The Runner’s Tribe coverage of The Sydney Track Classic has proven to be a huge success. The live streaming attracted over 3,000 viewers throughout the program. Although the stream wasn’t HD quality it was still an excellent base to build on. Viewers tuned in from around the world with the help of our partners at Flo Track, Athletics NSW, and Athletics Australia. RT is working on giving our viewers the best possible picture quality to watch Australian races in the future.



Our main man on the ground, Edward Ovadia, recorded over 20 video interviews with Australia’s top athletes.

Within the coming days RT will also be loading up over 1000 photos from the STC coverage for free use. That’s correct, no watermarks, no copyrights, just professional quality pictures of Australia’s elite. 

Sydney Track Classic

Preview

By Bryan Green

People are easily distracted.  Sometimes these distractions are convenient, like when we have writer's block and the Olympics are on.  Sometimes we see something irrelevant but simply can't take our eyes off it, like the annoying haircuts on the men's ice dancers.  And other times we get taught to focus on something that simply doesn't matter as much as we make it seem.

When it comes to talent, many of us fall victim to this last type of distraction.  We spend our time and energy wondering, evaluating, and debating how much talent an individual has.  Threads like this German vs Dathan thread at LetsRun attract an inordinate amount of passionate arguments.  It doesn't help that we don't have clear definitions, we use multiple words with multiple meanings, and that our attempts at measuring talent are stuck using proxies.

I think everyone intuitively understands the idea of "talent".  It's natural, it's innate, it's genetic (if you're East African, etc)...you know, either you have it or you don't.  But there are three other aspects of how we view talent that create problems for us.  First, talent is understood to be the key defining factor that enables someone to be the best in the world.  If we assume that others are working just as hard as Bekele, then the only thing that can be separating him is his talent.  Let's just say that's a big assumption.

Second, we associate talent with being a purely physical quality.  It's very rare that someone includes such factors as toughness, pain tolerance, discipline, passion, commitment, and coolness under pressure in a discussion about talent.  Yet the ability to get up and train everyday at an elite level for years and years while staying motivated and committed is surely harder for some than it is for others. 

(We also don't talk about durability in most discussions of talent.  Talent takes on a meaning equivalent to: potential to run a given time.  But isn't the ability to do the necessary training in the first place a factor?  We don't talk about this or mental stuff because it's fluffy, it's intangible, we can't measure it.  But that leads me to the third problem.)

We don't have any foolproof way of measuring talent, either mental or physical.  The only real approach we have is to look at the subset of people who've achieved at an extremely high level and then label them "talented".  This creates its own issues:

• we miss out on anyone who hasn't achieved enough to show up on our radars;
• we can't compare people at different stages in their careers;
• we (usually) can't compare what two athletes have done to achieve their marks;
• and the big one, we can never assume that what they have achieved is what they are capable of achieving.

In the first case, it probably doesn't matter.  There might be 100 other Germans and Dathans out there.  I don't believe there's some Outliers-esque selection bias happening in running.  We may miss out on a few, but I think we're probably identifying much of our top talent.  The other three problems are more relevant, in my opinion. 

Ritz and German are separated by about a decade.  You would think this fact alone would stop people from comparing Ritz's 12:56 with German's 13:25 or 3:55.  But a lot of people confuse talent with ability.  Ability changes over time, based on your years of training.  Yes, 12:56 tells us something about Ritz's talent, that at a minimum, Ritz can reach that level.  And German's 13:25 and 3:55 tell us that, at a minimum, German can achieve those marks.  But that's it, and that's not much.

Even if we try to compare two athletes when they were in high school, we (usually) don't have enough information to make our case.  In some cases, two great runners have come from the same program and can be more or less compared.  But how can we compare Ritz's experience in Michigan to German's in California (or to another favorite, Alan Webb's in Virginia, or soon, Lukas Verzbicas's in Illinois)?  They weren't doing the same workload, workouts, or afterschool work. 

Finally, races and PRs are not measurements of potential.  They may give us some clues, but they are ultimately just indications of progress at any specific point in time.  My PR today may become my lifetime PR, or it may just reflect how good I was on that day in that year.  Even after an athlete retires, their PRs won't necessarily have reflected their potential.  There's no way to know. 

The whole discussion is a distraction.  It's a distraction because there's no substance.  It's irrelevant.

Psychologist Bernard Weiner identified four broad categories to which we can attribute our success (or failure).  These are talent, effort, the difficulty of the task, and luck.  As you can see in the diagram they can be classified by whether they are internal or external, and whether they are constant or variable. 

Talent is internal and constant, it never changes.  Effort is internal and variable, it can be increased or decreased at any given time.  Task difficulty is external and constant, a mile is always a mile, a workout is a workout, and you don't usually get to choose who is in your race.  And luck is external and variable, it changes at random.

There is one more factor that matters, however.  That is what we can call "controllability".  Do you have any control over the attribute and if so, in what way?  Of the four, the only one we have direct control over is our effort (in blue).  You can't control something that doesn't change, so talent and task difficulty are what they are.  And while there are benefits to understanding your task difficulty, those are only realized through focused effort, and so should be attributed there.  As for luck, with apologies to Louis Pasteur, we don't really have any control over that either. 

What this means is that when we focus on talent, we are focusing on something that's internal, constant and out of our control.  And not only that, it can't be measured and it's only part of the equation that results in becoming an elite athlete.  So why do we focus on talent instead of effort?  Why is it so easy to get caught up in the talent distraction?

