Coach Carter

I’ve had a few ‘complaints’ recently: people disappointed that my ‘sabbatical’ has resulted in no blogging! This is the first post I have made since the beginning of October – where HAS the time gone?

That is the intention of this post – to update you on what ‘Coach Carter’ has been doing. As Dan reported a few weeks back on his blog, I have NOT disappeared off the face of the Earth. I have been taking some time to transition from full time cycling coach and business manager to part time coach and student in psychotherapy. To be honest, these two things have not been the only use of my time – and indeed, I have not taken this time to step back in order to become a student again. The main reason I decided to take a break is because my body was telling me I HAD to, before it gave up the ghost on me. It was a case of me making a decision to take things easier, or my body doing it for me. And, anyone who knows me will know I am too much of a control freak to have things taken out of my hands!!

I continue to work with five athletes; dropping my workload by half. Prior to that I was working with ten. The workload was not a problem, and indeed I think 10 athletes is about right for a coach to work with ‘1-2-1’. The reason I was exhausting myself was having started the business coaching 25 people – I had drained my battery far too low. I needed to dip down below a sustainable rate to completely recharge. There is still a LONG way to go, but I feel I am getting there. What helps is that in having fewer number of clients, I am able to engage more in the process of working with them. I hadn’t got to the point of exhaustion whereby my coaching relationships were suffering (my work ethic and need to not let people down meant there was never a danger of that), but I did notice how each morning of file analysis felt like a box ticking exercise. I wasn’t excited, I wasn’t passionate. It had become ‘just a job’. At the time, I didn’t know if it was the role itself or me. The past few months of a new rhythm combined with an exciting batch of projects presented by my 5 ‘case studies’ have helped me turn a corner. I have noticed that I am feeling very content in my daily work – filling up the cafetiere and downloading training files for scrutiny is a daily pleasure again.

Another pleasure has been watching how Dan has taken over the reins. He and Oli have taken on some of my athletes (whom I must thank, as they have been incredibly patient and accepting of my needs in the transition over to a new coach). Dan is now also responsible for business operations – and that has been a HUGE relief. Again, I must thank Dan – I don’t think he expected to be coaching 10 athletes on a ‘1-2-1’ basis (it wasn’t in our plan when he joined me as a MSc student nearly 3 years ago now). Without his support I would not have been able to take this break. I must also express how proud I am of him. I have seen him grow as a coach – I really threw him in at the deep end, and he is not only coping but I believe he is excelling. I have no qualms about his coaching expertise – and I particularly like how he is able to form his own philosophy and approach to coaching athletes. I’m excited to watch his progress and that of his athletes: people will soon be approaching PBscience based on Dan’s reputation, I am sure of that.

I hope this is the first of a renewed contribution to the PBscience blog. I’m not going to sign up to posting every week, but as things settle down even more I am sure it is another aspect of PBscience life that I will find pleasure in again. May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year and the very best for their 2012 cycling season.

There are a lot of changes going on in my life right now, and I am having to remind myself daily what I tell my athletes - that we only have a finite resource, a "total stress" allowance to draw upon. So, while I am juggling the various aspects of my life, I am having to remember (and accept!) that its no wonder I am stressed right now.

The toll of setting up my own business has finally caught up with me. The first year of 14h days, my attempts to reduce that by decreasing my athlete number from 25 to 10 this time last year - many ups and downs. I have had to admit that I can no longer sustain this work rate, so I have spent the last few months in discussion with my PBscience colleagues as to how we might make some changes to help me breathe again. alongside this, Dan has now come on board officially - PBscience is now a partnership! Dan coming on board in this way has allowed me to make decisions in order to resource myself again, to re-charge my batteries.

What does this mean to PBscience and our athlete community?

I think my newly sprayed bike demonstrates I am still heavily invested in PBscience! However, Dan has taken over the reins, taking the business admin off my shoulders. He is also extending his coaching capacity. With Oli Roberts coming on board the coaching team, this means I am able to cut down on my coaching hours. Some of my clients will move to Dan and Oli for their 2012 preparation. Reducing my daily coaching will take the intensity away, allowing me keep the depth of work with fewer athletes, and act as a consultant on projects when Dan and Oli need assistance. I'm still going to be a part of PBscience's delivery of workshops and training camps too, but very much letting Dan (aided by Oli) run the show. The space opened up will allow me to cope with all the personal changes going on in my life (like moving house, and helping my Mum and Dad in their retirement re-location), and to commence my studies in counselling and psychotherapy. I am calling this period my 'sabbatical'.

This is an appropriate time to be calling in 'change', not least because it is Autumn and the end of another yearly cycle. PBscience turned two years old on 1st October, 3 years if you include the time the service was within the University of Brighton. I look back and I'm very proud of what I have created. I don't have any regrets, yet I know now first hand how hard it is to set up a business on one's own. Even though I have been surrounded by some very supportive people, nothing can take away that the buck stops with me. Now with Dan and Oli on board to help direct the business and take it forward, I feel I can share the responsibility and burden.

It also means being able to share the successes! The 3 of us had a celebration get together last week: to celebrate the birthday and to celebrate the new PBscience model. The morning after the night before, we had a business meeting to plan ahead, to devise roles and to discuss new offerings. I was very uplifted by the meeting, and I already feel some positive impact on my battery re-charging!

Transitions always take a little time, so I am prepared for october to be a busy month. As well as it being 'athlete meeting season', I'm also tying up loose ends in the bookeeping system, drawing up procedures for Dan to follow (or for him to at least understand how my filing works!) and working out a day to day working routine that enables me to cover my coaching work, my study time, yet still recuperate. I want to make sure that taking this sabbatical works for me, and that I don't fall in to the trap of filling up the very space I have worked to create with more obligations!

