Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #27: Harry Marra (p.3)-Story Time! The Eatons, world records and Olympic medals

Transcript

#27: Harry Marra (p.3)-Story Time! The Eatons, world records and Olympic medals · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey gang, welcome to the Gila thetax connections podcast, the
• 0:03
  show that brings you the men and women of track and field and
• 0:06
  explores their unique stories. This show is brought to you by
• 0:09
  Gail off latex, head on over to Gila, fedex.com to find all your
• 0:13
  track and field equipment needs. I'm your host, Mike Cunningham,
• 0:16
  national sales manager for golf buttocks.
• 0:18
  And this week is the culmination of our three-part series with
• 0:23
  the legend Harry Mara. When I first kick this idea to
• 0:27
  Harry, I never even legend that it could have gone as well as it
• 0:31
  did. I found myself at the end of
• 0:35
  today's episode getting emotional with Harry, just again
• 0:38
  here. And it from the quote-unquote,
• 0:40
  horse's mouth, this great history of our Sport and then
• 0:43
  specifically this event of the decathlon.
• 0:46
  In today's episode part 3, we pick up where part one left off
• 0:51
  and we really get into this magical time of Harry coaching
• 0:55
  Ashton Eaton and his wife, Brianne Tyson eaten really
• 1:00
  special, we talk about Olympics and World Records.
• 1:03
  This is a true story time as you can imagine and you're really
• 1:08
  going to enjoy this one, you can see it's a long podcast.
• 1:11
  I didn't want it to end to be real honest with you, real
• 1:14
  special for me. So, without further Ado, let's
• 1:17
  get started. Please help me once again for
• 1:19
  part 3. Please help me.
• 1:21
  Welcome the wise, the wonderful Harry mirror.
• 1:33
  All right, Harry. Hey Mike, how are you?
• 1:37
  Oh, you know, it's another day in Wonderland here.
• 1:43
  Yeah, same, thanks, that's it baby.
• 1:46
  Thanks for joining us. Once again, this has been a
• 1:49
  phenomenal Journey. Personally, this is just been
• 1:53
  this is a honestly it is a real highlight for me being able to
• 1:56
  get to not only talk with you here.
• 1:58
  But really in depth, you know, I Get to talk in Meet coaches
• 2:03
  around the world, phenomenal, phenomenal people, but it's rare
• 2:07
  when we get to really go deep. So this has been phenomenal for
• 2:11
  me. If you're just joining us, this
• 2:14
  is a third episode of a three part series.
• 2:17
  We've done here with Coach Harry, Mara part, 1, episode 25,
• 2:21
  we talked about, we went through coaches career, how he got into
• 2:26
  track and field which is fascinating, the Boy Scout story
• 2:29
  will always be seared in my memory.
• 2:31
  I That visual that you gave us their hear you and how you
• 2:34
  started pole, vaulting, and we went through his career and we
• 2:38
  stopped right as organ. Got into the pictures part. 2,
• 2:43
  we picked up coach's philosophy on how to develop the art of
• 2:48
  coaching, the four elements that you need.
• 2:51
  I'm not going to spoil it. I'm just going to tell you PK T.
• 2:55
  See you need to go listen to episode 26 part 2 of the three
• 3:00
  part series to know. No more and trust me, you do not
• 3:04
  want to miss it. And now in part 3 and the
• 3:07
  culmination of our series here, we're going to pick up where
• 3:10
  part one left off. This is going to be a lot of
• 3:14
  fun. We're going to talk about a real
• 3:16
  magical time, not only in track and field, but in the decathlon
• 3:20
  in coaches, career Brie and Ashton's create, this is just a
• 3:25
  phenomenal time for track and field and we're just so lucky to
• 3:28
  be able to hear kind of straight from the horse's mouth.
• 3:31
  So Harry, let's start with when we left off.
• 3:35
  Part one of the career of your career.
• 3:38
  We stopped when organ came into the scene.
• 3:41
  So how did you get to Oregon to coach Brie?
• 3:45
  And Ash. Good question, I was living at
• 3:49
  the time. We had moved from the Bay Area
• 3:51
  down to San Luis, Obispo Atascadero right outside of
• 3:54
  Saint Louis and 49 years there I was running an after-school
• 3:59
  physical fitness program for at-risk kids.
• 4:01
  And coaching Chris boils, and Paul terek, both decathletes on
• 4:08
  the side part time. So it kind of wasn't officially
• 4:12
  but kind of semi retired from coaching, you know, just
• 4:14
  coaching a couple kids and having fun.
• 4:17
  And I got a phone call, I guess it was very early October of
• 4:24
  that year. 2009 and vanilla Nana, the head coach, should
• 4:28
  record track at University of Oregon who I knew, you know,
• 4:31
  from Years years ago, at Dartmouth when he was at
• 4:33
  Dartmouth. And then Stanford when I was at
• 4:36
  San Francisco State said, hey, Dan stele just decided to take
• 4:40
  the head job at University of Iowa.
• 4:43
  Northern Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and we need a
• 4:46
  coach, would you be interested? And it's just kind of, you know,
• 4:53
  threw me into a tizzy. I said holy cow, so I couldn't
• 4:57
  give an answer at the time. I said, she, I don't know, I'm
• 4:59
  living down here. I kind of like it.
• 5:01
  Having fun or do I want to get to that pressure cooker again
• 5:04
  and I gave him some advice as you know what to think about?
• 5:08
  He was really up to his ears at that point.
• 5:11
  He was they were trying to figure out building a new Indoor
• 5:16
  Stadium and you know, recruiting and all that stuff.
• 5:20
  So he says, I'll get back in a week or two so I left it alone
• 5:24
  at the end of the month, a month later.
• 5:26
  I figured they hired somebody and I knew, you know, They would
• 5:32
  be well underway and he called again said, I want you to take
• 5:37
  the job said, holy cow. I said, well, you know, we
• 5:40
  chatted a little bit. I said, well, when would you
• 5:42
  want me to start egos? You know Vinland?
• 5:44
  That I said tomorrow said holy cow tomorrow.
• 5:49
  I said, all right, so I packed my car.
• 5:52
  My wife was down at the food pantry helping the homeless,
• 5:56
  people stacking, the shelves, and so on, they came once a week
• 5:59
  for their supplies and I packed my Miata.
• 6:03
  You know it was nice and warm and Southern California then and
• 6:06
  put the top down jammed all my clothes and stuff it drove down.
• 6:10
  She saw the cars just where you going.
• 6:13
  I said I'm going to Oregon because what for I said I think
• 6:16
  I got a job and never came home. Let me ask you Harry, you
• 6:21
  obviously, we're still involved, you know, you said your
• 6:23
  semi-retired, were you keeping up with Ashton at this point?
• 6:28
  Like, did you know what kind of talent he was at this point in
• 6:31
  his career? I did, I saw Ashton Eaton for
• 6:34
  the very first time when I was coaching Paul terek, I'm going
• 6:38
  to say it was the spring of 2007 down at the University of
• 6:42
  Arizona. He might have been a freshman.
• 6:45
  Ashton was and he was in the meeting.
• 6:49
  Paul was The Council on me and then steal came up to me and Dan
• 6:54
  and I, you know, a really good friends for so many years.
• 6:56
  As I said he was at the Catholic with the VISA team.
• 6:59
  During good to Kathleen. Very good coach.
• 7:01
  So he came up to me and said, hey, Harry, have you been
• 7:06
  watching this kid eating I said, you know what, then I really
• 7:09
  haven't. I was so I'm so focused when I'm
• 7:11
  coaching on who I'm coaching yet they and that was Paul.
• 7:15
  And just at that moment, when he said that to me, Ashley it was
• 7:18
  in. I'm up for the pole.
• 7:20
  Vault action comes running down the runway and the far side of
• 7:23
  the track warming up puts the pole in.
• 7:25
  It does a front somersault over the bar like his early style
• 7:29
  what and I just looked at steel and said steel you got some work
• 7:33
  to do anyway. The earlier and 2008 and then it
• 7:52
  came around. So he said, let's go up to
• 7:54
  Eugene. I'm qualified as to the
• 7:55
  Nationals. So during the pole vault in
• 7:59
  Eugene in a national championships which were the
• 8:02
  trials for the world championship teams to Berlin
• 8:05
  that year, this young kid actually, I think he might have
• 8:09
  been a junior in college at the time is in the pole vault and
• 8:13
  Terex a good Poulter and Ash was jumping.
• 8:15
  Well I think they both jumped five meters and they were going
• 8:19
  five. 10 and I want stash and come running down the runway.
• 8:22
  I never paid attention to it. Much until that point, he came
• 8:26
  running down the runway. I want to tempt took off at 15
• 8:30
  feet, 15 feet out and I think he missed that the bar, but he came
• 8:36
  over to steal. And I was sitting right next to
• 8:39
  Dan and I can't remember what the yes, Dan's advice for the
• 8:42
  next job and then gave him advice and he went on made it.
• 8:46
  But the point what I really saw was this one here Talented
• 8:50
  taking off at 15 feet and carrying it right through.
• 8:54
  But his focus, when Dan was talking to him at that point, he
• 8:59
  it was a high-pressure situation.
• 9:00
  He ended up being the third guy, I think on the team, so he made
• 9:03
  the team but a high person situation that calmness and
• 9:07
  collected. This of Ashley needs at that
• 9:10
  point. I said, oh, this guy is going to
• 9:14
  be good. Physically, he's got talents,
• 9:16
  but the mental said is there so that was really my first
• 9:19
  introduction. She had you, and we're going to
• 9:21
  skip around here. Probably a little bit.
• 9:23
  Had you seen that type of mental focus with other athletes?
• 9:28
  That you'd work. We were Caitlyn Jenner.
• 9:30
  Had that bill Toomey hand, that Dan O'Brien had that Bryan, clay
• 9:35
  had that all and milk Campbell had that all of the, you know,
• 9:39
  and they were all part of our Visa, decathlon program,
• 9:42
  etcetera, Etc. And yeah, so did I think
• 9:47
  actually it was going to be the Olympic and at that moment, no,
• 9:50
  that's not even on the radar. But the see that presence in
• 9:54
  knowing what the decathlon heptathlon is, it's, it's really
• 9:59
  once you figure out the events, it's 90% mental, and 10%
• 10:02
  physical. Once you figure everything I saw
• 10:04
  that and I said, oh, this guy could be really good.
• 10:08
  That's interesting. Yeah, that combination of the
• 10:10
  mental and the physical. And then there's a third part of
• 10:13
  that, which you mentioned in one of the podcast before, little
• 10:16
  bit of that luck Factor things have to come together.
• 10:18
  Injury-free and things like that.
• 10:20
  So yeah, that's interesting. So you had told me, tell us the
• 10:25
  story here. So you were interviewed by
• 10:29
  Ashton for the job. Yeah.
• 10:32
  When yeah, I want you to start the next day so I drove up and I
• 10:37
  think I drove to the Bay Area. That flew up and left my car in
• 10:40
  the Bay Area at my daughter's. And when I arrived there, Lance
• 10:47
  the you'll pick me up at the airport.
• 10:48
  I knew Lance from the Winnipeg Pan Am games in 99 so we were
• 10:54
  chatting and he said, you know I'm excited, you're going to be
• 10:57
  here and so on and it was a nice friendship renewal friendship
• 11:01
  and so on. So when I met with vin earlier
• 11:04
  or later that day said, you're going to have to interview with
• 11:06
  Ash and brief. He said Part of the deal.
• 11:09
  I said, fine, and the information, what I got out of
• 11:15
  that particular interview it was at 3:00 in the afternoon and the
• 11:20
  Bowerman building right on the second floor.
• 11:23
  Right. Overlooking, detract Bowerman
• 11:25
  turn the coming off the turn into the home stretch and I'll
• 11:29
  never forget. It was in, this is not, you
• 11:34
  know, some made-up story I knew. Within four or five minutes of
• 11:40
  that interview, what their goals were, I knew their focus, their
• 11:46
  attention, their desire, not to just be this level but to be
• 11:51
  that level higher and higher and higher and what kept going
• 11:55
  through my mind. I can't even remember some of
• 11:57
  the questions that they asked, but they were probably pretty
• 11:59
  good ones. I can remember one thinking
• 12:03
  Harry, if you take this, this is going to be intense because
• 12:07
  these two kids Kids are intense, I could tell that just like
• 12:12
  watching a, she listened to Dan that the pull bolt that summer
• 12:15
  before. I could tell that both action
• 12:17
  free wanted this to go to the next level and they wanted a
• 12:21
  coach that can help them do that.
• 12:23
  And that also they were willing to do on their part.
• 12:28
  What they had to do to take it to the next level and they did
• 12:31
  and they did. So you obviously get the job
• 12:36
  spoiler alert, if anybody didn't know that and we had a great
• 12:40
  example of the indoor season and the trust that had to come from
• 12:44
  that. And again that's there's your
• 12:46
  big hint that you need to go back and listen to part two if
• 12:49
  you want to know the entirety of this of the story here.
• 12:54
  So the 2010 is Ashton's senior year.
• 12:59
  And what years is breathe the same year?
• 13:02
  She you're busy, you're behind Senior in 2010.
• 13:11
  And so you're going through this senior year for Ashton and
• 13:15
  junior year for Bree. How does that first year ago?
• 13:18
  We know how indoor went from from last episode.
• 13:20
  How did outdoor season go? Well, the whole year went?
• 13:24
  Well the whole year was a learning experience.
• 13:26
  Obviously we were both you know, both parties action Brie and
• 13:30
  then myself getting to know each other real well.
• 13:32
  And it happened pretty quickly. But, you know, that's, it's
• 13:36
  still, it's the first year and so on, and I can remember, I
• 13:41
  think it was Curtis Anderson who writes for the road.
• 13:46
  It's time for the Register Guard saying, you know, how are you.
• 13:49
  This is really a no-win situation for you.
• 13:52
  Ashton Bree one, the Potala heptathlon decathlon last year
• 13:55
  at the ncaa's. So, if they repeat its what
• 13:59
  happened before and if they screw up, its your fault, right?
• 14:04
  I said yeah you can look at it that way, I said, but I think
• 14:07
  their desire to go. I mean to repeat obviously just
• 14:11
  try to win again, prove their performances so it's mine.
• 14:16
  I said that's my goal. That's my charge is to teach
• 14:20
  them to the long jump farther than they did.
• 14:23
  The sort of shot father. They did and so on and so forth.
• 14:26
  He had to fend and so on and they did they both dependent
• 14:30
  indoors and Outdoors and did a great job.
• 14:34
  So Ashton wins the decathlon at the outdoor championships.
• 14:39
  Doesn't set the Collegiate record I believe but did set
• 14:42
  these 15 or 18 years or so on.
• 15:01
  Again speaks to that. Everything has to come together
• 15:03
  at the right time. The right moment, that's
• 15:06
  amazing. So he's obviously, you know,
• 15:09
  he's made some teams at this point.
• 15:10
  He's won a couple of national titles.
• 15:12
  He seen as the next American possibility for Metals, at World
• 15:18
  Champs and Olympics. So he goes on to start his
• 15:23
  professional career. Did you you continue to coaching
• 15:26
  them? Where you at Oregon.
• 15:27
  I was in Oregon officious when he went to An official capacity
• 15:30
  as assistant coach multi events high jump.
• 15:34
  And I sister Jenny Ashcroft in the pole vault that that year I
• 15:37
  was there. And then at the end of that
• 15:40
  year, I went to Vince said, look at, you know, college coaching
• 15:46
  is good, it's fun, but it's not what I want to do.
• 15:49
  And I said you've seen the end of the talent of Ashton and now
• 15:53
  Brianne was starting to come into her own.
• 15:55
  I said you seen the talent of this.
• 15:57
  I said, trust me and Understand that.
• 16:00
  I understand I know what's going on in the multi vents, these
• 16:03
  kids need real good attention, close attention all the way
• 16:07
  through. So that little things don't
• 16:09
  happen because both could be Podium.
• 16:12
  I ever said metal gold medal or anything like that.
• 16:14
  You said, most could be Podium people on Olympic teams and
• 16:18
  World teams and so on. And he said, well what do you
• 16:20
  want to do? I said, put me over to Oregon
• 16:23
  track lovingly. So he did, he did it was at the
• 16:28
  end of Ashes, senior year. Are you senior year?
• 16:32
  Okay. I think they were but they were
• 16:44
  for sure boyfriend girlfriend at the time.
• 16:47
  And as I said, it's very important that you continue to
• 16:52
  coach Brianne. So I coached Brianne her senior
• 16:57
  year as a volunteer assistant, unpaid volunteer, assistant at
• 17:00
  the University of Oregon and then continue to coach her in
• 17:04
  OTC Ely Lead when she graduated. So it worked out really well.
