Race Your Strengths! Vol. 4
(Vol 4: Rewind – this post is the latest in a long sequential story: Parts 1 through 3 chronicled my testing failures as an aspiring Olympic athlete in my first full time training camp in 1990 with the national speedskating team. As a reminder, here were the “tests” and my “grades.”)
Test #1 – Heavy Training: F – Failure (spent 24+ hours in bed unable to move)
Test #2 – Body Fat: F – Failure (2nd fattest of the team)
Test #3: - VO2 Max: F – Failure (absolute lowest of the team)
Test #4: - Max Squats: C – Average (average on the team)
Test #5: - Vertical Leap C+ - Average – (average on the team)
Test #6: - Max Power F/A+ - Failure (passed out, but had highest peak output)
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If I had entered the training camp at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs in the summer of 1990 a confident, self possessed young man, a potential “super-talent” –within the world of speedskating, I left it shattered and bitter.
Dreams had become darkness, clarity had become confusion, and worst of all my quiet confidence had become alternating volatile mix between the false bravado and contempt that, with a flush of embarrassment, I now recognize in those poor contestants who fail miserably on American Idol. Like them, at first I was contemptuous – I denied the results, I questioned the usefulness and accuracy of the tests, I doubted the data, I scathingly criticized the coaches – I scrutinized everything.
Eventually, though, the coaches got through to me and showed me the light – that the only way I was going to be successful was to adapt myself to the program and train my weaknesses. I had to be reasonable - if the tests were right, I either had very little talent – OR I had significant weaknesses/opportunities that needed to be shored up. This was the best half-full I could make of it: that I had weaknesses to be trained. I left the camp with a mission to out-train my weaknesses and show the coaches, athletes, and the world what I was capable of.
A reasonable man adapts himself to his environment. An unreasonable man persists in attempting to adapt his environment to suit himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
George Bernard Shaw
It ate at me, though, the doubts. How could it be, if the tests were true, that I had come so far in my results with such a weak physical resume? Honestly, my steadily improving results over the prior years were actually despite my luck rather than because of it – falls, DQ’s, living in California, and a host of other obstacles seemed to be my barrier rather than being out-skated – at least in the shorter events.
To the coaches and trainers of the national team, the answer was simple – my current level of preparations was inadequate: it was their job to polish this diamond in the rough into a real diamond. It was a logical conclusion – rather than wonder how I could have gotten so far without the genius and intensity of their regimen – I framed it in the positive and wondered how far I’d go with their help. The positive conclusion was that I had unique “latent” talents ready to be released. The actuality of the situation was a bit different…
Years later and it all suddenly comes into stark relief:
If you are already following the world’s best program, then anything else becomes a step back.
I kick myself now – how could we not have known? The facts were all there – the state, national, world, and Olympic champions to come out of the Wolverine Sports Club (WSC) in the 1970’s and 80’s under Clair Young and Mike Walden were everywhere. For a 20 year period from about 1965 – 1985 a ridiculous percentage of all the national championships medals that were won in the country – in all ages, by both men and women in cycling and speedskating, came out of a single cycling club based out of Detroit Michigan with a few hundred members and less than 100 racers. Take a look at some of these cycling results from 1972 – 1981 (all I can find). Virtually every name that has a state designation of MI for Michigan was trained by Walden.