A challenge to my intention is having a front loaded teaching schedule at the University this year; one module I am contracted to work on is the "Physiology of Training" - a course which involves a training study, often with 40 plus students involved. In one respects this is the most obvious module for me to work on given my expertise. However, it also has a strong research element, with me and two physiologist colleagues hoping to make the experiment worthy of publication: so we can't simply let the students run the testing. Long hours in the lab ahead - so another reason for my October being a little too manic for someone who is supposedly slowing down!

It doesn't rain, it pours! It WILL slow down - but please remind me if I am still expressing this feeling in November.

The end of the season is nigh. Athletes (and coach in fact) sit in that twilight zone: to compete or to pull the plug on the 2011 season. Some athletes have found good form through the planned second peak; the temptation now is to wring that purple patch dry, to ride on the wave a little longer. Others are still looking for an upward turn in form, or more frustratingly having good fitness but not the right situation in order for that form to equal a personal best in a race. And, in that latter group, keeping motivation is a tough task - they wrestle with jacking it in, stripping back the fitness and building again vs 'just maybe' the PB is round the corner "I'll just race one more time this weekend".

There are 2 or 3 athletes under my wing who I would put under the 'head fallen off ' category....what keeps them going in the race season is sheer desperation. All I can do is counsel them on the pros / cons of keeping going. Because I am a coach who is adamant about taking a post season break (4 weeks minimum: 2 weeks complete rest, 2 weeks active recovery) the longer they race, the further back we have to put the winter training start date. Of course, there are legitimate, and understandable reasons why there is this drive - it is more complicated when athletes need to keep racing to grab some licence points.

Some athletes are reallyready to stop the season, wanting to build on everything we have learnt together this year and put the refined plan in to action ASAP! I have to say, I always enjoy starting the new training year: a process starting with the end of season de-brief. We look at what worked well, and what could be improved. For some, this will be fed in to new projects; for rather more, it will be refining the approach to the same goals as in 2011. Either way, each feels / like a new  project.

A bit like the leaves turning the colours of autumn, I getting signals of change ahead. Even my bike is getting a respray (yes Nathan, in PBscience colours). One big change for me and PBscience is having my assistant of nearly 2 years, Dan, becoming a fully fledged partner. Dan started with me as an MSc student doing a placement with me. About 18 months ago we made that a more formal arrangement; and now the next transition is having him on board in every respect. Dan is even taking on the main administrative duties as I focus on becoming a student again: signing up for a post grad course in counselling and psychotherapy . Yesterday, Dan and I signed all the paperwork at the bank, and celebrated with a coffee. More celebrations ahead when we sign the legal stuff for an offical October 1st: the 2 year birthday of the start-up I created.

There is also the exciting development of Oli joining our coaching team officially from the beginning of October. The team is building - and its really rewarding for me, seeing PBscience grow beyond 'Helen Carter'. Our athletes can only benefit from having a team accessible: we're all quite different in our approaches and skillset, yet we all share a similar coaching philosophy. It means I can step back from the management of the business knowing its in safe hands: especially as Dan's maths are better than mine!

Its hard to believe how quickly these first 2 years of PBscience have gone. Sitting in the bank, signing paperwork with Dan it really dawned on me just how much we have achieved in those 2 years. Its exciting to see what this fresh start brings, "PBscience generation II"

My two week holiday ticked a lot of boxes: relaxation, book reading and a lot of activities you would expect on a trip to the Loire valley in France: good wine, fine cheeses and bike rides taking in the numerous chateaux. My one small complaint is French coffee - it is nice to be home, and I am making good ground catching up on cappucino drinking including now while I write this blog post. Sorry, I digress - the trip was just what I needed, my first 2 week holiday since my childhood. I hadn't believed the difference it would make over just one week away!

Interestingly, being away for two weeks also allowed me to experience another impact, this time on my athletes. It is fair to say that I am fortunate in working with a group that are pretty sharp - on the whole, as long as I take the time to explain the aims of the training, the 'essence' as I call it, they are able to make small adjustments without needing the nod from me....useful when I go away for 2 weeks. So, I had no anxiety in leaving them to their own devices. However, one thing I didn't expect was the frequency with which the group would experience swinging moods and physical sensations within the 2 week window.

As a physiologist, I am more than aware of the cycles or rhythms the body's systems go through in a day, within a week, within a month. Indeed, some of my research has looked at this in some detail. But as a coach who works by and large with my athletes on a day to day basis, not having any contact for two weeks allowed me a different perspective...

I returned to work on the Monday morning, greeted by 256 emails in my inbox, gulp! 10 athletes each returning approximately 12 to 14 training sessions in my absence meant the automated emails I get from our online diary hosted by Training Peaks made up about half of the deluge. It took me the best part of 3 days to get on top of my athletes' progress.  In deciding to take one athlete at a time, I went back in time to the first sessions they performed in the fortnight and tried to paint a picture of how they had got on. The process was incredibly difficult though. One day 'up', the next day 'down' - whether that be mentally or physically. It was only when each athlete gave me a summary of the two weeks and a comment on how they were now was I able to draw any conclusions. I was truly amazed and fascinated just HOW much their training lives had been a roller coaster - no exceptions to the rule, all of my group reported the swings. It was eye opening.

