Failure is Progress

A few months back I had an athlete racing at an Olympic distance triathlon.  He was racing in the men's open division and was on his way to earning his pro-card that day. He had a great swim, and he was in 2nd place a few miles into the bike leg.

He missed the turn for the Olympic distance race.  He continued on the half-iron distance bike course for 2 miles before realizing what happened.  By the time he made it to T2, he was too far behind to make the podium.  He wasn't happy, obviously.  But after chatting with him for a while, we moved forward and walked away from the event with a good attitude and some clear ideas on how to ensure that didn't ever happen again.

Call them setbacks, or failures, or what-have-you.  It’s important to fail.  Whether as a junior age-grouper when you were growing up, or as a competitive age-grouper racing with other adults at a 70.3, local Olympic distance triathlon, or even the annual Turkey Trot in your town.  Or both.

Not performing as well as one would have hoped at an event can be frustrating, of course.  But it's also a teachable moment.  A motivator.  It’s an opportunity to determine what didn’t go correctly and to plan – and more importantly, why?  Then, with that information, you can determine how to fix that limiter moving forward.

In fact, as a coach, I look forward to the occasional setback. Whether with one of my athletes or my own.

As a coach it’s frustrating when an athlete experiences a setback - or fails - especially in a race.  But it's going to happen.  Your athlete needs to understand that - and so do you, the coach.  It’s those times that, as a coach, we need to focus on the positives with the athlete.  Talk about what we learned from the experience and discuss how we’re going to go about resolving the issue at hand.

As an athlete, again, this is a teachable moment.  It’s hard to grasp that concept when you cross the finish line and are frustrated by your less than anticipated result.  But it happens to everyone now and again.  The pro’s….everyone.

A few years ago, a family in my community threatened to sue a school district because their son didn’t make the varsity baseball team.  Now, when I was growing up, you either made the varsity team or you didn’t.  And in some cases, if there was no junior varsity squad, it meant you didn’t play at all.

When I was growing up, If I didn’t make the team, then I worked hard to improve. I took that setback and used it as a motivator.   I learned right away that things aren't always going to come easily. They didn't. And they still don't.

At the end of the day, it’s about doing your best.  If that means you earned a trophy, or a personal best, or you left nothing in the tank at the end of the race and know you couldn’t have gone 1 second faster, then you’ve succeeded that day.

The point?

Work hard toward your goals.  Work very hard.  Those goals should be challenging, but attainable.  Will they come easily?  If you set your goals properly then the answer is of course: No.  They won’t.  But they’ll be achievable through hard work.  Will you have a setback throughout your journey?  More than likely.  Probably, in fact.  Embrace that moment.  Learn from it.  Don’t let it get you down. Become a better person from it.  A better athlete.  Be stronger from the experience.

But don’t give up.  

Triathlon and Nutrition

Sometime last summer, I wrote about the importance of nutrition in endurance sports, and how triathlon was not a diet.  I wrote that article shortly after speaking to a triathlon club in Manhattan, New York.  That club was comprised mostly of beginner / first time triathletes, and the influx of comments regarding "race weight", "leaning out", and "dropping weight" were troubling.

You're naturally going to become more fit, and toned, when following a properly periodized training plan.  Although you may very well add muscle mass and potentially gain a nominal amount of weight, you'll look better, feel better, and be in a healthier state.  But you need to eat properly throughout the process to ensure that your body is fueled and cared for.

There are lots of coaches and trainers out there.  Buyer beware.  I recently heard of one trainer who suggested that their client fast (not eat) until noon every day as it would improve their training.  This individual would train at the gym in the mornings, and then on some days would run later in the morning or early afternoon.   It was no surprise that their training runs had them feeling sluggish and fatigued.

As I state in my write up from last year, you can get away without eating before a typical workout first thing in the morning.  Barring a long ride, or run - or a high intensity training session - you'll be fine.  You do, however, need to refuel afterwards.

Your body needs to replenish its energy stores.  You also need to ensure that your blood sugar levels are maintained.   You don't need to eat a huge breakfast, but prudent hydration and nutrition is critical to your training and your overall performance.

Without proper nutrition and refueling, you run the risk of limiting the benefits of your training and in the long term risking your health.  You're investing a lot of time and effort, make sure you're getting the most out of it.

When in doubt, talk to your coach or trainer.  They should have some background or training in the nutrition arena, or will know a nutritionist to reach out to to address any of your queries.  If you're not comfortable with the advice you're receiving, get a second opinion.  Any good coach will give you some of their time to listen to you and help steer you in the right direction.

