Fire your Coach? I Think NOT!!!

It's been almost two months since I've posted.  Between the Christmas season, work meetings, training and the kids commitments I unfortunately put a few things on hold.  However, I recently saw something in an article through Facebook that pushed me to get back on track.  It was an article about  the 10 Truths of No-Bullshit Triathlon Training. Here is the link.

http://tomdemerly.com/2016/01/14/10-truths-of-no-bullshit-triathlon-training/

There are 9 of the 10 Truths that I pretty much agree with.    Let me address a few.  As a swimmer, watching those trying to be swimmers, I agree you need to learn to swim.  You don't need to be Katy Ledecky, however being comfortable and confident in an open body of water, navigating within 1500 other swimmers, certainly helps.  It also makes transition between the swim and bike a lot easier when you aren't gasping for air and crawling from the water.  Many swimmers will also agree, lose the gadgets.  Yes, know your speed, learn cadence, but learn feel, not just in the water, on the bike and run too.  Know your body, learn what it feels like to hold 35km/hr vs 30km/hr on the bike, or what a 4:30km vs a 5:30km on the run feels like.  Don't rely on all your gadgets to tell you what your body should be doing.  They are nice to have, however they can also fail when you feel you need them the most.....then what do you do?

Same goes with the bike.  There are many riders on the course, some great, some not so much.  Learn how to clip in and out easily, be competent at riding in the aero position, make sure you can control your bike, and be aware of where you are and others are, on the road.   Although it is extremely uncomfortable riding in the city, I get nervous, it teaches you bike handling skills and general awareness of what's around you, both really good things to know.

So what is the 1 Truth I had trouble with?  The very first one.  The one that says Fire your Coach.  

The very first statement was "you don't need them, and they probably aren't qualified." 

I agree that there are many coaches, that say they are coaches, that most likely have no qualifications in any way, shape or form.  Perhaps they completed a couple triathlons and now call themselves an expert, make sure you check out the coach, the team, and results of their athletes before writing out the cheques. The part I vehemently disagree with is the first part of that statement; You do need a coach!!!



The United Kingdom Coaching Strategy is he/she “enables the athlete to achieve levels of performance to a degree that may not have been possible if left to his/her own endeavours. 

According to Forbes.com, coaches help you to identify and focus on what's important, which will accelerate your success.  Coaches also provide the following:

• Create a safe environment in which people see themselves more clearly;
• Identify gaps between where you are  and where you wants to be
• Ask for more intentional thought, action and behaviour changes than what you  would have asked of yourself
• Provide  the structure, accountability, and support necessary to ensure sustained commitment

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2014/12/09/why-you-need-to-hire-a-coach-in-2015/#5bcae4324de3

Certainly you can finish a triathlon, training on your own; I'm not denying that. However there are many aspects that you will be missing that are important if you forgo the opportunity to work with a coach.  

1.  Riding a bike.  Although we are not supposed to ride draft legal, it is a good skill to learn.  Those who have completed a triathlon have all seen how closely riders can group together on the course.  Bike handling skills are very important, although we will all crash at some point, learning how to handle the bike confidently will lower the number of times you end up scraping your skin off along the pavement.  A good coach will teach you how to ride safely in a pack, although you may never need this in a race, you certainly will benefit during training when you are out with a group, especially if there are new riders that are out with you who are not as comfortable. 

2. Swim instruction.  There are more triathletes that are mediocre to poor swimmers than there are those that are good swimmers.  Proper technique in the water can help you hold on to your much needed energy stores for the bike and run instead of leaving them at the bottom of the lake.  Having a watchful eye, and swim instruction that is more than " swim 2000m", will make a noticeable difference in the outcome of your event.

3.  Learn to Run.  After a challenging swim and a long bike, running  10 km to 42.2 km is not an easy undertaking.  When I would  run on my own, getting myself ready for the local 5km race, I'd just go out and run, I thought that was enough.  All my running was done at the same speed and I had no one to tell me what was wrong with my technique.  Yes, as with swimming, there is a fair bit of technique involved in running.  With the aide of my coach I've been able to take my run from a 5:15 per km pace down to a 4 minute per km pace.  He has changed my running style and continues to tweak and improve it, pushes me outside my comfort zone,  and helps me to achieve beyond what I originally thought I could do. 

Coach Lee Hart, Tri-Hart Triathlon,
www.tri-hart.com and me.

