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Welcome, welcome, everyone, wherever you are in the world.
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I am your presenter and host, Murray Stewart, and this is Blind Magic in Alice Springs.
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It's episode 1,696.
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Are you a running coach out there? If you are, let me share some of my philosophies with you.
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I have coached two Australian 400-meter junior champions, so I would like to think that over my 49,
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years in the track and field world that I know a little bit about what I'm talking about.
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I've experienced it as a track-running competitor and now as a coach.
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And I love the coaching just as much as I loved being a competitor.
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It's exciting.
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And it absolutely continues to fill my boots with the competitive energy.
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Yeah, it's been more than a good replacement. for my competitive nature when I was a track runner.
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I believe that we as coaches are the architect yes we are we design the plans.
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The athlete is the builder yeah that's if they want it badly enough they become
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the builder by following your plans,
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your program, your instructions,
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and what a team you both can make.
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And if you are a good team, you will build together a very, very strong tower,
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that will never collapse.
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Yeah, never collapse under the pressure of competition.
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Because just remember, when you get to the elite level, the other athletes want
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to take your athlete down. They do.
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They're just as mean and hungry as your team is, as your athlete is.
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So you do need to build that very strong tower.
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And where does any tower begin in its structural integrity? Well,
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it begins with a very, very strong foundation.
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And for me, it's always been with athletes from 400 metres up,
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you must have a strong base fitness. Yes, you must.
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I've seen it over so many years, folks, that our Australian runners,
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particularly our 400-metre runners, often got run down from behind.
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And I looked at this over and over again.
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And I saw that their rate of deceleration was so much faster than the athletes who were chasing them.
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And so I set about taking a different approach, particularly when it came to
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400 meter athletes and above.
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And so I have always insisted upon the athletes having and incredibly strong base fitness.
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And that means that therefore their rate of deceleration is slow,
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very slow, and hopefully slower than anyone else in the field,
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which means that they can hang on and get to the line ahead of anyone who is
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pursuing them, who is hunting them, who is chasing them down.
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And also it could very well mean that if they are the pursuer,
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then they will be able to run someone down in the heat of the battle when the
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whips are cracking over that last two or three hundred meters.
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They need to be mentally strong. They need to be physically capable and they
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need to be, as I said to you, they need to be.
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Incredibly fit from a cardiovascular point of view.
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That's what they need to be as a track runner.
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So, yes, this is exactly how I see it. You are the architect. They are the builder.
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You are a team and you are building an incredibly strong, unbreakable tower.
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One tower that will not collapse under the pressure of competition and under
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the pressure of anything that is thrown at you during match play.
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That's right, match play. when you're out there in the heat of the battle,
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in a track running event, no matter where it is in the world,
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that tower will not crumble.
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Yeah, that is my belief.
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And that is how I go about the business. And it's fun. It's incredibly rewarding.
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And when you turn up to an event and you see it all come together in front of
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you, wow, is it exciting? Is it rewarding?
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Is it beautiful? It is, it is.
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You can hardly wait to get to your builder, to your competitor,
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to your athlete at the end of the event to say, well, bloody done.
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I'm so damn proud of you.
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Oh, what a tower you have built. What a tower you have built.
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You are remarkable. You're a credit to your family.
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You're a credit to your community. And most importantly, you're a credit to yourself.
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Okay, folks, best of luck on your coaching journey.
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It might not necessarily be track running that you're specializing in as a coach,
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but whatever it is, remember you are the architect.
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So go forward and use your experience and your experience and your wisdom.
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Yes, share it with your wonderful chargers.
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And you, with your charges, can build that tower that I speak of.
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This has been, and it always will be, Episode 1696,
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of Blind Magic Communications Production.