Reading thru the latest entry into the Epic Camp diaries, I am left asking myself to whom Scott Molina is preaching. The “gospel” he espouses and seemingly takes ownership over is really nothing new. What’s going on at Epic Camp and in the lives of these athletes is a no-brainer and has been known for 40 years in endurance athletics. Scott’s website tells us that he will only agree to impart his coaching wisdom to athletes who can put in the “necessary” time to reach full “potential” which he implies is removal of impediments to training full time. Now, I may not have won Hawaii or 150 other triathlons like Scott but I do have 15 years triathlon experience and it may sound arrogant but jeezzz…give me a motivated and healthy athlete with time on their hands and tell me even I couldn’t coach that athlete to success??
cross reference the numerous threads on this board about the decline in american endurance sports. compare current IM winning times to the all time records. I believe skid is trying to pull us back to the high mileage methods of Lydiard, et al, that brought about many of those great performances of old.
most of the lit on training these days will tell you that you don’t need to put in high mileage to hit your peak. while this is all inclusive and helps anyone feel like they can join in, I think that molina is part of a very small group that is trying to push us beyond just completing or reaching some attainable time goal, and suggesting that all of us are capable of so much more than we believe we can. gordo, is a great example. there was really nothing to indicate that he was genetically gifted when he quit his day job to try out tri’s full time. who knows, maybe we’re all far more genetically gifted than we think.
look at lance’s training, even the pro peloton is amazed by his annual volume. read the recent interview w/ tyler that was posted here, he’s talking about trying to train more volume. these guys are setting themselves above the crowd by high volume, not from one key breakthrough workout a week on minimal hours. I think scott’s saying, if you really want to know what you’re truly capable of, you gotta explore the limits.
or maybe it’s just like the old harley-davidson tag line “if you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand”.
sorry, I guess I implied another question in there of “why is he bothering with this?”. I don’t see him claiming to hold the original idea here, but it’s likely that he’s one of the few making these claims now.