So You've Hired A Coach

So you’ve hired a triathlon coach (or a running coach, or a swim coach…pick your sport du-jour).  You hired them because you want to improve?  Because you want to get faster?  Or did you have a great race last year, and this is the year where you’re ready to really go after a podium finish?

Whatever your reason, you've done some research on him or her.  You’ve reached out to your coach of choice and had preliminary discussions, met in person, and talked about your goals.  You might even have had the opportunity to have a one on one session in the pool or at the track to determine if personalities and coaching methods fit everyone’s needs.

You then made the decision to hire them.  You and your new coach have talked about your plan, discussed your yearly training plan and targeted your “A” races, as well as your buildup races.  The two of you have talked about what your training is going to look like – when heavy load weeks will fall and when recovery weeks are built in.  You’ve paid your monthly fee, signed into your Training Peaks account, and had a look at your upcoming workouts.

And you then argue with your coach why?

You don’t do the prescribed workouts, and question the ones that you do decide to do.  You disappear for five days and wonder why things seem so much harder this week as compared to two weeks ago.  You don’t like doing long swim sets (or speedwork, or threshold rides) so  you change the workouts.  Or, you ride three hours when you’re only prescribed to ride 90 minutes. 

Why did you hire a coach?  Coaching is a lot of work, and your coach puts a lot of time into customizing your workouts.  He or she looks far ahead in the calendar and plans the training this week with a training session that is four weeks ahead in mind.  He or she determines where you need work (speed, endurance) and tailors your training to build you up where you need to be, and to enhance your abilities on top of that.  Your coach finds your weaknesses – your limiters – and creates a plan to, well, get ride of them.

And yet you argue / don’t do the workouts / change your workout / don’t communicate / etc.

If you hire a coach, it’s a two way street.  Effort from both parties is required.  Yes, it’s going to be hard work.  Yes, you’re going to dislike your coach, a lot, during repeat 400’s on the track.  You’re going to call your coach a fucking asshole when you see you have 3 x 800’s in the pool tomorrow.  You know what?  When those things happen, your coach is probably doing something right.

If you hire a coach, make sure you mean it.

Okay, end of rant.

What I really want to do is help you have a healthy and trusting relationship with your coach.  How do you do this?

• Be open and honest.  If all you’re looking to do is finish a race, and feel good at the end, be up front about that.  Don’t feel pressured to tell them you have lofty goals when that’s not what you’re really looking for.  Just because your friends are doing “X” doesn’t mean that’s right for you. Coaches deal with individuals of all levels.  Be up front with them, tell them what you want, and that’s what the two of you will work on – together.  If busting your ass during January isn’t your thing, let your coach know!  Coaching requires give and take, and being open and honest about what you’re looking to accomplish is always a winning idea.

• Communicate.  As your coach we want to, need to, know what your thinking.  If you’re looking at an upcoming workout and wonder “what the hell is this for?” then speak up.  That workout is most likely there for a reason, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be changed.  If you’re going to be away next weekend, just say so.  It’s not that big a deal – and workouts can be moved around.  Life, work, responsibilities…..all these things need to be taken into consideration when putting a training plan together.  Yes, your coach might ask you, depending on the time of year, to take your running gear with you on your business trip to Omaha, but that’s okay.  Running in new cities is fun.

• Be true to yourself.  You, the athlete, have to do the work.  Period.  Don’t think that just because you have a plan in front of you that things are magically going to happen on race day.  You’ve got a lot of work to do (depending on your goals) and you’re most likely going to dislike some of the training.  (See note above about calling your coach a fucking asshole).  If it’s not working out, or you realize you’re in over your head, or you made loftier goals than you realized….see #1 above.  Tell your coach!  Make changes.

Are those the only things that are required for a successful coach / athlete relationship?  No.  Are they a good start?  Yes. 

Coaches are there for you.  They want you to succeed.  That’s their job. 

Triathlon Swimming – Revisited

I wrote a blog post way back in 2010 about swimming techniques and mechanics to improve your speed and efficiency in the water.  And while those techniques and topics are indeed helpful, there was one topic of discussion where – I hate to say it – I was off base.

I talked about “front-quadrant” swimming and linked to an article on Active.com where it was discussed as well.  Let’s just say that while swimming techniques such as this (and some others) are massively helpful in a pool, specifically for swimmers, they’re not as helpful as you think for open-water swimming or in the sport of triathlon.

Triathlon is an interesting and complex sport.  Each leg of the race is tied to the others more than you realize.  And that relationship is never more apparent than between the swim and the run.

