Performance Coaching

When looking for a coach, is there any specific attributes that would mesh well with what you have as a goal? The first step for you would be what that is; Fitness -> Performance -> Personal Best -> Results -> Podium, then is there an event that you are planning to do? Once you have that in mind, take the next step and look for a coach to guide you there.

I’ve guided many athletes to their best fondo performance, podium places and event finishes on multi day bike tours and time goals on iconic climbs. My knowledge base in fitness, physiology, kinesiology, cardiology, my patience and ability to see what athletes themselves are unaware of, enables athletes to progress towards their goal with a strong body and mindset along with it.

I’ve listed a few attributes already, still I think the most important attributes that a coach can have is to listen, to be open to new thoughts and ways of doing things, to be flexible and adaptable and to believe in what an athlete is striving for. When I’m talking to an athlete for the first time and hear what they are planning, so often I will see them already doing that. The picture comes to mind of them doing their best climb ever, their finish line result, their inspiration and motivation is something that I can feel.

It doesn’t always work out; the picture that I see doesn’t happen when the athlete is distracted and loses focus of the goal. It was a dream, not a goal! A dream is imagining and hoping; a goal is something that you can take aim towards, take actions and make steps in the direction of.

Fitness is a goal that is simply getting out the door and doing your sport in a way that supports health. Performance is training that makes your body more effective and efficient while becoming knowledgable about your sport. Personal Best is the next level of mastery, using that efficiency to produce your best outcomes of speed and power. Results will arrive with the strive, for becoming a master in the sport. Then work and marginal gains combine to produce a podium result, a top 3 is sure to follow!

The cycling coaches that I see and talk to all have that inner passion to convey their knowledge and experience to you the athlete. Most of the time, you can’t go wrong when you follow the plan! So a background that may be similar to yours one way or another, where you can relate, will help you to make the right choice. Pair that up with their experience and yours to create a winning combination!

What’s strong with me day 24

Coach Be

This was brought to my attention by someone who felt that positive was used often, in a very negative way. The example being covid of course, but also things like cholesterol at your annual checkup ‘hey, I was positive for good cholesterol’ which would give the listener an ambiguous meaning at best.

This thought brought to mind how people appear and how they are, how they want you to think of them compared to what’s actually going on with them. There’s the enthusiastic but scornful ‘way to go’ (minus the negative slur, moron at the end of it)! Or maybe a less than sincere but polite, ‘I love it!’

Leading to expression and thought, since we can never know truly and very rarely want to, know what someone else is thinking.

Take a 4-way Stop sign. I get there after a car has already stopped, I stop and I wait. It looks like they may be waving me through although it’s hard to tell with tinted glass and my sunglasses. As it’s not my turn, I have no possible way of knowing what they are thinking, the processes going on in their head, how distracted they may be, if they normally talk with their hands. I just don’t know, and I don’t trust their behaviour. Other people tell me they’re just being courteous, but are they? is that what they’re thinking? And if so why? The 4-way stop has built in courtesy, first one there goes first.

Then there’s people who think that they have to pass a test, or they fail, they’re a failure, they label themselves based on their perception of a result. Which can be just a number, that’s it. In the cardiac exercise stress lab, ‘did I pass?’ Performing a ramp up test on a bike, ‘I failed dismally in the last step, I’m a failure’. In both cases the tests are designed to go to what is considered, failure. It’s the absolute amount of work you’re able to do before you can’t do it anymore, and you stop. Nothing more than that, it’s a number, not a label. For many people they don’t even see what they have achieved, only what they have not. This is a split in what is real and what is imagined.

In psychology (according to Google, I’m not a psychologist, although coaches have to learn a lot about behaviour); Splitting (also called black-and-white thinking or all-or-nothing thinking) is the failure in a person’s thinking to bring together the dichotomy of both positive and negative qualities of the self and others into a cohesive, realistic whole. It is a common defence mechanism.

It’s useful, to have the knowledge of what is going on in your self to provide understanding about what it is you’re being defensive about. The basis of “I’m not good enough”, would send you down the rabbit hole where there’s no light to shine on you and would then give support to your feeling, because we like nothing more than gathering evidence for our own failings. And feelings.

