As a year of coaching comes to an end (the reality
is, next “season” has started for many) I find myself taking time to reflect on
my coaching. That is, the impact I’ve had on my athletes, and the impact they have
made on me in terms what I will change, and what I won’t, as I move in to the
future.
Most athletes come to me, or stay with me, because
they realize I will ask them to do things or guide them in a way they won’t do
themselves. I have had athletes choose other coaches because those coaches don’t
hold them accountable for their actions or simply give them sessions or plans
that they want, not what they NEED. Though it can be frustrating for me on the
front end because I always speculate to what I did wrong or what I could have
said differently to make them choose me over someone else, or sometimes over choosing
nothing. In the end I want athletes that buy in to what we are doing and why we
are doing it. The ones that do that have the most success, and continue to have
that success. Some buy in slowly because they are effected by too much noise
around them and it takes time to shut that old noise out. Quite often that
noise is simply based on what they did before … and what THAT is, is a
distraction. Some are immediately invested and realize what the process is and
what it takes. When I look deeper it is common that these people have had good
coaches in the past, be it in a single sport or team sport. Bottom line is it
takes trust! Trust in the relationship, trust in the process, and trust in the
investment you are making into your sport to get the most out of what you put
in.
As the back end of this season was closing
out for me it seemed to be a roller coaster of performances and coinciding
results: Podium or a DNF, AG / Race Win or an Execution Disaster, State or
World Champion or a Head Scratching Result … not always the pattern of results
you look for as a coach but it is the reality when athletes are reaching for
their best (If coaches tell you they don’t have set backs with their athlete’s ….
HA!)
Some of these lesser (not always poor) performances
left me looking for something more positive to hang my hat on transitioning into
2016. (NOTE: one of my shortcomings is that I put pressure on myself when
athletes have “poor” performances, yet I rarely give myself a chance to get
excited about the good performances) The form of this “hat-hanging” came with a
newer athlete for me in 2015. A hard working police officer who often gets
called in on special duty so sometimes we needed to be incredibly selective
with which workouts to keep / eliminate. This situation created a demand for
trust in what we were doing, and he managed to value that trust throughout the entire
process. I often find this extended value in trusting a program is where athletes start to diverge from the plan
because THEY think it should be done different or how they did it in the past. ( I could go into examples but I had athletes who ended up injured or “smoked” by
race day because of their divergence from the proper process.) The second part
of the process into this athletes key race to end 2016 was having the belief that our race day plan was going to work …
and the plan was simple:
Swim: Conservative, steady, let the clock read
what it does when you exit the water and move on
Bike: Broken in 1/3’s … no power / pace fade,
focus on an effort that allows you to fuel well / consistently
Run: Broken into 4 non-equal pieces with a goal
for each … put a high value in focus on miles 13-20 … limit pace fade across
the run
…. looks pretty simple, but if you screw up
hours 2-5 your plan is out the window.
As race day moved along I kept checking in almost expecting speed to
drop, pace to fall off, finish time to keep creeping outwards. (it often does,
right?) On the contrary it was one of the most flawlessly executed races I have
seen, and it was done based out of 100% TRUST in the relationship, the process,
and the plan. The text message the came across to me not long after his finish:
“Coach,
BEST Damn race of my life – stuck to the plan and reaped the rewards - couldn’t
be happier”
I hope as you start shaping up your upcoming
seasons you find a coach, a plan, a team, a process that you can trust in and
execute with limited questioning. (Hey, some questions are good!) Without trust you’ll never have the right
process, and without the right process you won’t have the results that are possible.
Speaking of trust, I need to remember to trust myself and what I am doing is
correct (for the most part ;-) and that I will have valleys with my athletes
before we get to the peak. The realization is, it’s my job to question myself
to make me AND my athletes better so they can do their job … Trust &
Execute.
Best,
DL
