Words By: Trace Rogers
So, you’ve decided that this is going to be the triathlon season that you shine. To achieve this, you have hired a triathlon coach. Sorted? Not quite.
A few months ago, I attended a running course in South Africa. Zola Budd Pieterse was a guest speaker. Amongst many pearls of wisdom, she shared this bit of advice: “Your coach is only as good as the feedback you give them. Share as much information as possible with them.” I had to hold myself back from not getting up and giving a full-on whoop whoop to accompany my applause. Why was this is such a big deal to me? The reason being, so many people employ coaches and do not share very critical information with them. This opens up a Pandora’s box of disadvantages for the athlete and very often is a direct threat to the goals they are set on. If a change of any sort is going to affect your training (and therefore ultimately your performance), you need to share it with your coach. Here are a few examples of this:
1. Changes in your race goals. One scenario is you have been training for a while now. It’s all going better than you would have imagined so you have decided to upgrade your goals from a PB in an Olympic distance to taking on your first 70.3 distance in the same period. Your coach needs to be aware of this to ensure that you have enough time to prepare and enough time to progress the workload.
2. Changes in your life outside triathlon (yes, there is another life out there). You may have just changed jobs, become a new parent, met a new partner or moved homes. All of these (and so many more scenarios) could very possibly affect how much time you can dedicate to training. Your coach needs to know so that they can ensure that you are getting the most effective training plan possible. This may mean cutting down or modifying training sessions. It is always important that you and your coach figure out what would be the best option for you.
3. Motivational challenges. Lately, you just don’t feel motivated to do that solitary 90-minute run on the treadmill. You are finding excuses or deliberately sabotaging your training schedule by giving priority to other things. Speak to your coach. Perhaps a change in goals or a different approach to your training is required.
4. Fatigue. You are ticking all the boxes on your training plan but you are not feeling or seeing any improvements in your performance and you constantly feel heavy and tired. This is a red flag. Discuss this with your coach immediately. It could mean that your training load at this time is just too much. As a coach, I was mortified to learn through a previous client’s blog after his key race of the season (and not directly through him!) that in a lead up to his Ironman, he had not been able to tick all the training sessions on his programme as he was just too tired. He felt that he would have raced better had he had more recovery time! Had I known this, I would have changed his plan immediately to allow for exactly this. To this day, I still view this as a defeat for both of us.
5. You have developed an injury. This is another really big red flag. Although your coach is not qualified to diagnose and make recommendations for healing, it is important that you speak to your coach about this. Injuries could be due to: taking on too much too soon, incorrect technique, insufficient recovery, etc. You would then be expected to get the injury seen to by a professional. Any advice regarding rehabilitation and cause of injury should be shared with your coach so that training plans can be adjusted accordingly. In the case of the injury being due to poor technique, (once you have been given the all clear from your health professional) it would be advisable to book a one-to-one technique session with your coach.
In conclusion, good coaches spend a lot of time preparing training sessions in a way that they believe to be in their clients’ best interests. This is all based on trusting that the information given is sufficient in order to do so. Are you making the most out of this relationship? If not, speak to your coach.
