Speed, Books, Music, Running, Beer, Politics, and Family – Good Bye 2018

2018 was a breakthrough year for track and field at Plainfield North.

♦  We won our conference behind 15 all-conference athletes.
♦  Our 4×1 was undefeated for the entire season.
♦  We set school records in all four sprint events (100, 200, 4×1, and 4×2).
♦  We swept the sprints at the IHSA State Meet and set two state records.
♦  We won a 3rd place trophy, getting outscored by two amazing teams, Neuqua Valley and Homewood Flossmoor.

No matter how upset, agitated, or depressed, I know I’m only 41.29 seconds from feeling much better. This video is precious.

When I came to Plainfield North in 2006, no one called Plainfield “Track Town”. In matter of fact, in the 114 year history of IHSA Track & Field (1893-2006), only 12 Plainfield boys had ever won a state medal. Do the math, that’s like one medalist every nine years. Since 2006, 63 guys from Plainfield have won medals. 28 of those guys wore the uniform of Plainfield North. #TrackTown

My program has always valued our youngest athletes. Fresh-soph performances often get lost in the big picture. Not at North.

Check out the historical progression of our fresh-soph 4×1 teams.

It’s important to note that I did not coach the 46.74 team in 2006 (Plainfield North had no varsity program in 2005-06). I was still in Tennessee. It’s also important to note that I took those kids the next year and qualified for state running 42.74. I’m proud of the computer-generated trend line. Our average best fresh-soph 4×1 time in my 12-years at Plainfield North is 44.57.

When you focus on speed, good things happen. The graph below shows the 12-year history of Plainfield North varsity track.

The average best time of our 12-year history is 42.30. The average best over the last five years, 41.79, best in Illinois.

For those of you who think that focusing on the 4×1 somehow neglects the 4×4, we’ve had 20 different guys go sub-51 in 4×4 splits over our 12 years. If we put our best four in the 4×4 next year, we would have good chance of winning it. We return Marcellus Moore (48.41 in the open-400 as a sophomore), Anthony Capezio (50.89 in open-400 as a junior), Mitchell Pearson (50.4 in 4×4 as a sophomore), and Canyon Bownes (51.9 in 4×4 as a junior). *Feed the Cats* might be a 4×1-focused program, but speed is pretty damn important in the 4×4, too.

Yesterday, a cross country coach from Georgia argued on Twitter that the 400 is 45% aerobic and therefore 400 training should be 45% aerobic. He cited Clyde Hart (of course) and USATF charts showing percentages of energy demands. I had to gracefully exit the conversation. Speed wins. Sprinting is neurological. Strategic lactate workouts allow sprinters to sprint farther.

Books

I think 2018 was my worst reading year of my last 25. I’m embarrassed.

♦  Chop Wood Carry Water, by Josh Medcalf
♦  The Motivation Myth, by Jeff Haden
♦  The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, by Mark Manson
♦  Go Wild: Free Your Body and Mind from the Afflictions of Civilization, by John Ratey and Richard Manning
♦  A Column of Fire, by Ken Follett
♦  Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography, by Jimmy McDonough (recommended by Crete coach, Brian O’Donnell)

I typically read 20-30 books per year.

“A Column of Fire” was my 15th book by Ken Follett. I consider Follett’s “Pillars of the Earth” the best novel I’ve ever read (I also loved “Eye of the Needle”, “The Key to Rebecca”, and “The Man from St. Petersburg”). “A Column of Fire” was well worth its 928 pages. Religious civil wars in the the 16th century were pretty interesting.

“The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” might have been the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read.

I hope to get back to reading more in 2019. I just started “Factfulness” by Hans Rosling. In cue, I have “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, and “3D Coach” by Jeff Duke.

Today I received five book recommendations from Mark Manson, “5 Books that Explain Why it Seems the World is So F*cked”. I hope to read them all.

♦  Democracy for Realists, by Christopher Achens and Larry Bartels
♦  The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt
♦  Who Owns the Future, by Jaron Lanier
♦  The Death of Expertise, by Tom Nichols
♦  Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam

Music

Best album of 2018: “Live From the Ryman: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit”.  I like it better every time I hear it.

Best song referred to me by a friend (Sandburg’s Tom Novak): “Weddings and Wars” by Will Varley

Music I can’t get enough of:

♦  Drive-By Truckers
♦  Turnpike Troubadours
♦  Neil Young

Favorite cover band: Tributasaurus.

