Coach Carter

Well, its been a busy 3 weeks catching up with my riders - lab tests, rider mid year reviews (and copius coffee drinking). One thing that has really struck me this year is how many of the riders have 'matured' in their approaches to the sport, their training and their racing. The majority are now looking further into the future than before, indeed many of them developing 5 year plans. They appear to be less in a rush - very appropriate given some of the comments I wrote on last week's post. I'm really excited about some of the projects the riders have entrusted me with. I sense it in the riders too - in fact, some gave me the distinct impression they would be quite happy to quit racing for this season and start prep for next year!

This level of process can only be achieved by giving yourself chance to take stock. The athletes have used July to re-charge their batteries, and its time for them to re-build toward second half of the season goals. Having set them on their way, its now MY turn to re-charge the energy reserves as I head off on holiday for a week. I have to confess, its hard to let go - I was speaking with a friend tonight who is also self-employed. Although I am excited to be heading off on holiday, and I definitely need the break, I will miss my work, and miss the interaction with my athletes. I also know many of them will be racing, so there is always a part of me wondering how they are getting on. At least going away and coming back mid-week, I only sacrifice one weekend of race updates!

But, as with each training athlete, no matter how much you love doing something, to back off allows you to miss it in your life and re-enter with new rigour and motivation. I will re-start work on the 5th with that: and its a nice thought to be settling down in front of my PC that morning with a cup of coffee and a whole two days to catch up on training files and training plans to create. I've deliberately planned it this year so that I have two days to get settled in to work 'behind closed doors': returning to work on a Monday feels too much like 'Back to School'!

So, no blog post next week - but I am sure my week away in France will give me plenty of space to reflect in time for a wonderfully creative post on my return....no pressure!

The Times recently published a series of articles on the philosophies of five coaches working with top athletes in UK sport today. Dan passed them on to me, and I have been spending some time reading them and reflecting no how my approach differs / overlaps with theirs. What I have done in this week's blog is to take one quote that really resonated with me from each of the five articles in the series, and give you my perspective on it.

Its always good to keep open to new approaches, and in particular, I think its always worth looking outside your own sport. It would be easy to only read around the sport of cycling - but each sport is steeped with its own tradition(s), so dipping into other sports can bring a fresh approach. I've done this previously, reading a lot of work by Clive Woodward - my work with teams in the past has been heavily influenced by his methods. Therefore, I found it very appropriate that the series kicked up with his take on coaching....

"Coaching is about the skill in how to educate your athletes"

Sir Clive Woodward, Performance Director for the British Olympic Association

I've thought a lot about this lately. I see part of my role as coach to 'empower' the athlete - to become less dependent on me almost to the extent that over time they can coach themselves. My role becomes as 'advisor'. Indeed, I have a few athletes developing that way now. It means we are working more as a team: they bring their self-expertise; and I bring the latest knowledge in sport science. We share the responsibility of their goal. In order to bring that about though, I know I have to give the athlete the tools - it might be helping them understand why I structure the training week the way I do; or introducing tools like measuring heart rate variability to monitor their state of 'rested-ness'. Overtime, if they understand the WHY, they can then buy wholeheartedly into the programme. And, if they know what I am trying to achieve in each training block, they can give me specific feedback on if we are hitting the spot.

But 'educating' means more than just knowledge transfer - I also see a responsbility for me helping the athlete gain a bigger perspective. In this sense, educating takes on a more reflective nature. Helping the athlete to self-assess, review and then feedback. To see pursuit of their sporting goal just as a way to challenge: the attainment of the goal is not just the be all and end all of their athletic career....its about getting curious - what is limiting performance, and how do we get around that. I think that is what brings an athlete to a sport scientist for coaching. 

"A talented person is like putty...if you coach correctly you can end up with a beautiful vase"

Andy Banks, coach to Olympic diver Tom Daley

I liked this analogy, because it gets across the 'moulding' that we coaches can apply. Yes, we need good material but we also need to be creative and to handle the material carefully. What is coaching 'correctly' though? That is the difficulty, there are no rights and wrongs that you can apply across the board. For me, this quote made me reflect on my coaching method, 'coaching style' as most of the textbooks refer to it as. I am different in all of my coach-athlete relationships. I play the roles of advisor; assessor; counselor; demonstrator; friend; facilitator; fact finder; fountain of knowledge; instructor; mentor; organiser and planner; role model; supporter. Also, the role is never static - one day I can be the fact finder, the next day the same athlete might need 'the supporter'. I have to be open to what the athlete needs right there and then. Interestingly, sometimes that might conflict with the role I think they need there and then!

What do I take from this? I think its about being honest and open - for the coach and athlete to have the space to have open dialogue. I will ask my athletes how they think I am doing; what can I be doing better for THEM. The athlete needs to tell me what is 'coaching correctly' as applied to them.

"As an amateur, you are a sprinter; but as a pro, you have to be more like a marathon runner"

Jim McDonnell, coach to Olympic middleweight boxer James DeGale

When we pick up a new hobby or in the case of the athlete, a new sport, there is a tendency of wanting it all 'now'. We spend hours reading about our new passion, surfing on the internet to pick up the best tips, or contemplating the all the new kit we can buy to make us better. In some respects, we seek instant reward - in cycling I see this a lot. A rider starts the sport, and they follow the tradition of falling into the race season. When you start riding your bike, you also start racing it. I'll come back to this a little bit later...

The difference with the pro level rider is that they see the sport as their career. When we start at the bottom of the career ladder (may be as a University graduate, or a school leaver) we look at the years ahead and consider how we will move from A to B to C to D. We see it as stepwise: and while we might sometimes wish to speed the process up, we generally accept it will take us time to reach 'the top' - we appreciate we have things to learn through experience (you can't put a wise head on young shoulders!). A young cyclist entering the pro ranks will probably have this view. However, I think the aspiring 'domestic' cyclist can learn something from this - turning their focus from short term gratification (PBs this season please) to a longer term view. There is nothing wrong with setting personal bests each year (or my business name would be misleading!), but sometimes I counsel an athlete to think longer term - to be less sprint, more marathon. Longevity is often rewarded - an example would be seeing a block in a performance that needs something different being applied. Throwing a familiar training / race programme at someone might not be the answer; instead they might need to strip back and rebuild the blocks in a different way in order to reep higher gains. Going back to the pottery analogy above - maybe the putty needs some time to be moulded into a different vase?

