Coach Carter

I have just been reading an interview with Aldo Sassi, the coach of Ivan Basso, Cadel Evans, Michael Rogers and a few other top pros. To be more correct, he WAS the coach to this elite crop - as he passed away recently after losing his battle with brain tumours. A huge loss to the sport of cycling. He was someone I greatly admired, and had hoped I would one day be able to visit to gain some experience. Sassi believed that top level performance comes down to mental strength, "The mind is the driver of the machine". When I read this, I immediately related this to the current battle my athletes face in their daily training right now. The weather has been horrendous - the icy pavements have even stopped me walking in to town for my coffee fuelled blog writing this week!

Sassi continues "Even if its rainy and dark outside, you go out and train regardless...even on days when you think things are't going well. Its on those dark days when other riders lose their motivation and you gain an edge". I tend to agree. I've said before, the most successful athletes coping with this current weather situation are those that just get on with it: they don't question whether they will train, they hop on the turbo and get the session done and dusted. It is too easy to wait for it to get warmer, wait for it to stop snowing / raining. Even if things might improve in the afternoon, moving sessions until later in the day are at best compromising recovery (shortening the time before your next session); worse still they end up pre-occupying you all day and you don't get time to do anything else; or worst case scenario, by the time you DO get around to finally climbing on the turbo, your motivation is at rock bottom. A number of my riders fell fowl to that this weekend unfortunately.

I don't ever say its easy - I do sympathesise with my riders. But come race season, its these hours now that will separate the men from the boys as it were. It is just about finding ways to motivate yourself. Not everyone has the luxury of whisking themselves off to sunnier climates (like Nic who showed me his view over Skype last week, look carefully in the background, you might just see the holy mecca of Mont Ventoux); but others have found success in getting the hours in. Chris has been progressing with his recovery post crash by getting outside on the mountain bike. Sara has been thinking about the sunny days to come next season, when these sessions will have been worthwhile. There are ways.

I've had to find my ways too - I'm very conscious (as I am every year!) of the closeness to training camp. Although I see myself in the support car a little more this year, I still want to get out and ride with the groups as much as I can. I've decided I need to be able to ride at least for 3 hours at a good pace - so I too am turboing my heart out! Over the Christmas period, I want to clock up around 10h per week on the bike - about half my weekly volume when competing, but still not too bad. My foot, whilst still not 100% copes okay with 2h turbo rides, so I am doing that on alternate days. My strategies range from finding good programes on iPlayer (Horizon, The Apprentice), to breaking down the time into blocks (using some zone 3, using cadence pyramids). I'm pencilled in to do 3h with Juliette on Thursday though - so I am praying like mad that doesn't have to be indoors! Among other reasons, I want chance to use my new gadget - I took delivery of the latest Garmin, the 800 series. A must for camp in Mallorca

An increase in 'training time' is adding another time pressure on me - although an awful lot more manageable than the month of November, the past week has been busy enough (hence the delay on posting to the blog until now). I've been out on the road to meet athletes in order to discuss season periodization, and writing training programmes to align with those schedules.The meetings have been really valuable for me, and its a method I will use again in following up lab test visits. It has allowed coach and athlete to set clear objectives in each training block: helpful to me because I get their buy in, and helpful to them because they can see the increments they need to meet their performance goals in 2011 broken down into bitesize chunks. It has given us clarity in the training approach, and also, it makes each training block an awful lot easier to write when you know what steps need to be taken, and at what rate!

It is quite critical that I leave work at 6pm on the 23rd knowing that all my athletes are happily on their way with training in their schedules well in to the New Year. For most, this was a natural process, as new blocks were needed anyway. For some however, I have planned in advance. Today I have just finished 4 more plans which weren't needed for 2 weeks. I remember having this type of workload when I worked in the University - then it was a somewhat irrational need to 'clear my desk' before breaking up for Christmas! But, now as a coach there is nothing worse coming back to work knowing you have to plan the next training block of 4 or 5 athletes as your first task. I like returning to work with the first thing on my task list being training file analysis and an email catch up with everyone. Two days is probably needed for that, so I probably won't be back in to my daily routine until 3rd January.

I really hope the weather provides some respite for my poor athletes across the country, and indeed across Europe. People want to use their holiday time to enjoy their biking. In addition, a thaw is needed to allow people to make their travel over the festive period. I am hoping to make it to France for Christmas, whilst my athlete Richard is due to fly out to Mallorca on Wednesday (Gatwick permitting!). I for one do not want a repeat of my travel last Friday, when Dan and I visited the University of Kent for the latest Cycling Science Forum meeting - 7 hours it took to drive home. At times like that you realise the control Mother Nature has over us, and how much respect we should have for the natural order of things. It makes worrying about not getting outside and having to turbo train feel rather trivial when you get caught up in the chaos - my experience was very humbling, as you realise how we are a whisker away from being in a life threatening situation.

So, take care everyone, and don't take any risks over the Christmas period. I've already had one athlete fall foul of the slippery stuff - but Mark breaking his arm whilst skiing is a little different! I wish him a speedy recovery, and everyone else, a very Happy Christmas and New Year.