Then finally, what this examines is why we/I have any reserve in being recognized for the truly great human beings that I/we are, what I’ve done and am proud of. Not as a comparison to others but as an expression of my self and acknowledging them as well. Forget about being positive, display your greatness!

What’s strong with me, day 23.

Coach Be

Most of the time I don’t even think about it, being the only female on a club group ride. For me it’s normal, it’s how it has been from the start, either being the only one or one of a handful. There was 4 of us in the first White Rock race that I competed in; 2 were National team and 1 was Provincial, and me a newbie. The training rides with the teams were just me and the lads, road trips same and even the races were mixed with Jrs and Masters or Cat 4 men etc. Even at the time I didn’t think too much of it except to complain once in a while about not having the races. For the most part I was there, showing up and sometimes other riders were rude, or looked through me like I was invisible, and definitely didn’t want to finish behind me! but for the most part I was treated as a rider; you get dropped, you work harder and that I expected to have to do.

I was barely into the sport, having come from running where female participation was picking up, when I went to Ottawa for a conference on ‘how to get more women riding and racing bikes’, a theme that continues to this day. And that is finally happening slowly. Yet I’m still the one of only a few who come out, and over the years it seems to be a matter of females feeling intimidated and having a preference to hang out with other females to ride with; being social rather than joining what is considered a ‘hammerfest’. It’s really only a point of view though, I don’t want to call it an excuse except that sometimes it is. An excuse not to put oneself out there, and we females don’t have exclusivity on that front at all, it’s just easier to blame the other folk around. There’s also nothing wrong with being social on rides, especially club rides, that’s all guys do when they ride together 😉 and there’s nothing wrong with going out with a few girlfriends either. All it takes for anyone is just to show up and be prepared. That means having some fitness, having some bike skills, having a love of the sport and where it can take you. Like today, finding a new bakery that has excellent pain au chocolat! When we were training, we would never stop on a ride until it was on the way home and a coffee and muffin were required to fuel that last hour of the ride, the training part was done. That’s a different kind of ride altogether.

What I’m getting at here in a very roundabout way is that I’m treated as a rider, one of the group, when I go out on a club ride. I don’t expect anything different than anyone else and as an adult I can make my choices about how far I want to ride. What I’m saying then is that you, we, I just have to show up, join, learn and communicate with other people in our sport to enjoy it along with them. When you do that, you’ll find a fabulous and diverse group of human beings on bikes!

What’s strong with me, day 22

Coach Be

When I had classes indoors on wattbikes, they would chuckle when I told them it was recovery week since the workout they were about to experience would very likely be hard in one way or another. What is harder though is to get through to how an athlete approaches the workout, their mindset to begin with about what recovery should look like. A close look at the session would indicate that, followed as described and in the parameters for power, that the IF intensity factor is less than 0.75; that is recovery realm.

A number greater than 0.75 will happen when the athlete takes the power up over the top of the suggested range for the intervals in that indoor session. That’s one way to sabotage your recovery ride! Another way is to keep higher power during the recovery intervals between reps., than has been prescribed. The mindset as noted above, when an athlete decides that the workout isn’t worthwhile unless they’re gasping at the end of it, totally depleted.

There’s a reason for the longer, less intense recovery periods as there is with the intensity of the repetitions. Recovery week does not mean reduced intensity most of the time. Taper weeks do not mean a reduction in the intensity of the reps.

The focus is on the recovery aspect as part of a training block, during the week of recovery following a build up. During the session, training the ability to recover quickly as measured by heart rate, both in bpm and in the time it takes to return to aerobic status for example. During a fondo, the rider who can bring their heart rate down time after time following intensity, will last longer (have more endurance; muscular endurance, aerobic endurance) at a higher output than the less trained individual. That may be someone who is strong, has a lot of watts at their disposal, yet without the ability to recover quickly, they are more likely to fade faster than others who can recover faster. I know, I pass a lot of them in the last 20 km up to Whistler!

So take recovery training as being as essential as the rest of your training; bring your Form (TSB) up from the negative Fatigue level (ATL) during Recovery week and Fitness (CTL) will follow.

