Coaching, it isnt for everyone

Last week was fair to average, 28 miles in for the first week back. Solid 8 miler in Sunday, running 50 minutes at Z3/4. This is by chance. I dont really run too much with a focus in zones when training for marathon. Well..I do, but not too fanatical about it. I have "caps" of which I try to stay under. My cap for Sunday's run, because I was running a bit of a tempo, was 148-150 HR. I stayed under this and if I started to drift over 150, I would simply slow down. Now, I dont really care if I was in Z2, 3 or 4..I just didnt want to run in Z5. How do I know I was aerobic? Well, I did a few surges in the first mile to get my HR up to the junction of Z3/4, 140. Then, I stabilized my pace. My pace remained the same for then next 40 minutes and my HR drifted slowly from 140 to 148, then upon hitting 150, I slowed about 15 sec per mile and that brought my HR down fairly quickly to 142, at which it remained for the remainder of the run. So, my original fixed pace was likely very slightly above that at which I could metabolize lactate in equilibrium with production. Thus, my HR drifting upward. The very slow drift however tells me that I was damn near equilibrium. Slowing down a bit tipped me under this, and I was able to metabolize lactate faster than production, and my HR thus dropped back to Z3/4 in a minute or so after adjusting pace.

These trends in HR and the subtleties of this is something that is difficult for many to get a grasp on. Its not that it takes years of running and paying close attention to HR, but rather patience and being astute to the reactions your HR has to various intensities.

One final thing on this. If I had run just under that line of breaking down lactate faster than I was producing...could I have just kept running at that pace? No.
Performance, especially aerobic sustainability is not dependent solely on Lactate. Otherwise, we could just run in Zone 1 for hours and hours. A myriad of enzymes are utilized in the metabolic processes involved in sustained muscular work, and these are limited processes which lead to eventual muscular fatigue and recruitment. Glucose availability is another factor. But...if we sustain high blood glucose levels and run slow can we sustain? No. Glucose availability will lengthen the duration of muscle to sustain work, but it too is limited eventually by many other factors that diet, hydration..even at optimum levels..cant overcome. Working out at a gradual level, progressively over time, can increase many of these enzymes and thus lengthen our ability to sustain pace. This is about the only way. Old fashioned work. Not necessarily intensity, but duration and frequency.

Coaching

How do you know you've found the right coach? You dont for quite awhile sometimes. Coaching comes with trust and all coaches and philosophies arent right for everyone.
However, I have found that you have to make a choice on what type of coach you want to be. Personally, I have no problems with coaches that coach multiple different methods for their various athletes. This can work for beginners to elite. These coaches you'll find are typically trying to make a living on coaching, and thus will take on every single athlete that approaches them. This is not a bad thing, but not my thing.

My coaching philosophy is simplistic. I coach to help others reach their goals, but I do it my way, not theirs. That's it.

I dont care about what others tell me regarding other coaches around if consistent results arent obviously apparent. I dont care about other nutrition strategies, or other philosophies of coaches who have never run an ironman, or who have never run well in an ironman. This is not to say that you cant coach if you cant perform or have never run an ironman well. But...I feel there are very few triathlon coaches like this. Very few. Teaching the fundamentals of any sport is not that difficult, and can be learned by anyone if they care to learn. However, knowing what it takes to achieve personal gratification is something that is very difficult unless you, as a coach, have lived it yourself.

So, my coaching is simple. I coach 1 method. I will bend either direction, but the center will always remain the same. I coach the methods I myself have discovered, as well as what I have learned from those that are far better than I. Not slower than me, but far better. I did have a fair amount of resistance from some athletes this season regarding philosophy. Mostly those that have been under the influence of other coaching or by reading one or more of the numerous "guide to triathlon success" books out there. If you as an athlete cannot make the transition to accept my methods, then you need to look for another coach. If you feel you are constantly struggling with the plan, look for another coach. Many coaches will compromise to what their athletes are accustomed to, and alter themselves to what the athlete is comfortable with. I will not compromise my beliefs for a price. I dont care about the money, and I am not in this for the money. I am in it for one primary reason. To take a person to another level. To show them they can.

I had 23 consistent athletes this past 2008 season. I had 21 personal bests in half IM or full IM events, and sent 6 to IM Hawaii. I had several athletes set personal bests in each and every distance of triathlon. Those that followed, those that listened...really listened...found some success. I of course was not happy with most of my athlete's performances this year. Despite reaching goals, many athletes still fell short of following the plan adequately, with regards to workouts, intensity, duration, as well as nutrition both in terms of recovery and race-day, core work, stretching and flexibility, and finally race day execution.

I believe that most athletes followed these very well, and those that followed the plan with even greater detail, had better success.
I know most of my athletes, despite PR's this year, have more in them. I know they can reach higher. Not one of them has reached their potential.

A constant dilemma with triathletes comes down to the personality that is drawn to the sport. Those that are type A, goal oriented people tend to drift to the sport. This drive is an advantage in many circumstances, and in fact is my own personality trait. However, over the years of being coached I have struggled with, and eventually learned to resist what I think is right verses what my coach is telling me.
Ironman is most difficult to control this behavior because it's a tremendous accomplishment and many driven athletes want to find their own way. Yes, it can make the journey and the end result more gratifying knowing an athlete got there in their own way. I understand this, because in the beginning, I got there my own way. For the first 2 seasons, I did it my way. Then the evolution of trying other methods occurred, by reading the 2 most widely used training books out there, subscribing to the triathlon magazines, on-line training methods, swimming coaches, etc. Now, I did improve but not by much. It was not until I found my personal coach, one that was seasoned in the sport and far better than I, that I realized the many misconceptions in my knowledge in training and more importantly, executing on race day.
So I understand an athlete's dilemma at times. They want the knowledge of a coach, or more accurately, want to know what that coach's ideas are. But then, there is a discontinuity that occurs. They infold their own training styles or that of another athletes' program into their new coach's methods. This then undermines the entire process and carries a high risk of fall out before or on race day.

So, if you are going to hire a coach, dont waste your time and money unless you are ready to be coached. If you want to find your own way, then enjoy the journey.


-ciaverella