Gail Devers

The best running tip I've ever received is to work your arms and tell your feet to keep up.
 
Transcript: "OK, Josh. I actually love this question. It says, what's the best running tip you've ever received? So I was going through my Graves' disease. And one of the Olympic games in 1992, I couldn't feel-- I was still having some residual effects of feeling my feet or having the numbness that I was feeling in my legs and my feet. And I didn't run one of my rounds right. And so my coach comes up to me. And he's like, what happened? As I couldn't feel my feet. He was like, you could feel your hands, right? I was like, yeah. Yeah I'm good on my hands. He said, OK. Then, you better work the heck out of your arms and tell your feet to keep up. So that's the best tip. Because, I always tell people now, you know your arms tell your legs what to do. So work your arms and tell your feet to keep up. That's my best tip. Thanks for the question."

Coachable athletes are those who are open to listen, ask questions, and become students of their event. They want to learn all they can to understand the event and what they need to do. They practice until it becomes second nature and they don't beat themselves up when they don't get it right. They also try to put what they learn into play immediately in order to make corrections when needed.
 
Transcript: "So the question says, what makes an athlete coachable? I would say, what makes an athlete coachable is somebody that's open to listen to learn. That becomes kind of like that. Sponge, they ask questions so that they understand what it is. A coach is trying to get them to do, but they are key on execution that they go back and they try to execute immediately what they were told or what they saw. That they would come back if it didn't feel right, they try to figure it out and that coachable athletes are also athletes that become students of their event. So they want to learn all that they can learn watching videos of themselves, watching videos of other people so that they can get what they need and understand the event and understand what they need to do when they need to do it. So that execution becomes second nature that they Practice over and over until it becomes second nature and they don't have to think about that. I think that's what makes an athlete coachable that they're open to learn. They want to learn and they're willing to learn and determined to learn and get it right. And if they don't get it right on the first time, they don't beat themselves up, they come back and they figure out. Okay, what went right? What went wrong? I'm going to listen to my coach but also coachable athletes are those who try to put it into To play immediately. They don't want to wait until after a race. Is done to come back and ask the coach, they want to go off of feeling, so they want to get what the coach is telling them in practice so that they can fill it in the race and if they have to make Corrections they can make Corrections, that's my opinion."

I'd rate myself an 8 or 9 because my kids and their friends like hanging out with me, and as long as people do right by me, I do right by them.
 
Transcript: "Okay Eduardo. Okay. On a scale of 1 to 10. How cool do you consider yourself to be and why? Okay, so I'm going to say eight or nine just because I think I think I'm pretty cool. I look at my kids and my kids friends, my kids friends like me. They like even hanging out with me so when kids are cool, teenagers are cool hanging out with you then you're actually okay, I won't Myself attend because I know I'm that person. I'm pretty cool with you. As long as you're cool with me, you do right by me. I'll do right by you, but can't be a 10 because I do have that moment that if you get on the other side of me then you'll see the other side. So but II actually I think I'm I think I'm pretty cool. I'm sure I could be cooler but I'm pretty cool."

To have a good start off the blocks, you have to use them and be explosive. Push off the blocks with your arms as if you were being shot out of a cannon. Don't step out of the blocks, as that won't help you at all. Visualize gathering speed like an airplane on the runway before it takes off and keep practicing to perfect your block start.
 
Transcript: "Maxim. Any advice to have a good start off the blocks? Well, first of all, you have to use the blocks. You know, you want to push off the blocks. Pork your arms. It's like it's like somebody shoot you out of a cannon. You have to be explosive and have a sense of urgency. I see people come out the box and they step out the blocks. Okay. You should have just started from a standing start because that didn't help you at all. What you want to think in your mind is you don't want to give somebody an advantage. I don't want to give you an edge and then I come run you down know if I can To buy my land. Going to beat you by a mile. Be explosive in use the blocks is push. Push push push push. You got to get out. Work your arms and you don't want to get out and stand up. My analogy is always that airplane. If you're on an airplane and the airplane. What do they do? They taxi to Runway to gather speed gather speed and then they lift, they don't need a never come all the way up. If the airplane comes all the way up you're in trouble. You want to work out or cup work away. You do that, you'll have a fantastic block start and then keep perfecting that. Don't be satisfied. Every time you want to get better and better and better and better."

I would choose creativity as my preferred style of coaching. It allows for more flexibility and fun to help bring out the best in athletes.
 
Transcript: "Okay, so I like this question. It says, if you could choose, if you could only choose one style of coaching, would it be structure or creativity, right? So there's an advantage, or probably a disadvantage. To both structure is its routine. It's regimented. It's probably in the books and then creativity gives you a different play on it and I can only choose one. I'm going to say, creativity. because, Structure may not work for everyone. I can be creative in coaching and get out of the person. Exactly what I need from them. You know, whether it be changing the name of something, you know, got all these names that in the books. This is what it's called. Okay? But that doesn't look like what it sounds like. So I'm going to change the name or I'm going to come up with something different to get you to still accomplish. I need to to accomplish, get you to understand what I need you to understand. You know, in whatever event it is, make it fun, you know, creativity allows for you too. I mean, you're not going to hurt the athlete, you were just trying to bring out of them and get them to understand it in a different way. Sometimes structure is too much for people, I like creativity for myself and so I think that's what I would choose and I think I could have fun with that. At whether it just be changing the names of some of some of the things that we're doing with your drills or finding a drill that works. You know, you have problems trying to teach kids how to work their arms properly or how to keep their toe as most people say, dorsiflex. I say is tracked, 0, because if you don't have Tac Toes and got dance told, I need to send you to a dance room and I may bring out of pink tutu. And have you do a little dance for me? But so it's just a matter of. We're all trying to do the same thing. Get the app. Beat to be the best that they can be and it's just a matter of how you do it and I think creativity for me would work because I can have fun with it and practices fun. I will say the kids that I coach last year when their time was done, they were still coming out there and maybe that's because I have a little bit of crazy as me, but I like to be creative. Thank you for the question."

When I felt stiffness during competition, I would rest, elevate my feet, and make sure I took extra time to get a really good warm-up before stretching. I would also mentally prepare myself to give 110% no matter what.
 
Transcript: "So the question says, what was your go-to? When stiffness set in during competition for me, stiffness said in if I was, you know, doing rounds and like in between around of 100, or the hurdles or whatever. And so I'd have to like, you know, especially I can feel it like, on my lead leg, which was my right leg felt like, oh gosh, I feel stiff going over that. Or I feel tight was more, the word that I would use. And so I would just Make sure that in between I would rest elevate my feet and then make sure when I warmed up again, that I got a really good warm-up, like I take extra time to warm up and not really stretch it until I had already warmed up. Done some drills stuff like that first, and then I would stretch and then go back to drills. Again, warming up, I just made sure that it was really, really, really really, really, really warmed up where I was Breaking a sweat and, you know, even putting on more clothes and then was probably necessary. Now, I have no idea if that was right or wrong, but for me, it worked mentally and mental for me was, was, was a big part of it, you know, if mentally, I felt like, I was okay, even if I wasn't then I was going to get out there and perform the way I need it to. So for me, it was just making sure that I did everything that I could do and then when I got on the line stiff or not stiff, It was give your 110% and go for it can't you know, baby this leg. It's there's nothing wrong and I get my therapist to check it out. Make sure that there was no ickes or like an injury, it's just tight. And it's tight for whatever reason. And I mean, I never know the reason for that, but because of that, now you say it's okay, I've warmed up. I know I got a proper warm-up, I've stretched, I didn't overstretch. So now I just got to run and that's basically what I did."