Managing expectations

Posted by: Coach Carter in Untagged  on Mar 9, 2009

Sometimes, my job as a cycling coach becomes more about the psychology than the physiology - helping a rider to stay  grounded. This week, I have had discussions with several riders, helping them to balance their expectations of where they ‘should be' with a perception of where they actually are. That might be in training (where they expect progression to be linear, or where they are frustrated at not hitting a specific training intensity); or more commonly, in a race.

I spent the weekend watching a few of my athletes attend a local club time trial - designed as a team time trialling training session for a few, and a check on power output levels for others. As I stood on a bridge across the dual carriageway, I got goose bumps: it reminded me what a personal challenge time trialling is: each of the riders totally focused for 10 miles, unaware of the outside world; the best of them holding bodies steady, legs pumping like pistons. The full on season is not far away now!

Pre-season can be a nervy time for athlete, and coach alike. Up until now, training has been methodical, building the volume, and upping the intensity. With the season not yet on the horizon, there is confidence and excitement about the coming year. Once the first early season races come along however, it is often like a switch: riders suddenly want a test of their form - to see how the hours of work have paid off.

I often say to my riders that February / March is ‘crunch time'. It is really the transition between endurance building, and the step towards race specific preparation. I find that athletes respond VERY differently to this period, both physiologically and mentally. Most of the PBscience athletes are looking to peak in around 12-14 weeks time, so a large proportion of their time right now is being spent in zone 3: the intensity that brings ‘quality endurance'. My cycle coaching philosophy is that this endurance base is necessary, and I choose to ramp up intensity at a later stage than some are used to. I believe that 12 weeks is ample to work on race pace and ‘top end': instead, I would rather the time up until this period of the year is focused on endurance. This is mainly for two reasons: firstly, to enable the athlete to ‘build' the machinery needed for race pace training - whether this be extra capillaries for removal of ‘waste' products the muscle creates, or the enzymes needed to help the athlete use more oxygen. Both characteristics support the work at harder rates yet to come. Secondly, over a race season, it is not uncommon to see athletes get less fit: that's because once racing, it is hard to maintain enough endurance training to keep the underpinning foundation firm. Endurance training is a bit like the foundations of a house - and you wouldn't build a house on fragile foundations! I'd like to also add a third reason - psychologically, keeping a lid on higher intensity training until this close to the season allows the rider to ‘keep their powder dry': high intensity intervals are mentally sapping - keep the race build short ensures an athlete has the end in sight. There is a danger in doing the same thing all year round that you blunt not only the fitness, but the brain's ability to cope with hard, fatiguing efforts.

Of course, there is a down side to this approach - March brings the opportunity to race. I personally feel a rider has to make a choice on how they view participating in these races, especially if they want to peak in late May / early June. However, as an athlete, I remember this feeling: seeking reassurance that everything is on track. I support my riders in what they feel they need, but I do try and get across that these can only be seen as stepping stones: either training races, or as ‘tests in the field' - useful to help guide their training zones outside of the lab testing we do.

I think a lot of my riders appreciate my ‘glass half full' attitude. Helping them keep the faith when other riders are seemingly are miles ahead than them. We talk about their major goals: what are they, and when are they...and how being good all season is not possible - most of my riders have made a conscious decision to go for higher peaks (which unavoidably means accepting the low points too).

To outsiders, 12 weeks seems a long time, but to an athlete, the appearance of a key event comes around quickly. It is hard not to be impatient, to want to be good now; to even be ‘better than this time last year'...reminding an athlete that ‘being ahead of this time last year' was not a goal is one of the hardest parts of my job. Really, it's all about trust - that pushing the body towards new limits is a stepwise process which takes time - you can't rush adaptation, just plan for it.