First of all, talent is equated with destiny.  If you are talented, and you pursue that talent to its extreme, you are living a narrative that many people naturally relate to.  German and Dathan may be great at other things, but they were born to run.  We like that and it turns their stories into dramas.  Will they fulfill their God-given promise?  Or will the story be a tragedy?

The second reason we focus on talent rather than effort is that effort is so opaque.  Runners do different mileage, different workouts, in different environments, with different teammates and different coaches, in different eras, and none of them share that information in a clear, easy to understand way.  Perhaps this will change someday with the advent of some new technologies and incentive structures, but probably not.  How much would Bekele have to be paid to have his every workout inputted and analyzed by this mythical service?

Ultimately, as it stands, debating about an athlete's effort is just as speculative as debating their talent.  Personally, though, I'd rather see us debate effort--specifically training methods, lifestyle choices and decision-making--as there is an opportunity to learn something from the debate. 

I'm not sure that will ever catch on, though.  I think this is one distraction many fans just aren't looking to lose. 

The Runner's Tribe, in conjunction with Athletics NSW and Athletics Australia, are excited to announce the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday February the 27th, will be live streamed.  This is a first for track and field in Australia and means fans will be able to watch the action unfold in real time.

Viewers from all over the world can tune in to www.runnerstribe.com from 5:30 pm Sydney time, with the last event scheduled for 9:06 pm.

There will also be high quality post race edited footage, so that viewers can enjoy both live streaming, as well as high quality edited videos with multiple camera angles.

The Runner's Tribe will also be on the ground video interviewing the main stars of the night.

We hope that our viewers enjoy the service and we look forward to making this a regular feature of Runner's Tribe.  Many thanks goes out to Athletics NSW and Athletics Australia for supporting this initiative and making it possible.

Hi All
I was thrilled to win our World Cross trial in Melbourne a few weeks ago. That victory meant a lot to me – more than usually a win in this type of race would. It was not only the fact that I crossed the line first but the fact that I beat a top field (we have such strength amongst our female distance runners in at present) and also that I wasn’t afraid to get back out there racing after a very below par performance at Zatopek in December. I believe that after disappointing runs, the worst thing you can do is throw in the towel and make up excuses for yourself. Instead, after Zatopek (despite being terribly disappointed after the run), I continued to train, enjoyed mentoring at a National live-in junior girls’ camp in Melbourne then went home to Mackay, North Queensland for Christmas and two weeks with my family there. During that time, I did some easy running, went to watch my sister, Caitlin train (she’s on the rise right now – moving up from 400m to 800m) and gained a fresh perspective on what’s important in life and realised in my own mind how hungry I am to achieve my goals this year. I also love spending time with my family and this break in Mackay was exactly what I needed after a tough 2009! (Although, I tell you what, the heat and humidity knocked me around especially after spending so many years in Melbourne and London!) My nephew Josh, who has just turned 1 and was the star attraction over Christmas of course…..He is absolutely gorgeous and changing everyday!

I arrived up to Falls Creek from Mackay on 27^th December. I rented an apartment on the mountain with a great friend and training partner of mine, Kaila McKnight. We drove up from Melbourne together and arrived late that night. Our weeks together at Falls were fantastic - cooked some lovely meals, enjoyed plenty of laughs, watched a bit of ‘Gossip Girl’, went out with all the runners to the Milch café to welcome in the New Year plus I spent plenty of time mentoring the Athletics Australia junior girls here on camp. Steve Monnagetti and myself also spoke to all the runners at a seminar up here about various topics we’ve come across in our careers and conducted a question/ answer session after. It was great – everyone took plenty away from the afternoon, including myself….always like to hear Steve talk and learn a lot from him.

 

I trained hard up at Falls Creek for the 3 weeks I was there. We did all the traditional sessions including the km reps on Tuesday, Qtrs on Thursday, Fitzy’s hut on Sat and the Pretty Valley long run on Sunday. I was covering about 170-180kms per week. I also kept gym work going 3 times a week as well as fast strides on Monday and Friday. We have a great training group so plenty of people to work with. On top of this, there were so many runners here doing the same sessions as us, often 120 people would turn up for the sessions! Fantastic to see so many runners of all abilities working hard and enjoying the sport I love so much. I think it was up at Falls on this particular training camp, where I started really ‘hitting my straps’ so to say and gaining some confidence back into my running. Steve did quite a few sessions with me – was fantastic to have him there helping me out as well chatting to him and other knowledgeable ‘older’ athletes. My coach Nic was there too as well as Sonia O’Sullivan – their input throughout my career has been invaluable. They are helping out so many of our young athletes now…..I believe their skills and knowledge are really helping to take distance running from strength and strength in this country.

 

So I went to the World Cross trial a bit nervous but really excited to be out racing and competing for a spot in a very strong senior women’s’ team. My sister Caitlin was there at the trial as well as my brother in law, Jack. I loved having them there – we went out to my favourite café for brunch afterwards and had a lot of fun over the whole weekend. This win was my first for my new shoe company, Saucony. This change in companies was the ‘fresh’ start I felt I needed. Saucony have been wonderful to me and I absolutely love their shoes – you should try them out!

Plenty to look forward to! I may run a few of the Australian Domestic season GP’s in the lead up to World Cross. Right now I am back up at Falls Creek this month for some more hard training! And I can’t wait to get over to Poland and compete at the World Cross – not just for myself but as a member of a very strong senior womens’ team.



 Will keep you posted on what I’m up to after World Cross!