 "Some athletes can tolerate tremendous physical pain a few times; but she can do that consistently, every single session. Its that steel she has both physically and mentally"

Bill Furniss, coach to Rebecca Adlington, double gold medallist at the Beijing Olympics

Not so long ago, my athlete Juliette passed on to me an article talking about how athletes typically fall into categories. Essentially it dealt with the differences between naturally talented athletes and those 'work horses' who had to strive for what they wanted. I have always seen this 'work ethic' as a talent in itself. After all, if you don't want to work hard (and sometimes that might mean compromising the 'now' in order to get the bigger picture later) then sport is probably not the right place for you - training is hard, sometimes it even hurts.

I really picked up on the word 'consistently'. I have had many conversations with athletes around whether it is better to have 3 sessions applied each week: week in, week out, 52 weeks per year compared to 2 sessions here, 6 sessions there. You might end up with the same total number of sessions in a given season with both approaches; but I know where my money would be on backing the most successful outcome. The body needs a consistent stimulus to shift it from its current 'comfort zone' to a newer level - over time, that stimulus needs to be bigger to achieve more adaptation. I also sense a big part in success is committing to each session with mind, body and soul. There is a temptation to go through the motions - to see 6 x 3 minute intervals and tick off the reps. Recently, there has been a Specialized advertising campaign using Alberto Contador doing his mountain climb intervals. OK, its only an 'ad' BUT, I think you get my point - look at his face, his body: he is living, breathing and eating that training session - as if his life depended on it. Better to do 3 sessions per week like that, than 6 which you just cruise?

"There is a classic piece of training theory - that it takes 10 years / 10,000 hours to produce something. A child prodigy still needs to put in the time...people are too much in a rush"

Tony Minichiello, coach to Jessica Ennis, World Heptahlon Champion

This goes back to the point made earlier. We start a new sport, and we want success as soon as possible. We talk of what we want this season. I do my best to ask athletes to think further ahead - what is the ultimate goal? For some, they need a few years in the sport to understand what that might be, and I fully understand that. But to achieve the very most you can get from your body takes time. And, targeting PBs (instant gratification!) might compromise the long term ambition and potential peak in physiology.

Dan and I met last week to talk through the process of tapering, peaking and periodisation. We touched on this '10,0000 hours' concept indirectly. In the programme, the athlete needs a multitude of abilities - which the coach must help manage the development of. Sometimes it can feel like the racing actually gets in the way! Now of course, racing IS the reason we train (or at least directs our training) - but, what periodisation allows is the planning of the route towards the goal. A luxury would be for an athlete to give me licence to have those 10 years / 10,000 hours to bring them to a peak - okay, that's extreme, but hopefully you get my point? The Candian's developed the concept of 'Long term athlete development' - it talks of a series of stages which the athlete travels along as they become an expert in their sport: training to train (developing the engine); training to compete (learning more sport specific skills / abilities); training to perform (where things get really specific and racing frequency is less because higher peaks - wins - are sought). When I start with a new athlete, I encourage them to give me a long term plan: whether it be 3 years, 5 years (okay, I won't push my luck and ask for 10!). In all honesty, these coach-athlete relationships can be the most satisfying to both parties: you feel a real sense of sharing the road together.

This week’s post is being created at the wind tunnel facility in Brackley. My athlete Chris is on the rig – hoping to find some more seconds to take him further down into the “19 minute” bracket: he set a new PB for 10 miles last weekend – 19:59. From the data rolling up on the screen in front of me, he might be seeing those faster times pretty soon!

This type of experience is exciting for me – not only seeing performance potential being revealed in front of me, but also the time shared with an athlete (and other experts) working on the shared project of performance. The work of a sport scientist is not just about training plans – it is about looking at EVERY aspect of the athlete lifestyle and seeing what can be refined.

The month of July gives me a great opportunity to reflect on the coach-athlete dynamic. Most of my riders are taking some kind of break from the racing scene – whether it be full rest, or even just a mental breather from structured training. Although I am not a dictatorial coach, this is one phase of the yearly cycle I insist on – without a mental and physical discharge, the battery cannot be taken back up to full capacity. It is a long season – and a couple of weeks off now can help the athlete not only maintain intensity, but enable a stronger peak in the back end of the year.

As the athletes aren’t racing with as much frequency, it allows me to use this window to get the mid season lab tests completed. “Mobie” has been out on the road, clocking up miles, whilst I clock up Costa / Nero / Starbucks* loyalty points! Alongside the tests, we have time for 1-2-1 discussion and review: how has this year been so far? And how can we adapt the plan and process to bring even more in the second half of the season? The mid season review is important for the coach-athlete process. I like to explain to my riders that I do not have all the answers – they will ALWAYS be a better expert on themselves than I will be. They know themselves and their experience; I know the theory and can bring innovation. It is essential we work as a team – sharing the responsibility toward the common project goal. Of course, it also gives plenty of quality time together – coaching is all about relationship: and the more time you spend together, the connection and understanding of each other can only grow. As I get to know an athlete, I can begin to read between the lines, watch body language, listen to the tone of voice – as whilst the athlete is their own best expert, they have to learn to be honest about what they are feeling and experiencing; and I have to bring a level of objectivity and probing. It also means I have to be open to receive the information and indeed, feedback. I think Pro rider Amber Neben sums this dynamic up nicely on her recent blog post. I really relate to what she says.

(I’ve just looked out to the wind tunnel rig from where I am sitting, and Chris looks like a poised arrow, brilliant!)

Appropriately, Dan and I have spent some time this week considering our own coaching philosophies, as well as that which we want to put out to the world as the combined ‘PBscience’ philosophy and practices. With Dan studying for his British Cycling coaching award, and our launching of the new PBscience member package it was an ideal week to schedule this as our ‘Continuing Professional Development’ session. Read any Coaching Science textbook (and there are a HUGE number of such texts coming onto the market now) and they explain why developing a coaching philosophy is so important: it allows a framework within which the coach-athlete can work; and it allows the athlete to assess the effectiveness of the coach and coaching process. I would add another – by developing a PBscience coaching philosophy (which we will publish for people to see) it allows potential clients to choose whether we are the right coaching team for them. Whilst it is easy to develop a list of our key values, we have to be authentic.

I’d like to thank everyone for their kind words post my London to Paris ‘ordeal’! I have recovered now (physically at least) although it did take a good week of steady riding and TLC. Even then, I was aware of a more general fatigue – another useful lesson to take on board: how even though the obvious physiology recovers, things can lurk in the system for a considerable amount of time. Last weekend, some of the miles I speak about were out with Craig – though they were far from easy / steady (as having watched Nathan race at Tenterden, we were on a mission to catch a train at Hastings and the last hour turned into a 2-up time trial!). Craig is off to do the Action Medical Research version of the L2P next week – its an event he did last year, so my account of the L2P ride really resonated with him. He thanked me for my honesty and openness of the blog post: its so easy to just say ‘yes I enjoyed it thank you’ and keep the bad stuff hidden away. We talked about how its important to be honest with others and ourselves when we are challenged. Especially in my role as coach – if I can show ‘weakness’, my riders are more likely to open up and share with me when things aren’t going to plan for them.