Things that make you faster in the pool aren’t always as helpful as you think for triathlon as a whole.  Utilizing stroke techniques and mechanics that are born and bred for pool-based swimming builds up muscle in your lats, back, and arms.  While you’ll surely become quicker in the water, you’ve added muscle mass to your body.

Muscle mass = weight.

This new muscle you’ve added to aid your swim is now weight you have to carry on the run (and the bike).  While you can potentially improve your 1,500 meter swim time, you very well might add that time back on your 10K run.

To get an improvement in one leg (the swim, bike, or run) you sometimes have to give up some time elsewhere.  Or, more importantly, do you find efficiencies in one discipline – maintain the time in a particular leg – yet do so without as much effort?  This leaves one less fatigued for the other legs of the race.

It’s complicated.  Finding that balance between disciplines is what coaches spend a lot of time doing.  The education in coaching never stops.  This is one of the reasons that I love triathlon coaching – I never stop learning.

To that point, Vanguard Endurance – the high-performance coaching group I’m now a part of – has regular Webinars on any and all topics relating to triathlon training, coaching, and racing.  In the upcoming month, I’ll be presenting a Webinar specifically covering the topic of triathlon specific swimming mechanics and techniques.  I’ll keep you posted.

Moving on. Moving up. Moving west

After a modest start a couple years ago, my tri-coaching business had been getting some traction. I’d started with only a couple of athletes.  Friends, really, that let me coach them – I didn’t even charge them.  I had some success and, over time and via word-of-mouth, added more athletes.  Soon I had a good stable of triathletes that were getting good results and seeing some great performance gains.  

This year I had athletes set amazing personal best times at races.  I had others place on the podium in their age-group for the first time.  Some had overall race wins.  I was getting such a kick out of seeing these results, and seeing the impact it had on the individuals themselves.

I wanted to do this full time.

Recently, my wife and I were talking about our careers.  Retirement.  How we want to live our lives. We half joked that we weren’t going to be retiring anytime soon, and if we were going to be working until we were 70 we should be doing work that we love to do – work that inspires us.  My wife recently started her own consulting company and was thriving. Working with clients that she wanted to work with. Working with like-minded people.

We agreed that we both needed to pursue careers that ensured we were happy over the long haul.  But equally as important was the question of where did we want to do this?  Cost of living mattered in this equation, and we had the flexibility to move anywhere.  The locale also needed to ensure that we lived a lifestyle that we truly enjoyed as well as still being readily accessible to clients.  Immediately our wheels went into motion and options were discussed.

As I started building my new soon-to-be business plan, I had so many questions.  I’d been working with a great mentor to help me progress in my triathlon coaching, and I knew that speaking with him would give me the insight and guidance that I needed.

Justin Trolle had been a presenter at my USA Triathlon coaching clinic a couple of years ago.  He’s a USA Triathlon Level 3 coach and has worked with elite athletes all over the world.  I had initially reached out to him about 18 months ago with some training questions.  He was generous with his time and was incredibly helpful.  He told me how he has a program to mentor up and coming coaches – I jumped on board.  I gained experience by flying out to Colorado Springs to join him for coaching weekends – watching him work with his elite and pro athletes.  I gleaned as much information as I could.  My approach to coaching my athletes began to change.  Training methodologies improved.  They became more strategic, with more intensity where it mattered.  Athlete improvements became more pronounced.

I reached out to Justin and told him of my plans, and that I was looking for some advice on how to best approach this. I wanted to not only look for ways to move my coaching career forward, but if possible I wanted to help him as well.  He’s been so generous with his time that anything I could do to assist him in my endeavor would be the least I could do.  After listening to me, Justin said something that rendered me speechless.  He asked me to join his coaching staff at Vanguard Endurance.  I was floored. 

The chance to work with elite athletes?  Not right away, of course, but eventually?  And to work with an elite level coach who works with professional athletes as well as Olympians? What a massive opportunity.  How could I not jump at this?

This is also a huge opportunity for my athletes.  As I grow and expand my knowledge and abilities, so too do your potential gains and ability to become better triathletes.  And those athletes that are beyond the age-group category, welcome to the elite training-ground of VanguardEndurance.

In less than a month’s time we’ll be moving to Colorado Springs.  My wife, JL, has been nothing but supportive of this adventure.  She’s amazing – she jumped on board immediately.  A couple trips to Colorado Springs to meet people and get the lay of the land, and she was in.  No way I could have done this without her.