Melbourne athletic development Blog

As some of you may know I am currently in Europe with a group of athletes as they compete in a series of track events across Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. And I find that whilst it may seem glamorous to be doing such travel, the constant shifting of cities,...

In a weird way I tend to think about how to create exceptional performance and excellence an extended amount. And initially I thought it was related to the coaching that I do in track and field. But as time goes on I have come to recognise that there is something much...

In our team meeting last week we discussed a case of patella tendon pain that was being stubborn to the conventional approach to tendon management. But before you say it out loud, what is conventional management of tendon pain? And I guess that is what got us talking...

Whilst walking a few days ago I arrived at the bottom of a hill and decided that I wanted to run up it. I'm not sure why I decided to run, but I suddenly felt an urge to break into stride. So I pushed myself step by step to the top of the hill. At the top, moderately...

Waking up this morning was a little dreary. Even as I write this I am still rubbing my eyes as I try to get them to stop stinging. To say that yesterday was eventful, would be putting it lightly. But as Hunter S Thompson said, ‘Buy the ticket, take the ride’.  In...

How did it go yesterday?  This will sound dumb, but I am probably one of the worst people to ask that question. I don't say this to be obtuse, but in a performance setting there are often outcomes that occur that fit into two categories that you cannot become overly...

Coach Reflections Day 1 (Version 2) It was a false start. At least in a metaphorical sense. With the 2023 National track championships kicking off the first event that our team was to be involved in came and went without a result. It is typical for rounds to be...

I get asked by younger clinicians and coaches very often about programming, particularly structuring of a weekly or similar length microcycle. For the uninitiated a microcycle is a cluster of training sessions or intervention units that are placed into a period...

Structuring any intervention requires balancing a number of competing interests. We spoke in our last article about the idea that periodisation is essentially lining up our stress units to match the needs of the individual/s and the activity that that they are taking...

Periodisation can often appear complicated. For the uninitiated periodisation is the organization of training or an intervention to achieve a particular performance or characteristic within a given time frame. This makes sense for example when we plan out a return to...