This feeds in to the whole reviewing process in some ways – I sometimes sense riders are desperate to stay ‘on plan’, often at big cost to themselves. It is worth noting that all coaches plan training on known principles – but, these are principles and NOT fact. I’ll say it again – I don’t have all the answers and I WILL be wrong from time to time. By engaging IN the process with the coach and sharing how its going day by day, week by week, the plan can be refined. There is no such thing as a perfect training plan; so an athlete needs to let go of this perspective and remain open to communicating the issues at hand. Don’t keep things from your coach - anything that helps bring together the jigsaw puzzle is useful information. Work as a team – don’t hand over full power or responsibility to the coach.

*delete as appropriate!

I’ve set myself some challenges in my time as a cyclist: competing in time trials, riding up mountains, travelling long distances, even 4 hour turbo sessions! But, I don’t think I have ever experienced anything like the 3 days cycling from Esher, West London to Paris.

I had prepared pretty well for the London to Paris bike ride, my goal for 2010. I had been putting in the miles consistently since before our PBscience training camp in Majorca, and kept that momentum going well through March, April and May. I set myself small stepping stones along the way including hitting the race stage distance of 100 miles, putting together back to back rides, and ensuring I practiced my fuelling strategy. My bike was ready too, having been in at the Tristore for a service; whilst my body has been serviced by Luke at Sportswise and good friend Tracy manipulating my somewhat dodgy back (long miles and long desk hours - a dangerous combo for my lower back and neck). Not to be in danger of not taking my own advice, a kit list was created, and by Wednesday lunchtime I was all packed and ready to register up in Esher. As Juliette and I collected our race numbers (and obligatory race t-shirt!) in the sun, I should have been tipped off by what was going to become THE biggest obstacle for me: the searing heat.

(you can click on the power file pictures to get a closer look at them)

Day 1: Esher to Dover

My Dad, ever the faithful taxi driver, dropped me off at Esher at 6:45 am. I had been awake since 5am, so plenty of time to get a good breakfast and coffee inside of me. Despite concerns of needing the toilet as soon as I started (!) I had already drunk 2 litres of electrolyte by the time I got on the bike for the 8am start. The forecast was for temperatures in the mid 20s – and they were right. I was grateful for the prompt roll off – it felt like a headstart on the heat. I was nervous but excited as Juliette and I lined up in Group 2 – around 80 of us were due to complete this journey together; another 300 riders were also strung out on the roads of Surrey, Sussex and Kent. I was confident in my fitness, and believed that keeping within a group so big would be well within my control. By the lunch stop at Lamberhurst after 56 miles, the excitement turned to anxiety – I was realising that a lot of the ride was to be well OUTSIDE of my control!!!

We had an hour for lunch, and that was quite tricky to deal with in itself – too long to keep nimble and loose, too short to recover: awkward length of time to eat well but digest the food. Originally, I thought it would be best to skip lunch and just rely on my normal carbohydrate drink, gel and bar diet to fuel myself. But the length of the stop made that tricky – and after 3 hours of sports supplements (knowing another 15 hours were to follow!) you crave ‘normal’ food, salty food (okay, I had a slice of cake!). The hour also gave my anxiety chance to rise – the morning had been tough – not the distance, but the way the group were riding. The ride captains are given pacing to keep to; and in a group of men (Juliette and I were the only two women in our group) the intensity of the ride was understandably ridden to their pattern: intensity goes up on the hills, easing off on the downhills – I would train in reverse of that: steady on the up, maintain the same effort on the down i.e. even effort, not even pace. Like I say, this is really understandable for men to ride this way – they have bigger power output ranges, even if their endurance is the same as mine. This means if they ride 100W above their lactate threshold over a small rise, its a smaller % of their total range, maybe to 80% of their maximum. Going 100W above LT for me means being at 100% of my maximum aerobic power for that period. Of course, we can sustain maximum for a few minutes – but try repeating that several times, and fatigue follows. Especially in a long ride, especially in a long ride in the growing heat. I was really reluctant to follow the ‘digs’ so I started to ride closer to the back of the group, leaving Juliette to battle it out at the front – she was doing a superb job, her superior power to weight ratio and training status winning out. She was showing the men a thing or two! I was ‘happy’ at the back of the group, using the tortoise and hare approach – letting the men surge up the hill, and me coming back into the group on some of the descents. However, in the twisty lanes of Kent, I lost touch of the group and ended up time trialling to get back on – the risk of my strategy. I knew I had to think again for Day 2 – and on the ferry to Calais, I gave thought as to how the next two days probably needed me to be ‘braver’.

Day 1 stats

Day 2: Calais to Amiens

I slept fairly well over night, and the anxiety of the day before had subsided a little overnight – Juliette was doing a good job in keeping my confidence up. That is the weird thing about self-talk: whilst I had fears, I knew I would complete the ride – in some ways I didn’t believe my own doubting voices, it just felt like the day ahead was going to be incredibly hard and unpleasant. But, I decided that most of my Day 1 problems had been through a lack of courage – if I resolved to stick with the group even when my powers were looking out of my reach, at least I wouldn’t get dropped which had required me to TT my way back into the group – I believed tracking the wheels would be more efficient, even if I was burning more ‘matches’. I explained to Dave, our ride captain, how on Day 1 I was limiting myself, riding within my comfort zone. In a way, I knew too much – I knew what was happening when I was riding at 400W; I knew the amount of muscle bound carbohydrate I was burning up, the rate of it happening, and how improbable it was that I could sustain that effort. I didn’t have the physiology of the male riders, nor the glycogen store size. I reckoned that I would just up the fuelling going into my body to compensate.