• 17:09
  And Big Year in 2011. So now we're going into ashes
• 17:13
  first year as a professional and Bree senior year, 2011 indoors
• 17:19
  Bree sets, the NCAA record for the pentathlon beats.
• 17:23
  One of the most phenomenal athletes I've seen in my life.
• 17:25
  Jacqueline Johnson's record from Arizona State.
• 17:28
  That's I thought that record would never be touched.
• 17:30
  Be honest with you. So, 2011, is also World.
• 17:34
  Champs in South Korea, how was preparations Stations are high
• 17:40
  now with Ashton, how did that, you know.
• 17:42
  Well, well, well Brianne, one the pentathlon and doors, as you
• 17:51
  alluded to, she broke the record right in the ncaa's.
• 17:54
  And then in the outdoors, I think that is when she was
• 18:00
  injured and I can't remember, to be honest with you, I think she
• 18:05
  was injured that year so didn't participate in the outdoors and
• 18:08
  she Children for the next year and Oregon.
• 18:11
  And so that's why he wasn't involved in Daegu with the world
• 18:15
  championship. She didn't represent Canada, are
• 18:18
  she needed to rest and recover? She had injured.
• 18:21
  Fassett actually was a minor thing in the back but it was
• 18:23
  just excruciating pain. So accident, I prepare it was
• 18:30
  going to be his chance to go head-to-head with top people and
• 18:36
  they were organ that your the US ATF championships and he wins it
• 18:40
  with a score. The big PR score think is pretty
• 18:43
  always. 84 something in college and he went 87.
• 18:46
  Something at this funny story. I'm over after the meet so over
• 18:52
  and the media and all that stuff.
• 18:55
  And I was sitting in a little Hospitality area with a box of
• 18:59
  popcorn then Lana came over to me says that that's how you
• 19:03
  celebrated national championships.
• 19:05
  I said yeah it's pretty good. Pop one man.
• 19:10
  Was that the hospitality area that they set up over on?
• 19:14
  That's it tastes side. I know exactly where you're at.
• 19:18
  Popcorn tastes pretty good that day.
• 19:20
  Let me tell you, I bet it did. I was best popcorn ever go
• 19:25
  anyway, we go up, we go off today and a couple things
• 19:31
  happened brie is they said was resting.
• 19:33
  Yes I'm sure she was just doing General physical therapy and
• 19:36
  what have you? So was just asked to deny that
• 19:38
  some Marin couple things happen, one, there's great.
• 19:41
  All comers meets at Oregon in the summer for little kids and
• 19:45
  they also have selected events in there.
• 19:48
  So, we were targeting the throws this decision shot, and those
• 19:52
  all Comer meats and Ash wasn't doing very well at all.
• 19:56
  And, finally, after about the second or third, all Comer meet,
• 19:59
  I woke up in the middle of the night and the next day in
• 20:02
  practice, I said, action, we're getting the heck out of here.
• 20:05
  You can't compete these all comers meets, there's kids, 12,
• 20:08
  13 years old. Order against you created, fire
• 20:10
  it up. We gotta get out of here.
• 20:12
  So we headed down to Chula Vista down to the National Training
• 20:15
  Center. And it was great because the
• 20:18
  Thorpe cup that year USA vs. Germany decathlon, heptathlon
• 20:22
  was held there. So, prior to leaving for de gue,
• 20:26
  they go, we spent a couple weeks down there and then Ash and
• 20:31
  Trey. And I think even Brian were
• 20:34
  doing individual events within the decathlon at the Thorpe.
• 20:38
  Cup and ashran, 1020 something in the hundred, he Highjump 610
• 20:43
  and a fraction. He threw one for fifty two or
• 20:48
  three. Something in the discus.
• 20:51
  What else did he do? I don't know.
• 20:54
  Maybe he maybe he threw the job and I can't remember.
• 20:58
  But anyway, it was a great tune up and it was a great change.
• 21:01
  Getting out of Eugene, a little awkward meets.
• 21:03
  He moved up in class and in a higher competition.
• 21:07
  And then we headed over to the Angles.
• 21:11
  And who's the who's Team USA? Is it Brian?
• 21:14
  That's right. Right.
• 21:16
  At that point, it was true. Okay?
• 21:22
  And who was the third one? I don't remember, I don't
• 21:28
  remember. Okay.
• 21:30
  And, and by Trey, we're talking about Trey Hardee, great at
• 21:35
  Universe from University of Texas and has won his fair share
• 21:39
  of metals himself. He was in his Heyday here 2011,
• 21:42
  Trey was actually yes, you're right.
• 21:44
  He was defending champion from 2009, Berlin.
• 21:48
  And then he was going into Daegu as the defending champ.
• 21:52
  Here and ended up. Trey Hardee ended up winning
• 21:56
  that Mead and Ashton Eaton ended up.
• 21:58
  Getting second in that meat and that world Champs now.
• 22:09
  So Trey, Trey wins and Ashton get second, but at trials,
• 22:15
  Ashton betray or did Tray by, but he was doing some
• 22:26
  commentating for the television station so I could see that it
• 22:40
  was the first International meet of high level.
• 22:44
  We're actually eating was hardly probably was the favorite
• 22:48
  because he was defending champ but Ash was on the radar and
• 22:53
  Ashton in hindsight. After we're after it was all
• 22:56
  over, just fought himself for eight events, nine events.
• 23:00
  Just just kept Downing, themself because he was leading after day
• 23:05
  one leading after the first event, but not enough separation
• 23:09
  for himself. And he kept kicking himself and
• 23:13
  I have never seen him in that. Ticular State before, and just
• 23:16
  before the 1500 I said, you know what?
• 23:19
  You're still in this thing, you can get the silver medal at you.
• 23:22
  Got to beat Lionel, Suarez, the the Greek kid from Cuba by five
• 23:27
  seconds, five point five seconds, something like that in
• 23:31
  the 1500 Lionel can run and Ashton can run.
• 23:35
  So it was a long, two days and Daegu.
• 23:40
  Trey was comfortable. All he had to do was run as
• 23:43
  normal 1500. He was going to win it.
• 23:45
  But Ash didn't have actually was the head coach of the team that
• 23:49
  year so that was not in. And then early on said she I
• 23:54
  like to see both tray in the ash go 12 in this thing could be
• 23:57
  great. So I told that to Ash and you
• 24:01
  know I've in was ashes head coach at Oregon so I stepped up
• 24:06
  and he couple smart things he did he was running, he had a
• 24:09
  great warm-up, very great warm up and it was hot muggy sticky
• 24:13
  and they go And he kept looking in the screen because he knew he
• 24:18
  had to be five seconds ahead of Lionel.
• 24:22
  And with 200 meters to go, he looked up into the big screen at
• 24:25
  the end of the stadium and said, damn, I can't shake this kid and
• 24:30
  just took off, he would term years ago.
• 24:32
  He took off like he was running 23-point and cross the finish
• 24:37
  line and I started counting 1001 1002.
• 24:41
  And I said, Woo, and then Lionel cross.
• 24:43
  I said, oh, this is going to be closed.
• 24:45
  He ended up beating him by two or three, one hundredths of a
• 24:48
  second. Oh, and a funny thing that
• 24:52
  happened in, I can't remember the name of the photographer,
• 24:55
  you know, how all the photographers are lined up in
• 24:57
  that one area and they had these big heavy cameras on these long
• 25:01
  stilts. Well, I got so excited, I was
• 25:04
  jumping up and down and I fell. I knocked it was like, dominoes
• 25:08
  I must have knocked 20 camera guys.
• 25:10
  Over And Harry, Mara the cameraman killer.
• 25:15
  One of the guys has Harry. What the heck?
• 25:17
  Are you doing? I said, I don't really know I
• 25:19
  said, but I think I should go. That was great.
• 25:26
  Oh man. And I have to, you know, full
• 25:29
  disclosure, Trey Hardee, and I have known each other for a long
• 25:32
  time. I coached him and his hurdles
• 25:34
  and few events here and there. During his time, at Mississippi
• 25:37
  State and have remained friends with Trey for a long time.
• 25:41
  Boy, you never wanted to come down to the 1,500-meter.
• 25:44
  For Trey, Trey doesn't want to come back to 1500.
• 25:47
  I can only imagine what's it like for these guys.
• 25:51
  And for Ashton particularly You mentioned how muggy it was.
• 25:54
  You've done nine events, over two days.
• 25:58
  And you've got to beat a guy by five seconds, in an event that I
• 26:01
  don't care how good you are, or are or not in the 1500.
• 26:05
  You don't like the 1,500. But to like for those guys and
• 26:08
  Ashton to dig deep and and have to run, whether it's a PR or
• 26:12
  just beat someone by five seconds at the end of this,
• 26:15
  what's important? It's a good question Mike,
• 26:18
  what's important? When a young decathlete or have
• 26:21
  Kathy For her, the 800 meters starts off.
• 26:25
  Is that initially the coach always reminds them regardless
• 26:30
  of the situation. It's always, always, always
• 26:34
  going to come down to the 1500 or 800 meaning.
• 26:37
  This you're going to have to beat this guy by so much, you're
• 26:40
  going to have to run this fast in order to scores will qualify
• 26:44
  for the next level beef, okay? Or you going to need this much,
• 26:49
  this fast of a time in order to get a personal record or sent
• 26:53
  me? Trekkers something.
• 26:54
  It always there some scenario where it always comes down to
• 26:58
  the last event. So you have to instruct the
• 27:00
  athletes of that early on and use that in your training to
• 27:05
  train for the 1,500, especially in a practice situation when
• 27:09
  you're tired because that's how you're going to be in the meat.
• 27:11
  You're going to be tired, probably more mentally than
• 27:13
  physically but regardless And where is Ashton?
• 27:20
  You we talked about this internationally versus
• 27:24
  domestically here in the states. Where is Ashton in the realm of
• 27:29
  the culture overseas? Is he being quote, unquote,
• 27:33
  mobbed in South Korea? Or is he just another?
• 27:37
  He was just 2011 over there. Were people knew them and so on.
• 27:44
  But they weren't they weren't yet to the point of How got to
• 27:50
  be in London? They were both very, very
• 27:52
  standout issue in London. Both represented the United
• 27:56
  States tremendously there. One of the things that the big
• 28:01
  thing that came out of action was hopeful obviously to win
• 28:05
  Indigo and he was disappointed with second but happy for a
• 28:09
  second you know happy s rather intense or night or whatever,
• 28:14
  okay? And the thing there's to change,
• 28:18
  too. Stories that changed both the
• 28:22
  direction for Ashton Eaton and brillant.
• 28:26
  I City and inactions case I mentioned the brewery and when
• 28:30
  we get to that in a second but in ashes case, we met in the
• 28:35
  airport, he was on a United flight going back, and I was on
• 28:38
  a Lufthansa. Flight going back, both going to
• 28:40
  Seattle, but for some reason, we were on different planes and we
• 28:43
  sat there and had coffee and he said coach, that will never
• 28:47
  happen again. And I said, getting second, he
• 28:52
  said that will never happen again.
• 28:54
  He said I fought myself, I figured this is two or three
• 28:57
  days later. He said I figured this out he
• 29:00
  said I just had expectations as a young kid that I had to
• 29:03
  perform almost at world record Pace in order to win one of
• 29:08
  these meats but now I know all I have to do is be steady across
• 29:13
  the board, be close to your personal best, but not
• 29:15
  necessarily set, personal mess, all the way through just be
• 29:19
  steady. And I'll be in the hunt all the
• 29:21
  time. So, out of that, when I got on
• 29:23
  the plane to leave the head back to the United States, I said
• 29:28
  this is the best thing that ever could happen because learn that
• 29:31
  lesson in a world championship the year, before the games as
• 29:35
  opposed to learn that lesson in the Olympic Games.
• 29:38
  So that when I got home, I talked to ra'zac his mom and I
• 29:43
  told her the story and I said Roz is this will serve Ashton
• 29:47
  extremely well, as we go forward.
• 29:49
  Third. And for the next six years,
• 29:51
  Ashton Eaton. Never lost a decathlon people.
• 29:56
  Geez, that's that's a heck of a streak.
• 29:58
  He said it wouldn't happen as well.
• 30:01
  What was Breeze moving you right after London.
• 30:04
  She just finished College. I think when 6400 something at
• 30:10
  the ncaa's Drake and Drake stadium in Iowa, Des Moines and
• 30:17
  then had to go to Canada and do the actual full heptathlon up
• 30:21
  there and she finished second and made the Canadian Olympic
• 30:25
  team. So she goes to Canada, I mean he
• 30:27
  goes to London and he finished 11th.
• 30:30
  But I Somebody got booted out right after that because of
• 30:33
  drugs. So she was 10th nice and ten
• 30:36
  coming out of college. Pretty good.
• 30:38
  I think she scored 63 and some change in London so that summer
• 30:45
  we took a long break, you know action Ambry had been going now
• 30:49
  all four years of college plus 11 and 12 and that's pretty
• 30:54
  intense. The organ program is excellent
• 30:56
  but the organ program expects excellence and the intensity is
• 31:01
  They're so I said, five six years are doing this so I gave
• 31:04
  him a long break and I'm in the office, maybe late September,
• 31:09
  early October, we were going to start around Middle October, I
• 31:13
  think, or something like that. I'm in the office working on,
• 31:17
  whatever the plan for the next four years, leading up the Rio
• 31:21
  and Brienne comes by and she walks in and closes the door and
• 31:26
  said, coach, I'm not doing this anymore to get tenth place.
• 31:31
  I want to be on the podium. We are going to have to make
• 31:35
  changes. So I pulled out the chair, I
• 31:38
  said, sit down and we chatted for an hour hour and a half and
• 31:42
  I said these are the things you're going to have to do.
• 31:44
  Here's the focus, here's the attention to the detail.
• 31:48
  Here's the commitment. Commitment, not trying, here's
• 31:51
  the commitment, you're going to have to make that I'm not
• 31:53
  enough. And she did that, she took that,
• 31:58
  you know, we went back and forth with she wanted a little bit.
• 32:01
  More training in this a little bit less than that.
• 32:03
  And so on she always had a upper body intercostal problem
• 32:07
  probably from birth A congenital thing and so if she lifted
• 32:10
  weights too much in her upper body the intercostals would
• 32:15
  inflame and she couldn't throw shot orange album, It's just was
• 32:19
  hurting. So her last four years of
• 32:21
  training she never touched an upper body weight was from the
• 32:24
  belly button down. I designed a program that way
• 32:27
  and yet she threw 152 in the javelin and 748 ft in the shot,
• 32:34
  something like that, 136 pounds, pretty good.
• 32:37
  How interesting is that you talk about individualized programs?
• 32:42
  I don't think anybody is going to give a talk about have Taft
• 32:45
  Lee training as a coach in. Going to say yeah you shouldn't
• 32:49
  do everybody waits but you had she, she did some bent ARM
• 32:54
  Holding On High bar, concentration, curls, and stuff
• 33:00
  like that. Minor stuff.
• 33:01
  But nothing lifting no bench-pressing no dumbbell press
• 33:05
  over your head no event Rose, none of that.
• 33:09
  They just inflamed that area in her upper back as she was always
• 33:13
  getting treatment of some sort you know massage your physical
• 33:16
  therapy or something like that. Just to keep those those areas
• 33:20
  healthy. So she came in and that was a
• 33:23
  game changer. And just like Ashton said,
• 33:25
  coach, this will never happen again from that moment Mike when
• 33:30
  she came into the office. The office that was the fall of
• 33:32
  2012. Bran Tyson eaten in 13, 14, 15,
• 33:36
  and 16 in every major championship was never off the
• 33:41
  podium. Never.
• 33:43
  That's unheard of in heptathlon. And two gallons unheard of And I
• 33:50
  don't want to skip ahead here, but that does bring me to one of
• 33:53
  the questions I wanted to ask and we certainly got to make
• 33:56
  sure we got a pin in the end of 2011.
• 33:59
  We got to make sure we come back to 2012 because I was a real
• 34:01
  right agile year. But you mentioned about Bri and
• 34:06
  the last four to five years, never been off the podium Ashton
• 34:10
  and the last four to five years of his career.
• 34:12
  Never losing six years, losing a decathlon.
• 34:15
  These are these would be amazing.
• 34:18
  Individual stories, Ashton Eaton on his own, and Brienne Tyson on
• 34:23
  her own. But we're talking about two
• 34:25
  people in a relationship and they get married.
• 34:29
  It was this the case. How much did that play to each
• 34:33
  other's positive? Is this a case where one plus
• 34:35
  one? Maybe equals 3.
