Happy Holidays: on rituals, by Larry Eder

Being an athlete is all about rituals. Warm ups, cooldowns, periodization. We forget that sometimes.

Giving oneself a break twice a year is just as important as the buildup and hard work. If your athletes have just finished cross country, give them two weeks off to unwind.

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During the last six years that I coached, Joe Mangan was my head coach at Foothill. Joe was great about understanding that he had about twelve weeks to get our cross country runners in shape for racing and about the same for our outdoor season.

A time for long runs, a time for fartlek, a time for core work, a time for everything.

During this time of rituals, remember to take a moment to slow down, and relish in the rituals of our lives.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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