I was enjoying the ride Friday morning. The countryside in France was magnificent. Yes, Britain was beautiful too, but the terrible road surfaces meant you were hesitant to look anywhere beyond 2 m in front of you for fear of hitting the potholes! Two hours into the ride, and I was having fun. The surges were no less challenging, but my resolve to stick with them was paying off – I was spending more time in the shelter of the bunch. On the longer climbs, I sat back and climbed steadily, knowing I would reel the front runners in – I loved it, and I remembered how much I love climbing – at that point I was even considering an Alpine or Pyrenean challenge for my next outing. My new ride strategy was making me hungry, so I was glad to be greeted by lunchtime supplies: the half-expected French baguette, rounded off with Apple tart and Ambrosia rice pudding

I was a little ‘blocked’ after the lunchtime feast, so it took a while to get back into the ride. The heat was also building, and by 2pm in the afternoon, temperatures were soaring. I pressed my SRM computer button to see 31 degrees...the English girl was roasting. Thankfully, Juliette had reminded me of my own advice, and a lunchtime running wrists under cold water helped immensely – as did immersing my head and neck too (did nothing for my helmet hair though!). Mid afternoon though, and the heat was now coming back off the tarmac at me – I was suffering. As well as my core temperature rising, I could sense my glycogen stores were getting very low: one side effect of heat is increased glycolysis for energy – the body strips the glycogen away faster in the heat as it searches for any water it can to offset heat production. My power was dropping in my efforts to keep with the group. My only saving grace was the lead car slowing to keep the group contained on the smaller French roads – it gave me enough time well below my sustaining power to preserve myself to the end of the stage – but I knew I was in trouble, and things were not looking good for Day 3

Day 2 Stats

Day 3: Amien to Calais

I normally like Ibis hotels – and, the breakfast WAS up to normal standards. But, the night receptionist burning his Croque Monsieur at 1am and setting off the fire alarm was NOT part of our preparation plan for Day 3! It meant a sleepless night for me – I have always had that tendency: if I wake up, I stay awake as my brain activity starts. I tossed and turned, and with each movement I could feel my quadriceps cramping up. The day 2 riding, going into the red zone frequently, meant my muscle fibres were short on glycogen and had been hunting around different fibres to support the power output needs. My vastus medialis (often called the sprinters muscle) was almost ‘raw’. As I got up out of bed, I knew I was in trouble. And, unlike Days 1 and 2, today was to see a long morning of 80 miles before breaking for lunch (as the organisers have to get all riders in one group for the final 25 mile precession into Paris). My anxiety was now actually fear and dread. I knew no matter how well I ate at breakfast, I was in deficit – I had done all I could to maximise glycogen replenishment overnight, but the levels to which I had gone would require 48h for full recovery.

The legs improved a little with the 2 hours or so between breakfast and getting astride the bike. The first hour was also pretty steady so I started to think I might be okay. But once again, the temperature was rising. I had heard the forecast was for even hotter conditions as we approached Paris. Indeed, by late morning I was cooking. One of the challenges of the event was keeping with the group while they contested the 'GC' sections each day - on Day 3, this was a 12km section on mainly uphill terrain. I hung in the second bunch, but my efforts were taken me over the edge. I have NEVER worked so hard on the bike - I was being taken to a level of pain I had not experienced before, even in my racing and training days. Mainly because of the heat and accumulated fatigue - but mentally, because it was out of my control - I had to hang on to wheels, the pace was not being set by me - and it destroyed me. We stopped for a quick break after the GC section, some 10km stood between me and lunch (effectively, the end of the challenge because of the roll in to Paris en mass). On paper, it was just a steady climb, but I was in trouble. I rested in the shade of the lead car: as I crouched down, even after 5 minutes my heart rate was sitting at 135bpm – the skin on my arms had goose bumps and no sign of sweat. I had the first signs of heat stroke. Looking back, I realised how close I was to collapse – many athletes have suffered this fate going through that level of exertion in the heat. The most dangerous thing you can do is stop, as at least when you are moving you have a skeletal pump pushing the blood back to the heart. The high heart rate whilst resting shows how much stress I was under; and the dry skin told me I was thoroughly dehydrated. The English rose wasn’t just wilting, she was toasted and uprooted. Juliette saw me and knew I was in trouble – I asked her to pour a bottle of water over my neck, and I contemplated the next 10km. It was about survival, I had to climb at my own pace and just make it to the lunch venue. Twenty-one minutes later, I had made it: as i rolled into the lunch hall it reminded me of the time I descended Sierra Nevada having got altitude sickness at the summit. I wanted to kiss the floor, back on terra firma. But, I didn't have the energy - I simply parked my bike up, edged my way into the lunch queue to collect my baguette and rice pudding. I sat there with my food unable to gather the energy to eat it at first. I knew I had made it, but I didn't have the slightest feeling of relief or satisfaction - I had no emotion, a very odd feeling indeed.

Just 45 minutes later, I wheeled back into the sizzling heat - a little more gathered now. Only 2 hours to go, knowing all we had to do was tap out 15 miles per hour in a group of 350 riders. However, it then ended up with Juliette and I leading that group! What an honour - that perked me up. Joined by my ex-Science in Sport team mate Tanja Slater, the 3 of us led the peloton. At one point Tanja said to me "Look back H" - i was scared to, knowing I might bring down the whole group with my mental capacity being somewhat lower than normal with a fried brain! But when I did, i was astounded - what a site, the colours of 350 cyclists in the sunshine. That, and hitting the cobbles on the Champs Elysee will stay with me forever.

Day 3 stats

Naturally, since I have returned home, many people have asked how I got on - "Did you enjoy it?", "Will you do it again?". No, I didn't "enjoy" it - sure, I had some great moments and I met some lovely people who helped me get through the event BUT, I don't think the 3 days was pleasurable. Would I do it again? Too early to say, but right now the down moments feel to have outweighed the good moments - and anyway, I think I would need a new challenge: now I have completed it, the next step would be to complete it faster, or ride with Group 1....that doesn't necessarily appeal to me. However, I have learnt "jamais dire jamais"! The appeal of these events is the completion rather than competition. However, when we consider the Latin base of the word, competere means to strive together. I felt that, a group of people sharing a common aim of getting from one European capital to another.

Reading this might appear very negative on the whole, but it was far from that. I would not change a single moment of it - I learnt so much about myself mentally, physically and emotionally. I had some amazing realisations as I cycled through the most beautiful scenery in France. Going through periods of suffering is important for our growth as people - the size of the satisfaction is always in proportion to the size of the challenge: so you can imagine the sense of achievement I feel now, looking back. I feel that also helps me in my role as a coach. I think any athlete can understand that training and racing is not always about enjoyment. You don't have to love every pedal stroke you make for it to be worth it overall. Its the bigger picture, what it brings to you that keeps us going out there, that keeps us looking to the next goal.

As I travelled back on the Eurostar on Monday afternoon, I felt incredibly fortunate to have had this experience. I also felt excited to be going home and getting back to work with my athletes. I received many texts of support from them over the weekend; and also lots of nice news about weekend performances and personal bests. This month is all about 'rider reviews', where we take a look back over the first half of the year and plan ahead for an even better second half of the season. Mobie and I will be on the road conducting lab tests too. I enjoy July because it means a lot of 1-2-1 time with the people I work with - that and Tour watching means a happy coach. Oh yes, and the odd ride - but nothing like 330 miles in 3 days: that might be my monthly total from now on!