• 34:38
  Yeah. It really does.
• 34:40
  They were both fully committed. They were both fully committed.
• 34:44
  Athletically. They were both fully committed.
• 34:46
  Once they got it. You know, we're
• 34:48
  Boyfriend/Girlfriend. Then engaged to each other.
• 34:51
  And then eventually in, I think July of 30 is when they got
• 34:55
  married in July 13th at 13. And yeah, so it was everything,
• 35:01
  they did everything they did, is they alluded to earlier on in
• 35:06
  the earlier podcast. Everything was centered around.
• 35:09
  Is this going to help me and us? Become better in the multi
• 35:14
  events, they supported each other especially when one had a
• 35:17
  bad day at practice. This and the other one, you
• 35:20
  know, was okay, they breach a full and complete control of the
• 35:26
  diet and the cooking and all that Ash did the shopping and
• 35:30
  cleaning up and all that and they ate tremendously.
• 35:34
  Well, they weren't very either of them were very big on taking
• 35:37
  any supplements and stuff like that.
• 35:38
  So their diet just got really dialed in, even to the point of
• 35:43
  the hardest workout of the week, usually, for us this Wednesday
• 35:46
  and they definitely went right to Heavy protein intake, right?
• 35:50
  After that, they had, they had it wired.
• 35:53
  So yes, to both of them together and both committed as much as
• 35:56
  they were. And for those people out there,
• 36:00
  listening, if you don't think that was intense.
• 36:02
  And that was fatiguing every single day in practice was as if
• 36:06
  it was so focused and so razor-sharp, and nothing but
• 36:11
  Excellence was expected. That's where we'll come to that
• 36:15
  at the end where the retirement came in and And the moving on
• 36:22
  came in, it was it had to be that way, it has to be that way
• 36:26
  if you're going to be successful at this higher level and
• 36:29
  unfortunately the decathlon had Teflon make it even more because
• 36:35
  Focus because so many things can go wrong out of your control.
• 36:40
  So I've had the honor, the pleasure of meeting Ashton, a
• 36:45
  few times here and there through my work here at Gila flicks and
• 36:50
  he's one of the most conscientious nicest people I've
• 36:53
  ever met. I mean, I was a, I was a
• 36:55
  stranger to Ashton basically and he always treated me as if we
• 36:59
  actually knew each other Bree, I've actually not had the
• 37:03
  pleasure of meeting, but I have to assume that as to would be
• 37:07
  attracted to someone that would have the same kind of Just and
• 37:10
  thinking about the other person type attitude, was there ever
• 37:15
  times where because you root for your teammates so much and you
• 37:18
  care for them. Well this is the ultimate
• 37:20
  teammate, right? Your wife was there ever a time
• 37:22
  that a meat or a practice where one would lose focus on what
• 37:26
  they were doing individually? Because they were concerned
• 37:29
  about what the I was doing it about losing focus.
• 37:32
  But there was a secondary attention action would be
• 37:37
  looking out of the corner of his eye.
• 37:40
  Coaching action involved. Then I walk over after he was
• 37:43
  then taken involved in work with 300 hurdles and then go back and
• 37:47
  forth and so on and he would be looking out of the corner of his
• 37:51
  eye. Remember, and Harvard we were we
• 37:52
  stayed in Boston after the Boston in, to our meeting and
• 37:55
  training at Harvard for a week or so.
• 37:57
  One winner and then went down in New York for the Melrose games.
• 38:01
  And he was yelling / Qs while he's on the long, jumper away
• 38:05
  for free and get your lead leg down, faster.
• 38:08
  Come on And then we would do the same thing.
• 38:13
  If she was having a good day in the shot and Ashton was off and
• 38:16
  say action, you're not clearing out like coach said, with your
• 38:19
  left arm, you know, you're just being lazy, don't do that, make
• 38:23
  sure you clear out. So yeah, they helped each other.
• 38:25
  So sometimes they were saying better things than I was saying.
• 38:28
  So I just sit back and say, okay, pretty much eating you on
• 38:31
  the next one. Do you think it's like, you had
• 38:36
  secondary coach and, you know, we're laughing at That's
• 38:40
  important when an athlete. I don't care who they are and
• 38:43
  bring Joe Schmo. I don't care who once they get
• 38:47
  the really understand the event and know, and get a sense, what
• 38:51
  they're doing wrong. That's a home run.
• 38:53
  And then the coach is just there, as a backup.
• 38:56
  I think I did this wrong. Is that right coach?
• 38:58
  You got it. You got it.
• 38:59
  That's exactly what you did. So just go clean it up on the
• 39:02
  next on the next row or jump or whatever.
• 39:05
  Yeah, so it was good. Yeah, they did help each other
• 39:08
  to the point. Let me give you this.
• 39:10
  This this quick story, Chris collie from The New York Times
• 39:14
  became the connectors girly. Chris.
• 39:17
  Oh man, I can't remember his last name.
• 39:20
  Chris Chris. I think on record, I think
• 39:23
  that's the first person you have not remembered their first and
• 39:26
  last name, and your amazing. Maybe this quality.
• 39:29
  But Chris Cleary from The New York Times.
• 39:33
  I met him in Moscow, after the meet was over Ash.
• 39:36
  Well, we'll talk about Moscow, I guess, but he said, can we
• 39:40
  follow you around during 16? And the New York Times was with
• 39:46
  us, in Eugene, in the winter in Santa Barbara in the spring and
• 39:50
  then in Boston and New York. York in the winter Eugene, in
• 39:53
  the fall Santa Barbara in the spring, and New York, and Boston
• 39:58
  in the winter, and then an in-depth study on it.
• 40:01
  And even Chris had said, you know what, it looks like.
• 40:04
  The the attention going into Rio is given more to Brienne than
• 40:10
  you are to action. I said, we are, I said action is
• 40:13
  somewhat satisfied that he already won in London and he
• 40:17
  wants to win again. He definitely wanted to win
• 40:20
  again, but he Also was very concerned.
• 40:23
  He said, I want to see Bree Bree has made this commitment.
• 40:26
  I've seen her going everyday, intense, intense, intense.
• 40:30
  And I want to see you come through for so it was good.
• 40:34
  Boy, these are some real mature thoughts for.
• 40:38
  What are we talking about here? 25 goals?
• 40:41
  Yeah. Wow.
• 40:43
  That's that's I think that probably plays into the success.
• 40:46
  They had their maturity levels were probably a few years ahead
• 40:49
  of their, their chronological age.
• 40:52
  Well let's, let's go back to 2012.
• 40:55
  This was a real magical year. In fact, personally, this was
• 41:00
  the first time I had seen a world record in person.
• 41:04
  So let's start with the trials and we're time of the u.s.
• 41:08
  trials, brie is a Canadian. So we're done with you as trials
• 41:11
  here with Ashton was their expectations.
• 41:14
  Coming off of the silver medal, the year before that.
• 41:17
  Now, 2012 is going to be his year, or was it still a battle
• 41:20
  to be, you know, we never talked about being number one, or never
• 41:28
  really talked about winning the games or breaking never ever,
• 41:32
  ever in any of the 11 World Records action set when I was
• 41:36
  there. He said, three and a half, three
• 41:40
  and a half, two, and a deck. And then Six others in the
• 41:42
  individual event. You know ons in the multi
• 41:45
  events. Never once was that talked about
• 41:48
  it was just about what can we do?
• 41:50
  What kind of training what kind of improvement in technique?
• 41:54
  Can you do in order to get better?
• 41:55
  And that was the same but break, it was the same same type deal.
• 41:59
  So the year was set up with the World Championships happen to be
• 42:04
  that you're indoors and Istanbul and Bri was still under siege.
• 42:11
  You'reyou're her Redshirt senior college.
• 42:13
  So she was going to stay back and do the ncaa's and she did
• 42:17
  one that in the pentathlon indoors Ashton.
• 42:21
  I go to Istanbul for the world indoor championships and as I
• 42:26
  mentioned well I guess it was a someone else but when he always
• 42:32
  was successful, Mike in the indoor heptathlon 63 World
• 42:38
  Records in three years in a row college and then Estonia in 11
• 42:43
  and that in Istanbul and 12. And everybody, I remember the
• 42:47
  media once said, what is the matter with Harry marrow?
• 42:50
  Why is he having Ashton Peak and Istanbul on March, doesn't?
• 42:54
  He realize the games are in August and I read the article
• 42:57
  and just said this guy doesn't have a clue what he's talking
• 42:59
  about. We never Peak for those indoor
• 43:02
  bees. All we did was back off.
• 43:04
  We trained from day, one for the outdoor decathlon.
• 43:08
  Whenever that Target was in August, or July, or whatever it
• 43:11
  was, And all we did for the indoor meets was 10 12 days
• 43:16
  before maybe 14 days just depending on the workload I back
• 43:20
  them off. So now you're going in fresh,
• 43:22
  maybe we threw in another speech short speed work, explosive work
• 43:25
  or something and they did well. And that's the way the way you
• 43:29
  have to have Lon Athlon. I'm sorry, your multi-event
• 43:32
  athlete should do it. They shouldn't pick for the
• 43:34
  indoors because it's too hard to try to do both.
• 43:39
  You want to do well, indoors and use it as a Barometer.
• 43:42
  But so that's what we did. You go to Istanbul and
• 43:47
  absolutely just lights it up, go 6645 and breaks the world
• 43:53
  record. And so you're working towards
• 43:58
  the trials and the London Olympics and I'm assuming I have
• 44:04
  no experience here. So I don't want to put my
• 44:07
  assumptions out there even though he's a silver medalist at
• 44:10
  the world Champs which is a big deal. 2012 is his first year to
• 44:15
  make the Olympics and to do something to one of metal
• 44:17
  analytics. That is a whole nother level up
• 44:20
  from the world championships in regards to seriousness and
• 44:23
  notoriety. And and what have you that Those
• 44:26
  are my assumptions where there was there extra pressure into it
• 44:29
  was always pressure. It was pressure from the very
• 44:32
  first moment. We got all three of us got
• 44:35
  together because the expectations were enormous.
• 44:38
  The support was enormous Nike support University of Oregon
• 44:43
  support was tremendous, but the expectations were equally as
• 44:47
  high. So there was always pressure.
• 44:49
  I mean so good. Well, no, so yes, we finished
• 44:57
  indoors. And the plan always was do the
• 45:01
  trials. He had qualified already met the
• 45:03
  standards so he didn't have to do a pre decathlon to get into
• 45:06
  the trials, the last year's performance, in the Nationals
• 45:09
  and then in Daegu qualified. So I said, that's what we're
• 45:12
  going to do. We're going to do that as a
• 45:15
  lead-up to the trials. The only Q, the only thought
• 45:19
  process was make the Olympic team.
• 45:22
  Let's make the Big team. That's the goal Finish First.
• 45:27
  No, world record, no, none of that stuff was ever talked about
• 45:31
  was ever discussed. Its, Let's Be steady, let's do
• 45:34
  in this meat what we've been doing in practice, and if you do
• 45:38
  that in all probability, you will make the Olympic team.
• 45:41
  So that was the goal going into that backing it up a little bit
• 45:46
  because I'm sure you ask a question on it, two and a half,
• 45:50
  maybe two and a half weeks before we Couldn't use Hayward
• 45:54
  Field maybe the ncaa's were going on.
• 45:56
  So we had to go over to South Eugene.
• 45:58
  High school was a cold, gray, June day, windy and Eugene and I
• 46:04
  had a time trial of 1,200 meters set up for Ashton that day, you
• 46:09
  know as his final 1500 M training specific training for
• 46:14
  the games and I we set up a time splits and so on and I said I
• 46:21
  want you to run 67 67 67. So, 321 for 1,200 meters
• 46:26
  non-stop anyway in 67. No, he ran 67 68 65 or
• 46:34
  something, so 320 and some change, he finished by himself
• 46:38
  and it was a smoke and head wind up the backstretch.
• 46:41
  I mean, it was a bad cold, it was 45 degrees.
• 46:44
  It was nasty and he recovered. And I said, you know what,
• 46:47
  Ashton I said, tray and Brian will be ready for the trials if
• 46:52
  they go out of their mind. And really have a the meat of
• 46:55
  their lives and you got to run your tail off to run, run
• 47:00
  yourself onto the team. This this time here indicates
• 47:04
  you can be did 320 by yourself. You finishing 50, it's for 10.
• 47:08
  You can run for 10. So jumping ahead.
• 47:12
  When he had to run as fast as the in 1500.
• 47:15
  He knew he could do that three weeks in advance.
• 47:19
  So he was feeling good. Going into the trials healthy,
• 47:23
  and in regards to the Olympics at the u.s. trials, third is
• 47:27
  just as good as first, right? You're just trying to make the
• 47:29
  team. So mentally he was prepared as
• 47:32
  he was going into the very strong very prepared.
• 47:35
  In fact, his grandma sent him, A poem.
• 47:43
  And every major meat, we always have an early morning, warm-up
• 47:50
  and I said, let's have the warm up right in front of your little
• 47:53
  apartment here, Eugene and I meant it was rainy cold morning
• 47:57
  so I met him at 5:30. He was on the front porch and he
• 48:00
  started. He said coach listen to this he
• 48:02
  started reading this poem and it was intense and it was the
• 48:06
  Battle of 10, the fight of 10. You're going to fight, you're
• 48:10
  going to the fight of your life in the Battle of ten.
• 48:13
  And along that line. And I was shaking by the time,
• 48:17
  it took five minutes to read the poem and I said, actually you
• 48:20
  don't even need a morning warm-up, you touch your toes.
• 48:23
  You do a couple. Jumpin Jack.
• 48:24
  You're ready to go. So we did our little warm-up and
• 48:27
  he looks so sharp. And I came home about 6:00 in
• 48:30
  the morning and Madeline said, my wife said, how'd it go?
• 48:32
  I said Madeline he's going off. I said he's absolutely going
• 48:37
  off, don't be late, getting your seat in his.
• 48:42
  He was Already crazy. So it's pouring rain Chip,
• 48:46
  Kelly. The football coaches sit in the
• 48:48
  stands with the track coach for the University of New Hampshire,
• 48:51
  because that's where chip came from.
• 48:53
  So, and it was his buddy and they came out and Chip Kelly
• 48:57
  watch that in hindsight. He watched that.
• 48:59
  And I talked to him after, he said, you know what everybody
• 49:02
  else is standing there, at 100 meters is 40 degrees rain inside
• 49:06
  words, it was terrible and they're all got gloomy faces
• 49:09
  accidents in there. Like, somebody just gave me an
• 49:12
  ice cream cone, he's fired. It up and nothing do went.
• 49:16
  I think go ahead. Was that Ashton's personality
• 49:22
  could be fired up in positive in the face of negativity, you
• 49:27
  know, the the rain and everything.
• 49:29
  You always find, you know, get down and so on, but always find
• 49:33
  a way to come back in the fight. And, and that's part of what
• 49:38
  every decathlon in heptathlon athlete needs to have.
• 49:41
  If you're literally defined, it is thinking, think of the German
• 49:46
  name for decathlon's a cough. Is 10 fights, 10 struggles, then
• 49:50
  battles. This is what it is, 10 bottles.
• 49:56
  So he runs the hundred and I can't remember your the story on
• 50:00
  this one. It's either the hundred of the
• 50:02
  long jump or both. He sets the either The American
• 50:06
  or the world record for that event.
• 50:08
  Yeah, exactly. He runs a hundred and runs 1021.
• 50:13
  The world record in the 100 was 1022 by Chris Huffman's.
• 50:18
  That's right. And it was funny, I'm standing.
• 50:21
  I always after warm up and all that.
• 50:23
  I always watch the race from about 250 meter Mark.
• 50:26
  So I may be halfway up the bottom end of Hayward.
• 50:29
  And as she goes out, runs 1021. As I came walking down just to
• 50:34
  give them instructions in the long jump.
• 50:35
  Before that event started, I walked right by Chris office, it
• 50:40
  was crazy. And he said, hey, if anybody
• 50:43
  broken record, I'm glad it was asked and I said, ye by a
• 50:46
  hundredth of a second, you know. So, that was good and and you
• 50:52
  didn't want to get too excited and he didn't get too excited
• 50:54
  and I didn't even say anything. I just said, remember out of the
• 50:58
  back, I gave him a high five. And I said, remember out of the
• 51:02
  back in the long jump, do our punch step.
• 51:04
  We it's a little q that we use of how we want the first two
• 51:08
  steps to unfold and he did that. So 40 minutes later he comes
• 51:13
  down and ask the quiet, ask the stands to be quiet.
• 51:17
  They Going to start clapping for me.
