Blog Entries

My turn

helen@pbscience.com — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:39:37 +0100

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, i [...]

Coaching secrets

helen@pbscience.com — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:32:16 +0100

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, a [...]

Sharing the road

helen@pbscience.com — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:33:06 +0100

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!

It was only this lunchtime that it dawned on me I had been having a recurring experience in the last fortnight: reminders that we ten [...]

If you can't stand the heat

helen@pbscience.com — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:22:49 +0100

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 sam [...]

why do we do it?

helen@pbscience.com — Tue, 18 May 2010 06:09:36 +0100

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?

Sowing the seeds

helen@pbscience.com — Tue, 11 May 2010 07:17:37 +0100

(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 pr [...]

Tree felling

helen@pbscience.com — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:50:09 +0100

I've just got back from spending 3 days in the New Forest: spending some quality time with "Mobie" in his intended use: as a motorhome - have to say, the 'mobile lab' got some curious looks as I drove into the campsite on Saturday morning! The 3 days were more of a 'retreat' than a 'break' as the intention was always to take some time out in order to reflect on my current goals - personal and business. Where better to 'sharpen my saw' than in the New Forest?

Case by case

helen@pbscience.com — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:15:46 +0100

The coaching community often wax lyrical about how the process has to be individualised: that one size does not fit all. Sometimes the work that goes on behind the scenes to enable this tailor made approach is overlooked; the coach has to ensure they keep reading around the area, keeping updated on the latest training principles, performance analysis etc. There is also a lot of work one has to do when a particular athlete brings forward a unique circumstance, a unique challenge. My day to d [...]

W.I.N.

helen@pbscience.com — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:35:48 +0100

I'm reading Michael Phelps' book "No Limits" at the moment: a book structured in 8 chapters, each detailing an approach that took him to a Gold medal. I picked up on one in particular - "What's Important Now?" His coach, Bob Bowman would ask Phelps this at opportune times, times when in order to get a job done, the mind had to be refocused. Its very easy in times of stress to react in ways that are our defaults. For a human, our instinct is often one of survival - "fight or flight". Its argua [...]

Staying open to opportunity

helen@pbscience.com — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:27:34 +0100

In the main, the athletes I work with are in their 30s or 40s – people that are established in their careers, maybe had their families, and now want to get back in to sport. Like I used to view the ‘mature student’ cohort at the University, a group that seem to know a lot more about what they want. I do love working with this type of athlete – they give back what I put in: a real reciprocal relationship. People need very little chivvying to get their training done (although training d [...]