Once a year for the past 7 years I have done a data capture for the research I do as the USA Track & Field biomechanist for the top shot putters in the country.The data capture takes place at the US National Championships / Olympic trials and is used for quantitative 3D motion analysis that is then given to the athletes and their coaches. The process of the data collection requires meticulous standards of setup be made to ensure that valid and quality data can be produced. Any number of slipups in setup or unexpected changes due to grumpy officials, getting moved by tv crews, etc can make the entire data collection completely worthless and unusable. This means significant grant money would go unused and athletes would not receive the scientifically sound research that they’ve come to receive for another year. And because the data collection can only occur at one time each year, requires meticulous adherence to proper research procedures, and involves a variety of unexpected unknowns there is a pretty decent chance that something like that could happen. Unlike research conducted in a lab there are no ‘do-overs.’ Basically, you’ve got one chance to get it right each year and if you don’t you’re screwed. If you ever find yourself in situations like this here are some tips I’ve found useful:

• Plan ahead: Even though I’ve now done this data collection 14 times (7 years with separate collections for men and women) I’ve learned not to be complacent with the setup. Getting complacent or assuming you ‘have it mastered’ quickly leads to mistakes.
• Use lists: All told, the data collection requires quite a bit of equipment (multiple cameras, tripods, batteries, extra batteries and recording media, calibration equipment, etc). Once the competition starts it’s impossible to leave the area until the competition is done and you’ve calibrated the 3D space. I use lists to ensure that I bring out everything that I need on to the field because it’s quite easy to forget something.
• Be prepared for the unexpected: Every time I’ve done one of these data collections something unexpected happens. I can set up an hour early only to be moved by NBC cameras. Or I might have battery failures despite double checking their charges before leaving. I’ve even had complete camera failures while out on the field. All of these can quickly undue your planning and preparation if you allow them to get you flustered and are not at least prepared for the foreseeable issues.
• Have at least double redundancy fail safes: As noted above, something will go wrong. It’s practically inevitable when you’re doing a task with such high quality standards. Knowing this, it’s important to make sure you are covering all possible contingencies. I often bring out 2 extra batteries, 3 extra tapes, an extra camera, a 100 foot extension cord to find external power if I absolutely need it, 2 pens in case one runs out while writing down performances, and a variety of other fail safes. This double redundancy fail safeing is something I learned when I was a Human Factors / Industrial Engineering minor for my PhD (before switching to Exercise Physiology).
• Give yourself time:

  Normally I am the guy who arrives at the last minute and is pulling everything together right at the end. But with something where quality standards are high and opportunities to correct are practically non-existant I make sure I give myself extra time to be prepared.

I know not too many people reading this are likely to be biomechanists and even fewer who work in field (as opposed to lab) settings but I think these general tips can be useful for a variety of situations. If you’ve got any tips that don’t fit in to what I’ve listed above please share it in the comments.

Earlier in the week, we also had a lot of company over to the apartment: one former HPC intern and fellow OU alumni; one of the elite athletes from my track club and his fiancé coming to find an apartment for their upcoming move to the area; and one of the other members of the club who needed a place to stay the night before a mid-morning flight out to Eugene for the USATF National Championships. It was a lot of fun having a ‘full house’ and I’m excited to have a core group of athletes here to train and have around as company.

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The last couple days I’ve been teaching at a USATF Coaches Education school and I’m exhausted. Day 1 had me teaching for 3.5 hours; Day 2 for 7 hours; and Day 3 for 3.5 hours. It worked out to 14 hours of speaking in a 44 hour period. Needless to say I’m sick of hearing myself speak and I’m sure that the students in the class are too. I’m tired physically and mentally and I feel like I need an extended vacation somewhere in a small island in the Caribbean. Though I won’t have that, I am going out to Eugene, OR for USATF National Championships tomorrow. I was supposed to leave today but that’s another story altogether. Unlike the previous 3 years, I’ll have a relatively minimal workload. The past 3 years I’ve had coaching duties for my athletes; doing the motion capture and spatial calibration necessary to fulfill my role as the biomechanist for the shot putters: and managing my company’s operations as the first 3rd party provider of immediate on-site feedback and video analysis services to the athletes. This year I’ll only have the first two to handle. No more 19-20 hour days and micro-managing a crew of 25 people to get an average of 3 camera views on every single event and turn around that video for analysis and distribution of the video to athletes within 60 minutes of the conclusion of the event. No more cataloging, meta-tagging, and backing up those files (600 gb of data last year!) in to the wee hours of the morning. 2 years ago it took me about a full month to recover from the week of running operations at the national championship meet. Due to last year’s lighter schedule (during Olympic years it changes) and the fact that we get more efficient with every job, things weren’t so bad but this year returns to the non-Olympic year format and I’m glad to not be handling that load again on top of dealing with organizing all our remaining equipment orders and ironing out the final steps of our property lease. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a little rest and hammer out the final details of our property lease while I’m there. The goal is to have all aspects of the remaining customs and shipping done by the time I return to NC, pick up whatever equipment that isn’t already in the Triangle from Wilmington, NC, and then start moving everything in to my two public storage rooms to the facility on July 1. I’m also hoping that the two athletes that compete for my club will do well and make the World Championship team. Knocking on wood.