Looking over the data, I can't even explain any patterns. Of course, considering the athletes in my care tend to follow 3 weeks 'building load' and a fourth easier week, I could see more 'erratic' form as some athletes pushed the back end of the 3 weeks; and in those athletes who had a 4th week while I was away, they were reporting a mental re-bound (although often a sluggishness physically, undoubtedly as the previous 3 weeks were catching up on them).

The responses and patterns were incredibly individual, and becomes the real challenge - but also the pleasure - of being a coach. What made me smile (or more honestly laugh and cry, tear my hair out in frustration!) was how an athlete could deliver pretty much the same session in week 1 and week 2 and come back with very different impressions of what they are like as a cyclist: even to the point of me seeing exactly the same power outputs, but they would interpret the session as either a success or a failure: then the leap in logic which went along the lines of bad session = being a bad cyclist. There were also smaller rhythms appearing - for example, athletes who are rotating 'hard, long, easy, rest' in a 4d block weren't performing in a logical manner. It just shows that even with an input that should lead to a predictable output (indeed, research papers have been written on how training stress can be modelled), it isn't always the case!

So, my learning experience? Don't take 2 week breaks! No, not really ;-) The two weeks without Coach allows the space for a natural evolution to unfold. Form and fitness vary, even if we SHOULD be able to predict them. Often, perception changes because of outside stress too - a good day at work, a bad day at work; the ups and downs of family life. Maybe it's been a good exercise for both me and my athletes? It has made me realise how critical my role can be though - maybe Coach is the 'head glue' some athletes need? Each day they submit a session, they start with an initial reaction to the outcome. But then, I come along and give maybe a more rational spin on things. I provide the rock, the even keel.

But, the fact that all my athletes were aware enough to report the roller coaster encourages me - give me a group of reflective athletes any day. The next step is helping them tolerate the ups and downs, and then I must try to move them towards accepting this pattern. There is perhaps a lesson here that we should only look for progress in fitness and form with sufficient time gaps between measures. Perhaps a disadvantage to training with so much data? Food for thought anyway!

You'll probably spotted that my blog posts have become less frequent: not only is this a sign of my busy-ness (given a two week holiday on the horizon does strange things to a Coach's workload), but also with time it becomes harder to come up with original topics to discuss or share. Writing about the ins and outs of my daily, weekly routine could look like the sequel to Groundhog Day!

I could quite easily share some of the current issues I work with my athletes on: but as I put fingers to keyboard I think "no, I wrote about that last year" - which in itself is an interesting reflection: different people, similar issues and challenges.

What might seem absurd is that given we've just had THE cycling event of the year, why do I not have some commentary to give? How come I'm not writing about power outputs held by a Tour breakaway up the Galibier? Why am I not giving my opinion as to whether Thomas Voeckler could have made the podium had he stayed at his own sustainable pace rather than attempt to match the superior punchiness of Messieurs Contador and Schleck? (by the way, Robert Millar has written an excellent evaluation on the Tour result, and makes an interesting observation about how 'fortunate' Evans was to have a menchanical on this very same day)

Quite simply, I have enjoyed being 'just' a fan of cycling these last few weeks. There are a multitude of blogs, forums, websites all giving their opinions on the extradordinary feats we've witnessed - and many of them have actually presented known power outputs and as much data as you could soak up (see the Training Peaks website for example, or the Team Sky website where you can see a contrast made between a team and individual TT effort from the same rider). To be honest, at some level I've not focused on this aspect - as I say, I have enjoyed being 'just' a fan. It's not that I am not interested in the science behind the performances - of course, that is part of my job! But what has interested me far more is watching the human spirit, and very often, the human vulnerabilities.

Whilst glued to the TV, I wasn't thinking about Evans' power output when chasing down Schleck? Wasn't it just amazing to see, "mano a mano"? I wasn't spending my time contemplating the physiology behind what caused Contador to lose over a minute one day to come back and attack off the front on the much anticipated Galibier / Huez Alpine finale - just the drama of it all surpassed the scientific, the logic for me this year. ASO must be very proud of themselves having staged this drama - and I hope they are downing a few glasses of Chateau Neuf du Pape celebrating now! (not too much though, or they really might try to carry off the daft idea of a prologue in the Middle East in the 2016 edition!)

My memorable moments of this years Tour:

- seeing Wiggins crash out was so sad. So much prep must have gone in to his Tour assault this year. Well done to the Sky riders in bouncing back. I hope Wiggins seriously considers the advice of Chris Boardman and places his focus on the Tour rather than the Olympics next year

- Piere Rolland taking the Alpert d'huez stage - I cried, enough said!

- Thomas Voeckler keeping his yellow jersey just one more day, by 15s - yes, I also cried that day!

- Cavendish taking the green jersey. Love him or hate him, you have to admit he is helping cycling become what it is in Britain

- My sadness when watching the Sunday night highlights on ITV4, the final montage sequence bringing the Tour to an end - I used to have this same emotion when the BBC played out the Wimbledon highlights after the men's final (hint to ITV: hurry up and bring the theme tune as a ring tone to the iPhone please)

- having GPS during the time trial, keeping tabs on the gap between Evans and Schleck - top tv drama...if only Thomas Voeckler could have made back just 50 more seconds :-(

I have always used to enjoyed my routine around Tour time  - and this year's edition has reminded me how much I love cycling....not as a coach, with an interest in the science behind performance, but because of the spectacle. Roll on 12 months - or slightly less given the Tour starting 2 weeks earlier making room for the Olympics...wow, what a prospect!

As part of their ‘Fuelling the Dream’ campaign for London 2012, BP has advertising hoardings at many of their garages. In the past few weeks I have passed one of these regularly on the A22, a poster claiming “Great performances come from the heart”. As a physiologist I would probably add the lungs and muscles to that (!) but of course, I can see what the poster is trying to get across – the emotion of humans can bring another level of performance. I imagine its something we all hope our British athletes can call upon with home advantage next summer.