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National Championship results, 10 years: 1972 – 1981, Road & Track
1972 - Road - Milwaukee, WI, Aug. 5-6
SENIOR WOMEN
1. Debbie Bradley, IA, 28mi in 1:19:10
2. Jeanne Omelenchuk, MI
3. Eileen Brennan, MI
1973 Track - Northbrook, IL, Aug. 1-4
SENIOR MEN 10 MILE -
1. Roger Young, MI
SENIOR MEN'S MATCH SPRINT : final for 1st and 2nd: Roger Young. Ml beat Jack Disney, CA, 2,0
SENIOR WOMEN MATCH SPRINT: final for 1st and 2nd: Sheila Young, Ml, beat Sue Novara, Ml, 2,0
MIDGET BOYS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Jeff Bradley, IA, 21
2. James Gesquiere, MI, 10
1974 Road - Pontiac, MI, July 27-28
JUNIOR MEN
1. David Mayer-Oakes, TX
2. Pat Nielsen, MI
3. Tom Schuler, MI
1974 Track - Northbrook, IL, July 31-Aug. 3
SENIOR WOMEN MATCH SPRINT - Final for 1st and 2nd: Sue Novara, MI, beat Sheila Young, MI, 2.0
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Connie Paraskevin, MI, 21
MIDGET BOYS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Kevin Johnson, MI, 14
2. Troy Stetina, IN, 8
MIDGET GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Jacque Bradley, IA, 21
2. Debbie Zbikowski, MI, 9
1975 Road - Louisville, KY, Aug. 14-15
SENIOR MEN
1. Wayne Stetina, IN, 114mi in 4:35:53.22
2. Dave Boll, CA
3. Tom Schuler, MI
1976 - Track - Northbrook, IL, Aug. 3-4
SENIOR WOMEN MATCH SPRINT- Final for 1st and 2nd: Sheila Young, MI, beat Sue Novara, MI, 2,1
JUNIOR WOMEN OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Jane Brennan, MI, 17
INTERMEDIATE BOYS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Jeff Bradley, LA, 17
2. James Gesquiere, MI, 15
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Connie Paraskevin, MI, 19
2. Nancy Merlo, MI, 12
MIDGET GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Kirstie Walz, NJ, 19
2. Susan Schaugg, MI, 15
3. Anne Obermeyer, MI, 8
4. Lisa Parkes, MI, 5
1977 - Road, Seattle, WA, July 26-Aug. 6
SENIOR WOMEN - 1. Connie Carpenter, WI, 38.24mi in 1:38:31
JUNIOR MEN
1. Greg LeMond, NV, 71.5mi in 3:10:40
2. Jeff Bradley IA
JUNIOR WOMEN
1. Beth Heiden, WI, 31.5mi in 1:24:28
MIDGET BOYS
1. Grant Foster, CA, 11.25mi in 31:27
2. Greg Foster, CA
3. Jimmy Georgler, CA
4. Glen Driver, CA
5. Frankie Andreu, MI
MIDGET GIRLS
1. Sue Schaugg, MI, 9mi in 27:50
2. Lisa Parkes , MI
3. Ann Marie Obermayer , MI
1977 – Track - Marymoor Velodrome, Redmond, WA, Aug. 2-6
JUNIOR WOMEN OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Connie Paraskevin, MI, 15
2. Dana Scruggs, IN, 10
3. Nancy Merlo, MI, 8
4. Rena Walls, MI, 7
5. Jane Brennan, MI, 7
MIDGET GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Susan Schaugg, MI, 14
2. Lisa Parks, MI, 12
1978 Road Milwaukee, WI, July 26-30
JUNIOR MEN
1. Jeff Bradley, IA. 7Omi in 2:50:48
2. Greg LeMond, NV
JUNIOR WOMEN
1. Sherry Nelsen, MO, 24mi in 1:03:51
2. Tracy McConachie, IL
3. Nancy Merlo, MI
4. Karen Schaugg, MI
5. Louise Olson, MI
VETERAN WOMEN
1. Jeanne Omelenchuck, MI 15mi in 40:26
MIDGET GIRLS
1. Elise Lobdell, IN
2. Tyra Goodman, MI
3. Beth Burger, PA
4. Karn Radford, CA
5. Celeste Andreu, MI
1978 – Track - Kenosha, WI, Aug. 1-5
SENIOR WOMEN MATCH SPRINT - final for 1st and 2nd: Sue Novara-Reber, MI, beat Jackie Disney, CA, 2,0
SENIOR WOMEN POINTS RACE
1. Mary Jane Reoch, PA
2. Cary Peterson, WA
3. Sue Novara-Reber, MI
JUNIOR MEN OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Eric Baltes, WI, 13 pts
2. James Gesquiere, MI, 12
3. Jeff Bradley, IA, 8
JUNIOR WOMEN OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Connie Paraskevin, MI, 17
2. Sherry Nelsen, MO, 15
3. Tracy McConachie, IL, 7
4. Nancy Merlo, MI, 6
5. Rena Walls, MI, 3