Due to my move, setting up my business, finishing my doctoral dissertation and leaving my collegiate coaching position, most of my coaching for the last 8 months has been done via correspondence or short training camps. But now that things are starting to settle, I’ve returned to more hands on coaching of athletes. While most of these athletes have sought out my services I am also working with a semi-random group of athletes that are a part of a club that I just happen to work with. Working with these athletes has put me in front of the type of athlete I haven’t dealt with in years….those that don’t listen. They could be mediocre (or worse) at what they’re doing and still pursue it as if they’ve got all the answers. They don’t necessarily act rude about it but it’s quite obvious that they think they know better and don’t need help. In essence, they are resistant of change. They’re expecting to suddenly get better or make a break through despite doing the same things that have clearly not worked for them in the past. We all know people like this and I’ve learned that it’s best to let them lead their own march to failure (and hopefully learn from their mistake) rather than to waste your time trying to convince them otherwise.

For the week following my return from China I seemed to lose what was a large part of who I am (an insomniac). For that week, I had, what was for me, really wonky sleep patterns…going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 4:30 or 5am. I did for an entire week but then on day 8 things started to shift and by day 10 I was back to my normal 3am bed time. I wrote previously that the new pattern was annoying me because I wasn’t able to get as much done. I was going to be earlier, sleeping more, AND getting less done. All I can say is that I’m glad to be back to my normal, whatever that is. So much for the myths that the ‘earlybird gets the worm’ or ‘everyone needs 8 hours of sleep.’

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Sorry it’s been a while. Infrequent blog posting on my part means that I’ve been overwhelmed with work. The good part is that it looks like things are all finally starting to fall in to place with HPC. I found a great facility that’s actually two to three times as large as I was originally looking for and it will accomodate sport science

research, athlete training, offices, and storage of the training equipment and goods that I’ll be selling as a separate but related venture. Speaking of which, all our equipment is now within 100 miles of us and we just need to clear things with our customs broker and get everything from a port in Wilmington, NC to our storage in the triangle before we can move in to the training facility. We should be signing the lease any day now. I’ve been saying that for about 2 weeks but there were quite a few errors in the lease that needed changed and it’s held things up a little bit. In any case, I can finally see the end of having a homeless business and if all goes to plan we’ll be moving in on July 1. While dealing with customs brokers, shipping agents, property attorneys, and real estate agents I’ve also started taking on some clients. While I don’t have a facility, I’ve just been training at local high school tracks with the aim of generating some relationships that will allow me to ‘hit the ground running’ when we open our doors. I’ve also been doing a lot of web work lately. First, to bring my 2 main sites (ELITETRACK and HPC company site) closer to W3C validation standards; and 2nd to create the new ecommerce site where I’ll be selling DVDs, Books, and fitness and training equipment like squat stands, bumper plates, olympic bars, kettlebells, and glute-ham developer machines. The idea of this venture and the accompanying ecommerce site will not be to compete with the mega giants of the industry that seem to pride themselves on carrying every crapgadget and training gimmick under the sun; but instead, to provide super high quality versions of the products that are essential to well trained coaches and athletes…and provide them at unbeatable prices. Sorry for the rambling post but I wanted to give a quick update while I had a moment.

I returned from China on Monday morning. The trip went great but I was excited to see my family after 11 days away. I didn’t really sleep on the 20 hour transit back because I wasn’t really tired. There were some good movies on the plane and I was able to get a ton of work done by squeezing out about 7 hours of battery life out of my macbook which made the 12 hour first leg of my trip back to the States relatively easy and productive.

That first night back I went to sleep at 3:30 am which is about my normal time when I’m in the states. I thought I was golden and had made an easy transition back across time zones (Beijing is exactly 12 hours difference from where I live so when it’s 8am at home it’s 8pm in Beijing). By day 2 I learned that this was not the case. On Tuesday I fell asleep before 10pm. I did the same for the past 3 nights. On each of those nights I woke up at 3am, 6am, and 5:15am respectively. While this might seem like a desirable change from my normal 3:30am to 9am sleeping pattern I’m actually hating it. I don’t really like to use alarms to wake up if I don’t have to and with the adjusted circadian rhythm I’ve been sleeping more than usual and more importantly, I’ve seen my productivity drop considerably. The 10pm to 3:30 am time blocks is usually my high-gear productivity time. The time I can get a lot done and when my brain is operating at full tilt. Now it’s my ‘can’t keep my eyes open, fall asleep time.’ I’m hoping that I’ll go back to ‘normal’ soon as there’s no way I’ll be able to continue with my desired productivity with my current sleep schedule.

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