Another good week of input and observations. As some of you have been doing, send me questions or topics you might want to see addressed in the Word.
This week a topic that is a constant in the coaching profession, but my communicating this to you, the athlete, hopefully makes a difference for some of you.
Coaching has become lost in all the technology from today. With all the gadgets out there – from Garmin to Powermeters, to swimming watches, the ability to LOG information is easy, but that is not very important for coaching. As a coach, I don’t care that you ran a certain pace, averaged a certain mph or even swam on a certain interval. As any good coach will tell you – THAT is all noise. Tell me how it felt, what you observed, what you learned, how it went relative to last time you did this set. Tell me abut your breathing, your mechanics, your form & feel, your technique. Tell me how hard that running pace felt vs. what the running pace was. Tell me what cadence you rode up that hill, and how confortable you were on your bike vs. how quickly you did it. Tell me that your distance per stroke feels better or that you had a great feel for the water today while holding a certain sendoff – tell me it felt light, fast, effortless. Don’t tell that you rode today’s ride 3 minutes faster than 2 weeks ago, or that your run turnaround was 100 ft further, or that you got the swim workout completed in 1:15 instead of 1:20.
Being coached is not an excuse to be lazy. Sure, its nice not thinking about what the training is, but you DO need to pay attention once you ARE doing the workout. Being coached is a responsibility to communicate effectively with your coach. If you can’t explain your sensations, then you are ‘uncoachable’. It doesn’t mean you can’t still have a great result, but it is not truly being coached: its being told what to do and I am willing to argue that you can’t reach your full potential…No Garmin or Powermeter or swimwatch will help you with that. Strava, TrainingPeaks, heck, a training binder…All won’t help if you reach that potential if you are just recording data vs. observations.
Coaching is already difficult enough. Many of you might roll your eyes – but it is a profession that is a lose/lose equation. If you, the athlete does well, it was your hard work, tenacity and grit. If the athlete does not perform, it is the coach’s fault.
I go through athletes every month, throughout the year, that quit coaching because they upload huge amounts of data into the logs, whether TrainingPeaks, Workoutlog or even Strava – but yet do not write more than 3 words when describing the workout. As soon as I hold them accountable, ask them for more color to their data, they balk. “But I uploaded all the data and interval times and and and”…..Dont tell me WHAT you did – tell me how it felt!
I wrote the workout – I don’t really need to know THAT you did it (its your finish line, you ought to be doing the training…otherwise you are overpaying for coaching) or how fast you did it (usually not a good thing that you did it faster) or what you did for the intervals (again – I wrote the workout)…tell me how it FELT, what you observed, why you think you felt good, what felt different week over week…
Don’t get me wrong: there is a need for data. There is a time for data. But those field tests, race simulations or key workouts all mean very little without the continuous color the athlete provides along the way OR during/after that key workout. Great, your field test shows you held higher watts on the bike: but if that was at a 53 cadence, and a ridiculous cost, is it really an improvement? Was that mile repeat faster but with flailing form and smoked legs for the next 3-5 days? Everything is relative, but your color paints a better picture of what is going.
Athletes seem to think Coaches can just read minds on how the athlete is feeling. The coaching profession is based upon false expectations that we are sitting on a sideline, pool deck or riding alongside your activity. That is what we all know from watching TV or how we grew up with a coaching understanding. But the rates for that are a wee bit higher…
I know this sounds like a rant in what I need as the coach. “Make it work coach, that is what we pay you for”. But that is not coaching: that is called giving you a plan that a coach feels MIGHT work well for you and hoping for the best. Sure – you can validate this with testing and races along the way – but then how does the plan progress? Or – how does this plan work if the athlete cannot fulfill the plan as written? Or, more importantly, would you not like to hold your coach accountable for the information provided? If you have not only provided data AND color, then what can a coach do with your potential?
Have a great week logging workouts!