient methods learned through technology and science.
A periodization with gradual overload and recovery without overtraining or injury is the most commonly used method of training.
Monitoring the quality of the workout, much more than the quantity is more effective in producing the best results for any sport type. “Quality before Quantity.”
The human body learns through repetition. For example, Olympic level marathon runners never go out and run 20-30 miles straight while training for a marathon. They break it up into 3-4 runs per day working up to race pace. This allows the runner to have a quality workout and lets the body recover and digest what it just did producing more efficient neurological muscle firing patterns. It also helps prevent injury that may occur during a long sustained run. This way if the runner is sore or feels an injury coming on, they can skip one of the training sessions preventing a potential injury.
Strength training is a very important part of any athletic training program. However, in order to produce the best workouts and results you must train specific to your sport during that season. Strength training should be monitored carefully and not exceed more than 4 times per week depending on the reaction of the workload on your athletes. Sitting on a bench press pushing out reps of 225 makes you better at bench pressing, nothing else. If you want to be a better runner, you need to run A LOT. If you want to be a better football player, you need to play A LOT of football.
Sprint and interval training is also very important for endurance athletes. It increases your anaerobic threshold allowing you to use more oxygen at higher speeds without using your glycogen reserves. It also helps your body become more tolerant to lactic acid which is the difference between amateur and professional.
Training also includes basic commands and working with your dogs one on one. Positive reinforcement as well as repetition coupled with lots of patience can help you a lot in the long run. I try to socialize with my dogs on days off or just take them for a walk and let them do domestic dog things. I believe this helps us become a stronger “pack”.
There is no magic pill you can take that will make you better. Success comes with maximizing the genetic potential of your athletes from pure hard core work, lots of sweat, and consistency. Training NEVER gets easier, you just go faster.
Although the specifics are not put forth, every team needs a different training program based upon their goals. It’s very important to keep an open mind and do your scientific research on endurance athletes. If you are still doing workouts from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s you might want to think about adding some new methods. There are many different training programs out there, find out what works for you by taking a chance and sticking to what works.
