The Coach/Athlete Connection

These days just about every athlete I know is a self-proclaimed “coach”. With the aid of the internet anyone can get online and research sites like Strava, Training Peaks, and many others. If I had a dollar every time I heard, “so and so are flying right now and they did this, so I’m going to do that” I’d be a rich man. Each athlete is unique with different DNA makeup, work ethic, life stresses, and other specific attributes. This is why cookie-cutter training plans typically fail to work, and where the real coaching begins.

Flexibility-

As I continue to evolve and grow as a coach, something I strive for is the ability to be flexible and fluid in my approach. What might work for one person does not necessarily work for another. Although I typically construct my training plans one to two weeks out, I am frequently micro-adjusting to meet the demands of the athletes’ life stresses and other areas that correlate to an athlete’s ability to train and recover. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for trusting the process, but at the end of the day, the process isn’t non-negotiable. Life happens and as coaches, we don’t have the ability to predict the future. Athletes get sick, injured, have kids, go to school, get married, go through a breakup, etc, etc. The ability to be flexible and call an audible on the days training plan to readjust and fit their needs is a crucial component in the coach/athlete relationship.

Communication-

Communication goes hand in hand with flexibility. The more I know about what is going on in my athletes’ lives, the more information I have at my disposal to make an adjustment in training. Daily dialogue via text, Training Peaks, email, and sometimes a good old fashion pow wow or phone call is imperative to getting to the core of what an athlete is going through both on and off the bike. Taking an hour a month to talk about training, recovery habits, and all other areas of life is the best way to connect with my athletes and helps to zoom out and take a bird’s eye view of where the athlete’s head is at. Often, the athlete only shares information about how they feel during training and it’s during these conversations I can pick up on things that may not have been discussed via cyberspace. These matters often have nothing to do with the bike, but once discovered can have a major impact on their current and future training plans. Knowledge is power, and the more information I have the better we can work together to make a stronger game plan moving forward.

Awareness & Foresight-

As the coach/athletes’ relationship develops over time, the coach gains a deeper understanding of what motivates and demotivates the athlete. If something isn’t working and the athlete isn’t seeing results, it is the coach’s job to have a keen sense of awareness when something is out of balance. Little things such as the athlete not communicating effectively, difficulty getting heart rate to respond, greater perceived exertion for an easy workout, increased daily stress, poor sleeping habits, can all be remedied with a heightened sense of awareness. This awareness provides the foresight to fine-tune the training before the condition manifests into something greater. The coach acts as an extra set of eyes that help the athlete get out of their own way before they get sick, injured, overtrained, and burnt out. Happy athletes go faster and it is the coach’s job to keep them aware and confident they are in the right place at the right time with their training and moving towards the direction of their goals.

Thanks for reading!

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