Bobby McGee - World Class Running Coach - 5 x Olympic Coach

 

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"The Greg Bennett Show"

 

Bobby McGee is one of the worlds greatest running coaches and has been involved in endurance coaching for 32 years. He is a 5 x Olympic coach, and has been involved in some form with 9 Olympic medalists.

Bobby has spent many years coaching elite athletes and individual amateurs of all levels, guiding them to achieve their goals.

Bobby says, there are three very important aspects of endurance training;

1. Firstly, address your running mechanics. Teach yourself to run effectively and to avoid injuries in order to race at your optimum level.
2. Secondly, look at how you train. What is it about your training that’s holding you back? Is there a way that you can train better?
3. Lastly, address the mental blocks that hold you back. How can you unleash the power of your mind to get you to race effectively?

In this episode, Bobby and Greg discuss The Pendola Project. Here is a link to more information where you can even sign up to one of thee 12 week RunForm. Whether you are training for an Olympic Gold or a local 5k you can run happier and faster. The Relative Run Readiness packages will give you the strength and proper movement patterns to run with good form for longer.

 

Timestamps

1:53 - Interview starts

5:05 - About Bobby McGee. Bobby was born in South Africa and went to University basically to study to become a coach, He started by coaching middle and long distance track runners and went on to coach road runners and marathoners. Bobby moved to Boulder in the US in 1992 , and started coaching triathletes.

8:23 - Bobby currently coaches Victoria Lopez, Taylor Knibb, Flora Duffy, Kirsten Kasper along with other pro and amatuer athletes.

10:21 - When coaching elite triathletes, it's important to consider the athletes biomechanics. For instance long distance swimmers often have low bone density and therefore do not perform as strong runners due to the rigors of long distance running, so as a coach it's important to understand and set training expectations specifically for each individual.

Bobby's book: Magical Running - A Unique path to running fulfillment

15:59 - Bobby's fascination of the bio mechanics of running came about as he could see a connection between certain running motion patterns and the tendency of getting injured.

I use to say: I don’t teach people how to run, I help people get back to the best running that they are capable of.

Good running form looks very differently depending on the individual’s genetics, one has to have a very different approach to someone with for instance long torso and short legs compared to someone with a more natural body composition for running. Also, factors like running background (has the athlete practiced plenty of speed work or come from an endurance background?) matters in how Bobby approaches individuals running technique.

20:06 - Rewinding the clock. Bobby describes his youth and pathway through younger years to discover his passion for running, and then coaching, including serving time in the South African Military.

37:54 - Shifting to mindset and performance, Bobby describes the advice he would give an athlete struggling with confidence. Being aware and knowing how your thoughts affect you is crucial in order to perform. Bobby feels that there is no right or wrong way to prepare mentally for competition, some people are super calm before races and perform well and others are extremely nervous and also perform well. Many age groupers (especially males) tend to overestimate their performance and hence set themselves up for failure by not being able to rise to their expectations. Don't doubt yourself, "The only thing you should doubt, is the doubt".

The only thing you should doubt, is the doubt.

41:53 - When it comes to an athlete feeling failure, Bobby explains his techniques that he applies to his athletes. Bobby's golden rule - There is what happened ... then there is 'what are you making it mean to you'. Meaning and interpretation affect an athlete's mindset.

48:23 - Different type of run drills are great in order to achieve a change in running style. The purpose of drills are basically to exaggerate a specific movement. Drills play three different roles: First, you’re trying to address a mechanical anomaly that the athlete has gotten into, the second reason is to do it as an activation exercise and the last role is for muscle endurance or power purposes. One also needs to make sure that the athlete has the strength, mobility and balance to run in a specific way. When approaching your running technique, one must be rather careful, this is an area where the wrong tips can get the opposite effect on your performance. 57:27 - First two laws of mechanics. The first rule is to never trust what you feel, you think you run a certain way but when you look into the mirror it rarely looks like what you first thought. The second rule is that if you want to achieve a change, you need to exaggerate the movement (this is also very applicable to swimming).

1:04:26 - The Run Transformation Course is a membership-based training program put together by Bobby McGee and is available at his website. Members have access to Bobby McGee’s proven training strategies and a wealth of other resources. The program currently provides nearly 10 hours of running training including over four hours of video on running drills, two and one half hours of video on biomechanics, a 75 minute mental skills assessment and two hours of running sports essentials material.

1:06:16 - Interview concludes.