MIDGET GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Beth Burger, PA, 19
2. Elise Lobdell, IN, 11
3. Tyra Goodman, MI, 7
4. Karn Radford, CA, 7
5. Celeste Andreu, MI, 7
1979 - Road - Milwaukee, WI, Aug. 1-5
SENIOR WOMEN
1. Connie Carpenter, CA. 39.6mi in 1:44:16
2. Beth Heiden, WI
JUNIOR MEN
1. Greg LeMond, NV, 70.4mi in 2:55:08
VETERAN WOMEN
1. Jean Omelenchuk, MI, 15mi in 43:30
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS
1. Sarah Docter, WI, 15mi in 38:02
2. Sue Schaugg, MI
3. Abby Eldridge, CO
4. Lisa Parkes, MI
5. Laura Merlo, MI
MIDGET GIRLS
1. Celeste Andreu, MI, 9mi in 27:09
2. Elizabeth Keyser, CA
3. Melanie Parkes, MI
1979 – Track - Northbrook, IL, Aug. 7-12
SENIOR MEN POINTS RACE
1. Gus Pipenhagen, IL, 18 pts
2. Roger Young, MI, 18
SENIOR WOMEN MATCH SPRINT Final for 1st and 2nd: Sue Novara-Reber, MI, beat Jackie Disney, CA, 2,0
JUNIOR WOMEN OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Rebecca Twigg, WA, 16
2. Connie Paraskevin, MI, 13
JUNIOR MEN OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Mark Whitehead, CA, 15 pts
2. Jeff Bradley, IA, 13
3. Peter Kron, IL, 7
4. James Gesquiere, MI, 6
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Brenda Hetlet, WI, 17
2. Susan Schaugg, MI, 10
3. Laura Merlo, MI, 10
4. Lisa Parkes, MI, 7
MIDGET GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Susan Clayton, IA, 17
2. Jennifer Gesquiere, MI, 15
3. Celeste Andreu, MI, 13
4. Elizabeth Keyser, CA, 4
5. Melanie Parkes, MI, 3
1980 – Road - Bisbee, Az, Aug. 13-17
SENIOR WOMEN
1. Beth Heiden, WI, 35mi in 1:43:56
JUNIOR WOMEN
1. Sarah Docter, WI, 28mi in 1:25:58
2. Rebecca Twigg, WA
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS
1. Dedra Chamberlin, CA, l7mi in 57:52
2. Lisa Lobdell, IN
3. Mary Farnsworth, CA
4. Lisa Parkes, MI
5. Susan Schaugg, MI
MIDGET BOYS
1. John Chang, MI, 7mi in 24:29.54
2. Steve MacGregor, WI
3. Hector Jacome, CA
4. John Coyle, MI
5. Jamie Carney, NJ
MIDGET GIRLS
1. Celeste Andreu, MI, 7mi in 39:59
2. Lisa Andreu, MI
1980 – Track - San Diego, CA, Aug. 20-23
SENIOR WOMEN MATCH SPRINT -Final for 1st and 2nd: Sue Novara-Reber, MI, beat Pam Deem, PA, 2,0
INTERMEDIATE BOYS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Tim Volker, IA, 19
2. Brad Hetlet, WI, 11
3. Bobby Livingston, GA, 10
4. Joe Chang, WI, 4
5. Frankie Andreu, MI, 4
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Susan Schaugg, MI, 14
2. Dedra Chamberlin, CA, 9
3. Amy Saling, NJ, 7
4. Mary Krippendorf, WI, 7
5. Lisa Parkes, MI, 6
MIDGET BOYS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. John Coyle, MI, 19
2. Jamie Carney, NJ, 11
MIDGET GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Celeste Andrau, MI, 17
2. Jennie Gesquiere, MI, 15
1981 Bear Mountain, NY, Aug. 3-9
INTERMEDIATE BOYS
1. Gordon Holterman, VA, 33mi in 1:33:47
2. David Farmer, PA
3. Frankie Andreu, MI
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS
1. Elizabeth Keyser, CA, 23.4mi in 1:15:15
2. Bozena Zalewski, NJ
3. Celeste Andreu, MI
MIDGET GIRLS
1. Lisa Andreu, MI, 11.7mi in 38:17
2. Joella Harrison, AZ
3. Gina Novara, M
1981 Track - Trexlertown, PA, Aug. 11-16
SENIOR WOMEN MATCH SPRINT - Final for lat and 2nd: Sheila Young-Ochowicz, WI, beat Connie Paraskevin, MI, 2,0
Final for 3rd and 4th: Sue Navara-Reber, MI, beat Betsy Davis, NJ, 2,0
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Rene Duprel, WA, 19
2. Celeste Andreu, MI, 15
MIDGET GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Jenny Gesquiere, MI, 21
2. Gina Novara, MI, 15
3. Alicia Andreu, MI, 9
This list only represents cycling – note the rising tide of MI athletes on the national stage.