We’ve probably all been told as children growing up not to let our ‘heart rule our head’. We are taught how to run our lives with a cerebral lead. I remember my brother coming back from school one day having been told by his English teacher to quit his daydreaming golf ideas – “you’ll never make a living from that sport” he was told. Thirty years later, my brother is still plying his trade as a professional golfer, running a course and teaching centre just outside of Guildford. I think that English teacher did Adrian a favour, “fuelling his dream” to prove his teacher wrong!

One of my brother’s golfing pals at school was Chris – who in a strange twist of fate is now one of the athlete’s I coach. I met up with Chris on Wednesday morning to share a coffee and his thoughts on the season so far, and the season still to come....well to be more precise, the season NOT to come! Chris has had a very up and down year so far. A crash last autumn set him back weeks; then work got manic, and to top it all, he is just about to move house. Between us, we could recognise that it is just not sensible to be adding another stress to a ‘total stress’ bubble that cannot get any bigger. As a species, humans are not ordinarily very good at acknowledging how much stress affects us: I know that from personal experience. We think we should be able to cope – but where is the sense in that? Chris is one athlete who has been able to see the bigger picture, and I know that will only help him as he moves forward. As we discussed over our coffee, this is after all his hobby, something to enjoy after work, not to feel stressed about on top of work.

In fact, I always see cycling (or indeed any other sport) as another job. The hours spent on the bike, plus the hours an athlete devotes to conditioning work in the gym, coverage of nutrition and recovery, the time spent travelling to races, thought put in to the right equipment etc etc – someone can easily be spending 25 hours a week on their pursuit. Very often sacrifices are made for the sport too: we understand that to be the best we can be requires commitment, sometimes devotion....and that comes back to the BP slogan of this coming from the heart.

Of course, the marketing guys at BP are trying to tug at our heart strings – nothing evokes such passion as sporting excellence does it? But we could also take a slightly different angle on this – we need to LOVE what we do. Yes, sport requires some intelligence (to make right choices around training stress, nutrition, recovery) but sometimes we should be paying more attention to our instincts, to our hearts. Very often we ‘know’ what is best for us, but the head, taking on the role of task master tells us we ‘should be able to cope’, we can’t give in, we have to keep pushing. We’re not very kind to ourselves at times. If our friend asked us what we should do when they complain of tiredness, or work is stressful, or feeling unwell we would counsel them to take some rest. on the other hand, when it comes to us, we are not our own best friends. We let ‘task master head’ rule over our hearts.

Don’t get me wrong, sporting excellence requires commitment, even discipline at times BUT not at the expense of our health, and not at the expense of enjoyment. Life is too short to not do things we enjoy (especially when for most of us sport is a choice outside of earning a living).

In order to catch up with Chris and a few other athletes of mine based in Surrey (it is that mid-season review time), I cycled to my parents. To pass the 80 mile ride time, I had downloaded Andre Agassi’s autobiography ‘Open’. It is a fascinating account of his tennis career, and I thoroughly recommend it as a summer read (or listen!). What amazed me was how much Agassi hated tennis – people used to think he was joking or at least over stating his feelings, but he really did HATE it. It was only in the last couple of years of his career that he got a sense of purpose from it, because he was using his name (and ongoing exposure) to support his foundation for children. So, what kept him going for 20+ years? For him, it was a job – having been made to hit 2500 balls per day from the age of 4, he knew nothing else. It was also that ‘torture’ that fuelled him to No. 1 – he was certainly battling some demons! But, even having won 8 Grand Slams not one of those victories made him happy...a fact he kept coming back to - “Winning does not feel as good as losing feels bad; and it does not last as long as the bad feelings after a loss”.

His lesson is simple - Play sport, train for sport because you LOVE what you do...not because you HAVE to, or have something to prove. Because, the demons cannot be tamed in that way. We don't become better people, or happier people by winning, or even hitting our sporting goals. In other words, overly focusing on the goal as some sort of 'fix' doesn't work. We have to enjoy the process of getting to the goal as much as the goal itself. This doesn’t mean every training session has to be fun – we need the commitment to the smaller steps in order to see the bigger picture – but that bigger picture has to be fun...or quit now, find a release from work that does allow you to enjoy your life. Train from the heart because the discipline you have is accented with ‘devotion’, not a form of discipline that conjures up the task master.

I think my cycling to Guildford last week was one of the most enjoyable times riding this route. With my parents moving this summer, this was a last chance to ride a route I have done many times whilst training as a time triallist – and it felt a good challenge to give myself one more time. I was only 15 minutes slower as a cyclo tourist, enjoying my stop at 50 miles for a coffee in Horsham. Listening and reflecting on the story of Agassi made the time fly by. Finding his purpose in life only when he started helping others was very interesting. That reminded me of being a coach; and how the thing that drives me in my work isn’t the physiology, the sport science – it is about helping people, helping them set challenges and helping them find the best way to overcome the obstacles in their way. Working with the athletes I do, many holding down full time jobs, means I spend the majority if my time working more as a life coach than a cycling coach! But, that is what I love about my job – and I enjoyed my time with Chris, Oli, Mike and Lisa whilst in Surrey. Less so the ride home, I got rather wet on Thursday cycling back from Redhill!

My work, and my performance at my work, comes from the heart too.

I have recently written about the work I do with French pro athlete Nic Baldo: his physiology and also how we have been preparing him for his big goal for 2011 - the French TT Champs. The day of the big event was last Thursday - so its time to update you on how Nic faired...

