Coach Carter

(On writing that title, I have started singing the 1980s Tears for Fears hit! showing my age now)

Last week, I spoke of my time reflecting on where I am at, business and personal wise. We all need time to contemplate where we are, where we want to head and what steps we need to take in order to best 'arrive'. Life and sport, so similar. My weekend re-treat in "Mobie" allowed me to de-clutter and focus on the priorities I have set: 'tree felling' as I called it. The next step in the process is sowing the seeds of intention - starting afresh with new processes, systems. And, this is what I have been busy doing this past week...

On Friday morning, rather than starting my day with the normal 2 hours of file analysis, I took myself down into town for a working breakfast in Caffe Nero: my intention to set up the objectives for my morning of work ahead. I had put a line through my diary to ensure I kept this 'saw sharpening' time: this is a promise I have made myself - time to keep myself on track, to make sure I am always in touch with my priorities. The agenda for this morning meeting was to place some actions beside the priorities I had developed the week before. Over breakfast, I came up with 4 or 5 objectives to focus on - and with that, I packed up and moved on to Costa for a 4 hour working stint on those objectives. This isn't just because I like a coffee crawl (!), but I have found it a way to re-new my energy: setting up a new camp when I begin my work seems to work well for me.

I'm happy to share my objectives with you:

1. What is my vision for PBscience in the next 3 years, and the next 1 year?
2. What is my role in that vision? As coach, as business manager?
3. What is my assistant Coach, Dan's role in that vision?
4. Based on this, develop a work plan for the remainder of 2010
5. How do Dan and I keep on top of new knowledge in Sport Science and coaching, and ensure 'Continued Professional Development'?

This process was timely, as it is now 6 months since I left the University and Dan started with me. We had set a date for his first 6 monthly review, and this Friday session allowed me to prepare my own thoughts before discussing with him what had been good, and what had room for improvement in the way we worked together. Neither of us were keen on the phrase 'staff appraisal' or 'performance review' - we knew what we were intending to work on, so in a way, the name of our meeting was less important! Working through his prepared 'appraisal' form was an interesting experience for me. I have been on the receiving end of appraisals, and I was aware of how the success of these meetings is very much dependent on the "appraisee" - it can be deemed just a paper exercise. But, Dan had obviously reflected a lot on his role in PBscience and his career plans as a cycling coach / sport scientist. It enabled us to have a very vibrant discussion on the Monday (yes, in Costa!). I'm really excited by our 3 year plan for PBscience - and I think our athletes will be too.

Future performance needs investment - whether its sport, business, or personal aims. I had to keep this attitude strong when I attempted my back to back ride plans in preparation for the forthcoming London to Paris ride. As I have explained before, this challenge is going to require me to not only ride 100+ miles in a day, but to repeat this back-to-back over 3 days. The mileage each day is a challenge, repeating it is another - and I am daunted by it. By setting myself some smaller interim goals, I am gaining confidence. Yes, I have competed before: this shouldn't be too hard for me (as people keep telling me!) but this isn't really like anything I have done before: riding hard over 25 or 50 miles isn't the same as a paced effort over 110 miles, repeated for 3 days. I've also not had the same time to devote to my training as when I was competing in time trialling.

I've shared my concerns with my close friends - these 3 days are a big thing for me, and I don't see them as easy. I'm respecting the event. I've always come from the perspective that there are two types of athlete: those that enjoy the activity itself i.e. cycling; and those people who enjoy the challenge i.e. being a competitor. I've tended to be the latter - enjoying the pursuit of goals. I remember on numerous occasions trying to explain this to my Mum. I would often express my anxiety about a big ride the next day, and she would give me the option to 'don't do it if you don't want to'. How do you explain to someone that sometimes the bigger picture is what you enjoy i.e. pushing yourself when you might not want to do it, rather than the training session itself. As a coach, I don't need my riders to enjoy every session - but I do want them to enjoy the elements of challenge and discipline. There HAS to be something they love doing in all of this, or its not worth it.

Actually, I enjoyed leg one of my trip - 75 miles from Eastbourne to Farnham to watch Chris and Richard in their 10 mile time trial. Well, I enjoyed it until I stopped - but standing in the rain on a dual carriageway with only my Rego and protein bar for company DID stretch my passion for coaching (sorry Gents) but I DID enjoy our post race HQ catch up over tea and cake! Leg 2, the return journey the next day was more taxing - it was an early start, as I wanted to ride via another race, this time with 6 of my riders competing. Top training tip here: Two hours of standing beside a dual carriageway one hour into a 4 hour ride is NOT ideal!!! But again, I wouldn't miss out on these chances to watch my riders in action - its my chance to interact face to face, to live and breathe what we are doing together to improve their performances on the bike. And, at least I was riding towards the promise of a nice coffee - I am finding rides easier to cope with when I have a nice treat awaiting me - I think this says something about my intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation these days?!

So, my message this week is again about investing in the bigger picture. Yes, we all know we need to train to meet our race goals. But we also need time to sit down and think about objectives too. I was very conscious this weekend how sometimes athletes get so caught up in the manic-ness of the race season (week in, week out) that the planning of what they want from each race can be left out. Its not always about a time, a power, or a result goal - but we have to sit on the start line knowing just what you want from the race ahead. Our PBscience athletes can download a worksheet taking them through this process - mmmm, maybe I should go through that process for L2P? Great, sounds like an ideal exercise to do with a coffee!!!