• 51:20
  So on he wanted a quiet, focus better for him and in that
• 51:24
  respect. And he came down and jump, a
• 51:28
  2327 V within 40 minutes. He brings two World Records.
• 51:34
  Holy cow. So I know you're not talking
• 51:38
  about the world record at this point, but are you secretly in
• 51:43
  the back of your head after knowing what the warm-up look
• 51:47
  like? 100 meters now, the long job is
• 51:51
  there anything in the back of your head?
• 51:52
  That's like, oh, we might set the world record today or you
• 51:55
  know, tomorrow, I can give you the party line and say, yes.
• 51:59
  But the truth is Not even enter my mind.
• 52:05
  In fact, somebody mentioned it a little later on maybe after the
• 52:08
  high job and I still kept it out because I'm experienced enough
• 52:12
  to know that bad things can happen in the Calphalon, caching
• 52:16
  Trail leg toe and fall down or something like that so that
• 52:20
  never arose. That whole conversation of the
• 52:23
  world record. Mike never arose until he
• 52:27
  actually jumped five meters 30 in the pole vault on Day 2 and
• 52:32
  Paul Doyle his Asian always sits right next to me and all the
• 52:36
  events. And Paul has the little computer
• 52:39
  thing I got my old book. He's got fearful.
• 52:42
  So he looks over after ash makes the pr 5:30 and he made that PR
• 52:47
  jumping into a strong head. Wind the wind switches to the
• 52:50
  last second and actually, his positiveness we talked about
• 52:55
  this after I said, you know, action.
• 52:56
  Then when turned around in your face, just before he went down
• 53:01
  for your last attempt at 55 meters. 17 for and he goes
• 53:05
  coach, I knew that and I he said I'll be damned if I let that be
• 53:09
  and he just took it right up. He took it right up, it was
• 53:13
  amazing. It was amazing.
• 53:14
  But anyway, that's that's that's reminiscent of you're taking off
• 53:18
  at 15 feet, he's like, I don't care.
• 53:22
  And anyway, so we're all excited.
• 53:26
  So I stopped. I said, that's it.
• 53:27
  You're not walking anymore. That's 17 Force.
• 53:29
  Plenty, let's go to be ready for the javelin and Paul Doyle.
• 53:33
  Over and said Harry, he could break the world record.
• 53:36
  I think you're nuts. I think what are you talking
• 53:38
  about? You know, now that is just
• 53:40
  Javelin to 1500 left and he showed it to me, I said, holy
• 53:46
  cow. So on paper, he needed 200 feet
• 53:49
  in a job. I think it's PR was 194 5,
• 53:53
  something like that and he needed a 420.
• 53:56
  I said, well, that's doable. So I went over underneath, they
• 54:00
  were underneath the West Grand said waiting for the job and
• 54:03
  they were In the second flight, his group that he was driven and
• 54:07
  I yelled in, they wouldn't let me underneath there and I yelled
• 54:10
  and ice cream here s. So I started giving them some
• 54:14
  cues. This is how perceptive he is.
• 54:17
  I started giving some cues. And as you have, like, I said,
• 54:20
  make sure your palm is up in your hand, is high in the back
• 54:23
  and you initiate the pole with you, right hip and all that.
• 54:25
  He said, coach stopped, he said you getting excited cut to the
• 54:30
  chase. What do I need in order to do
• 54:33
  it? Need to throw in what do I need
• 54:35
  to run in order to break the world and the American record?
• 54:38
  He thought American, he is a pain, we don't pay until the
• 54:42
  very end and I said and I looked at him and I really became
• 54:47
  emotional and I said Ashton, the world record And he looked at me
• 54:55
  and I looked at him, he said, okay, let's go.
• 55:00
  He really had no clue about the world record.
• 55:03
  His was hit, his realization was, oh, I'm not building set
• 55:05
  the American record, he had no clue about the world and I'm not
• 55:10
  even on the radar, not even close.
• 55:12
  So he went out and ran through 192 in the Joplin and one of the
• 55:20
  negative parts of that is that he was in the Flight of the Zsa
• 55:23
  one is, raining sideways. I mean, cold raining.
• 55:26
  They left all the javelins out after the first flight.
• 55:29
  Now the handles were soaked. So in 800 grams, you haven't was
• 55:33
  probably nine hundred grams and I beg for a hair dryer to bring
• 55:38
  them underneath the try to dry them out but they wouldn't, they
• 55:41
  wouldn't allow it. They said no, you have to throw
• 55:42
  the same ones so he threw 192 193.
• 55:46
  Something like that. Pretty good.
• 55:47
  But it was his best series. Everyone was within a foot of
• 55:50
  each other. What 90 something Just for
• 55:53
  action, it's time. Darn close was PR, maybe even in
• 55:56
  the Catholic PR and then he had to come down to run for 16 is
• 56:02
  some change. And what's this PR going there
• 56:06
  with 418 the year before when he ran his guts out in the day, go
• 56:10
  in that. Unbelievable, humid, hot
• 56:12
  weather. And the caveat was that he that
• 56:17
  that at South Eugene, High School when he ran 320 and some
• 56:21
  change for the 1200 me. Ders.
• 56:23
  So he knew 416 but he's is Big. Hope was that?
• 56:28
  All right? I can just cruise this thing.
• 56:30
  I'm on the Olympic team and so on.
• 56:33
  It's all. So as we said talked earlier,
• 56:40
  that's interesting. Yeah, so actually goes over in
• 56:43
  the down Bunsen or was our massage therapist.
• 56:46
  Great guy, great massage therapist and he's working on
• 56:49
  ash you know lower back or something like that.
• 56:54
  Phones blowing up people from Europe, or right texting and
• 56:57
  calling and emailing. And he must do what he must try
• 57:00
  to go. We must try to push it.
• 57:02
  So as his Lane are totally cross-eyed and exhausted and I
• 57:06
  kept showing him, I said, look at what the separately is
• 57:08
  saying. Look at what for Shaq is saying,
• 57:10
  I look with the German, guys are saying you have to do this, so
• 57:15
  he warmed up real well and we had a strategy and Man, 414,
• 57:20
  it's pretty good. My pretty good.
• 57:27
  Now, it's interesting that you talked about your phone blowing
• 57:29
  up with Roman and, you know, all the greats, all the best
• 57:32
  throughout the world and their coaches probably as well.
• 57:35
  You actually showed him. That was, uh, scrap.
• 57:38
  It was, it was just a high point, right?
• 57:40
  At the moment when he was laying on that massage table, it was
• 57:43
  still about 45 minutes before the race.
• 57:45
  He looked exhausted just mentally and physically
• 57:50
  exhausted did I know he could run around the track for last
• 57:54
  three and a half. Laughs or three three-quarter
• 57:55
  laps and finish. Yeah, but he shot, you know,
• 57:59
  it's the decathlon is more mentally draining than it is
• 58:03
  physically combination but the mental.
• 58:05
  So when varjak wrote the tax, I said he's laying there.
• 58:09
  Getting Don's working on his calves, I think and I showed
• 58:13
  him, I said, you quit Thomas is saying so I don't know that it
• 58:18
  inspiring me even more, but deep down, I knew he was going to
• 58:22
  make the effort, I knew it. But you knew as his coach, he
• 58:30
  probably need something like this.
• 58:31
  He is just he's down, not mentally, but physically, and
• 58:35
  also mentally there. But you just knew I had to do
• 58:37
  some eggs and help give them a little pump up to get this
• 58:40
  record Tim laid, Sports Illustrated sent me a text
• 58:45
  before the race and said, hey you're going to, is he going for
• 58:50
  are you know you saving anything for London, you know thinking
• 58:55
  hey maybe it's better just to cruise.
• 58:57
  This thing and not really fatigued yourself even more, so
• 59:01
  that you're fully recovered from London, which is still six weeks
• 59:04
  away and I said we're saving a lot, but he's going for it.
• 59:12
  Hmm. You know, I find that
• 59:15
  interesting about the phone calls and text messages and
• 59:18
  stuff really in the context of a coach knowing the specific
• 59:24
  athlete that they're working with.
• 59:26
  I'm reminded of. I was one of the highlights of
• 59:29
  my career was listening to Don Page he and I having dinner in
• 59:35
  him telling me the story of when he won the 800 and 1500 M at
• 59:40
  ncaa's back-to-back, right? And his coach, the great jumbo
• 59:44
  Elliott new in between. So here and I think with, I
• 59:47
  think the 15 was first. I believe I'm butchering the
• 59:49
  store. I got to have gone on the
• 59:50
  podcast, the recount the story cuz it's amazing but jumbo came
• 59:55
  up to them, you know, Don tells a story he's laying on the
• 59:58
  ground just you know, just died, just dead as you can imagine
• 1:00:02
  when in a 1500 M title at the ncaa's.
• 1:00:05
  You're just you have to give it all to win and jumbo so well
• 1:00:10
  knew his athlete Don. That he couldn't talk about race
• 1:00:14
  strategy and things like that, he had to get Don's mind just
• 1:00:18
  completely away from the enormity of the moment of trying
• 1:00:21
  to win back to back titles back-to-back events.
• 1:00:25
  So jumbo walks up to him I guess and kind of kick some in the in
• 1:00:28
  the rear. And you know, Don says he looks
• 1:00:30
  up and jumbo looks down on them says, hey, do you want a golf on
• 1:00:34
  Monday? Don was just like yeah, yeah
• 1:00:38
  sure do and that was Jumbo's way and Jumbo's Knowledge of his
• 1:00:42
  athlead on that he had to do something completely, you know,
• 1:00:46
  don't talk about the next race. Don't talk about.
• 1:00:48
  Hey, you got 10 minutes before your warmup let you know, they
• 1:00:51
  were huge golfer. So let's let's get his mind away
• 1:00:53
  from it for a second and talk about golf.
• 1:00:55
  So I love that context, that you knew your athlete Ashton.
• 1:00:59
  So well that if we're going to, we're actually going to do this
• 1:01:02
  world record by the way, it's no walk in the park.
• 1:01:04
  You have to set a PR to set the record that you had to find some
• 1:01:08
  other ways and lo and behold you were getting texts from around
• 1:01:11
  the world. Exactly.
• 1:01:12
  And, you know, one of the ways to do it which humble, did we
• 1:01:16
  done page down page uses? A side light is, probably one of
• 1:01:19
  the smoothest Runners I've ever seen in my life.
• 1:01:22
  That guy was just, he's not a western New York, actually out
• 1:01:25
  there Syracuse somewhere. Then he went to Villanova, but
• 1:01:29
  great Runners and smooth, but I think the point I was trying to
• 1:01:33
  make was that if you look back in this meat, when the goal at
• 1:01:39
  the trials was make the Olympic team.
• 1:01:42
  Shouldn't opened up in the pole vault at 15, 14 M 60.
• 1:01:46
  And because the earlier part of the meat, the first, the first
• 1:01:49
  six events up to that time. No, the seven events up to that
• 1:01:54
  time and then the eighth of them was the Vault when he made 15
• 1:01:58
  one in effect. He was on the Olympic team, all
• 1:02:01
  his be able to had to do was hit the ground and walked it this
• 1:02:05
  and he was going to be on the team because he did that.
• 1:02:07
  Well and you could see a tremendous smile and Jubilation
• 1:02:11
  after 15. 14 him. This first jump first bar
• 1:02:15
  because he knew he was on the team.
• 1:02:17
  He and I knew that maybe the rest of the fans in the stands,
• 1:02:20
  that know that. But so that was a great moment
• 1:02:23
  of relief right there. So he sets the world record and
• 1:02:32
  I will never know what what's that, like, how do you how do
• 1:02:36
  you top that meaning, you know, that was the trials.
• 1:02:39
  The London Olympics, is six weeks away and you've got to
• 1:02:43
  quote unquote, do it again. You may not have to set a world
• 1:02:45
  record but you gotta win again against the best in the world.
• 1:02:49
  Not just the USA at the time. What was his mindset that night
• 1:02:53
  and the week after and then Brooke Johnson Helton good thing
• 1:02:56
  for you. Johnson told me years ago, help
• 1:03:00
  and another couple things and I'll explain him here in a
• 1:03:03
  second. Immediately after the world
• 1:03:06
  record, big press conference in all that stuff.
• 1:03:08
  And then there was a party. It was the 100th year
• 1:03:12
  anniversary of the decathlon and we invited all the living gold
• 1:03:16
  medals, they were all there including Jim Thorpe's
• 1:03:21
  grandsons. I think it was to me was their
• 1:03:24
  milk Campbell was there came home is there.
• 1:03:28
  Dan was there, obviously. Brian was in the race but they
• 1:03:33
  were all there. They were all there.
• 1:03:35
  So after that party the night, after the me, I hadn't seen, I
• 1:03:42
  didn't see Ash for three days because of media things that he
• 1:03:46
  had. And then on the third day or the
• 1:03:48
  fourth day, I think it was he and I were going to take his car
• 1:03:52
  and drive the Portland and take a flight to Calgary because Brie
• 1:03:56
  had just left. Left for the trials.
• 1:03:58
  And I had to go up and kosher at the Canadian trials, which
• 1:04:01
  worked out perfect, was three or four days after Ashes to be.
• 1:04:05
  So we're riding. Here's this, a good story.
• 1:04:08
  We're riding. I didn't mention this already on
• 1:04:10
  the podcast that I We're riding up to Portland in ashes and see
• 1:04:16
  him for since the meat. And I said, alright debrief the
• 1:04:20
  me go through each event you're driving, you just I'll sit here
• 1:04:24
  and take notes and quiet. Tell me about the 100.
• 1:04:27
  Tell me about the long jump where you think you did?
• 1:04:28
  Well, what do you think you can improve upon the?
• 1:04:31
  Just give me your feeling so we did that.
• 1:04:33
  It took maybe a 45 minutes or an hour.
• 1:04:35
  I got through the whole thing. And then Mike and I get real
• 1:04:40
  emotional when I talk about Out this it got extremely quiet in
• 1:04:45
  the car. I mean, really quiet.
• 1:04:48
  So in effect what he did by debriefing that meet he felt
• 1:04:53
  good about the hundred and felt good about this and felt good
• 1:04:56
  about the world record and then immediately pushed all that to
• 1:05:01
  the rear. So in answer to your question
• 1:05:03
  that had to be done and Brooks said that you can't be reading
• 1:05:07
  yesterday's newspaper clippings. If it's better, if in fact, your
• 1:05:11
  Spect to go to the next level at your next competition.
• 1:05:15
  So he pushed that all to the rear once we got done with that,
• 1:05:18
  it was dead quiet in that car and very serious.
• 1:05:21
  Because now the first of the two final goals, make the Olympic
• 1:05:25
  team and then go to London and win.
• 1:05:27
  The thing was accomplished. The first goal was accomplished
• 1:05:31
  made the Olympic team. Got quiet, I sat there for a
• 1:05:34
  minute and I looked over to him while he was driving said
• 1:05:37
  Ashton. There's one person that's going
• 1:05:41
  to be in London, that can beat you.
• 1:05:44
  Who might that be? And he looked back at me like
• 1:05:50
  he's just seen a ghost. He said, oh my God and his mind
• 1:05:53
  he probably said, oh my God, coaches worried about one of my
• 1:05:55
  competitors. You know, is that Lionel is the
• 1:05:58
  tray? Is it whoever?
• 1:06:00
  So who might that be Ashton? He say where he drove for about
• 1:06:03
  another mile. And then he looked over at me.
• 1:06:06
  He said coach I'm the only one who could beat me.
• 1:06:10
  And I said, you got it so everything and I got emotional
• 1:06:14
  just right there saying that everything else was pushed aside
• 1:06:19
  and I said, all you do in London is you go and you put the horse
• 1:06:23
  blinders on and you focus on what Ashton needs needs to do
• 1:06:27
  and don't even concern yourself with anybody else you go.
• 1:06:30
  Do that and good things will happen.
• 1:06:32
  He took the lead to a hundred meters in London, broke the bill
• 1:06:35
  toomey's 100-meter, decathlon record around 10:30 Five or 10
• 1:06:41
  32 or something like that and never gave up the lead and maybe
• 1:06:45
  it was the easiest decathlon I've ever coached in my life.
• 1:06:48
  He was just that on I love the aspect of Brooks Johnson's.
• 1:06:57
  Don't really don't read past newspapers.
• 1:06:59
  Where you talked about Ashton had to, you know, walk through
• 1:07:03
  in his mind, out loud to you, in that car, the decathlon at the
• 1:07:06
  trials, the world record, and then, okay, push it to the side.
• 1:07:10
  Now, we're looking forward towards London.