Between Nic's last visit to the UK (and his adventure in to the UK time trialling scene) and race day on the 23rd June, we have been in contact via Skype, using the time to refine his race plan. Back in April, Nic rode a lap of the course in Boulogne, and the Garmin data allowed me to plot the course in Google Earth and analyse the gradient along the course profile. Between us, we noted 6 climbing sections 'of note' i.e. the periods of time that his speed would be affected significantly. (NOTE: come race day, when Dan and I were watching the women finishing their assault of a shorter TT lap, once we were standing on the finishing straight we realised how important the final climb up to the finish was - I later screamed myself hoarse in the following car!!). The course profile can be seen on the left here - if you click on it, you will get a bigger image (and you will see climb '7'!!!)

In Nic's reccie ride data, I was able to select the data for each climb. Knowing his body mass, the time taken to climb, I could calculate 'work done' (in joules); then, knowing his ability to sustain a given power for a certain period of time (from training and race data) this allowed me to calculate a target power which would allow him to climb each hill at a speed which minimised the drop in his overall race speed. Obvisously, I could not supply him with a target in isolation, but one taking in to account the overall race distance (45km) and the accumulative effect of the 6 (7!) climbs. My targets needed to be realistic: climbing each strongly, but without him incurring too much fatigue over the course of the race. Whilst I know Nic's sustainable hour power (~400W based on recent data), this type of time trial is harder to create a pacing strategy for than an 'out and back' race that we often experience in the UK. On dual carriage-way type racing, all we have are slight pertubations in race power to cover rolling terrain, and head / tail winds. I'll come back to this in a minute, but at this point I think me telling you that Nic's top speed was ~80kph coming off a descent and down to 12kph on the final (but one) climb was 12kph indicates how variable the demands on his physiology were. Indeed, this is probably a good time for me to share with you his pacing schedule for the climbs:

The yellow highlighting indicates the climbs that I wanted Nic to focus on - these were chosen because of their relative severity in terms of length, gradient or position in the race. I imagine the appearance of an 800W effort might surprise some of you - but the average gradient doesn't tell the complete picture. From the video footage I could see that it possesed quite a sudden kick up that could slow Nic's speed down drastically. It also came just before a long descent, so I knew we had time for his anaerobic capacity to restore.

As with all plans, this was very 'dry': so I emphasised to Nic this IS only a plan - firstly, things can change on the day (and they did) and secondly, he knows what he is doing. Only the person on the road in race mode can feel how the undulations and pitches, weather conditions, road surface are affecting his speed. We knew the 45km route would be ridden in ~60 to 62 minutes. His goal was simple - to keep his average speed as close to 45kph as possible, varying his power to minimise deviation from this (within reason of course, because you don't brake when you are flying downhill at 80kph!). Likewise, come race day, my job in the following car was not to shout out this pacing strategy - by the time Nic was on the starting ramp, my role was to support and encourage NOT to distract him from reading the race for himself.

The weather was truly awful. We knew the forecast was for strong winds from the west, typical of the sea-side town of Boulogne. But it was the gusts that proved the real challenge. Dan, Nic's father and I in the following car all had our hearts in our stomachs at points on the lap. One area of the course (starting at 17km running down the descent to the lowest part of the lap) was in the open, no trees, with a 30 mph wind coming across Nic from his left. Nic had to sit upright just to control the bike, leaning heavily in to the wind. We had hoped Nic could use this relative downslope to recover and just hold his speed. However, just holding the bike in a line and to be safer, Nic had to remain close to his sustainable race pace - which probably took too much out of his overall effort we needed for the climbs. Overll, Nic did a fantastic job with his pacing of effort: as you can see (graph on the right, click to enlarge) on the whole he varied his available power very well - harder on the climbs, easing off on the faster sections of the route.

The outcome? Nic came 18th, with a time of 1:02:58. Prior to the race, we wanted and believed in a top 10 performance. But when one looks down the results from the day, you can see the class of the company he is keeping. The winner Christophe Kern was in a league of his own, but to be within 90s of (soon to be road race champ) Sylvain Chavanel and ahead of Pro Tour riders Yuriy Krivtsov (AG2r), Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin) and Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) was something he can be incredibly proud of. I just hope now that there is a team out there willing to take him on for 2012 and beyond. Les doigts ont croisé!!!

You will remember that we initially outlined a plan around a sustainable race power of 400W - so where did the 'gap' between actual race power (NP of ~380W) and his predicted hour power come from? It would be easy for us to rate this simply as an underperformance, but I don't think that would be fair to Nic. In the time since his UK trip of intensive TT preparation, he has participated in two 5 day stage races. Not only are these very fatiguing, but it also meant very little time for time trial work for 3 weeks (even between stage races 'training' was low key in order to keep on top of recovery). Many people will read that statement and think "ah yes, but all the other Pros in the field also have race demands - like the Dauphine for instance". Yes, I agree - but one of the difficulties Nic has racing at the tier just below Pro Tour is that his race programme is not as complete as the other riders: if we count up his race days in 2011 so far, I imagine he is on about a third of the load compared to the Pro Tour teams. That is a huge disadvantage, as when it comes to having to race two stage races in 2 weeks, it makes that 5 day block even MORE of a  fatiguing effort than if one races with more frequency. Also, when you consider the Pro Tour riders above Nic, a lot of them would be protected riders in a team. However, more importanly than the effects of going in to the TT with fatigue, I think its important to understand how different this type of time trialling is to that we experience in the UK. Those 6 (ok, 7!) climbs would never be seen on a UK course, the 'variabillty index' was 1.1% - which makes it hard for any rider to sit at a given level and hold it for an hour. The variations in effort and pace are volatile, and tough for the physiology to keep apace with. I believe Nic still has 400W for an hour in him on a flat course. On this type of course 380W was solid effort.