Running

I’m closing out 2018 running two or more miles for 204 consecutive days. I’m proud.

However, I’ve gained seven pounds.

My theory: I get up at 5:15 so I can get out-the-door by 6:00 (our school day starts at 7:05). Six hours of sleep will make you fat.

In spite of the fact that running every day is making me fat, I plan on continuing my streak. Running makes me feel twenty years younger for a couple hours. After running, my brain thinks twice fast and twice as clear. In addition, my mood is greatly enhanced by running (Disclaimer: my mood is not enhanced during the run, that part sucks).

Politics

I’m really going to work at reading more and watching less MSNBC. But damn, it’s so addicting.

I’ve followed politics since I was age-15. In the summer of 1974, I couldn’t pull myself away from the Watergate Hearings. I’ve been a political junkie ever since.

I watch more MSNBC than anyone I know (I can’t stand the debate format of CNN).

We are in the midst of the greatest scandal(s) in the history of our republic. If this was a novel, it would be a best-seller. We are closing in on the final chapter.

I don’t know what I’ll do when the Presidential campaigns kick off in January. I’m a Bernie Sanders guy (If you can’t understand why someone would self-identify as a democratic socialist, read The Nordic Theory of Everything). However, Beto O’Rourke might be a once-in-a-lifetime candidate. I hope the corporate democrats don’t prevail. I can’t imagine Joe Biden as President. I can live with Bernie or Beto.

Beer

I don’t know where or how I evolved into an IPA drinker.

I’ve long-forgotten Miller Lite.

The malty flavor of Newcastle, Bass, and Smithwicks no longer interests me.

Here’s my top six in no certain order:

♦  Antihero by Revolution (IPA)
♦  Snaggletooth Bandana by Solemn Oath (IPA)
♦  Infinite Galaxy by Pipeworks (IPA)
♦  Gumballhead by 3 Floyds (hoppy wheat beer)
♦  Fresh Squeezed by Deschutes (IPA)
♦  Daisy Cutter by Half Acre (APA)

Video Sales

Championship Productions asked me to do a *Feed the Cats* video/dvd for them. I put over twenty hours of work into the project.

As a basketball coach in the 1980s I bought every Don Meyer video tape sold by Championship Productions. I think I bought twenty of them. When I transitioned to being a track coach in the 1990s, I bought countless track videos from the same company. I never dreamed that I’d have a video being sold right next to Clyde Hart.

The video includes 90 minutes of presentation. At clinics, you only get around 55 minutes for a presentation, so I appreciated getting the time to fully explain my program. The best part of the video is the final 45 minutes (the total length of the video is 135 minutes). Nolan Anderson, Brendan Hanneman, Kyle Burke, Jordan Gumila, and Michael Papper did a great job with demonstrations.

I get lots of emails from coaches who are trying to promote Feed the Cats to old-school coaches on their staff. “How do I convince my jumps coach that 10x 200 doesn’t improve jumping?” Believe it or not, I’ve received this same exact question twice!

Sprint as fast as possible, as often as possible, staying as fresh as possible.

Family

Coaches are some of the most unbalanced people I know. Their competetive spirit burns hot. We were all brought up in the same religion of outworking our competition. Work hard and all dreams will come true.

However, coaching success becomes emptiness without human connection. I preach this in my presentations, but I also preach it to myself. I’ve made all the mistakes.

This picture was taken December 23 at Prentice Women’s Hospital, downtown Chicago. My daughter, Adrienne Conley, had been in the hospital for eleven days. On December 26, McKenna James Conley was born. Both mother and baby are doing great. Adrienne, Rob, and McKenna went home on December 29.

I love this picture. The time, effort, pain, and work that went into this moment is only known by the people in the picture. I posted it on Twitter. Alec laughed at me for putting a family picture on my track account. I told him that we should share positive family messages with athletes and coaches.

2019

I’m done teaching in five months. 38 years went fast.

I will turn 60 this year. My kids will turn 35, 33, 29, and 26.

In 2019, Kendrick will celebrate his third birthday, Axel his second, and McKenna her first.

My 4×1 will run fast.

I will read lots of books.

I will watch less MSNBC, but will enjoy Trump’s final chapter.

I will run every day, unless I can’t.

I will only drink good beer.

I will sleep more.

I will enjoy the ride.

Tony Holler
@pntrack
tony.holler@yahoo.com

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