• 1:07:12
  That reminds me a lot of what you've talked about with the
• 1:07:15
  decathlon. For each individual event.
• 1:07:17
  You have the hundred whether you set the world record in it or Or
• 1:07:21
  you bomb when it's over, you have 15 seconds or 15 minutes
• 1:07:26
  whatever but then you got to move on because you got to go
• 1:07:28
  long jump and you can't let what exactly 100 affect you
• 1:07:31
  negatively and then it had to be done and it was done and I knew
• 1:07:38
  at that point that the focus was was going to be there.
• 1:07:45
  So you said, the London Olympics was the easiest decathlon.
• 1:07:49
  Maybe you've ever coached was he just well, the other guys, the
• 1:07:52
  other guys were good, but he was just a high level and he was
• 1:08:01
  near high level. In all of his events is hundred
• 1:08:04
  was 10:30 something. His long jump was over, eight
• 1:08:08
  meters. I think 80 for a certain camp
• 1:08:11
  and it was through a series of three that were good.
• 1:08:16
  Shot put was the best of the Season, 48.
• 1:08:18
  Hi. I can't remember. 203 in the
• 1:08:22
  high jump equal to his season. I jump Egypt to 10, I guess
• 1:08:27
  earlier. No, he jumped 2005 at the game
• 1:08:29
  is 20. 5, 6, 8 and 3/4. And he jumped to ten earlier.
• 1:08:35
  So he was close there and he ran a very controlled.
• 1:08:38
  I said, don't kill this for her. M.
• 1:08:41
  Take it easy to First 300. It's a 16 17 hour.
• 1:08:44
  First day, you started five in the morning warming up off the
• 1:08:47
  streets and then you don't run till 10:00 at night probably in
• 1:08:51
  the former M. So I said, just cruising he
• 1:08:53
  banged the last 120 meters, pretty hard.
• 1:08:56
  Ran 46. Hi, that was good enough.
• 1:08:58
  He It, is that a, let me ask you that real quick, you mentioned,
• 1:09:05
  you know, the five in the morning till 10:00 at night, it
• 1:09:07
  like the Olympics and maybe it's the same or maybe a smaller
• 1:09:11
  compressed. It like the world Champs versus
• 1:09:13
  like the in seas and you know Pac-12 swear that schedule is
• 1:09:17
  going to be a lot tighter is that this is their advantage or
• 1:09:20
  disadvantage that they have so long?
• 1:09:22
  I mean of add a disadvantage, it is forever and there's more
• 1:09:25
  glitches along the way especially internationally and
• 1:09:29
  so on. But yeah, they're just Mentally
• 1:09:32
  draining long days, even from not only the athletes end of it.
• 1:09:37
  Literally, when that athlete, in the heptathlon crosses, the
• 1:09:42
  Finish Line in the eighth, or the Catholic crossing, the 15, I
• 1:09:45
  sometimes. Even can, you tell you what my
• 1:09:47
  name is? I am so fried from thinking all
• 1:09:50
  the things through and being on for that such a long period of
• 1:09:53
  time. And it's the same with the
• 1:09:55
  athletes, both physically, and emotionally.
• 1:09:58
  And it's a quick side light. But if you Watch this, it was
• 1:10:03
  big press conference after tray and Nash went to 12 over there
• 1:10:08
  in London and then they got rushed out across town, not even
• 1:10:13
  showered threw on some clothes and went to the NBC Studios or
• 1:10:17
  whoever to do the Good Morning America.
• 1:10:19
  And if you watch that, Good Morning, America interview that
• 1:10:23
  they did, they did a terrible job.
• 1:10:26
  They were both mumbling. And the words, they were
• 1:10:31
  exhausted, they had two days and hadn't, eaten and stopped.
• 1:10:36
  And I said, this is don't like those guys.
• 1:10:44
  That's funny because those are two really articulate people as
• 1:10:47
  well. Wow, they put action and Brianna
• 1:10:52
  sure and sent them to Letterman in New York.
• 1:10:56
  So, they were all over the place.
• 1:11:02
  Wow. So what's it like when eating an
• 1:11:06
  Olympic gold medal in the decathlon tell you?
• 1:11:13
  All right, fair enough. That's a great Point.
• 1:11:15
  What's it like coaching someone to win the gold medal in the
• 1:11:21
  Olympics Caitlyn Jenner museum for ETV and he and I and she and
• 1:11:26
  I go back to 1971. So she texted me and said where
• 1:11:30
  are you sitting for the 1500 and I told her.
• 1:11:32
  And so we met there and we sat there together and before the
• 1:11:35
  race, I said, you know what, this is fitting, you can sit
• 1:11:38
  here and you can remember now and think about, you know, R
• 1:11:42
  time in Montreal and now you know Ashton and you know me
• 1:11:46
  obviously for all these years and so that was kind of nice but
• 1:11:49
  it was just satisfying. A little thing that not many
• 1:11:54
  people knew is that he made five meters 20 in the vault in
• 1:12:01
  London. He was jumping very, very well.
• 1:12:03
  Extremely well, he made 520 by over a foot.
• 1:12:05
  I mean, he smoked that bar and he when he came over my plan
• 1:12:10
  when walked over after To the railing where I was sitting, my
• 1:12:14
  plane was okay, go to 540 and go up a pole or 5:30 and go up a
• 1:12:18
  pole. And as soon as he got over
• 1:12:20
  there, he said coach, he said my left quad grabbed the moment, I
• 1:12:25
  left the ground, I said that's it.
• 1:12:27
  You're done. That's it no more.
• 1:12:29
  You go tell the official, you're exiting, you competition.
• 1:12:32
  And I turned around to Don and our other physio I said, get
• 1:12:36
  downstairs right away. I said, action, get downstairs
• 1:12:38
  right away, let's get this thing looked at in treated until So
• 1:12:42
  on, so he strained the quads at that last off in the vault, even
• 1:12:45
  though he made it and I look back and when you say about
• 1:12:50
  satisfying its it was over but it wasn't over if we had made a
• 1:12:54
  mistake and said, hey, let's be greedy and take one more to try
• 1:12:57
  to break the world record and he pulled that thing and couldn't
• 1:13:01
  finish. That would have been a terrible
• 1:13:03
  decision. Yeah, your margin of error is
• 1:13:09
  definitely decreased, As you move up in levels and you're at
• 1:13:12
  the top level here at the Olympic couple, my margins are
• 1:13:16
  fairly, is zero. Essentially sent me a text right
• 1:13:20
  away. I'm walking downstairs.
• 1:13:21
  Underneath the to get to the room where Ashley was getting
• 1:13:24
  physical therapy session, are you nuts?
• 1:13:26
  What did you pull them out? And they didn't have a clue.
• 1:13:35
  All right? So so Easy to make assumptions
• 1:13:39
  from the outside. So I don't want to skip ahead
• 1:13:44
  but I want to make sure we talk about a story.
• 1:13:47
  You told me offline, and I can't remember if it was Moscow or
• 1:13:51
  Beijing about you being underneath the stands and the
• 1:13:56
  coordinators not being real good.
• 1:13:58
  As far as some of the decathletes weathers, convicted
• 1:14:00
  you remember that story that I'm talking about these are the
• 1:14:03
  chaos. In the high jump in London.
• 1:14:12
  And the other one was with Ashton in the call room.
• 1:14:15
  It's called the combined events rest of the area in Beijing and
• 1:14:21
  London in London with Brienne. Okay.
• 1:14:26
  Final heat of the first event, the 100-meter hurdles and she
• 1:14:32
  actually was lined up right next to Jessica and I thought, oh
• 1:14:36
  man, I could A little tough because there was 80,000 people
• 1:14:40
  in the stands and 9:00 in the morning or whatever it was.
• 1:14:43
  And I said, boy, when they introduced their energy free and
• 1:14:46
  go down the line, then introduce Jessica soon as they started
• 1:14:49
  introducing. Jessica, the stands was
• 1:14:51
  eruptive. And yeah, I mean, you had almost
• 1:14:54
  put your hands in your ears, blow your eardrums out with so
• 1:14:57
  loud. So anyway, everybody else that
• 1:15:00
  ran the hurdles earlier. Got to exit go through the
• 1:15:04
  immediate area back to the courtroom and get their high
• 1:15:06
  heel shoes. So they brought the high
• 1:15:09
  jumpers, I mean, I'm sorry the heard rumors in that last race
• 1:15:12
  including Jessica and as who ended up winning the gold and
• 1:15:16
  the favorite from Great Britain and the meat was in Great
• 1:15:18
  Britain, right? To the high jump.
• 1:15:21
  So Brienne is measured up you know use the tape and measure
• 1:15:25
  out of steps and then said coach I don't have my shoes and I
• 1:15:29
  said, what about Jessica? What about the other girl?
• 1:15:31
  She goes. None of us in the last race.
• 1:15:32
  Have shoes and they're making us jump.
• 1:15:35
  I said you can't do that. And so luckily Jessica and his
• 1:15:42
  being great for it and being in that group, I said here's what
• 1:15:45
  you do bring and get everybody together.
• 1:15:47
  All the other helped athletes. Every one of them, go sit on the
• 1:15:50
  high, jump, standard bat, and tell the people we refuse to
• 1:15:54
  practice or warm up or jump, until you allow these other
• 1:15:57
  girls to go get their shoes. And they did, they did.
• 1:16:01
  So I said, you know, just do an icon of protest.
• 1:16:09
  That's an amazing story because you think of the Olympics.
• 1:16:12
  It is the number one meat in the world and such are that
• 1:16:15
  everything, you know, who pays Lawless because there's always a
• 1:16:20
  glitch or two when you're starting anything and they
• 1:16:22
  typically go first and then the iron it out by the time, the
• 1:16:27
  decathlon guys come, 56 days later.
• 1:16:30
  I remember underneath in the heptathlon to underneath they
• 1:16:34
  have food from the athletes and coaches and so So athletes and
• 1:16:38
  coaches always at different times, not necessarily a 9 in
• 1:16:42
  the morning and then at noon and then five at night, you know,
• 1:16:44
  during the meet the reading it all different times.
• 1:16:47
  So there was no food underneath in London, right away.
• 1:16:50
  And Brienne said, coach I want something to eat, I need
• 1:16:54
  something. So I went to the lady and
• 1:16:57
  whoever and she said, no no we're not bringing out the noon.
• 1:16:59
  I said these kids need it now so we had a fight in that happened.
• 1:17:03
  In London did a great job. London did don't get me wrong,
• 1:17:07
  they did. Nominal job, but little glitches
• 1:17:09
  like that that couldn't throw a kid into a tizzy.
• 1:17:13
  And so we hired that out in Beijing, you want the Beijing
• 1:17:19
  story. So you meant got no.
• 1:17:23
  Hold on a Beijing. Yeah, because what I want to
• 1:17:24
  talk about. So, as we go through Moscow and,
• 1:17:28
  you know, again, we could make this a five hour or podcast,
• 1:17:31
  which is what I love about this. So spoiler alert it's so weird
• 1:17:35
  that I have to gloss over that. He was also the gold medalist
• 1:17:38
  for the world Champs but I want to move on to 2014 because This
• 1:17:43
  is extremely interesting to different it, maybe it's not.
• 1:17:47
  You tell me if this has been if there's precedent here you took
• 1:17:51
  the year off with Ashton for the decathlon and he focused on the
• 1:17:55
  400 hurdles. I'd love to hear about the
• 1:17:57
  reasoning behind that. Why the 400 hurdles versus say
• 1:18:00
  the hundred or long-jump which he was super good at 400
• 1:18:03
  etcetera, what led into that a couple things to the point of
• 1:18:08
  hurdles. First and foremost, was during
• 1:18:11
  the 2013 year at some point. I think it was that spring maybe
• 1:18:16
  down in Santa Barbara, we're having a practice that I can't
• 1:18:21
  remember exactly how it was going but I said, Ashton, you're
• 1:18:25
  exhausted, I'm exhausted. I don't want to see it decathlon
• 1:18:28
  next year and I said you need a year off, we need to change and
• 1:18:32
  we need a break and I said, I don't know what we're going to
• 1:18:34
  do but we need you need to get away from this intense training
• 1:18:38
  that We're doing year in and year out and then it came to me
• 1:18:42
  later that summer we just before we were leaving for Moscow and
• 1:18:46
  he had finished a workout and got down in the blocks with
• 1:18:50
  Flats on and said, hey, coach watch this.
• 1:18:52
  So he took off and he, I was standing on the first turn and
• 1:18:56
  he ran 22, steps and mimic going over hurdle.
• 1:18:59
  And then he did 13 steps and did it for five hurdles to 200
• 1:19:04
  meters. That's it, we're running the
• 1:19:05
  400. So, the hindsight behind it, is
• 1:19:08
  this This in the logic behind it was this and I took a lot of
• 1:19:13
  heat from this by the social media people.
• 1:19:16
  And so on the logic was okay, Harry this guy can run the for
• 1:19:20
  of years. This will only help is 400
• 1:19:22
  meters and Harry uses the 400 meters for both heptathlon and
• 1:19:28
  decathlon as the key component to not only running conditioning
• 1:19:35
  but conditioning for the entire event.
• 1:19:37
  I said he loves the 400. He now wants to try the hurdles.
• 1:19:41
  It's pretty good, regular her door, and I said this will give
• 1:19:45
  them great condition plus relaxation all the way through.
• 1:19:48
  So that was the logic behind it. And one year later, he ran 45
• 1:19:53
  flat in the decathlon and in the corner, m, What are the other
• 1:20:00
  problems? He was really upset that he ran
• 1:20:07
  that slow, is that? And then a week later, he said
• 1:20:12
  we have to go over in Santa Barbara.
• 1:20:13
  So he said, let's go down and see any a go.
• 1:20:15
  I want to run again He-Man. Exactly the same time 50-point
• 1:20:19
  91 or something like that. And now he's really upset, he
• 1:20:23
  said, this is not right. So, I think he ran seven races
• 1:20:26
  that year, And we had seven different strategies.
• 1:20:30
  We're trying to figure it out. I think it's very important 9,
• 1:20:36
  something that here in 49:6 overnight.
• 1:20:43
  And then we all met at the very end for the last couple races in
• 1:20:47
  Europe. And he did a long jump here.
• 1:20:50
  There he ran. The shorter rules here and there
• 1:20:52
  that year, just for fun, just to stay in touch.
• 1:20:54
  He might have even thrown The discus once or twice, but I
• 1:20:57
  remember in Glasgow he met with all the foreign M hurdlers that
• 1:21:02
  was there all that hot guy hot shot guys and he said guys this
• 1:21:06
  my last race and he goes out and runs 48. 69 that was pretty
• 1:21:09
  good. That was pretty holy cow.
• 1:21:17
  Any you mention those guys and those are you know, my hurdles
• 1:21:22
  are my favorites. I love all the one tens and the
• 1:21:24
  400 hurdles and such any animosity from the 400
• 1:21:29
  specialist. At this decathlete was coming
• 1:21:32
  into their space and doing well, by the way they weren't moving
• 1:21:37
  up one step higher if he was second or third or first or
• 1:21:40
  whatever but Ashton is such a nice person as is Brianne.
• 1:21:47
  They're Both just super people actually said, look at guys,
• 1:21:50
  this is my last race, and I know you'll be happy to see me go.
• 1:21:53
  He said, but just thanks for letting me be part of your world
• 1:21:57
  for this year. He said, I really enjoyed it.
• 1:21:59
  So was he thinking which is typical bashed in and breathe
• 1:22:02
  just being very good athletes, of course, but just even better
• 1:22:06
  human beings. They're just great people.
• 1:22:14
  Did you see you mention? He did the long job and you know
• 1:22:17
  maybe the hurdles and whatnot here or just goes here and there
• 1:22:21
  were you still training training?
• 1:22:23
  Definitely did you move straight over to 400 hurdle trades and he
• 1:22:29
  won that and then we completely got away from it.
• 1:22:32
  So he came to practice as a 400 meter Runner all week.
• 1:22:37
  And if in fact, he felt like pole vaulting that day, you
• 1:22:40
  know, once every three weeks or so.
• 1:22:42
  Something I said you feel like it?
• 1:22:43
  Yeah, let's take a few volts or let's throw the disc a little
• 1:22:46
  bit. Just play and fun.
• 1:22:48
  And for young, coaches out there, listening to this, it
• 1:22:52
  was, it was a home run, it was really a home.
• 1:22:54
  Run, two things, one is first decathlon, back after, what
• 1:23:00
  ended up to be a two year. Layoff a complete two-year
• 1:23:03
  layoff is first decathlon. Back, new world record, new
• 1:23:06
  world record, so it obviously didn't cause rust, which all the
• 1:23:09
  social media people did they said Harry's Knutsford This
• 1:23:12
  because as you will never return to the level, he's at well, that
• 1:23:16
  was wrong and the second end of it, the most important part of
• 1:23:20
  it was this. We're flying home.
