Hi Frank,
Sorry, would have responded sooner but I was just out at a concert at St Martin in the Fields - a nice way to end the day here in rainy London.
You are absolutely correct in your final statement: It is no wonder that you are in search of a Third Way…a Middle Path as it were. THAT is the trouble in this sport – the pendulum has swung both ways, and there have been many vested interests tugging it to either extreme. The Internet magnifies the impact of information as most people are like sheep and will meekly follow the herd believing the leader to have determined the proper course. Few have the time or inclination to step back and examine what is really going on: Who is going faster? Who is going slower? In what proportions? What is the true, broader and hidden price?
I will work on the book and promise that when it is published, it will provide a simple training approach much like what my athletes all follow (always looking for more, btw), with clear instructions and concrete explanations of the “how’s and why’s” behind it. Lydiard’s method has it much the same way as The Method suggests, but triathlon is far more complicated than single-sport pursuits and as it happens, a tad farther out on the extreme end of the spectrum of mass participation sports.
There will never be a universal panacea since there’s so many ways to skin a cat, but what I think The Method provides is a way for most to streamline their training, save some money, free some head space to dedicate towards that job and family you mention, and just in general confront a lot of the BS that is out there.
So what are some of the “secrets?” Well, the final quote from The Karate Kid lays it out plain and simple: What place are you coming from? In this thread are some prime examples of the two energy systems we are working with, fundamentally: Good. And Bad. Ali vs Tyson – which champ do you want to be? A hard, driven energy will get people only so far, while the clean, light energy is limitless. One of the secrets is doing it for the right reasons, coming from the right place. Many who fail come at things from entirely an unhealthy place in their being and they burn out on an unhealthy, frenzied expression of the wrong energy.
That’s a secret not because it’s unknown, but because we always look elsewhere: It’s “out there” but never within that we turn to find our motivation. One’s will, one’s ability to tame a spurious mind, one’s broader maturity as an athlete - this is part of the secret, too. It’s as much Heart State as Heart Rate training that determines sustainable success – the real mean fuckers will fall by the wayside. Eventually.
The Method preaches repetition, and it uses very basic, “canned” workouts as I was accused of providing to someone last fall. Nothing complicated - the point is not to entertain the athlete, the point is to train the athlete’s red meat. If an athlete needs to be entertained by a coach, you have to question that person’s desire. Motivation and entertainment are two entirely different things: Anyone needing the latter to incite the former is better left on the docks in Jersey as we sail for the South Seas…but I digress.
The structure, the repetitive nature, the simple design of the sessions are all facets of The Method. The secret is to change how you think about, look at and feel your body – The Method doesn’t look at your body from the distorted lens of the sports scientologist. The Method looks at the body and asks: What are the movements? Under what conditions do the movements occur? What will improve my ability to perform these movements under those conditions? How do I recover from the work required? How do I train some other aspect while I am recovering so that I don’t give up training opportunity when time is available? What do I need to fill in the gaps?
With The Method, you have Five Systems. But you can simplify it even further to…You have Four Components: Mind. Muscles. Lungs. Heart.
With The Method, Lungs and Heart are just along for the ride. What Mind wants of Muscle is our key question. How Muscle must Do becomes our Problem to solve.
When people stop thinking each of themselves as a special organism and come to understand that by and large, they’re all made from the same red meat – then they submit themselves to the Process. That’s when The Method begins.