What is missing is the world and Olympic results for cycling and the same results for speedskating. Champions like Gold, Silver and Bronze Olympic medalist Sheila Young, World Champion Roger Young, World Champion and Olympic medalists Connie Paraskevan, World Champion Sue Novara, 9 Times Tour de France Rider and Olympic 4th place finisher Frankie Andreu – and on and on the list is a Who’s Who of American cyclists and speedskaters.
Is it possible that Detroit had cornered the market on talent for these sports for this period. No chance. So how can you possibly explain this absolutely statistically inconceivable rash of championship performances?
I believe that the answers to these questions are just now becoming fully known, and the data now available still point back to an obvious answer: Walden. More accurately, Walden, diligent practice, and Myelin.
In his most recent book, “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell posits that there is no such thing, really, as an outlier (a ‘supertalent’ that dominates the field through in-born talent alone.) Instead, his supposition is that those athletes, businessmen, academics and scientists that have come to dominate their milieu – like Tiger Woods, and Bill Gates – have done so through a combination of “enough” talent, and an incredible amount of opportunity to practice their skills. This research is further amplified by Geoff Colvin in the book “Talent is Overrated,” which builds on this idea and suggests that the superachievers in whatever field have only one thing in common: 10 years+ of diligent practice.
Another author, Daniel Coyle, in his great article, “Building the Super Athlete” argues a similar thesis, but even more compellingly based on the latest neuroscience, argues that practice of the basics creates a mystical substance around neurons called Myelin that builds over time – but only with mental focus (hence ‘diligent practice’)
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B04E1DC1E3EF937A35750C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
In the article, Coyle (no relation as far as I know) uses a case study from athletics: a tennis program in Russia that has produced an inordinate amount of champions. Replace Russia with Detroit, Sokolnik Park with the Dorais Velodrome, and and the Russian tennis coach Larisa Preobrazhenskaya with Mike Walden, and the case study is essentially identical – both programs produced an inordinate and statistically inpossible pool of talent for their requisite sports.
What both programs had in common was a coach with a singular focus on mastering the basics of each sport – the most mundane skill movements – and access to requisite time on the court/track for young athletes. As the first classes of these two programs graduated and entered the world ranks, the emerging athletes behind them had that much more to emulate, and confidence to boot. Here’s a quote from Coyle that could equally apply to the Wolverine Sports Club:
“So even here, at the core of one of the globe's brightest talent blooms, the question of that talent's source remains enigmatically tangled, perhaps as much of a mystery to those who nurture these athletes as it is to the rest of us. It's enough to make you wish for a set of X-ray glasses that could reveal how these invisible forces of culture, history, genes, practice, coaching and belief work together to form that elemental material we call talent -- to wish that science could come up with a way to see talent as a substance as tangible as muscle and bone, and whose inner workings we could someday attempt to understand.”
I had the privilege of talking with Daniel Coyle on Monday (I sent him an email and he kindly responded). I described to him the case-study of the Wolverine sports club. He let me know that he has a new book directly on this subject coming out in April called “The Talent Code.” He is sending me an advance copy – I can’t wait to read it.
I think, in this case, we CAN see how talent blooms – how diligent practice, combined with the right leader, combined with diligent parents, combined with some decent raw material created the Mecca of American cycling (also captured in film in Richard Noiret’s documentary – featurette here:
http://web.mac.com/rnoiret/iWeb/TheEndlessRoad/CATCH%20THE%20WIND%20Featurette.html
In summary and humility, I must conclude that I am an average athlete with a singular yet small talent, one that was coaxed into its absolute maximum by the fertile soil of the Detroit cycling scene: Dorais Velodrome and Walden, the Wyandotte ice rink and Affholter, and the Andreu’s/Carney’s/Young’s/Paraskevan’s of my childhood. To follow the model in the Gladwell book – I was a person with “enough talent” lucky enough to land in a singularly unique environment of opportunity, coaching, and deliberate practice.