• 1:23:23
  From Glasgow after that last meeting, it was early August
• 1:23:27
  because the Commonwealth Games Were mid-august and his last me
• 1:23:32
  was early August so we're flying home after the Commonwealth
• 1:23:35
  Games at the red, one over there and she and I were sitting there
• 1:23:40
  and he said coach, he said this This was a phenomenal year, he
• 1:23:44
  said I am so relaxed. I am so refreshed I don't even
• 1:23:48
  feel like I had a season. I got away from this tough tough
• 1:23:51
  decathlon training and he said, I could theoretically start
• 1:23:55
  practice tomorrow for the next year and I said, well that's a
• 1:23:58
  home run, right here. What?
• 1:24:08
  I don't know that he was ranked at the end of the year is ranked
• 1:24:11
  worldwide, but he had to be ranked top 10 in the USA for the
• 1:24:14
  fundamentals that year. He imagined that never doing an
• 1:24:17
  event and then being sick Street and, oh, And has there been
• 1:24:27
  president before and they've been hit all have tablets as
• 1:24:30
  well. That's definitely stick athletes
• 1:24:31
  at a high level that have whether they took a whole year
• 1:24:34
  off. Almost decathletes moved into
• 1:24:36
  one event indeed because it as well or something like that
• 1:24:41
  along the way. I really don't know if there was
• 1:24:47
  and I never, I mean II do listen, a lot and know a lot
• 1:24:52
  about the historical significance before.
• 1:24:55
  What went before with different athletes that I've coached, but
• 1:24:59
  I don't think there was a precedent for this but it just
• 1:25:02
  made so much sense to me one. He wanted to do it.
• 1:25:06
  He you know, he showed me. Hey look, and I can run 13
• 1:25:08
  steps. He could run 13 steps.
• 1:25:11
  So easy that he actually got too close and you know how your
• 1:25:14
  float the intermediate a little bit different than you come off
• 1:25:17
  of 110 hurdle. He had a cut down.
• 1:25:21
  We met with Dixon farmer who was a greater M her when he was a
• 1:25:25
  Training and Kathleen. And he said, I said Dixon, he's
• 1:25:29
  getting too close even at 13 and he's not very good at, you know,
• 1:25:34
  can't go to 12 that's over too much, you know, too much.
• 1:25:37
  So Dixon said, have them cut down off the first hurdle you
• 1:25:40
  know Eternal and and that worked out well.
• 1:25:42
  So yeah. Yeah, it was it was it was it
• 1:25:47
  was the way to go. That's interesting.
• 1:25:50
  It does. It tells you how tough that a
• 1:25:54
  cap on is. I've never certainly never heard
• 1:25:56
  of 100 meter athlete or Javelin thrower.
• 1:26:01
  That's it for the year. I think it was maybe was the
• 1:26:09
  European championships or something like that.
• 1:26:11
  So it yeah, perfect year yeah, it was no no question.
• 1:26:17
  You know, from his sponsor was Nike and no question whatsoever.
• 1:26:22
  He Was still ranked in the world, so it was good.
• 1:26:30
  They're probably maybe created more Buzz because everybody
• 1:26:32
  wanted to know what was this crazy decathlete doing?
• 1:26:34
  I think that's wonderful. Belgium is, I think was in
• 1:26:45
  Belgium and he was running the intermediate so it was early in
• 1:26:48
  the morning. Maybe 10:00 or something 10:30
• 1:26:50
  at this Invitational me. So we warm up early in the
• 1:26:53
  morning at the hotel, then go to the stadium and nine warm-up,
• 1:26:57
  run the race, 49 seconds later he's done.
• 1:27:00
  And was then the rest of the meats going on, I said, hey,
• 1:27:04
  what are we going to do? You know, normally, we got none
• 1:27:06
  of the events that we have to do is, let's go over and watch you
• 1:27:09
  right now. He and Ray.
• 1:27:10
  No were pretty good buddies. The pole vaulter Live event and
• 1:27:14
  I said, okay, so we go over and sit down and they put us in the
• 1:27:18
  front row. Watching the polo right there.
• 1:27:20
  Some lady hands is the glasses champagne.
• 1:27:23
  Some lady comes by gives us a burrito.
• 1:27:25
  Somebody lady comes by later, gets his ice cream.
• 1:27:27
  Sundae, I said eaten, I said, what are we doing this decathlon
• 1:27:31
  nonsense for? This is fun.
• 1:27:33
  I said, I don't even think I should get a paycheck for today.
• 1:27:39
  We had a great year. It was a fun year.
• 1:27:47
  It was great. Oh yeah.
• 1:27:48
  That's that's a good way to accommodate 2014, I love that.
• 1:27:54
  So, 2015 is coming back up or coming up.
• 1:27:58
  You mentioned 2014 was a great year.
• 1:27:59
  There was no major championships.
• 1:28:02
  Well, 2015, there is. There's a, there's a world
• 1:28:04
  Champs again. And he's the defending champ and
• 1:28:08
  this is right as the, the the peak of where Bree is now, she
• 1:28:14
  had done that. Mm, realization of.
• 1:28:17
  Hey, I'm tired of this weird. I never wanted to happen again.
• 1:28:21
  It wasn't was amazing. I in 2015, for the eaten family
• 1:28:26
  13, we go to Moscow and for the first time that's her first
• 1:28:32
  major, after she came to my office and that was, I want to
• 1:28:35
  be on the podium and now she's on the podium.
• 1:28:38
  Now she gets the silver and runs your tail off over there in the
• 1:28:42
  800, to get the silver and it was great.
• 1:28:44
  And then in 14 Action, As the year off Bri goes to the
• 1:28:48
  Commonwealth Games wins the gold medal and sets, the standard
• 1:28:52
  sets of meet record and wins five of the seven events.
• 1:28:56
  So she's hotter than a pistol right there and that was great.
• 1:29:00
  So we're all fired up now. Going into 15.
• 1:29:03
  Yeah, both did well in Beijing and I think Bri ended up, Bri
• 1:29:07
  actually fought herself kind of like Ashton did in Daegu in
• 1:29:10
  2011, but she learned a lot from that and we brought Penny
• 1:29:17
  saffold who was a great 1500 meter runner for Canada.
• 1:29:21
  But then went on in his department, chair of Kinesiology
• 1:29:24
  I think it's at the University of Calgary and she's a sport
• 1:29:27
  psychology so she began working with brie and myself.
• 1:29:31
  We had three-way meeting sometimes, coach athlete and
• 1:29:34
  Sport psychologist and then sometimes your sport
• 1:29:37
  psychologist an athlete and so on.
• 1:29:39
  But it was great, it was great and free stepped up after
• 1:29:47
  Beijing, and then Bronson 16. So what was Beijing?
• 1:29:58
  A lot? What was Beijing?
• 1:30:00
  Like, have a defending Champion going into them decathlon.
• 1:30:03
  You have this just hotter than a two-dollar pistols.
• 1:30:06
  He is just on fire with her Athletics and sports psychology
• 1:30:10
  going into the Beijing games. What's it like?
• 1:30:13
  Having two athletes are always node really.
• 1:30:15
  I mean, for their Peak here of what they're doing, both
• 1:30:18
  vertically for the year that didn't make it any harder.
• 1:30:23
  What made it? I got really sick right after
• 1:30:26
  the decathlon was first, and then the heptathlon.
• 1:30:30
  I got really sick right after they have tap on the next day.
• 1:30:33
  But what happened was Monday Tuesday?
• 1:30:36
  The castle on Wednesday, Thursday, heptathlon, and you
• 1:30:40
  were fried Sheldon. Blockburger, my former athlete
• 1:30:43
  was coaching a high jumper who ended up getting second or third
• 1:30:46
  there that year. And he, and I were roommates in
• 1:30:50
  the hotel every morning for five days in a row.
• 1:30:53
  I was up at 2:30 and Then moving out to the hallways at 4:30 for
• 1:30:57
  our pre warm up in that for four or five days in a row and it
• 1:31:01
  just has got to be. So, I raised the big stink the
• 1:31:04
  next year and said, look, you guys don't schedule the
• 1:31:07
  heptathlon and decathlon four days in a row.
• 1:31:09
  Give us a break. You know, especially people that
• 1:31:11
  are coaching both ends. So they always live it now and
• 1:31:15
  they split it until Tokyo, this year was supposed to be all in
• 1:31:19
  the same day happened deck, the same day, which I'm really
• 1:31:23
  thankful that I'm not involved. Called anymore because that
• 1:31:26
  would be a bear. That would Probably did, you
• 1:31:33
  might have been, did you get sick from stress and lack of
• 1:31:36
  Sandy food in our room? Can't remember forgetting
• 1:31:43
  Sheldon's, who is a great high jumper from the from?
• 1:31:47
  She was a great singer from the University of Arizona jump 68.
• 1:31:56
  yeah, I miss you and I was trying to think of
• 1:32:27
  well done. So back up to the yeah, you paid
• 1:32:45
  for that's what it is. So bad.
• 1:32:55
  That's awesome. Back up to the front of Beijing
• 1:32:59
  down in the what do you call it? The call room down there where
• 1:33:03
  they're letting the athletes or you know they tell them when
• 1:33:05
  it's time to go out for their next event.
• 1:33:07
  Well, it because they have tassel on one second.
• 1:33:09
  They got there with ization of that event.
• 1:33:12
  Normally, the first, as I said before, the first group, we
• 1:33:15
  really gets the short end. So the decathlon goes first, I
• 1:33:18
  think it was a Monday Tuesday and it was chaos.
• 1:33:21
  There's one the guy coordinating that call room as to tell the
• 1:33:26
  athletes you got 15 minutes, 10 minutes 5 minutes.
• 1:33:29
  Now we're going to go out and begin the shot.
• 1:33:31
  Put the language was a huge problem over there and
• 1:33:36
  everything was written in the room in Chinese and nobody can
• 1:33:41
  understand it. You could even figure it out and
• 1:33:43
  scribble all over. So, there was a couple of
• 1:33:46
  miscues where people started out and back in started out back in.
• 1:33:50
  So it throws a tizzy and Your warmup.
• 1:33:53
  So, by the beginning of the second, the end of the first day
• 1:33:56
  in the beginning of the second day, I said that's it.
• 1:33:59
  And I know most of the athletes and I knew all the coaches from
• 1:34:02
  all the other countries. I said, I'm taking charge of
• 1:34:04
  this place and I ran down to the technical room.
• 1:34:07
  I talked to one of the guys, from you sat up, I said, give me
• 1:34:10
  all the happening and I had all the papers.
• 1:34:13
  So I suggest listen to me, I'll tell you when to go out in the
• 1:34:16
  field. So we took over and it worked
• 1:34:20
  out really well. It worked out really well.
• 1:34:29
  You know, it is such an undertaking, you know, I deal a
• 1:34:32
  lot with the NCAA championships doing all the equipment and such
• 1:34:36
  and, you know, that's such an undertaking for all the schools
• 1:34:39
  in the country to come to one location and warm-up and the
• 1:34:42
  meat and just all that. It's just unbelievable.
• 1:34:45
  I can't imagine the undertaking of an Olympic event, especially
• 1:34:50
  for track and field because there's so many different
• 1:34:52
  events, but you brought up a good point about the language
• 1:34:54
  barrier alone, not just our American athletes, but country,
• 1:34:59
  Athletes from all the other countries as well.
• 1:35:02
  During the team's typically have like a translator most with each
• 1:35:05
  athlete or each groups of athletes English, French and
• 1:35:10
  English are the actual languages of the Olympic Games, but most
• 1:35:15
  of the country do speak English, but when we got the China, that
• 1:35:18
  wasn't the case. It was, it was, it was very
• 1:35:20
  tough, it was very tough in China, they really did a good
• 1:35:25
  job, you know. Overall that was a glitch but
• 1:35:28
  there's a million Any cultures that are listening to this
• 1:35:31
  podcast, you can't go to an Olympic Games, World
• 1:35:34
  Championships or anything like that.
• 1:35:35
  Expected to go smooth, there's always going to be haywire and
• 1:35:39
  chaos and what have you? And you just have to hopefully
• 1:35:43
  think of it in advance and be ready for it, and not let it
• 1:35:47
  affect your psyche and affect your performance.
• 1:35:49
  But the here's here's an example, Bri has a rough first
• 1:35:55
  day in Beijing and it's a 15 minute bus ride.
• 1:35:58
  Ride the bus schedule is so and so that, you know, the athletes
• 1:36:02
  can get on the bus and get back to the hotel, 15 minute bus ride
• 1:36:05
  back to the hotel. After they won for the Hep girls
• 1:36:09
  hour-and-a-half bus ride, hour and a half in the bus was so
• 1:36:12
  packed. We were sitting in the very last
• 1:36:16
  row and everybody's standing in the aisles plus all the seats
• 1:36:19
  were taken up and breathe sitting here with her legs
• 1:36:22
  pinned together for an hour and a half and worried about, you
• 1:36:26
  know, keep my first day wasn't near what it should have been.
• 1:36:29
  And so on so forth, come before the javelin one jump went.
• 1:36:33
  Well, the second day and the javelin actually ended up going
• 1:36:37
  well, but she had a groin screaming at her and that was
• 1:36:43
  basically, Sitting in that boss, holding your being squashed into
• 1:36:47
  a corner, after you're fatigued. After winning the 200 meters in,
• 1:36:50
  didn't get a proper warm down because he had to get on the bus
• 1:36:52
  and get back to the hotel. So it's those little things like
• 1:36:56
  that. It's also things, Yeah, it's not
• 1:37:05
  the seven events. There's eight, nine ten, twelve
• 1:37:08
  events that they have to figure out bus schedules.
• 1:37:11
  Warm up. Cool down food language,
• 1:37:14
  barriers, that's amazing. You know, this really does put
• 1:37:16
  in a different perspective for me and they think about the
• 1:37:20
  results of these meats and just, it's not just those seven events
• 1:37:26
  around midnight, by the time they finished 11:30 or midnight,
• 1:37:30
  and there were supposed to be golf carts, that would drive.
• 1:37:33
  Drive them up the hill to the bus and then go back to the
• 1:37:36
  hotel, no golf carts. So I had somebody from USA Track
• 1:37:39
  and Field commandeer one. I said, go just go, get take one
• 1:37:42
  of those things and get over here.
• 1:37:43
  We need to. I said, these guys can't walk up
• 1:37:45
  a hill, you know, they just did five events and finish with the
• 1:37:49
  400. So somebody did it for us and
• 1:37:52
  that was kind of nice. But it's, there's always chaos.
• 1:37:56
  There's always chaos. All right, we're into what I'm
• 1:38:05
  going to call the eighth event, if we're going to use the
• 1:38:07
  decathlon, as our example, to me for this podcast, R8 event is
• 1:38:13
  2016. So the Rio Olympics again.
• 1:38:18
  I don't know how you and Ashton and Bree continue to do this but
• 1:38:22
  just year after year of just high-level nests, the Rio
• 1:38:26
  Olympics happen or the scheduled for 2016.
• 1:38:31
  So again you got to go through you uh straws and Canadian
• 1:38:33
  trials. And you got to stay healthy and
• 1:38:35
  you got a place in the top three to make the team.
• 1:38:37
  And, you know, you're going for the gold at the Olympics.
• 1:38:41
  Talk to us about 2016. Not the ending of 2016 after
• 1:38:46
  tremendous pressure, they would 2015 as the year.
• 1:38:49
  How would that go down looking back when you compare it to
• 1:38:54
  London? And if you compare the two
• 1:38:57
  London was London was fun. They Rio was work.
• 1:39:03
  We If y'all was all business business business, and it was
• 1:39:07
  the culmination for Bree commitment, for those four years
• 1:39:12
  was now coming to a head on August 8th and 9th in Rio.
• 1:39:17
  And so any little twinge, he rape their, that kind of thing.
• 1:39:23
  You know, naturally would be over-glorified one point in
• 1:39:28
  Santa Barbara, her shins that are bothering her freshman year
• 1:39:32
  in high school and college. I think she had add a stress
• 1:39:34
  fracture. So Hirsch instead of bothering
• 1:39:36
  her Santa Barbara and right away.
• 1:39:38
  She thought, oh my God, I got to the stress fracture.
• 1:39:40
  Well, turned out, we had a kind of back backpedal little bit for
• 1:39:45
  a week but it wasn't. It was just who knows what it
• 1:39:48
  was a strain or something like that.