I'd like to finish with a few thank yous. Firstly to Jane Blanco and all her team crew at Hot Chillee productions for laying on the event - its truly amazing to be on closed roads, have all your kit shiped from bike parks to hotels seamlessly. A brilliant organisational / logstical effort. The motorbike outriders on both sides of the channel did an amazing job, and kept my humour at some low ebb times - especially when they clocked my rider number! To the ride captains on Group 2 duty, Will and Dave (they gave me some much need pacing!); and to my fellow riders in group 2 (thank you to Ian, Marcel and Charles in particular).

The biggest thank you goes to my athlete and friend Juliette. I know you felt guilt for putting me through all this pain "Robot", but I can't thank you enough for your support and company. Can I at least have one year off this?

I promised last week that I would update you on my trip to Edinburgh, and my attendance at the WCSS Cycling Science conference. It really was worth the 5am to midnight day – and for once a coffee fuelled day was very excusable: coffee on arrival at Gatwick, coffee on arrival in Edinburgh city centre (Starbucks on the Royal Mile), coffee throughout the day at the Carlton, coffee post conference (back to Starbucks on the Royal Mile), coffee at Edinburgh airport. I concentrated training block one might say!

Days like this are important for me: as a coach, I am not exposed to sport science on a daily basis, unless I actively seek it. It feels luxurious to have a whole day acting like a sponge: being the student again as I sit and soak up the words of wisdom from the expert speakers. It started with an interesting opening address by Pat McQuaid – getting his take on ‘motorised doping’ and the UCI’s biological passport system. This was followed by a more medical view of doping, present by Roger Palfreeman, who up until recently was the chief medical officer for British Cycling. His talk was fascinating – although I only have a peripheral interest in these matters (more as a cycling fan concerned about keeping the peloton clean), his explanation of the biological passport and the underlying physiology was one of the most enlightening presentations I have ever heard. His explanation of the new threats from skeletal muscle doping was particularly thought provoking – agents that don’t even require you to train in order to improve performance!

The afternoon was given over to thematic symposia and oral presentations of recent research. A wide range of topics were presented, these being the key snippets:

• A study on core stability training in 35 male cyclists showed improvements in 10 mile time trialling ability – so get out those Swiss balls!
• Two independent studies demonstrated clear patterns in power output over the course of a training year,
  • Elite cyclists demonstrate LESS variability in their training sessions than national level cyclists (53 vs 23%)
  • A cyclists ‘median frequency’ decreases over the course of the year i.e. within a given training session, you spend more time at higher power
• A presentation from the Australian Institute of Sport underlined that the coefficient of drag is not necessarily determined by a rider’s frontal surface area: arm position (degree of ‘bent-ness’); distance of gaze, handlebar height, and interestingly, cadence all determine the drag on the rider.
• A symposium on efficiency explain how key this parameter is for performance:
  • ~30% of the variation in power output can be explained by differences in gross efficiency (so how much oxygen you require per watt).
  • It appears that intensity of training might have just as an important part to play in explaining efficiency as does volume
  • The myths related to pedalling mechanics and efficiency were explained, and the most part ‘busted’ (for example, crank length has very little impact on efficiency)
• A symposium on pacing covered a range of topics:
  • How important the ‘central governor’ is in setting an athlete’s pacing strategy – knowledge of the race length and anticipation of conditions appear to set the effort long before we get feedback from the physiological systems
  • One of my PhD students at Brighton, Patrick Cangley, presented his work on varying power in line with optimising speed: a concept PBscience athletes are very familiar with! His paper was well received.

An information packed day, but I still had chance to catch up with fellow researchers I have not seen for a while, but also to meet new people. I had a nice chat with James Meyer, the inventor of the Quarq power measuring system. His talk was fascinating not just in explaining the technology, but also in charting his journey as an entrepreneur: I could relate to his feelings as he evolved from engineer to business owner, and the steep learning curve! The day reminded me how important ongoing learning is – and, I have come back with a renewed commitment to keeping on top of developments within the discipline of the sport science. I’ve started with some reading on heat and how it impacts performance – this has been at the front of my mind since the 10 and 25 mile time trial champs being under 30 degrees of heat.

A major work for Dan and me recently has been the development of the latest PBscience package. Until now, we have been focusing on one to one coaching. However, in order to reach a bigger community and to fill a clear gap in the market, we are about to launch a package that allows people who do not want the full supervision of a coach to prepare for performance with confidence – it will include a training plan based on sport science principles, initial lab testing and access to all the resources on the PBscience website. In getting this package ready, we have been putting a group of pilot testers through the scheme. This week we caught up with Kim, Jill and Chris to find out how they found the training and the mechanisms of delivery. Great to get their feedback, and great cake at “Local Roots and Boots” here in Eastbourne! You can find out more about this plan on the PBscience website: Dan and I are really excited, although we know it is going to be a busy summer ahead.

This weekend sees the National 50 mile Champs, so another working weekend for me – the event is across 2 days. It means I am taking my ‘break’ in the week next week. Not that cycling 330 miles from London to Paris is really a break! I doubt I will have the energy to post on the blog next week, so come back in a fortnight and I will update you on how Juliette and I get on.

I’m writing this week’s post some 35,000 feet above the Earth – flying my way to Edinburgh for the World Commission of Sport Science Cycling Science Conference. I’m looking forward to the day ahead, as there are some interesting presentations scheduled: from Pat McQuaid of the UCI talking about doping control; through to topics on mountain biking at Beijing; race pacing and cycling efficiency. A day of learning...and coffee no doubt, as I catch up with my ex-coach Louis Passfield! I’ll report back on the conference in next week’s post.

It has been an interesting week – although I am fortunate to have work that always gives me interesting times! I think that is the nature of coaching – each of my athletes brings me their own projects, challenges, individuality. I cannot treat any two the same – the way I communicate with them, what they need from me – each relationship is unique. I often find myself explaining to people how I consider coaching all about relationship. Yes, I am a sport scientist, fascinated by the human body and its physiological responses to exercise: but unless I can unravel what is going on for the athlete at any one time, all the knowledge in the world will not help them perform. I have to engage, be empathetic, communicate my ideas – in essence, give my athletes the time they need from me.

I had opportunity to discuss the coach-athlete relationship with an elite athlete this week – my ex- Science in Sport team mate Wendy Houvenaghel. We met up in London for a much needed catch up – as we had not seen one another for over 2 years, not since the Beijing Olympics in fact, when Wendy took silver behind GB team mate (also an ex-SIS rider) Rebecca Romero . I was fascinated to hear about her journey in that time –Beijing silver in the individual pursuit and World Champs Jersey from the team pursuit. I was also able to share my own journey from sport scientist, to athlete, to sport scientist again, to coach and business owner. Each of us has learnt so much through sport. In fact, its Wendy who I have to thank for lessons in coffee drinking (I can report she is still pretty good at that!).