But lets not forget the most important element – usually the most important for any child (and certainly for me.) Preceding my exposure to the Walden school and all the opportunities provided by the Wolverine Sports Club was a series of activities that, because they were done within the regular regimen of my family, had never seemed particularly unusual or exciting – to me. But, after reading the authors above, all is put into context.
When I was 8 years old, my father bought me a red, yellow and black Raleigh ten speed, and invited me to join him on local AYH rides and as I demonstrated some ability, he then invited me on some of the “century” rides that he had started doing himself on prior summers. These 100 mile rides were all-day slogs for adults, and even longer for an 8 year old – even on a red Raleigh. Sometimes we all went as a family – my mom and sister usually taking the 50 mile option. But, for some reason, despite my sprinter musculature, I decided to join my father on no less than 13 century rides that summer of 1977 at age 8. How many 8 year olds in the country rode that many miles that summer? The answer is probably “less than five, and possibly even ‘one.’” Imagine if I had the constitution of Lance Armstrong – how much better I would have been by the time I entered my early twenties…? If I was Mozart, I would have become Mozart.
Back to 1990:
My results of the 1990 speedskating season seemed, at first, to defy logic. To finish 10th in the world while training part time, living in California and studying like crazy must have seemed like the ultimate prize for the coaches of the national program. And, they, like me must have been confused by the results of the tests in Colorado. To their credit, they didn’t send me home and instead chose to view those results as a lack of consistent training.
But the reality was that I WAS well trained. The reality was that I probably had better preparation than everyone there – and had been ‘racing my strengths’ for more than a decade.
History paints a great portrait to learn from. For the next 2 years I followed the national team program and focused on ‘fixing my weaknesses.’ In 1990, while a senior at Stanford I was 10th in the world while training on my own in California. In 1991, training full time under the national team program I didn’t even make the team. In 1992 the team wasn’t even a dream and I finished further back than I had in 10 years and missed the Albertville Olympic team by 15 spots.
Perhaps I should have quit. I continued to test poorly on most of the clinical measures. But occasionally I would have days where everything clicked and I was capable of things no one expected – not even me. Ultimately it was irrational belief that kept me on course – and no one had more of that than my father. He never had doubts. His time with Walden and Clair and Affholter had led him to believe I had something special and despite the sometimes contrary evidence, he helped me keep my head in the game.
In 1993 I recovered from the intense training and made the world team. In 1994 I made the Olympic team and set a number of American records along the way. In 1995 I quit the team, trained on my own in the Walden way, and had the single greatest year as an athlete of my entire life, setting 7 American records (every American record but one.) How did that happen with a VO2 like mine in events lasting up to 7 minutes?
So, Ray Dybowski started me along this whole series of posts by asking, "what does it take to be come an Olympian?"
The answers remained elusive as the results for years and years, but now, 13 years later, they ring clear as a bell. The answers are, and were as follows: Walden, Myelin, diligent practice and the unwavering belief of a parent...
But more to come in Vol. 5..
1973 Road – Milwaukee, WI - July 28/29
SENIOR WOMEN
- Eileen Brennan, MI, 32mi in 1:23:06
- Carole Brennan, MI
- Pat Nielsen, MI, 4Omi in 1:31
1972 - Track - Kenosha, WI, Aug. 1-4
SENIOR MEN'S MATCH SPRINT
- Final for 1st and 2nd: Gary Campbell beat Hans Nuernberg, 2,1
- Final for 3rd and 4th: Roger Young, MI beat Steve Woznick, 2,1
SENIOR WOMEN 3,000 METER INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT
- Final for 1st and 2nd: Clara Teyssier, CA, heat Donna Tobias, NY
- Final for 3rd and 4th: Eileen Brennan, MI, heat Patti Stone, NY
SENIOR WOMEN MATCH SPRINT
- Final for 1st and 2nd: Sue Novara, MI, heat Eileen Brennan, MI, 2,0
- Final for 3rd and 4th: Susan Gurney, MI, heat Clara Teyssier, CA, 2,1
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
- Carole Brennan, MI, 19
- Jackie Disney, CA, 17
- Pamela Gesquiere, MI, 8
- Debbie Packer, CA, 6
- Jane Brennan, MI, 4
MIDGET GIRLS OMNIUM OVERALL STANDINGS
- Jody Wallner, MI, 21
- Stella Bastianelli, 13
- Rene Walls, 10
- Connie Paraskevin, MI
- Debbie Hamilton, MI, 3