No one is too good to improve

Sunday, February 23, 2014 · Mike Davis

Good morning! Thankfully this is the last weekend in February with my least favorite month about on us. March is that month that seems to be a tweener in that you can't get to comfortable that a 60 degree day means winter is behind us. This past week I enjoyed a couple of hours with one of the Seacoast's better marathon runners in Tim Carven. Tim and I hooked up for a gait analysis and lots of running talk. Being honest I always wonder before hand how such a runner with Tim's impressive resume (2:45 marathon PR) will be to deal with as we break down their form. I usually start such a gait analysis out by letting the individual know that while my resume isn't near as good as theirs, that won't keep me from addressing what the video exposes. Some struggle with the fact that they have experienced a great deal of success with their current running gait and what would necessitate someone who hasn't ran at their level telling them they need to change something. In fact having done a great deal of gait analysis over the past 5 months we have still done far less analysis on many of the areas more experienced runners than we should have done. I guess in some ways people don't want to tinker with what isn't broken or at least what they doesn't need to be tinkered with. Which brings me back to Tim and his mindset which was totally opposite of that thought process. Tim has run for many years and as I said, he has run quite successfully as well, but he came to NFLR to see if there was any way he could improve his efficiency and possibly even get faster. No stubbornness on his part whatsoever but instead a total openness to exploring his gait and listening to my analysis. This attitude is what makes coaching really fun and broadens our range of experience. Tim is also a high school volley ball coach so as we talked it was quite helpful that he is able to understand how instruction is a positive thing. The gait analysis took longer than most because of Tim's experience and inquisitive approach to understanding. Not only did Tim feel like he learned a lot, as always I picked up some great experience from our discussion. No matter who I do a gait analysis on I always feel like I learn something that will benefit my analysis of others in the future. Tim's success in running is in no small part due to the hard work he puts in but almost equally as important is his willingness to seek help like he did with NFLR. It really is difficult to question yourself when it appears all is going well, but Tim's attitude of why limiting himself to what he understands, is something more runners should consider. Time to get a moving. Have a great week and get those feet moving! Mike