• 1:39:50
  But it went away and went away. We little thing became paranoid
• 1:39:56
  because this could be This could be the very, very last chance,
• 1:40:02
  you know, for either of them, you know.
• 1:40:04
  And in hindsight, if you want to talk about that later, you know,
• 1:40:08
  their retirement and all that stuff.
• 1:40:10
  So the pressure was tremendous, the pressure was tremendous so
• 1:40:15
  much. So yeah, later that's that's
• 1:40:16
  event. Number 9, after being went first
• 1:40:21
  August 8th and 9th Ashwin, August 17th and 18th.
• 1:40:27
  I got a plane that midnight went home after ask you one.
• 1:40:30
  I said, I, I'm exhausted action. I am fried, I just have to go
• 1:40:35
  home. So he said, you're not going to
• 1:40:37
  be for the awards ceremony. I said, no, just make sure you
• 1:40:39
  smile. I watched it on TV and I went
• 1:40:43
  home and then got sick as a dog. It was it was intense.
• 1:40:50
  It was good, I wouldn't change anything.
• 1:40:53
  Well interesting it's a walk in the park.
• 1:40:55
  If you think it's going to go just according to how you script
• 1:40:59
  it. You'd better think again, I'm
• 1:41:02
  glad we did it. I'm glad to have been a part of
• 1:41:05
  it. I'm glad the challenge has
• 1:41:08
  cropped up and I'm more proud and glad that we met those
• 1:41:11
  challenges and kicked them and accomplished what we wanted to
• 1:41:15
  accomplish, it was good. It's interesting.
• 1:41:25
  I found it fascinating. You talked about 2016 wasn't as
• 1:41:29
  fun, it was all work. Because again, the the magnitude
• 1:41:32
  of we're both of these athletes are in their careers.
• 1:41:36
  And you know, each athlete's career is most of the time,
• 1:41:40
  there are some just amazing freaks out there but your career
• 1:41:44
  and athleticism at this. Level is pretty limited.
• 1:41:47
  Its measure typically in a few years, not In a decade.
• 1:41:53
  So every little nagging injury. The stress gets higher on.
• 1:41:58
  The oh is this the one that takes me out of the Olympics or
• 1:42:01
  Preparation. So it's interesting that aspect
• 1:42:04
  of it. I'm alluded that this to me for
• 1:42:07
  this podcast, this was the eighth event, the ninth event is
• 1:42:11
  the retirement. So let's let's start
• 1:42:13
  transitioning as we do between events.
• 1:42:16
  Was there talk of Never, Never retirement.
• 1:42:20
  Before the Olympics was it like here?
• 1:42:21
  This is going to be the last to Roar.
• 1:42:22
  How did that all come about never along those seven years?
• 1:42:26
  Did we ever talk about that? Because everything was so
• 1:42:29
  focused on on success in London and then success in Rio.
• 1:42:34
  And so everything was pointed there anything else to be talked
• 1:42:38
  about would be Superfluous in not important.
• 1:42:41
  So no. So all of 2016, we are just
• 1:42:49
  focused on Rio and that's it was all the Fallen 16.
• 1:42:53
  We are talking about spring and summer and towards Rio something
• 1:42:57
  that was hypothetical and maybe became reality and so on.
• 1:43:01
  But we deal with that the day after the Olympic games are
• 1:43:05
  over, you know, whenever that that issue, maybe so no answer
• 1:43:08
  your question. No, there was never a talk
• 1:43:10
  retirement. Did I have thoughts that they
• 1:43:12
  have thoughts? Of course, everybody does.
• 1:43:14
  But talk about it. No discuss it now.
• 1:43:21
  It never did until about November.
• 1:43:24
  So when did it start with some of the discussions between the
• 1:43:27
  three of us? Never happen to about November
• 1:43:29
  for something like that. Very early, November, back in
• 1:43:32
  Eugene, we finished the games. I went home, they they planned
• 1:43:41
  on taking off the same amount of time.
• 1:43:43
  I said, there's no indoor season next year.
• 1:43:44
  For sure. We are not doing an indoor.
• 1:43:47
  Season left it at that before, I left for you, and I said, take
• 1:43:51
  your time off and give me a call late in October November.
• 1:43:54
  We'll get together and figure out what we're going to do for
• 1:43:56
  the next year. So, I went home to, I hadn't
• 1:44:00
  seen my wife, the whole year. We were 260 Days on the Road
• 1:44:04
  that year. She had moved down to Reno to
• 1:44:08
  help my son and so I flew back to me.
• 1:44:11
  Oh wow! The Oregon and we got back to
• 1:44:15
  Oregon. Maybe early September and we
• 1:44:18
  were just passing around hanging around Oregon.
• 1:44:20
  And Bri was an ash were traveling.
• 1:44:22
  They went and climb machupicchu down in Peru or somewhere.
• 1:44:28
  Yeah, they went all over. They like to do that during the
• 1:44:31
  offseason and it's great. It's just a good diversion good
• 1:44:34
  for them. So, I'm thinking in this is me
• 1:44:39
  now, I'm thinking in the back of my mind.
• 1:44:41
  I said, I hope they retire. I just hope they are thinking
• 1:44:44
  this through and they just walk away.
• 1:44:47
  I'm not telling anybody this. I'm not telling anybody just
• 1:44:57
  will pop pause there were you thinking that because You knew
• 1:45:02
  you had to be their coach until the last day Roberts 2020, or
• 1:45:06
  for a couple reasons. Why were you thinking that?
• 1:45:08
  You hope they were tired instead of making steel?
• 1:45:11
  Or someone who that pressure that last year, last couple of
• 1:45:14
  years was intense and three, I was contracted to coaching for
• 1:45:19
  one more year through 2017. And I said, if they go, I'll do
• 1:45:23
  it. But so maybe maybe a fourth idea
• 1:45:28
  was saying, you know, what the best thing you do.
• 1:45:31
  Do would be to leave on top and that's where they're at right
• 1:45:33
  now. I said, but in all the decisions
• 1:45:36
  are there than a technical decision between the lines and
• 1:45:39
  track and field every other decision in their life, they
• 1:45:42
  made they made. And then maybe came back to the
• 1:45:45
  coaches said, hey, coach is what we're going to do and so on and
• 1:45:48
  so forth and that's how it should be.
• 1:45:50
  The coach should make the decisions relative, what happens
• 1:45:53
  on the track and Shot Circle and so on and so forth, so mad and I
• 1:46:01
  Talked a lot. And we went out to dinner a lot
• 1:46:02
  and Eugene and just kind of hung out and took walks and that
• 1:46:05
  there's some football games and stuff and Brie calls me in early
• 1:46:10
  November and says, hey, we haven't talked to him, well, why
• 1:46:13
  don't you come on, over and we'll chat a little bit.
• 1:46:16
  I said yeah. Okay, so I said, I bought a
• 1:46:19
  couple days from now she's yeah. Come on over.
• 1:46:22
  So mad kept asking me, should do you think they're going to
• 1:46:27
  retire? I sense, he's, I don't know.
• 1:46:28
  But that would be to me the Best thing.
• 1:46:32
  So we go over. I go.
• 1:46:33
  I drive over and a little small talk.
• 1:46:35
  We had seen each other since all right, since Bo we chat a little
• 1:46:39
  bit and after about 10 minutes I'm getting the answer.
• 1:46:41
  I said, all right that's it. Cut to the chase.
• 1:46:45
  What are you going to do? What's going on?
• 1:46:47
  And we were both sitting at this little kitchen and it got like
• 1:46:51
  the time in the car. Going to Portland for the
• 1:46:54
  airport. I got very very quiet and Bri
• 1:46:59
  was sitting on ashes left. Left.
• 1:47:01
  And they both looked at each other and they both looked over
• 1:47:05
  me. And I think it was Bri, or maybe
• 1:47:08
  they both said it together said coach, we're done.
• 1:47:12
  We're finished with track and field and before they could even
• 1:47:16
  go on, I said, stop. And I said, Hallelujah, that is
• 1:47:20
  a great decision. I said, now, tell me how did you
• 1:47:23
  get to this decision? To just tell me the whole
• 1:47:25
  process before like that. Look at you, you're all even in
• 1:47:35
  retirement of all right. Talk to you about the best.
• 1:47:38
  They could be. They're going out on top.
• 1:47:41
  How often do you see that the reality of it?
• 1:47:52
  How long can you beat the heptathlon and decathlon?
• 1:47:55
  Something's going to bite you. You're going to no Mark
• 1:47:57
  somewhere. Are you know, or something's bad
• 1:48:00
  going to happen? You're going to get a freaky
• 1:48:01
  injury or something like that to leave on top like that.
• 1:48:05
  I just I was so tickled. It was like I might have gone
• 1:48:09
  home and got a McDonald's, soft ice cream cone that day or
• 1:48:12
  something. I can't remember.
• 1:48:17
  So we can they didn't want to Influence the other their final
• 1:48:30
  decision. So they both thought about it
• 1:48:33
  completely and you'd have to ask action bre exactly.
• 1:48:37
  But I think I understood what they said, no, Ashton, maybe in
• 1:48:43
  late October, just before I came over November early November,
• 1:48:47
  they were sitting at the table and breed that day was out on
• 1:48:52
  the little. She went out into the jog, took
• 1:48:54
  a job used to go run in the neighborhood or something and
• 1:48:57
  was thinking to herself. If that they say, you know what,
• 1:49:00
  I don't know if I'm going to do this anymore, I don't know if I
• 1:49:02
  want to go throw Med balls against the wall and train
• 1:49:04
  anymore. It's just the enthusiasm isn't
• 1:49:08
  there because of her commitment? I mean, unbelievable.
• 1:49:12
  Commitment II. This verbiage that were giving
• 1:49:16
  right here. Can't even describe the
• 1:49:18
  commitment in the intensity and the focus for 365 days.
• 1:49:22
  A year all year round for four years and so on.
• 1:49:25
  So she was thinking that today and then Then at dinner, that
• 1:49:29
  night actually looked up to her and said something along the
• 1:49:31
  line said, Bree. I'm done.
• 1:49:33
  I'm not, I'm not going to go on and bring goes, holy cow.
• 1:49:37
  That's amazing. Because just today, I was
• 1:49:40
  thinking that so briefs at for another couple weeks and thought
• 1:49:43
  about it, and then she came back to a she said, Ash, I'm done
• 1:49:46
  too. Let's go have an ice cream cone.
• 1:49:58
  You know, it's interesting as I Was preparing for this episode
• 1:50:03
  in no newly knowing that we were going to get to the retirement.
• 1:50:07
  One of the questions that I had thought about asking you was,
• 1:50:11
  did you guys ever consider instead of doing the the
• 1:50:14
  combined events going down to a single event?
• 1:50:17
  You know, maybe Ashton goes back to the Foreigner hurdles and
• 1:50:20
  finishes out his career for the next four years as a foreigner
• 1:50:22
  hurdler and maybe bring him along.
• 1:50:24
  John my mind. God bless that still would love
• 1:50:26
  to see her at the phone. Before I did that, lettuce is MM
• 1:50:30
  aspect of life outside of track and field in.
• 1:50:34
  So I left whatever decision. In this case, the retirement
• 1:50:37
  decision totally up to them with, if they ask, for my
• 1:50:40
  opinion, then I would have given my opinion.
• 1:50:43
  But if they didn't ask, I said they're mature.
• 1:50:47
  So much. They'll remind me about
• 1:50:49
  mentioning something about Bill to me, so I won't forget it, but
• 1:50:54
  so much. So that I knew that they would
• 1:50:56
  ever They made. I knew it would be the correct
• 1:50:59
  decision. So, in my mind.
• 1:51:01
  Yes. Here's where my thought they
• 1:51:03
  could go for four more years. Probably won't do that.
• 1:51:06
  But they could, or they could train next year's, decathlon,
• 1:51:09
  heptathlon and go to Gus's because, Ashley never did you
• 1:51:12
  got this? Because you got hurt his back
• 1:51:14
  warming up, one day over there and couldn't do it and then
• 1:51:17
  retire, or they could do individual events.
• 1:51:20
  Like, you just said, ask you go back to the hurdles or pull V.
• 1:51:25
  You could be a great pole, vaulter abrecan Long, John?
• 1:51:27
  I'm poor, you know, run hurdles, you around 1298 and you could
• 1:51:30
  even run faster she focused on them or they could walk away.
• 1:51:34
  So to me, they had four options and they chose to walk away and
• 1:51:38
  I said, great, that's great. Yeah, it doesn't seem like the
• 1:51:48
  athleticism part. I'm sorry, the combined events
• 1:51:52
  part of athleticism was the, the the, the reason it was more of
• 1:51:57
  the overall commitment level and going out on top, whether they
• 1:52:01
  were no people or individual, people didn't seem like that was
• 1:52:05
  even a part of it. That's interesting.
• 1:52:07
  You know, I don't care what level you're at, whatever level
• 1:52:11
  you beginner intermediate and advanced whatever.
• 1:52:14
  If you don't give it, 100% Focus, attention and commitment,
• 1:52:20
  then it's going to come and bite you.
• 1:52:23
  You are not going to be as successful as you can.
• 1:52:26
  And they were so focused that for years in Oregon is a focused
• 1:52:30
  time and then for another six years or so after Oregon was
• 1:52:34
  another Focus time. That's, that's enough.
• 1:52:37
  That's enough. That's that's frying, your, you
• 1:52:40
  know, it's amazing as we wrap up this ninth event here earlier, I
• 1:52:45
  asked The question about Bree and Ashton as a couple and was
• 1:52:49
  it a case of one plus one equals three.
• 1:52:52
  But after hearing this, just amazing time of tracking field
• 1:52:57
  specifically, in Combined events, I'm coming to the
• 1:53:00
  conclusion that this was actually a one plus one plus one
• 1:53:03
  equals four Harry, you are as intricate to this timing as
• 1:53:08
  Ashton or Bree is as well. Well, that's nice for you to
• 1:53:14
  say. But I I know this, we were all
• 1:53:17
  on the same page, we were all fully 100% committed knowing
• 1:53:22
  well that even though we were committed, you know, bad stuff
• 1:53:26
  can happen and it could go haywire and I felt in every one
• 1:53:32
  of my moves as a coach over all the years.
• 1:53:36
  Every move that I made, I stepped up a little bit higher
• 1:53:39
  to a more demanding program or tougher conference or something
• 1:53:45
  like Like that. And I had to move up, my skill
• 1:53:49
  level that much higher, and I leaned on other people to help
• 1:53:53
  me along that line when I got the call from Vin to come and
• 1:53:56
  work with these Ashley Brie, and the other kids that organ when I
• 1:54:00
  was here at the University, I knew Harry you better pull out
• 1:54:04
  every card and every trick you have and what you've learned
• 1:54:08
  over all these years because you're going to need it for this
• 1:54:10
  for this next number of years, whatever our be so it was good.
• 1:54:15
  You did that, you said to remind you about a story.
• 1:54:17
  About Bill to me, Goku me very articulate guy and Lubbock
• 1:54:22
  Champion 1968 in decathlon, former world record holder, as
• 1:54:26
  you breathe and announced. I said in November.
• 1:54:29
  I said well when are you going to announce this?
• 1:54:31
  I said I won't say a thing. And I had to keep it quiet for
• 1:54:34
  two months and in fact being over in Monaco I was over Monaco
• 1:54:38
  for the banquet in December. A lot of questions were being
• 1:54:42
  asked, I said, I don't know. They'll will start training a
• 1:54:45
  January, or something like ice, making up, who he fool you, you
• 1:54:49
  know, whatever. But when they announced that
• 1:54:52
  January on their website, they in fact Madeline my wife would
• 1:54:56
  say, what are they going to say? I said, I don't know what
• 1:55:01
  they're going to say mad, but whatever it is, it's going to be
• 1:55:03
  very well done. And I just knew that because
• 1:55:06
  that's the kind of people they are.
• 1:55:08
  And it was phenomenal. Their writings on their side by
• 1:55:12
  side on their little website were phenomenal.
• 1:55:14
  Guilt to me called me and And who's the meeting guy?
• 1:55:17
  Who wrote that our and I said, and Bill's a real smart guy said
• 1:55:21
  bill. I told you and he knew Ashbury,
• 1:55:24
  he knew of them were well. I said they're really smart
• 1:55:26
  kids. They're really good kids.
• 1:55:28
  I mean, good athletes. No question about it, but really
• 1:55:31
  good. Good.
• 1:55:32
  Smart kids impractical. Kids, I said they won't, they
• 1:55:35
  won't ever been of that. He said, wow, that's amazing.