It was an incredible day, and an experience Dan and I were very pleased to be a part of. It was exhausting though - and not just because we left Eastbourne at 4am, returning home some 18 hours later (Dan, just how many times did I say to you "right, don't let me drink any more coffee today, this is my LAST one"?). I found it hard to focus on Friday, I was just emotionally spent from the day - being in the following car, living every moment with Nic, knowing what this race meant to him and his career as a Pro. I wouldn't have missed the day in Boulogne for the world...but I am glad that I have a few months to recover before the next time I have the chance to be in a following car for Nic (maybe at the Duo Normande if he teams up with my 'other Nic' as we hope).

A quick word of thanks to everyone who has been in touch wishing Nic the best before the race, the enquries from people asking how his training is going, and the congratulations after people saw his result. It has been nice to see the impact of these blog posts on Nic, and the interest it has generated. I know Nic is grateful for the support of his new found friends in the UK. Merci beaucoup.

I'm moving this summer, so for me right now my days see a juggling act around administration for my move, acting as project manager for my parents' move (they are retiring to the south coast, hence my move across town), and of course my cycle coaching. Unfortunately it's meant my free time is a little restricted and as a consequence I am getting to fewer race weekends - for instance, this is the first time I haven't been present at the National TT champs for many years.

The other downside is the amount of manual labour involved in getting my new place ready. Tuesday, I spent my day waiting for various deliveries and then when they arrived, carting the materials up to the 4th floor (just my luck the lift is currently out of order!) I joked on Twitter that I had completed a split session day : morning session, 15 boxes of flooring; afternoon session, the same loading of flooring tiles. As I climbed up and down I was weighing up the pros and cons of 'amount of load per trip up' vs 'number of trips'...just as I would chew over the number of reps, intensity of rep, and duration of rep for an athlete's interval session!

By the end of the day I was very tired and sore, which meant I knew I would be in trouble the next day - that was verified when I went out on my bike this morning for an hour before work: delayed onset of muscle soreness? Oh yes! During my ride I was thinking how this is one of the major obstacles full time workers face when also trying to pursue an athletic career . Ok, manual labour is a very obvious fatigue, but in ANY line of work, there are carry overs and impacts on our mental and emotional state - and they also manifest on our physiology. In fact one of the most common conversations I have with my athletes is reminding them just how much impact this has. Only last week I observed this: Mike arriving for a team TT effort with Oli and Chris, having driven all the way from Luton. Spending a couple of hours folded up in a car and arriving stressed and harassed didn't exactly tune the engine! Get used to acknowledging this - its not an excuse, and no we SHOULDN'T expect to be unaffected...we are only human, not machines.

About 5 years ago, I was working with an athlete who was a window cleaner by trade. It got to a point where we had to dismiss training to any great extent during the week, as his calf muscles took such a battering during each working day. We had one session in the week, and then had him train twice a day at the weekend. We managed to get him a few PBs using that approach. But, it wasn't ideal as when did he get to rest?

Covering rest and recovery can throw in another dimension. Whilst training provides the necessary stress to which the body responds to grow stronger, it is only when resting that the body has the gap in which to become stronger. No rest, no training adaptation. Coach will persistently explain this to Athlete...it means that athletes actually risk becoming more sedentary! This sounds paradoxical, but 'reduced spontaneous activity' is a known consequence of athletic lifestyles. The graph on the left here shows the different components of our daily energy expenditure. You'll note that exercise is only part of the daily expenditure, another big component is 'NEAT' (non-exercise activity 'thermogenesis') i.e. any activity from fidgeting on the sofa whilst watching TV, or washing the dishes, walking around the house etc. In athletes, it is this component that shrinks.

When I was competing, the only physical activity I would do would be training 20h per week, mainly on the bike. So, in order to maximise the impact of training and observe the 'rest hard' principle, I would drive to work, drive to the gym, indeed anything to stay off my feet at all times. I might be training 20h per week, but I would often find myself feeling quite unhealthy for it! The times I did walk anywhere, the walk itself would find me aching, rather bizarrely.

This can mean the athlete trying to lose weight and lean up hits a brick wall. Take the rider doing a 2h ride - they may attribute ~1200 kcal for that effort. In an attempt to maximise sports performance, they stay off their feet for the rest of the day: they don't walk to work, they use the lift rather than the stairs, they park the closest to the supermarket door as they can etc. Overall, they may 'lose' the opportunity to burn 500 to 600 kcal per day - so the nett effect of their training is only 600 to 700 kcal. Add in the extra calories taken in to aid recovery (e.g. Protein drinks) and it's no wonder some athletes are perplexed about their weight.

Of course, I am not advocating that weight is everything, nor that an athlete SHOULD be looking to increase their spontaneous activity. Far from it: it just asks the question what are the main aims of training (sports performance vs losing weight) and perhaps re-iterates that we have choices to make; and that consequences of those choices exist. It also highlights how using exercise to increase calorie expenditure and weight loss isn't always clear cut.

There is an up side to moving and acquiring DOMS  - the day of working in an empty flat, no wifi or email meant some solid work was completed. I had time to review some paper manuscripts ready for publication, and also to re-watch the footage of Nic's time trial course reccie ahead of next week's French champs in Boulogne. I feel very familiar with the course now, and I hope this will mean I can keep Nic on track with the pacing strategy by reading from my crib sheet in the following car. I'm really excited about the trip and watching him, especially since his prologue performance at the Flèche du Sud last week showed some great power under the bonnet. My main concern on the day is getting Dan ready to leave Eastbourne at 4am!