One thing that I realised during my time with Wendy was how to explore the very limits of our potential; we have to go the ‘whole hog’. We cannot be half hearted in our attempts. Elite athletes take this to the extreme. Wendy was finishing off a whistle stop 8 week tour catching up with family and friends before she knuckles back down to athlete life again towards the Commonwealth Games, World Track Champs and onto London 2012. She is just over mid-way through the Olympic cycle, and it is time to re-enter the ‘bubble’ as she described it. Wendy admits she is very ‘all or nothing’ – I smiled, because we share that characteristic! Full on, or full off – it means a very cyclic life, but I do sense it is a valuable tool in getting the very best out of yourself, no matter what line of work or sporting discipline you practise.

I don’t see this as exclusive to elite athletes. I believe that ANY athlete deserves the elite experience. I don’t condemn any of my athletes who opts out of this ‘all or nothing’ way – but I do see a range of choice made among those I coach: those that do everything in their power to maximise and optimise, whilst those who are sometimes a little half-way house. People who want to explore leaving no stone unturned gravitate towards PBscience probably because they see I coach in line with my performance philosophy.

Last weekend I was able to observe the behaviour of some of the athletes in my care. Dan and I drove up to Yorkshire in Mobie in support of 10 PBscience athletes competing in the National 25 mile Championships. You will remember that 2 weeks ago, the athletes were afflicted by high temperatures – and this weekend it was a very similar situation. Although temperatures were a shade cooler, the fact that the race distance was 2.5 times longer meant the build in heat stress was actually greater. Heat stress is a product of time and metabolic rate. Whilst metabolic rate might be higher in 10 mile time trialling, it was the time in the saddle that crucified (read “toasted”) people. Reports of “felt fine on the way out to the turn roundabout, but died coming back” were common – people’s power output just drained away; heart rates through the roof (higher than previously recorded maximums in fact); unquenchable thirst, salt covered lips and skin. Classic symptoms of heat intolerance.

I was pleased to see how my athletes used their experience at the 10 champs to better prepare themselves for the 25: plenty of ice packs and cold towels were in use; hydration with multiple bottles or camel backs; and all warming up in the shade (Mobie’s awning became very popular!). But I sense the athletes were still unaware how much the heat affected their performance that day - disappointed to see their powers lower than normal. I had to comfort them with “but everyone’s were”. It was noticeable how some people’s tolerance to heat is lower than others – indeed, studies show how big an influence our genes have on things such as heat tolerance and response. Unfortunately, some things aren’t under our control: but this is why it is critical to pay attention to EVERYTHING we can control – getting to the race venue the day before, riding the course, starting nutritional and hydration strategies 2 to 3 days ahead of the ride, practising riding at the time of day you are racing – small things add up. Wendy knows the value of the British Cycling mantra “Marginal Gains”.

My athlete Craig is one convert to this approach for his cycling. Before this year, I think Craig would agree with me that he ‘loved riding his bike’ and in some ways it cancelled out his hectic lifestyle – working in London, young family. The long rides annulled all those work socials! Since entering the Leadville 100, Craig has become “an athlete”. He has the utmost respect for the event, and knows the challenges ahead – not just the facts of how many metres he has to climb, the drop in oxygen pressure he faces, the hours in the saddle and power output he needs. He understands the toll this is going to place his body under. We have approached the task ahead like a problem solving exercise – he has weekly and monthly targets in his training and body mass. He has nutritional guidance to support his training whilst losing the weight he needs to optimise his power to weight ratio. One of the strategies we have employed is to have him come into the altitude chamber at the University of Brighton: where I remain a part time research fellow. In the past fortnight, Craig has spent 12 hours sitting ‘at’ 4500m: his blood oxygen levels reaching around 70% of those we would have at sea level. This will help his body cope with the levels we will see in Leadville. The next stage of the process will be to have him exercise at this mountain height – I bet he is looking forward to that!! But, I know he will commit to it, no matter how tough a challenge. Craig is embracing ‘all or nothing’ and his motivation grows as he sees the results: since February he has gained 20W in sub-maximal fitness, lost 7kg in weight and 3% body fat – his power to weight ratio has thus improved an impressive 20%. OK, he might not equal Lance Armstrong’s magical 6.7W/kg to win the Tour, but he now stands a chance of completing the Leadville event: back in February we weren’t so confident.

It is now just 2 weeks until I face my own challenge for the year: the London to Paris bike ride. My training has been going well, and since my 100 mile ride (with Craig) a few weekends ago, I have relaxed having grown in confidence I can manage that ride distance: just need to do it 3 days in a row now! Most of my training has been steady, base endurance riding – rarely taking my heart rate above lactate threshold (except when climbing up hills on the wheel of Juliette, another of my Eastbourne based athletes who is riding L2P with me). So, it was a shock to the system when I did an ‘Epic’ turbo trainer session on Wednesday. Dan and I are building a section on the website that describes each training session the PBscience athletes might encounter in their training plan. The idea is to provide in depth explanation of why the training session works, when we would use it and some practical tips to getting it right. One thing we are going to include is a picture of what the session looks like in the Training Peaks WKO software – not all the sessions we have in the database have been performed, so any ‘holes’ have to be filled. I decided to try out the ‘Epic’ (a session actually designed by Hunter Allen who developed the WKO software) – I think I will rename it to ‘Torture’! An amazing workout, but not one for the faint hearted. Thankfully, the Dauphine time trial was on Eurosport – but I did question my sanity as I looked outside to a beautiful sunny afternoon...the things I do for my athletes! ;-)

I’m sure in 2 weeks, those 3 x 100miles + per day will feel like childsplay now. Oh well, just an example of my ‘all or nothing’ streak I guess.

For the first time in a very long time, I have found it hard to decide on a topic for the blog post this week. In fact, I was getting to the point where I felt I would miss a week - but then I had a few emails asking where the post was this week: I even asked my athlete Craig if he could suggest something - "never thought I would start doing requests".

It was only this lunchtime that it dawned on me I had been having a recurring experience in the last fortnight: reminders that we tend to push, not stretch ourselves to new levels. What brought it to the forefront of my mind this lunchtime was my participation in a Body Balance class. Last week, my first time at this type of class, I came out feeling LESS balanced than when I went in!!! I had been over zealous with one of the stretches and my left hamstring / gluteal muscle has been tight all week. It took me back to my first yoga class two years ago: one week before the National Track Champs (I know, I know) and I was limping around all week having over done it. It doesn't take too much time hanging out with 'Yogis' to realise how amazingly athletic they are. Having got back into Yoga in the last few weeks, I am having a light shone on all the bodily weaknesses existing in me. I know its going to be good for my physical well being to stick at it. But, more importantly, I know its the mental well being I will benefit from the most.

