cripple runner wrote:
Athletes of all walks share a serious psychological problem - the inability to understand and accept the limitations of their unique genetic potential. They organize their lives around training to achieve impossible goals and then ascribe their failure to reach those goals to extrinsic factors such as coaching errors. It sounds as though Erin had a good coach in Cook and then bolted when he rightfully informed her that her goals are unrealistic. I'm not saying that Erin should quit professional runnig; instead, I'm saying that she should make decisions based on reality rather than fantasy. That she does otherwise is clear evidence that she is running down a bad intellectual path which will most likely end in complete frustration.
I appreciate your point, but do you really believe that it's "unrealistic" or mere "fantasy" for a 25-year-old 1500-meter runner, having dropped over nine seconds from her PR at the age of 24, to believe that she may be able to drop another five or six seconds within the next three or four years? Does that really seem like an "impossible goal" to you?
One of the reasons that athletes are unable to "understand and accept the limitations of their unique genetic potential" is that it's very difficult to figure out exactly what those limitations are, especially in a sport like distance running. Even when progress stalls out, it's hard to know whether the athlete is bumping up against genetic limitations or merely bumping up against limitations imposed by a particular training program that may be unsuitable for that particular athlete.
I don't know any of the individuals involved in this matter. Of course, Cook has seen and coached many runners, and has undoubtedly developed his own sense of how far various runners are likely to progress. But just as there are lots of runners with unrealistic expectations of future achievement, there are lots of coaches who write off many athletes too quickly, and who are unwilling to gamble on a longshot or an athlete with "iffy" talent when they see more obvious talent elsewhere.