Putting It All Together
Not only do you have three sports to deal deal with, but you also have work and family obligations. How to schedule key workouts around existing obligations in order to make the best use of your time and keep your workouts effective and efficient can be tricky, especially for athletes new to the sport or newly taking on new race challenges. Coaches are there to provide a safe, balanced and efficient training plan that fits into your life.
Accountability
When I've used a coach for my own training, the fact that I had a coach who was working with me, looking out for me and counting on me to do the work gave me a level of commitment to the plan that I might not have had otherwise. I love to have a list to follow and I love to check off every workout when they're done. The coach is not only counting on me to do the work but they've also given me that great "to do" list that gives me the satisfaction of ticking off the boxes as I go through the program. If I didn't do the session, I'd feel like I'd let someone down.
Special Circumstances
Illness, injury, work and family issues and emergencies will crop up. It's not a matter of 'if' something will come up, it's a matter of 'when'. Life will happen! A coach works with you to adjust the plan to suit whatever changes your new circumstances warrant. The coach will help you maintain confidence in the plan and in achieving your goals.
Another issue that I've worked with often as a coach are shift and other irregular work schedules. In some industries, it's common to work long 12-hour days for a long stretches of 7 to 14 or more days with only minimal hours available to train on work days. Then, there are 7 to 14 days off. Yes, those long stretches of time off are great opportunities to put in some long training days but the athlete still has to have good recovery between workouts or increase risks of injury and excess fatigue. Schedules like these can be great opportunities for athletes if managed properly.
Periodization
There are different levels of periodization to consider. Annual periodization refers to how your training progresses throughout the year, from off season, from building your endurance base to and through a race season, fine tuning skills and fitness right through the taper, taking you to race day. Within each weekly, bi-weekly or monthly training block, periodization addresses the timing and nature of each workout from day to day, taking into account the nature of each workout, the training focus for the week and for each discipline as well as your work/life commitments. It is a lot to consider in order to get the best out of the athlete without risk of injury or over-training.
A coach manages those aspects of periodization for you, taking into account your skills and abilities, goals and progress. And there will be bumps in the road that require updates to the plan as life throws in a few curve balls. I read a comment on a social media group page recently where an athlete training for an Ironman distance triathlon 7 months down the road missed a workout. The athlete was worried about missing one workout 7 months out from a race! Yikes - I really felt for the athlete's anxiety, so unnecessary at that stage in the training. There is no reason for something like this to cause undue stress and the coach is there to reassure the athlete that everything is still on track. Your coach handles outlining the annual plan as well as adapting it for changes along the way. Then, you as the athlete can do the work and work the plan with confidence.
Progression
How do to go from 5k to distance triathlon safely and soundly? Progression addresses building endurance and strength to prepare you to race with purpose and confidence at longer distances. In triathlon, safe progression from couch to Standard triathlon or even Ironman provides injury and overtraining risks on so many levels while you are building skill in swim, bike and run as well as endurance and strength. An athlete doing it on their own can easily overdo it too early in the game and miss out on achieving the long-term goal due to physical or mental fatigue or injury.
Objectivity and Balance
Let's face it: a lot of athletes will have some favourite and not so favourite things to they like to do. Athletes well also have their own strengths and weaknesses. It's not uncommon for athletes to train their strengths better than their weaknesses or to train more in the discipline they like best. But to be the best triathlete you can be, you need to balance your time and effort between the swim, bike and run in the way that gives you the best overall result for your goal event. Your coach brings a level of objectivity to your plan that you might not be able to get to, the result being a program that gives you the right balance between swim, bike and run training. Even better, you might find that proper training, encouragement and motivation from your coach can go a long way towards increasing your skill and comfort levels with every aspect of your training. When you can put in the training and learn to love the swim, the bike, the run as well as putting it all together, the coach will have served you well.
If you would like to explore the option of working with coach Elise, please feel free to contact her here or on Facebook or other social media. Look for Accidental Triathlete Triathlon Coaching.
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