Posts by stevemagness
Episode 82: How Do You Define Success in Workouts and Races?
In this weeks episode of On Coaching, we tackle how to define success (or failure) in workouts and races. Far too often we operate in a time or performance framework. We judge a workout based on whether we ran faster than was written on the paper. How we define success has a direct impact on…
Read MoreWhat Holds Us Back from Performing to Our Capabilities? Our Self.
When it comes to performing at just about any task, what holds us back isn’t our coach or teacher. It’s not our training and practice. It’s often ourselves. When we are in the middle of a performance, our mind almost always searches for an out. A rock to step on during a race, an excuse…
Read MoreThe Simple Principle of Training
There’s a simple message that I learned from a grad school professor, Charlie Casserly, about coaching. Learn a lot but then simplify. People often use the old coaching adage of “keep it simple stupid,” to mean that too much information is bad. That you shouldn’t complicate the act of coaching. There’s a crucial mistake in…
Read MoreThe Pre-Race Moment: Taking Advantage of where Psychology and Biology Intersect
I first came across Dave Hamilton’s work when presenting at a conference put on by the Seattle Sounders. At the time, he worked with USA field hockey, after serving a similar role with British field hockey for the 2012 Olympics. As Dave stood at the lectern presenting his findings, my inbuilt skepticism dissipated into a…
Read MoreThe Blame Game: How our reaction to failure influences future performance
Think back to a recent poor performance. What was the cause? Maybe you were sick, had poor sleep leading up to the race, overcooked the workouts leading up to the race, or simply ‘gave in’ when the pain set in. Chances are you have an answer to why you ran poorly. It might not…
Read MoreThe Simple Principle of Training: Build, Maintain, Connect
Training is Simple: Are you Building, Maintaining, or Connecting? That car you have sitting in your garage is a complicated piece of machinery. If you aren’t a “car guy” you couldn’t even imagine how to build one from the ground up. It’s a task reserved for those who have honed their skills and craft, having…
Read MoreEpisode 81: Embracing Failure with Brian Barraza
This weeks guest is elite runner Brian Barraza. Brian rose from a solid high school runner to the top of the ranks in the NCAA. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss how Brian dealt with failure on the biggest stage, the coping strategies he utilizes to get through the pain and discomfort of racing, and…
Read MoreEpisode 80: High School Coaching- How we would do it differently
In this episode of the On Coaching Podcast we go back in time, to our high school coaching days. Both of us got our start coaching in the high school ranks and we take a look back at what we got right, what we would change, and the challenges that coaches now face. We cover…
Read MoreEpisode 79: Mastering the Mental Game: An interview with Len Zaichkowsky and Dan Peterson
The Inner Game: Decision Making, Choking, Focus and Attention, Skill acquisition: All of that and more on this weeks episode of the On Coaching Podcast with Magness & Marcus. We have renowned sports psychologist Leonard Zaichkowsky and mental performance consultant Dan Peterson on to provide a deep dive on the cognitive demands of the sport.…
Read MoreEpisode 78: The Difference Between Good and Great
What does it take to be great? What about just good? When it comes to performance, we all start near the bottom. Being “okay” or average, but then we make jumps along the way. How far up the ladder do we go and what allows us to make those jumps? In this episode of On…
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