4. Training Plan.  How busy are you?  I am incredibly busy.  Three children, a full time job, a household to run, and now training for triathlon.  Yes, I am learning about this sport, I read on line, and ask questions of other triathletes, however my time is limited.  I don't want to make up a training plan for myself and try to stick to it.  I'm not an expert, at swimming, maybe, triathlon not quite yet.  My coach, Lee Hart at Tri-Hart Triathlon, www.tri-hart.com,  has been doing this for 12 years.  He has produced National ITU champions, put athletes on the National Team and  has had athletes compete on the ITU World Championships stage.  He has had athletes make it to Kona, and he himself has raced, and still races, competing at many Ironman 70.3 World Championships.  I trust his judgement as it pertains to my training, and how far he can push me.  Without my coach I know for sure I would not have performed as well as I did this previous season.  

Getting a coach is worth the investment.  You may think that you are good on your own, however regardless of your skill level, you are limiting your potential by excluding the resource of a "good" coach. 

TRAINING, RACING, AND EATING ENOUGH CALORIES

Long Run to Burlington, ON Pier 

It's been a busy couple of months since the Niagara Barrelman 70.3. I've been juggling new job responsibilities with family and kids' commitments, taking care of the home and training for my first Ironman Triathlon.  

This Triathlon season we are working on my weaknesses (bike and run), and maintaining my strength, swimming.  It's been a struggle for me running 75-95km per week with the kilometres continuing to climb.  We are working on building power in my legs; to help with this I've added a strength training routine into the schedule 3X per week, provided to me by my husband, to be triathlon specific.  It's difficult for me to really see where I sit with training and if I'm improving when I feel tired from this new training schedule and keeping up with life commitments.  I'm one of those athletes that likes to race all year long.  I believe it's important for confidence, seeing if  bench marks are being hit, and most importantly, learning how to race. So I asked for some early races. 

Road To Hope: Last 6 km of the
21.1km was side by side with
this awesome girl.

My coach  listened to me, just as I listen to him, and we have done two races so far this fall training block.  Not triathlons, it's way to cold for this fair weather girl to swim in some Ontario lake after September. A running race and a swimming time trial are what has kept this girl happy and motivated.  Let me tell you why with two quick race recaps.

The Road to Hope Half Marathon is a fairly flat and good run course.  I haven't run an official Half-marathon, outside a triathlon, since I was 27 years old, and even then I only ran one and it wasn't fast.  My teammates from Tri-Hart were with me so that helped keep my nerves to a minimum.  We hadn't rested for the race, we had only taken one day off training, and we were going to do a long ride after the race!  The event started, I looked at my watch, and was running a little quick 3:45/km pace.  I wasn't so sure I'd be able to keep that up for more than 10km so I dropped it down a little.  For the entire race there was a young woman running with me.  Either she was in front or I was.  It was great!  We pushed each other through the entire race, ending up holding an average of 4:01/km pace, both beating our original goal times.  The race was also not 21.1km.  The consensus on all the Garmins coming over the line was 21.43km, that made our times seem that much better!  I ran a 1:24 half-marathon, placing 1st in my age category and 4th overall woman, in a running race!!!! There wasn't even a swim involved.  All those kilometres are really starting to pay off.

First 100m of the 1500m free time trial.
 I ended up winning the heat.

The second race was a swim race.  A 1500m swim time trial at the club I train with, The Golden Horseshoe Aquatic Club in Hamilton, ON.  It was at the end of the week, with a 23km run on the Friday and a 10km run and a bike workout on the Saturday before the Sunday race.  I averaged 1:14 per 100m pace, as my coach had said I would, and finished with 18:21.  Not bad for November and the increase in running and cycling I've been doing.  It  also feels as though I'm re-learning how to swim due to the new muscle mass I've been adding to my legs.  It's not so easy to keep the legs near the surface of the water anymore.  

First Dive off the block in 8 months!

Overall I'm super excited that all the work and juggling that I do each day is starting to really show up in my races! Now to deal with the other side effect of the Ironman training, weight loss. My current struggle is trying to eat enough calories to keep the weight on.  After the Road to Hope I dropped 4 pounds, after sitting in the same weight range for the last 2 years, that was a bit of a shocker.  I thought it was water loss, however it seems to be permanent.  So for now I'm working on filling my face with enough food to maintain this new number.  The Holiday Season should help with that.

Every day, in this sport, I'm provided with a new learning   about what I'm capable of handling,  and at the age of 41 I'm still figuring out where my athletic ceiling is.  

Barrelman 70.3 - End of my first Triathlon Season

Age Group Winners, Barrelman Triathlon, 2015 (4th from the right)

This has been an interesting year for me, as one year ago I raced my first triathlon at Guelph Lake 2 and just 3 weeks later tried the Barrelman 2014.  Since then I have competed at Ironman 70.3 Raleigh, Guelph Lake 1, Niagara Triathlon, Ironman 70.3 World Championships, and now just 3 weeks post Worlds I'm finishing the season where I started, Barrelman 2015.