Last week, I asked Dan and Oli for ideas for my weekly blog. Oli was obviously pre-occupied because he suggested 'food' (I think it was lunchtime when I emailed them!); Dan on the other hand came back with 'motivation', a good topic to cover mid season, as its very common to observe a downward cycle in enthusiasm during this period. Questions as to 'why do I do this?' surface, but it is quite simply hard work commiting to a training programme 10 to 11 months of the year. From my perspective, acknowledging the downturn is important, as is realising the inevitability of it and the temporary nature of it. It will pass...

As always, when I see an athlete I work with take a turn towards this downturn in enthusiasm, I ask them to just take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Life itself is a roller coaster of ups and downs: training for cycling is not going to be any different. When we start training again at the beginning of the winter we are excited, we predict big things for ourselves, how the season ahead is going to be our best yet, how we will do things differently, REALLY commit this time. Some 20 weeks in, things start to get hard, but the racing season is about to start, so we get a re-newed feeling of purpose. The first few races make the process hard again: quite often we don't have the racing form we would like; if anything we feel we are 'slower' (but we are comparing ourselves to the end of the previous season when performance had been finely tuned over the whole season of racing). Our motivation is knocked. But then, we start to see some upturn again - we are now faster than before. Wait for it, a downturn ahead again - as we struggle to keep that form: we also struggle to keep on top of training AND racing, and everything feels squeezed - our time for work, family, training all pressed in to a finite amount of time available to us. We find it harder and harder to juggle. If we are lucky, no 'curve balls' are thrown in to tip us out of balance. But have you noticed when we try and stop anything wrong happening, life has a habit of throwing that extra juggling ball at just the wrong time? An injury, a house move, a big project at work? Its no wonder our passion for our hobby gets a little drained - it just feels like another obligation in life to fulfill.

Last weekend, I attended a meditation weekend. I 'sat' for around 6 hours a day - sitting on a cushion gazing down on the floor and watching my breath....surrounded by 10 other people all doing the same thing. When I tell people I am spending the weekend doing this I get one of two reactions a) Are you mad? or b) aren't you lucky, all that time relaxing. I find both funny! Spending that amount of time training one's brain is very hard - physically (I come away with what people in meditation circles know as 'Meditator's back'); and mentally its exhausting. During one of the breaks (yes, I need a lot of coffee on these occasions!), I was contemplating how similar meditation practice is to sporting practice. Both require a fine line between discipline and being kind to ourselves; and both need a lot of repetition. As I travelled back from Clapham on the train, I read two very useful quotes from Zen Buddhist master Suzuki Roshi:

Repetition "If you lose the spirit of repetition, your practice will become quite difficult"

Without accumulating training stress, there is no improvement in fitness and therefore performance. We can all say "I want to be the best I can be"...but can we REALLY commit to doing this? I have some great conversations with athletes at the beginning of the training cycle; I can see their enthusiasm burning brightly. There are really 'up for it'. But as outlined above, things come along and test that. Do they really want it enough? I'm not talking about burning themselves out by training at 9pm when they get in from long days at work; or training through an injury. That is not wanting it enough, that is NEEDING it too much. No, I am talking about an 'affectionate' discipline. Doing what has to be done to get fitter, and often that means NOT training but resting. But I digress. The real point of Suzuki Roshi's quote here is that in order to get better, we need to keep repeating something; and we need to get used to the fact this is tedious. Not every training session has to be fun in order to enjoy the overall pursuit of excellence.

Excitement "Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our everyday routine"

Often, we look to far ahead, and that overwhelms us. My suggestion is to greet each training session as if it were your first. In meditation we are encouraged to come to each meditation session with 'a beginner's mind' - it helps bring a level of curiousity and freshness, rather than thoughts like 'I must beat the power I achieved in last week's intervals' which can be very restraining and de-motivating. As Suzuki Roshi's quote reminds us here, a focus on what we are doing here and now is important. By ensuring we perform each session well, the overall improvement will take care of itself. The quote is also telling us that that there is a need to pay attention to detail every single day. OK, we have to be realistic we WILL have to work late some times, we WILL have the odd bad night's sleep or meal out that is far from ideal to keep us training well. But, are we doing what we can to minimise these negative influences on our body? Consistency is the key to improvement. Better to train 4 days a week for 20 weeks than to train 6 days for a few weeks, 2 days the following week, 6 days the next etc.

I notice how I have similar feelings each morning when I get out of bed to meditate with how I felt as an athlete getting ready to hit an interval session. No doubt I WANT to meditate just like I WANTED to train. But both require commitment, devotion to practice. It comes down to making a decision - to improve an aspect of our life - whether that be seeking a new personal best or a little more peace in one's life! Retain motivation with a focus on the big picture, but take care of the little steps and that big picture will become a reality.

A few weeks back, I wrote about the physiology of a professional cyclist - based on my work with French pro, Nicolas Baldo. The blog post was very popular, gaining over 700 hits so far and being the centre of a fair bit of discussion on cycling forums. I have had some nice feedback on the post, and also some lovely words of encouragement for Nic as he prepares for the French Champs at the end of June. Nic has been with us in the UK again this past week, a chance for us to assess how well his recent time trial specific training has gone and also, for some specific work in the altitude chamber at the University of Brighton.