I'm currently reading a book by Jon Kabat-Zinn called "Full Catastrophe Living". With a title like that though it probably brings negative messages to your mind - no, I am not having a mid life crisis! However, as Zinn explains, in this sense Catastrophe means greeting the full tapestry of life: the good, the bad, and living them to the full - opportunities for growth. The competing athlete can probably understand this - its often our worst performances that help us learn the most about taking ourselves forward. In the chapter on Yoga being used as a meditation, Zinn explains how in each practise we can discover the boundaries of how far we can stretch, or for how long we can hold a position. But, remembering that these boundaries are not static - he advises therefore to not become too static in setting our limits. If we listen carefully enough to our bodies, it will tell us how far we can go in that session - but in the next session we need to approach it with a beginners mind: with no expectation from the session before. He goes on to explain how athletes are used to this approach - exploration of their limits. However, I tend to disagree with what he says next. He suggest athletes always do that to get somewhere - but in Yoga, the idea is to simply use the practise to understand / discover where we are at: I actually think that adopting this approach - ceasing the relentless striving - would be an ideal way for an athlete to train and / or race. Simply entering each session with an open mind, listening to the limit the body sets us, and gently stretching it to a newer level. There aren't many people who get Yoga injuries or suffer from over-training...with the exception of competitive athletes who push too much, too soon...I hold my hand up to that! 

So, athletes beware - I might be setting some Yoga sessions in your training plans very soon!

This weekend saw the hottest day of the year so far: it has to happen each season, coming across a hot day for a race event - but what made this weekend so tricky for a group of my athletes was that it came out of the blue, and also on one of the biggest weekends of their season.

It was bad enough watching - as I stood on the dual carriageway in Warwickshire, the venue for this year's opening time trial championships of the year, the National 10 mile champs, it was 33 degrees. The same thing happened last year - but this year I was prepared: sun cream and not wearing my sandles (my athletes will remember my purple, burnt feet last year!). I got the impression though that many of the athletes competing hadn't learnt the lessons of last year...

The sport science literature is packed with research investigating the impact of heat on performance. Exercise in the heat results in major alterations in the body's circulatory, thermoregulatory and metabolic function. During races, the body's metabolic rate is already high - the exercise itself producing a lot of heat that needs removing from the system (or the muscle contraction will be compromised). Add high environmental temperatures, and the problem is worsened. In an attempt to keep itself cool, the body intiates an increased rate of sweat production. This helps to limit the rise in core temperature, and can prolong the time before a limiting temperature is attained. The downside is it costs a loss of body water and electrolytes. The body tries to offset this water loss by increasing the heart rate (as blood delivery to the working muscles is the product of heart rate and stroke volume, the latter decreasing as the body dehydrates in the heat). In my experience, athletes don't treat the heat with enough respect - yes, it doesn't feel pleasant - but worse than that, it doesn't have to be that hot to have a significant effect on performance. In a classic study back in 1997, Galloway and Maughan had cyclists work at 70% of their VO2max (similar to 25 mile pace) at various ambient temperatures.  Exercise time was reduced dramatically under the heat: 52 min at 31°C vs 81 min at 21°C. A reminder, it was 33 degrees on Sunday. As supported by a study published this January (By Ely and colleagues, Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2010 Jan;42(1):135-41) performance decrements can be as high as 17% over the time frame of a 10 mile time trial - this could be in the order of 40 to 60W: take a look at the results from Sunday - 50W might explain the difference between 5th and 20th in the men's event.

Its fair to say that there will be a huge variation in ability to perform in the heat: mentally and physically. The size of the athlete is one factor that Dan and I discussed after the race on Monday morning in our weekly meeting - indeed, looking at the top 20 of the men's and women's event, a few people were able to step up in the rankings perhaps because of their body size - smaller riders can dissipate more heat quickly because they have a relatively bigger surface area. But to me, the conditions of this race allowed the 'cream to float to the top': it separated out those who go that extra mile in preparation.

Call it what you will - being prepared, controlling the controllables, leaving no stone unturned. Sporting performance is more than just doing the training. One fault of time triallists is that they sometimes forget that the goal of the race is to go as fast as they possibly can - its ultimately about maximising speed. Okay, the days of regarding 'training as cheating' have now passed, but, there is still a somewhat 'amateur ideal' prevalent. A rider seen using a cold vest to cool the body whilst warming up on a turbo is almost ridiculed by his / her competitors; a rider seen sticking their race number on with tub tape rather than pins is regarded as 'anal'. It gives the impression of a certain degree of apathy; or maybe people don't consider themselves good enough to try those little extras ? As a sport scientist, I see these little things as meaning the edge on competitors. Indeed, when I was riding, knowing I had looked everything about my performance before, and on race day gave me a boost as I sat on the start line.

I try to get this same philosophy across to my riders. Before the event, I provided everyone with race notes and spoke with them all individually about the ideal pacing strategy and use of their available power. We took into consideration how the wind direction might change and impact on this. I loved reading a quote from men's title winner Michael Hutchinson "Having the confidence to sit back and sit back until I got to the last roundabout and try and squeeze it up the last drag to the last corner and try and be 'heavy' for the last mile" - it summed up how best to ride the course on Sunday. I look at Michael, and Julia Shaw the ladies event winner, and they are fine examples of looking at every aspect of cycling performance - aspirational in my opinion.

Having seen the weather forecast for the weekend on Friday, I sent an email out to the PBscience riders, reminding them of the consequences from last year's similar situation. I urged them to think about using ice packs on their torso while warming up. According to Allen Lim, physiologist with Team RadioShack, keeping cool in the warm-up is "the single biggest bottleneck in the Tour, or any other sport.” Pre-cooling is a great example of how to maximise what you have fought hard to gain in training hours. By using ice vests or simply frozen peas / freezer ice packs, you can keep the body's core temperature down near to normal. Even running your wrists under cold water helps. We're going to be talking about this strategy at our mid-season workshop in July. I was interested to read an interview with Russell Downing in this month's Cycle Sport magazine - explaining how Team Sky used ladies tights packed with ice cubes during their New Year camp / racing in Australia. All part of their 'marginal gains' approach. Many of you might remember the Tour de France time trial back in 2003 when Armstrong returned back from his ride, lips caked in salt. He blamed that loss to Jan Ulrich partly on dehydration due to warming up in the heat. Ullrich reportedly warm-up in a nearby air conditioned supermarket!

