I thought it would be fun to do something a little different in 2017. Thinking about my coaching new years resolutions and what to implement. I thought it would be cool to try and do something a little different through the website. Obviously some people ask for or are seeking advice and I’ll find or create articles to deliver that, but that sort of thing is all over the internet.
I want the F4L Triathlon Coaching website to be a bit different.
So to start off I will resolve to deliver a weekly diary account about what I and the F4L Triathlon Team are doing on a week to week basis. Within that also what I think of a coach of some ‘hot topics’ which come up as they do.
At Christmas I took a well earned break (well, I thought it was) and went back to the UK with Helen, Rhiannon and our new-born baby Sophie to visit the relatives. It was a brilliant trip, we got to see all our families and show off our two amazing daughters. From a coaching point of view it gave me lots of time to think about what I wanted to do in the coming year. By the time I was travelling down the M1 in Blighty towards Heathrow to fly home, I was ready to get on the plane to get back to Australia. We had an overnight stop in London, by about midnight that night I was doubtful we would be on the plane home. Our 10 year old daughter decided to vomit, quite involuntarily. I can only remember her vomiting once before, that was a good one. But this went all over the hotel room carpet, up the bathroom door frame and liberally coating the walls too.
She wasn’t done there…
Hertz at Heathrow. Worth avoiding for a while, nothing to do with their service which was brilliant (although I had to drive a Skoda), but there was a substantial amount of vomit deposited on their floor too!
Anyway, once we on board, Rhiannon fell asleep, and the vomiting ceased, and I could get back to a). watching all seven Star Wars films back to back (I didn’t but I did think about it) and b). planning how and what I wanted to deliver to my athletes. That’s one of the fab things about a long haul flight, you have plenty of time to stop and think.
At 3am the morning after I had got back to Western Australia due to jet-lag… I was planning again.
It felt so good to actually get back to coaching again at a squad run session.
I realised how much I love doing this job.
The following morning at swim squad it became apparent how, after just a couple of weeks away makes such a huge difference to athlete’s technique. Not having a coach re-iterating key points to think about your technique is folly. Anyone that thinks you can succeed in this sport without a coach is wrong. There were certain things I wanted to work on with individuals which was immediately rewarding. Its been three weeks and I haven’t been able to do get it implemented… #coachingfrustrations
Another thing I have been planning and thinking about in my weeks away – I don’t think I can ever really say a coach gets to be “off”. Certainly I am always thinking about what I can do for my athletes or how I can improve our squad sessions, I struggle to switch off (another of my new year’s resolutions. Sorry, I digressed. I have been planning on getting the athletes to take more ownership of what they do – particularly at races but also in their training. One of the things I picked up at Runaway Bay. Working through a pre-race warm up routine, including activations (combination of drills, core work and plyometrics) to help get the body ready to race, learning their routine and getting the athlete ready to race at every race.
Next up is the F4L Busselton Training Camp. Camps are awesome for me, they can be so rewarding as you get the athletes 100% committed to the sport, training and learning without their day to day work, studies, worries or commitments. We will get to work on so many things, it won’t be about going and smashing everything – it will be about the little things. Its also one of the coach’s busiest, longest and hardest week’s of the year… bring it on! #lovewhatwedo
The first week back in the groove concluded with the City of Perth Triathlon… I’ll let one of the team write that up as a race report, but with twelve athletes racing – and they all raced well. I was especially proud to back with the number of F4L athletes, friends and relatives who came and supported including at least another ten athletes. The F4L Triathlon Team is something special, it has been described as a family. If you want to come and be a part of it get to one of our squad sessions and have a go.