 The Niagara Falls Barrelman, hosted by Multisport Canada, was a well run event and great season finisher.  The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, and the swim venue was incredible! My coach didn't really want me to race, as we have a tough year of training starting for Ironman Mont Tremblant, however, I couldn't resist.  After taking a full week off after World Championships, I promised to train straight through the Barrelman, if I could race it.   Here is a quick report on the race:

The Swim:

Swim Wave 2-Start.
I'm the swimmer in the very front on the Dock side.

  My wave started 1 minute behind the pros.  As you can see, they are no longer in sight during the start of our wave.  I took a position on the dock side of the Welland International Flatwater Centre, not cause it was an advantage, but because I had been saying hello to my brother, my niece Chantelle, nephew Curtis, and my friend Kathy.  I slid into the water, 1 min and 30  seconds before the start of my wave, spraining my toe on the way in (you will know that I'm a bit clumsy if you've read my other blogs).   I found my spot at the front of the line and when the horn went, so did I.   

Running up the stairs into T1. You
can still see Alex VanderLinden's
Foot prints in front of me.

One of my goals was to see how many pros I could catch in the wave in front of me, the other to have the fastest swim.  The swim is the one area I know I can do well, so I figured, why not.  During the first 500m I was able to catch a couple of the slower swimming pros.  I then was getting a bit discouraged as I couldn't see the next group of pros ahead of me.  By the time I reached the second Green Buoy to turn on the way back, I found them.  There was a small group of pros swimming together so I swam up behind them and drafted for a few seconds before putting on a burst to pass the group.  It is much different swimming through the experienced pros then swimming through an age group wave. When the pros are passed, they know exactly how to move in to get the draft making it difficult to pull away.   Once I finally moved out and away from the pro pack, I saw one pro left ahead!.  I put my head down, however Alex VanderLinden, had too much of a lead.  Although I closed it, I couldn't catch him, and he left the water 7 seconds before me.  My main goal was reached, I had the overall fastest swim time of the day.

Exiting the water at the Welland International Flatwater Centre

The Bike:

The bike is still a challenge for me.  I started riding last summer and at that time spent much of the ride falling while clipping out of the pedals, I was afraid to start and stop the bike.  During the 2014 Barrelman, I ran out of T1 with my bike shoes on.  This year, I progressed to putting them on while riding. 

Exit of the Transition 1

The bike course is relatively flat.  However in what seems to Barrelman style, the wind  was a force to contend with.  It also could be because it's September in Ontario and we all know that the wind comes with the starting of Autumn. Nonetheless, the first 25km was great.  Thought to myself, I'm going to be just fine, the wind isn't so bad today.  Then I turned a corner and for the rest of the race, it didn't matter how many corners and in which direction I turned, the wind was always there.  I'm not sure how that is possible, however it was.  Ask any of the racers from the day and they will confirm the presence of the endless head and cross winds.  My Coach had said use this race as an experiment, if you feel good go, if you feel bad back off, just have fun.  So as I didn't find the wind that fun, I backed off and did some easier spinning for some of the ride.  I knew I had a run to do, and after what happened on the run in Austria, I wasn't sure how this one would go. 

The Run:

Turns out, the spinning on the bike worked.  I had my fastest half marathon run ever! 1:34.58.  The run course was interesting and beautiful, as you can see we all race passed Niagara Falls, twice!.  The course was also changed to add a few more gradual uphill climbs and a down the stairs decline at the Casino.  During parts of the run, the spray coming from the falls was a very welcome cool down.  The course was well marked and the volunteers were doing their best to keep the tourists off the course.  They did a great job!

Running passed Niagara Falls, first loop.

Thank you Multisport Canada for putting together this race in Niagara.  It is a great venue and the changes to the swim and run course made this race even better than last year.  

Thank you to my sponsors, Xterra Wetsuits, Vorgee Canada, Magnus Personnel, Rudy Project, County Cycle, Middlesex Swimming, for taking a shot on an unknown, and supporting me through this inaugural year in triathlon.  Looking forward to kicking some butt next year with your continued support.

Thank you to my family for putting up with me going to practice early morning and late at night.  My teammates for their support and waiting for me when I was unable to clip in the pedals and picking me up when I fell on the ground, literally.  

Thank you to Coach Lee for helping take this swimmer and working to transition her into a triathlete!

Looking forward to seeing what comes in this next season.  Working towards making Kona 2016.