On Sunday, I saw many riders compromise their warm-up or opt out of it totally. Perhaps the name 'warm-up' doesn't help - I hear all sorts of talk about "no need to warm-up today, it is already warm enough for me". However, warm-up SHOULD be called 'acid-up' as the main effect is given to performance by switching on metabolic systems and enzymes controlling them. Its why I get my riders to do maximal bursts at the end of a 40 min progressive effort. Nothing can replace that benefit - even if the heat of the day puts people off going through it. In fact, I felt a lot of riders across both mens and womens events were going through the motions - and that's sad, given the hours since last November spent preparing for this big day. 

I don't think my riders were immune to some errors in prep at the weekend - for a lot of them, they are more focused on the 25 Champs in a fortnight's time. However, having opportunities to practise these things at big events are few and far between. We'll debrief the good, the bad items from the weekend and use that information to feed into the coming races. As I often say to the riders I work with, it is one thing to make an error, the mistake is letting it happen twice!

This week, there will be many cyclists around the country going through their final preparation for this weekend's National time trialling championships - around 400 people in fact. Even more athletes will be racing across mountain biking, road racing, triathlon and other competitive events. Athletes have spent hours getting ready for their sporting challenges; a lot of money has been spent; and undoubtedly the biggest investment is emotionally. It begs the question - why do we do it?

Sport is strongly interwoven with our culture in the UK: in schools we use it to teach morals, values and ethics. In adults we use it for escapism, a release from the pressures of working life. For many, the pursuit of athletic excellence and skill mastery becomes our purpose in life: sometimes to the extent we forget that we choose to do it, and that its a fun hobby! Ultimately, people that choose sport are wanting a challenge: to see what their bodies can do - see how fast they can get, see how high up the rankings they can climb. Having been an athlete, I can understand the motivations for competitive sport.

One facet of my sport of cycling always seemed a little curious - the world of cyclosportives. Indeed, the upsurge in the popularity of this discipline has led to serious criticism of the magazines servicing the cyclists in the UK - too much page coverage given over to 'overweight men with hairy legs' spending all day riding 50 miles at the expense of 'serious racing' (or, men with shaved legs wearing lycra). Yes, there IS a challenge of riding long - completion of the route becomes the goal. When I finished racing, I did ponder if this might be the way I kept riding my bike: taking on the classic cyclosportive rides in France and Italy - at the time, I thought it would still be about riding the routes as quickly as I can: after all, that was the challenge that resonated with me.

However, recently I have started to understand more about this 'new world'. Having decided to enter the London to Paris this year, I have been taking part in a few sportive events - as a way of training. This past weekend I rode the Castle 100 event in Kent, keeping my athlete Craig company (for company read 'super domestique', even down to pacing up climbs and bottle carrier!). Craig is in training for the Leadville 100 in August - and while that is 100 miles off road, we have set some intermediate milestones - riding 100 mile sportives is part of that plan. Last year, Craig rode the Castle 100 in around 7 hours 45 minutes - this year we were able to knock off over 40 minutes, despite Craig still nursing his injured wrist and the shocking road conditions. It was fun riding with Craig, and also very satisfying helping him overcome one of his goal events in such a fine way. We even helped his belief in hill climbing - the way he was spinning up Holybourne hill was a sight to see!

How did I fare? Seven hours in the saddle was not easy - I was riding at an intensity within myself, but over time, I realised that was a demand in itself. The main challenge came mentally - the first 56 miles were fine (up until the lunch stop), but the second part of the race was a test of endurance - mental not physical. I found myself playing games to break up the distance "I can have a gel when we reach 70 miles". This wasn't my way of rationing fuel supplies (!) but more a way to break down the total distance into smaller chunks. I think the most inspiring 'bargaining' I did was calling out to Craig in the final 15 miles (whilst climbing another hill!) "I'll buy you a mocha after this"!!!

I also used the ride (103.5 miles actually) to test out a fuelling strategy for London to Paris next month. Before I set off, I aimed for:

• 1 x 750ml bottle per hour , containing 40g of SIS 'Go' energy drink
• 1 x SIS 'Go' carbohydrate gel every other hour
• 1 x SIS 'Go' energy bar every other hour (alternating with the gel)

Based on a 6h 30 ride time, I was therefore aiming to take in ~60g carbohydrate an hour (the typical rate of optimal carbohydrate absorption): or with my diet above, a total of ~1800kcal. Sounds a lot? Well, if you consider 6.5 hours of riding (at ~140W) would require me to use over 3 times that calorie intake, you can see how easily it is to come back in deficit. It makes post ride feeding strategy essential when you need to repeat this effort on subsequent days (as I will for London to Paris). So, even if the intensity isn't demanding, fuelling adequately is. I have't ridden many century rides, so gaining this experience was very important to me: especially as I have not eaten ~1800kcal in carbohydrate energy products very often. I soon understood why Ironman athletes crave savoury food during their races.

Fuelling requirements over this distance is hard - and its one thing Craig needs to practice ready for Leadville. I managed to stay away from the lunchtime buffet at the feed station - I was appalled at what some people were eating in the middle of the event: 2 miles up the road I saw one poor guy looking like he was having a heart attack, crouched over his top tube - indigestion! I even made sure I could stomach more nutritional product, taking on 70g of SIS Rego protein recovery drink.....don't worry, it was at least 30 minutes later I drank the above mentioned coffee, can't slow down whey protein / carb absorption rates with all that casein protein can we?

Yesterday, I was explaining my adventure to Hannah, the fitness editor of one of those maligned cycling magazines I mention above. I told her how I felt 'peeking over the fence' and visiting this new world. I told her how I completely understood why these events are gaining in popularity. Standing in the grounds of Tonbridge Castle after the ride, I was impressed how many people had completed the challenge: all walks of life, all ages, men / women, all shapes and sizes, some on £5000 road bikes, others on mountain bikes (or even shopper bikes complete with basket - no word of a lie!). Why do some people criticise this? Sure, I witnessed some absolutely shocking bike handling, some appalling eating habits, and some curious 'pacing' up and down hills BUT, our sport is massively popular right now - the more people we get on their bikes, the better. You never know, it might make more motorists turn to their bikes - good not only for the environment but also our safety on the roads as two wheel warriors.

I am pleased to have experienced this weekend, on many levels. My body and mind felt tired all day Monday - even in my yoga class Monday evening, I could feel the same poses taking more out of me mentally and physcially - you know that awful feeling when you just know you are on the end of a cramp? ouch! I would even say I am now looking forward to riding the 330 miles from London to Paris.

(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!!!