That’s what’s strong with me day 21

Coach Be

Is coaching an art or a science? To recognize this concept, a parallel can be drawn between bike fitters who can look at someone and immediately ‘see’ the body and the bike and what it would take to make the two work together; both in how they could look after this or that is done and how the body will then be able to produce the forward momentum effectively. Compared to another bike fitter, immersed in the angles of the limbs, the height of the seat vs the bars, the stack and the reach, using software and measurements. The former you could say is the artist and the latter, the scientist. Is either the ‘best’ way of doing a bike fit on someone, probably not!

Concepts can be easy or difficult to understand by the person who it’s being presented to depending on what they have as background to relate the concept to.

Take decoupling, ADF, a concept developed by Joe Friel that occurs when the average watts and average heart rate no longer relate due to cardiac drift or to a decline in power without a corresponding decline in the heart rate associated with that power. The aerobic endurance system can be quantified as either sufficient or not based on the amount of decoupling that takes place, it’s a useful metric then, to use.

The science of this, the calculation is made by looking at the values for the first half of a performance, compared to the second half either for an entire ride or for various parts of it, specific intervals.

I’ve copied the numbers directly from #perfpro, as I think folk will find this useful, more information can be found on Joe Friels blog;

Less than 0% – Excellent aerobic fitness. Power was gained during 2nd half of performance. 
0.00% to 4.99% – Acceptable amount of drift showing good aerobic fitness.
5.00% to 9.99% – Shows signs that possibly more aerobic training is required.
10.00% to 14.99% – Shows signs that more aerobic training is required.
15.00% or higher. More aerobic training is required.

Athletes that use the perfpro Analyzer and Training Peaks will find these numbers calculated for them and the concept becomes a useful monitoring tool based on science; heart rate and power numbers, algorithms. For a coach then the concept is no longer an idea, but a reality; it’s a number! For an athlete that doesn’t yet get the concept, it is still just that, a bit abstract; then I get to explain it so that it becomes an understanding and may even become a goal.

I enjoy doing that! That’s what’s strong with me, Day 20.

Coach Be

Resolving is the verb used when a resolution has been made; that is the act of finding a solution or an answer. Once the answer has been found, it’s resolved! Yet not as simple as that, since resolution is found in legal terms, in picture sharpness or clarity, even the human conditions of courage and tenacity. We often make a resolution at the beginning of the year, that’s what these tweets are all about; I resolved to write what’s strong with me for 30 days, beginning January 1st. Although the different meanings of the word resolution don’t imply that there’s a problem, the word is used to describe the act itself of making a settlement or decision that will fix something.

A resolution is often made in the hope that making one will cause habits to change, will fix what’s wrong in a life of issues. The negativity of it!

Rather then, what would happen if you had a dream, a cause, a goal that has a start, contains a journey and some sort of finish line that would measure what has been attained? How much more satisfying would that be in the doing of it, the enjoyment of it and the fun that could happen along the way.

My goal was to look at the strengths that I have, it came about as a result of an inspiration to work on my strengths and not weaknesses, since at the finish line I would only end up with bunch of strong weaknesses! A great little story about someone I met who had such good eyesight that he could see the detail in a circuit board, find cracks or flaws and be able to quickly fix the issue. He didn’t know how much better his eyesight was than others around him, he thought that everyone could see the way he was able to. Once he discovered his strength, he put it to good use and became a leader and a teacher. That is the power of knowing and using it in the context of a team to benefit the community.

I can be happy and proud of my strengths and the journey with them sounds much more satisfying than focusing on those other things. My strength will lift you up and that’s what I do in coaching. Sometimes I put myself out as a target to aim for, other times it’s to bring an internal focus to life with connections, it can also be the patience and persistence with which I can progress through a picture of the athlete you intend to be, one (pedal) stroke at a time.

Having a ‘look’ on the bike that’s recognizable because of my position and quiet body, smooth pedalling is perfect in another way, that folk recognize me. It amazes me every time to have someone who I haven’t seen in years call out my name on the road or the trail; it makes my day every time to connect with them again! What’s strong with me day 19.

Coach Be

.. people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” It’s a great quote frequently attributed to the wrong person, which makes the point!

Regardless of who penned it, it’s a choice I’ve made now that I get it (slow learner). I think that being wrapped up in one’s self can prevent the opportunity to understand that sharing one’s self with another is a gift and that gift is returned.