In the 4 weeks since his last visit, Nic has been performing a lot of work aimed at a) improving his time trial power, and b) his efficiency at time trial pace. Sessions have included reps at 420W - increasing the time spent at that target power, whilst slowly reducing the time for recovery between efforts: the desire was to have him sitting comfortably at that power for sustained periods of time. Looking at the data we have collected in race performances during the past week, that aim has been well and truly surpassed! Nic has completed 3 club time trials this week - two ten mile time trials, and one 15 mile. You will remember from his last trip that we set up an aim to be hitting 420W for 20 minutes, and in both 10 mile events Nic achieved this - easily. Most encouraging was how his ability to handle pacing in a TT is fast improving. We have spent this visit really focusing on varying the power according to terrain and the wind - this will be critical on a course like that one he will ride in Boulogne come the end of June. His improved pacing meant some pretty fast times on the local Sussex courses - two, 20 minute 10s with his training wheels and blustery wind conditions raised a few eye brows...including my own when I saw the power data! Last night's assault of a 15 mile TT was the most successful yet - he managed to again average ~420W over the longer time frame of 30 minutes. I drove his (French!) car behind him on parts of the lap, and he was attacking every hill with great ferociousness. It was also the first time Nic has used sodium bicarbonate loading, and I attribute the ride "punchiness" to the buffering that this alkaline substance provided him.

These performances are all the more impressive given that Nic has been racing tired all week. We are still some 4 weeks out from the Champs, so the priority is still achieving an overload in his training. As well as the evening club events, we have been working on time spent in the TT position (his two rides at the weekend included a 4h zone 2 ride, and the next day a long ride with 3 x 20 mins spent in zone 4 or at 25 mile pace). In addition, Nic has spent each morning a few thousand metres above sea level!

This process started on Day 1 of his visit: we set the chamber to 15% oxygen (equivalent to ~3000m of altitude) and had Nic ride at a zone 2 power of 290W. This the type of power Nic would happily sustain for a 4 to 5 hour ride, and a heart rate of ~145bpm. However, at this altitude, the stress is far greater - asking Nic to ride for 1.5h in the chamber gave us a heart rate of 170bpm, and his blood lactate concentrations looked more like we would see in zone 4 (~3.5mM). To keep a check on Nic's safety, we asked him to wear a pulse oximeter on his finger throughout the trial. When he first entered the chamber, his blood saturation dropped from 98% to ~93% within 10 minutes of sitting at rest. During his ride, this further decreased to ~85% - indicating the level of stress he was under at this 'height'. This was more than adequate on Day 1 of the altitude work....but we would be looking to stress him even more in the coming days.

By Day 3 of the intervention, we had set the altitude at 4500m, the chamber now at 13% oxygen. As hoped, this increased the level of stress on Nic - his saturation plummeting to 81%. The main aim of this type of intervention is that it enables us to stress his metabolism quite severely (even at maximal aerobic power, blood saturation may only reach 92%), but keep the loading on his muscles fairly low (i.e. torque is within zone 2 demands). In the meantime, remember Nic is still performing his evening time trials. So, with the racing and altitude sessions loading him quite severely, his heart rate has begun to look a little suppressed. We need to watch this now - the plan is to freshen him up between now and the weekend; perform a 4d block of time trial work when he returns to France; and then there are two, 4d stage races between now and the Champs. Not ideal to have him racing so close to the Champs, but as I have commented before, when you work with a Pro rider, there are many trade-offs between the perfect prep and the demands on his job.

As well as the training and altitude preparation, Nic and I have had the time to analyse the course lap for the French Champs in Boulogne. Whilst Nic is intending to ride both the TT and the road race, our focus for the route analysis was on the TT loop. on Tuesday, we spent a couple of hours watching the video he and his Dad had filmed during a trip to reccie the course in April. With a Garmin measuring the lap distance both on Nic's bike and in the following car, we have been able to sync the footage and his power data for his reccie ride. Lining up real time / distance means we can work out precise instructions for a pacing strategy: when he is best off applying more power; when he is best easing off and focusing on taking a certain line or recovering from an effort. I will be watching the video a few more times in the next month so that I can design the best pacing strategy for Nic. Dan and I will be making the trip out to Boulogne to be in his following car. Thankfully Nic's Dad will be driving, so that I can concentrate on just speaking with Nic in to his earpiece!

We've enjoyed having Nic over, and aside from the hard work at atltitude and punishing race programme, I think he has liked being here too! His trip was good timing, as we had a PBscience athlete gathering - it was the Eastbourne Cycling Festival at the weekend. A group of our riders came to the Sunshine Coast to take part in the sportif rides on the Sunday morning. Eastbourne delivered the sun, but unfortunately it was accompanied by extremely windy conditions. The riders did a great job out there: Craig (silver), Bjorn, Lisa, and Mike (all Gold) covering the 50 mile route; whilst Juliette rode the full 106 mile event (in an incredible 7h14 which surely should have seen her getting Gold?). In fact, Mike and Juliette were first man / woman home in the 50 and 106 mile events. Well done everyone!

The festival was a success for the town, and an event that we hope will become a fixture in the calendar. For Dan and I it was a busy weekend, but worth being a part of - at the very least, we enjoyed having our riders all together...nice to see so much PBscience kit! The downside to the weekend was there being no chance to recharge our batteries: I think Dan and I have been caffeine fuelled this week (certainly less decaf being drunk in my office this week!). And, what with the race season being in full swing, I envisage more race duty on the horizon. As I have said before though, it always brings the reality of the coaching role home to me, so not something I ever complain about :-) There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a rider's fitness come to fruition in race performance; and being there to witness it in person is very important to me.