• 1:55:38
  That's amazing. So that was a, that was to me
• 1:55:40
  that was a nice honor coming from formerly.
• 1:55:43
  Absolutely again, it's really show.
• 1:55:45
  As the culmination we're talking about combined events, you know,
• 1:55:48
  seven events are ten events as the one event for athleticism
• 1:55:52
  about you. What you're really talking about
• 1:55:53
  there. That's a great example of the
• 1:55:55
  writing and the thoughtfulness of it, you know, this is a
• 1:55:58
  combination of so many things from Bri and Ashton's the way
• 1:56:03
  they were raised as their parents, the thoughtfulness of
• 1:56:07
  the going to Oregon and the nurturing of the organ system in
• 1:56:11
  the Nike and the nurturing of the OTC and that includes you
• 1:56:15
  and Terry, it is a real combination of so many factors.
• 1:56:21
  It was, it was, it was a great seven years, two nights after
• 1:56:27
  they in November. That was in November when they
• 1:56:30
  when I went over to their house. And they told me about it, two
• 1:56:32
  nights later. I said that that night, I said,
• 1:56:36
  let's go to Old. Let's go to dinners.
• 1:56:37
  We hadn't even been together since real.
• 1:56:39
  We'd even celebrate since real. So, I said, let's go to dinner.
• 1:56:42
  So, we went to the Pepe and jionni's the Italian place right
• 1:56:45
  there in town. And it cold typical November
• 1:56:48
  cold rainy night, you know, No they came over pick Madeline I
• 1:56:52
  up at Milo apartment and as we're driving over to Becky and
• 1:56:57
  jionni's if you know where it is just down the street from
• 1:56:59
  Hayward Field action pulls up. The Hayward Field has a set of
• 1:57:04
  keys and he stops the car opens the gate and we all held hands.
• 1:57:11
  I'm getting emotional and took one last walk around the track.
• 1:57:16
  It was amazing. It was really, it was it was
• 1:57:21
  amazing. Wow.
• 1:57:25
  Yeah, that's a you guys. You keep using the illusion of I
• 1:57:32
  think you're a comedian emotionally reading.
• 1:57:35
  It. The only thing that broke it up
• 1:57:38
  a little bit, was that action? Every once in a while, we'd stop
• 1:57:41
  in the shot put and make believe he's coming across the circle.
• 1:57:45
  We never even got to talk about that.
• 1:57:46
  We're not going to get there. But oh man that's amazing.
• 1:57:50
  I love the fact. By the way that Ashton had his
• 1:57:53
  own set of keys to Hayward Field.
• 1:57:59
  Oh yeah. And so I've been using the
• 1:58:07
  decathlon as a if it's an allegory or whatnot.
• 1:58:12
  But here we are. We're at the tenth event in the
• 1:58:15
  vision I had for this story Harry and we're at the 1500.
• 1:58:19
  So we just finished with the retirement of Ashton and Bree
• 1:58:24
  which effectively is your retirement.
• 1:58:26
  It's as a coach and you are now I'd love to talk about what you
• 1:58:31
  have done since then it's been three years and now at that
• 1:58:35
  point and you know you're still in this Sport and great ways
• 1:58:38
  your kind of transitioning from a coach of athletes to a coach
• 1:58:42
  of coaches. Yeah and I really enjoy that all
• 1:58:47
  those years coaching athletes was phenomenal and I'm glad I
• 1:58:51
  did it and I'm glad that ended the way it ended.
• 1:58:56
  And I was ready. I was really ready to especially
• 1:58:59
  with the intensity of those last seven years in the expectations
• 1:59:03
  of those last seven years. I was ready to get away from
• 1:59:06
  that. Just to experience to know that
• 1:59:09
  too many things can go haywire and I was just happy to be done
• 1:59:15
  with that. So coaching now coaches, I said
• 1:59:17
  I have all this knowledge and there's no sense going to the
• 1:59:20
  Grave with it. I want to share it with as many
• 1:59:22
  people as possible. So I've done clinics in.
• 1:59:26
  Is Victor Lopez has brought me to The Knack, ack, region quite
• 1:59:30
  a bit and Indonesia asked me to come there for a couple of
• 1:59:35
  years, not permanently. I was going back and forth, you
• 1:59:38
  know, for maybe three four weeks at a time and working with their
• 1:59:42
  coaches to develop their coaches.
• 1:59:44
  So I guess I would work with the athletes a little bit while I'm
• 1:59:48
  working with the coaches and it was a system that I developed by
• 1:59:53
  really when I first started following I'm around, puppy,
• 1:59:56
  dogging, around with Tom, to Les.
• 1:59:58
  I would watch him Coach. And then that evening, I would
• 2:00:01
  ask him questions about why he did this this and this.
• 2:00:05
  So when I give a clinic now, two, coaches, Carl, and I did a
• 2:00:09
  big clinic in Costa Rica to almost two weeks this July and
• 2:00:14
  it's a learned by watching. I call it not learn by doing
• 2:00:18
  this. Dangerous people old people can
• 2:00:20
  get hurt that are out of shape trying to pull V or something.
• 2:00:23
  I don't think that's the way to go, but this is learned by
• 2:00:25
  watching us. I will Coach and athlete or two
• 2:00:28
  in the long jump. Let's say the other coaches
• 2:00:30
  standing around, they can take video whatever.
• 2:00:32
  But for sure, they take notes and then after that 45 minute or
• 2:00:36
  hour session, they sit down with me and say, okay, you did this
• 2:00:39
  this in this. Why did you make this particular
• 2:00:41
  move? When the athlete was doing this?
• 2:00:44
  It's a great way to learn. It's really a great way to learn
• 2:00:47
  and I really encourage the governing bodies to do it this
• 2:00:53
  way because they should take the coach.
• 2:00:56
  Churches and the great athletes from the past that are still in
• 2:00:59
  some way shape and have them, give that information back to
• 2:01:03
  the kids and, and to the coaching young socialists, great
• 2:01:06
  way to go. You know, that is fascinating
• 2:01:09
  because what you're doing there and correct me.
• 2:01:11
  If I'm misunderstanding this, you're recreating the way you
• 2:01:15
  learned how to coach that learn by watching and then absolute
• 2:01:18
  skiing. Yeah, absolutely, a in Costa
• 2:01:22
  Rica. We had 87 coaches from South
• 2:01:25
  America. All the Caribbeans in it was a
• 2:01:27
  phenomenal eleven eleven or twelve days of the year there,
• 2:01:31
  it was phenomenal and Pan, American Sports hired me.
• 2:01:35
  Now, the coronavirus, put a niche on it, I was supposed to
• 2:01:39
  be in Milan in April Tenerife. The whole month of May for a
• 2:01:43
  huge clinic and then in a pre-olympic camp in Tokyo and
• 2:01:47
  July for the South American coaches and front of Tokyo
• 2:01:52
  games. But all that got cancelled.
• 2:01:53
  But yeah, Pan American Sports, they're automatic.
• 2:01:56
  Go City brought me on board to do these.
• 2:01:58
  And so I'm guessing if we all make it through, this
• 2:02:01
  coronavirus mess will kick it back up next year.
• 2:02:04
  Sometime, what about any Team USA work with our decathletes
• 2:02:08
  and who might be the decathletes that you kind of have your eye
• 2:02:10
  on for Team? USA?
• 2:02:12
  Right now. Well, I've spoken to a number of
• 2:02:17
  the coaches from Team USA, and other the cat line, guys, double
• 2:02:24
  z Zacks, imix coached Davis back at University of Wisconsin and I
• 2:02:28
  check quite often and I guess it doubles easy.
• 2:02:32
  Zach was doing pretty darn. Well individual events and he
• 2:02:35
  was pretty much ready to go for the trials and maybe even sneak
• 2:02:38
  onto the podium who knows that the game so it could have been
• 2:02:41
  wide open. But there's this we lost that
• 2:02:45
  Visa program years ago, it's really been scattered.
• 2:02:48
  It's really been scattered in the multi events and it's not
• 2:02:52
  crying over spilled milk, Mike but did Decathlon, heptathlon
• 2:02:57
  people need way more support, not only financially, but just
• 2:03:03
  coaching wise and say, does a long jumper, a high jumper or
• 2:03:06
  whoever they need support. Don't get me wrong.
• 2:03:09
  Those guys, need support, those galaxies support, but in the
• 2:03:12
  multi events, because you got so many things going on, you need
• 2:03:16
  that support system and we don't have them anymore.
• 2:03:19
  And the budgets aren't such that.
• 2:03:22
  A lot of kids can get help. So, when the Visa program,
• 2:03:26
  Running. We never lost the USA vs.
• 2:03:28
  Germany meat because we had always number five, six, seven,
• 2:03:33
  eight, nine and ten. They were all scoring over 1000.
• 2:03:36
  Now we have two or three guys going over 8,000 and the depth
• 2:03:41
  is not there and you know in the multi vents the depth is not
• 2:03:44
  there. One injury can throw it into a
• 2:03:47
  tizzy and you mentioned a double z who I've known him since high
• 2:03:52
  school. He is a he was a phenomenal
• 2:03:54
  Talent back. Then it continues.
• 2:03:55
  To be so who are, who are other decathletes right now, that are
• 2:04:00
  pretty special. There's I can't remember his
• 2:04:03
  name but the the pole vaulter, the 18 foot pole, vaulter.
• 2:04:06
  He broke pull Terex, actually, school records, and scored 1040.
• 2:04:10
  I think at Michigan State. He's down in Santa Barbara
• 2:04:13
  training with Josh priest her. There's a guy back in South
• 2:04:18
  Carolina training. I think he went 80 200 last
• 2:04:21
  year, so there's a bunch of guys Double Z when C4 is BR the other
• 2:04:29
  guys are around, 80 to 80 100 and they're good, they're good
• 2:04:32
  scores. But unfortunately in today's
• 2:04:35
  world it's going to take a minimum probably of 84 probably
• 2:04:39
  85 to get on the podium. So we need we need a boost.
• 2:04:44
  If there's a sponsor listening to this podcast, give me a call.
• 2:04:47
  I'll take your check. Well, Harry, I love that.
• 2:04:54
  Whether it's with Team USA. A or within the are instead of
• 2:04:57
  lay system or Pan Am and all the other amazing countries you
• 2:05:02
  mentioned. I love that you're still
• 2:05:04
  involved with our sport because that dissemination of knowledge
• 2:05:09
  that you have will make us all better.
• 2:05:12
  It'll come back to kid competing here in America, in one shape or
• 2:05:17
  form because that coat that kids coach is going to talk to a
• 2:05:20
  coach that you talk to, you know, years past.
• 2:05:23
  So it's just phenomenal to see your reach.
• 2:05:26
  Throughout this country, in this great sport of track and field
• 2:05:30
  as it relates to the coaching of this this event.
• 2:05:34
  Well, thank you. And in behalf of you and Gil
• 2:05:38
  doing these podcasts. Like this, this is just another
• 2:05:41
  learning environment. Maybe a couple things out of
• 2:05:44
  this people can take from what I said, but if they can have more
• 2:05:47
  of these podcasts as you're doing and pick up a thing here,
• 2:05:51
  there that's a great way to go. That's a great way to go.
• 2:05:54
  Well, you know, I Started this here with us agila thetax to
• 2:05:58
  provide value for coaches. That's one of the tenants of
• 2:06:02
  that we look forward and whether it's the equipment or service
• 2:06:06
  and things like that and when you reached out about being on
• 2:06:11
  the podcast and you know, I stretched it use you said, hey,
• 2:06:13
  I'd love to talk about p.k. TC and I said, yeah, that's
• 2:06:16
  awesome. I'd love to have to do three of
• 2:06:17
  them with you, you know, your heart was in the realm of value.
• 2:06:22
  How can we do this? Mike?
• 2:06:24
  So that we can provide You two young coaches out there that are
• 2:06:28
  still learning how to coach. And so that really, you know,
• 2:06:32
  kind of was the perfect mesh between you and I of how can we
• 2:06:35
  provide value to coaches out there?
• 2:06:37
  And I certainly think we've done it over these past three
• 2:06:40
  episodes. Can I give you one little tidbit
• 2:06:43
  of information, please? Please something that bill to me
• 2:06:50
  told me years ago, and it weighed so heavily.
• 2:06:54
  And so positively, The on all the successes that I had had as
• 2:07:00
  a coach. So I picked that up from him.
• 2:07:03
  I can remember exactly right in the middle of the grass field at
• 2:07:07
  UCSB track in in August of 1971 and we are warming up.
• 2:07:13
  He and Barry King and I bill was still doing some Striders and
• 2:07:16
  staying in shape and so and he's done competing, but he we were
• 2:07:20
  chatting and I just got to know him that week and he said, you
• 2:07:23
  know what, Harry in 1968 I didn't trade it all.
• 2:07:27
  I said, you trained, you won the Olympic Games.
• 2:07:29
  He's what do I? What do you mean?
• 2:07:30
  He goes, you put in all the work, the year before the games.
• 2:07:35
  The people that train real hard in the Olympic year, you know,
• 2:07:39
  because you're all fired up. The games are going on, you're
• 2:07:42
  more motivated. Usually come up a little bit on
• 2:07:45
  the injury or a key side or maybe they're over train into
• 2:07:48
  flat and so on and I use that I didn't know exactly how but I
• 2:07:54
  use that thought in every Pre-olympic year I did with any
• 2:07:57
  multi-event athlete, I had and we busted hump and say 2015,
• 2:08:03
  with Ashley, Brie going into 16 and then in 16, and in 12 for
• 2:08:09
  the Olympic year in London, you can shape in five weeks.
• 2:08:12
  That's all it takes, right? And then you just like a golfer
• 2:08:15
  you just play you just everything.
• 2:08:18
  You do is quality and no quantity and it works, it works.
• 2:08:23
  So this is something like that. Just a little cute like that
• 2:08:27
  then you design. It is is tremendous that I
• 2:08:31
  picked that up from an athlete. Maybe people can pick it up from
• 2:08:34
  podcast. I love it.
• 2:08:35
  That's a great. Wrap up to these.
• 2:08:38
  Awesome, three episodes Harry. Again, you know, I can't say
• 2:08:42
  thank you enough. This is one of my I've been so
• 2:08:46
  blessed with tracking field through coaching and now it's
• 2:08:49
  our guilt that makes this is a top-10 moment for me as Relates
• 2:08:53
  to our sport, the history, the passion and knowledge boy.
• 2:09:00
  Hey, I'm speechless knock yourself out.
• 2:09:02
  Go, get an ice cream cone. That's it baby.
• 2:09:04
  Thank you so much Harry. Thank you again for joining us.
• 2:09:07
  Really appreciate the value. You brought CMO bye-bye.
• 2:09:12
  Well, I told you I didn't want it to end but like all good
• 2:09:16
  things even world record decathlon's.
• 2:09:19
  They do have to end. So very special Well, for me,
• 2:09:24
  I'm sure, he doesn't want to believe it or accept it because
• 2:09:28
  he's one of the most humblest individuals I've ever met.
• 2:09:31
  But this was a top-10 track and field memory for me to hear it
• 2:09:35
  from Harry to hear him get emotional this.
• 2:09:39
  You could tell this is a real passion of his and this was a
• 2:09:42
  real special time again, found it extremely interesting.
• 2:09:45
  As we wrap up this three-part series, you know, we talked
• 2:09:49
  about I think it was in part to that a professor of History.
• 2:09:53
  Is made them do a report on why he wanted to get an education
• 2:09:57
  and he said it was two words to help and you can really hear
• 2:10:00
  that throughout this career of Harry's.
• 2:10:04
  He is always been a giver and I'm so thankful that he would
• 2:10:09
  give his time to us here at ghilaf latex.
• 2:10:12
  And do this three part series. Speaking of time, if you've made
• 2:10:16
  it this far, really appreciate you joining us.
• 2:10:18
  Your time and attention are super valuable and we don't take
• 2:10:21
  that lightly. We certainly Appreciate that.
• 2:10:23
  You decided to spend it with us today.
• 2:10:26
  Want to know when future episodes of the podcast are
• 2:10:28
  available. Well, the best way is to
• 2:10:30
  subscribe to the podcast in the app.
• 2:10:32
  You are listening to right now, in the meantime, if this episode
• 2:10:36
  of the gulf attics connections, podcast provided you value,
• 2:10:39
  would you consider sharing it to your network?
• 2:10:41
  This way? You can provide others with the
• 2:10:43
  same value that you just received.
• 2:10:46
  That's it for today, folks. Appreciate you joining us.
• 2:10:48
  Can't wait till next time to you.
• 2:10:51
  Join us for another episode of the The Phoenix connections
• 2:10:54
  podcast.