A good example, giving someone a smile, be it a stranger on the street or someone you know well. That gift is more often than not, given back; and that makes you feel good. The thing about a gift though, is that there is never an expectation that you receive something in return. Sometimes being on the receiving end of a gift, in many people creates a requirement for payback, to stay out of their debt. It can be very hard for those of us brought up that way to enjoy a gift unless we have the chance to reciprocate. Margaret Atwood wrote a great book ‘Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth’ on that subject, I recommend it. There’s a lot more to it than just personal exchanges so have a read.

It is one of the sources that gave me the strength to accept and to let go of the immediate need to return the favour or not to take it in the first place; ‘you shouldn’t have!’ comes to mind. These are often more of the physical type of thing, material entity or money.

In my daily transactions at work, I have many occasions to give something that is less tangible and not even easy to talk about since it’s more about giving an opening to someone else by not being something. Not being judgemental, critical, sharp or unkind. Being sympathetic, compassionate, considerate and thoughtful. I don’t know how another person feels unless they speak it, but somehow the gift is returned in how I feel when I am that way. And that’s what’s strong with me, day 18.

Coach Be

We want it, but have we defined what it is and what it means to us? I can only speak for myself about what it means to me, so I’ll start there; there’s a gradient of physical ability or a ramp, another way to look at it. It starts from the lowest performance that is necessary and I put that at being able to open a door and get up and down from a toilet! Don’t laugh! Will you continue to have the leg and upper body strength to do that as you age because if you don’t keep those physical attributes, you could find yourself in that position.

I’d like to be and plan to be on the upper side of that ramp with strong legs and able to wrestle open the heaviest of doors. I know it’s not a given and I’m very grateful to be able to train following a couple of incidents that could have derailed me. Targeted training elicits a biological physical response with the application of stress and then particular adaptation improves performance, health and durability.

I plan to be riding a bike forever, I plan to be able to walk forever. I recognize now, that the level of performance is unique to each of us and that what I’ve experienced in the past may not be there in the future. But as long as I continue to train, look for and find the level, then I can be happy with my performance, always. The meaning is what I choose to make of it and I believe that we are all happier with improved performance, it’s what I do and that’s what’s strong with me, day 17.

Coach Be

This may seem to start off topic, but I’ll get to the exploring in a bit. A few years ago I was shown point of view, pov, and that has made a profound difference in the way that I look and understand things around me. The demonstration was this; a couple of people sitting opposite each other with a mug on the table between them. One says “there’s no handle on that mug”, the other says “yes there is! you’re wrong”. Both are convinced that they are right and the other is not only wrong but making it up, trying to pull the wool over their eyes, trying to deceive them. What do you think? Could it be that one is sitting on the side that has the handle, and the other is sitting on the side that doesn’t. So they are both right! Neither is trying to deceive and neither is wrong. It’s a point of view and it is a way to understand someone who insists that they are right, they are convinced that they are and you can’t tell them any different. When you look at it through their eyes, you can see their point of view and you can both be right, you’re not wrong and you don’t need to insist that you are right and they’re not. So simple.

Moving on; I’m with a friend who is driving and we are going to a place that I go to all the time. They start to drive on a different road that I’m pretty sure (because that’s not the way I go) will take longer or have more traffic on it. Do I tell them they’re going the wrong way? If I did, I will find out that that’s the way they always go!! Unbelievable, right? How can it be that their route is better than mine. Well here’s where the exploring comes in.

When I give myself a chance to imagine that there is more than one way to get somewhere and that I can enjoy the different view on this route, find out another way to get to the same place or find one that might be useful another time to get somewhere I hadn’t noticed before, then I’m now open and exploring the possibilities. Instead of closing down, being narrow minded or stuck in my way of being and doing, I am now free to be what I want, feel the way I choose and have freedom to think about people and things from a new point of view.

The wonderful thing that comes of this is to be able to explore. On the bike I’ll often take a day that is meant to find out where some of those roads that I’ve passed by, where they go, where they will lead me. Sometimes it’s a short dead end and other times it takes me to a village, a view or a coffee shop I never knew was there! Another thing I love about that is then sharing it with other folk on another ride and they do the same with me. My world becomes more expansive and my brain creates new pathways that store the memory of the location, how I got there and what I found.

And all because I chose to look at a different point of view. That’s what’s strong with me on day 16.

Coach Be