Mixing apples and oranges

I witnessed a conversation where a few athletes (all of them training for their first IM race) shared that they don’t follow certain workouts that their coach gave them. Each of them had their specific reasons why and they usually ended with "I figure if I'm doing . . . . I'll be fine".  When I heard this and I couldn’t help but think in my head “ha, that just seems dumb, why wouldn't you just do what the coaches tell you? Do you honestly think you know how to prepare for this race more than they do?”  I didn’t actually say this out loud because I don’t want to be the A$%Ho$# in the group.  So instead I am writing a blog post about being coached.   

From my experience, learning how to be coached means you have to learn how to trust.

Yes, it’s like a relationship, you have to trust them for it to work.   

I've been working with Elizabeth Waterstraat (http://multisportmastery.blogspot.com) and Keith Klebacha (http://www.wellfitinc.com/about/ourcoaches/KeithKlebacha.aspx) for a little over a year now. I train with them through a variety of Wellfit's training group, currently the Ironman Wisconsin group.  I chose to train with a coach for Ironman because I felt there were too many variables (injury, illness, resting, nutrition, weight loss, tapering) Ironman race and the 9 month training period required to get to race day.  

Logistically speaking, coaching works like this: Every Tuesday I meet with 15 other athletes and Elizabeth to do a group brick workout. Friday morning Keith coaches a swim. For the other 5 days of the week we complete workouts on our own that our coaches have loaded to an online account. They send us clear, detailed descriptions of each workout that we are to do on our own. Elizabeth plans the run and bike workouts and Keith manages the swimming.  We also communicate with them via email regarding race plans, training hiccups, when I need to make a change to a schedule, etc.  I communicate more with Liz because the running and biking seem to be more of a focus for me this year.  As coaches, they tell us their plan will prepare us the most to be successful on race day.

Theoretically, this is not a big deal, it's like sports in high school. Go to practice, do the drills the coach lays out for you, do the sprints, always try your hardest, show up for the game, win or lose. If you lose then you go back to the drawing board: maybe you work on perfecting some plays, or you move some players around, change your line up. Well, here's the stress that comes with Ironman. You only get one shot, the line up is what it is on race day.  You can imitate race day, practice it over and over again but due to the recovery time needed for the Ironman Distance it is not realistic to do the entire 140.6 miles as a practice. We can do the full swim, followed by the full bike and then can do a short run.  Running the entire 26.2 miles is extremely difficult to recover from.  Then you factor in the fact that ironman entries are tough to come by, these races fill up a year in advance (maybe 9 months for less popular races such as Louisville).  If you don't make it, or fall short of your goal that day you have to go back to the drawing board which means you have to sign up, give yourself a recovery period (think a month), get a new plan and train for another 7-9 months for a race.  You get the point though, you’ve got one shot.  The anxiety around race day can be paralyzing and solid training is the backbone that enables you to work through the anxiety.    So, there is a level of trust you have to have in your coach. You HAVE to believe that your coach is doing everything they possibly can (and that their capabilities are good enough to get you to your goal) to put together a plan that will prepare you to execute.  You have to put your faith in them that their plan will work and that it is the best plan out there.   

I will admit that last season, at first, I didn’t trust my coaches.   I did not respect them the way that I should have.  I would change the workouts they gave me, or do something else, or not email them and ask them for advice, or get the advice and just not follow it.  Then I got sick, had to sit out from training for a week and had to go to my coaches for advice and help to get me back to my normal routine.  I also started having IT band issues and had to stop some rides early.  Others weren’t having this problem.  Coach worked me through it and got me back to train free.  I realized that up until that point I had one foot in the water, and the other foot was standing on dry land.  Race day wasn’t going to work till I got wet So it finally hit me “If you aren’t going to follow their plan, why pay for them”.  I also admitted that they have a TON more experience with the Ironman race than I do.  They’ve raced it themselves (and raced it really really well) and coached tons of athletes of all sorts of levels through very successful race days.  They are PAID to do this as a full time job.  They do this all day, all year around.  Their job, livelihood, passion, chosen path is coaching athletes through races.  It is in their greatest interest to set us up to be our best on race day.  It looks better for them.   Admitting all of this and experiencing that they do know what they are doing was the key to getting me to finally submit to their coaching.  I stopped changing workouts, questioning their suggestions, started being honest with them about how I was doing and just did exactly what they told me to.  And everyone knows the ending of this story, their plan worked.  I met my goal, in fact I exceeded my race time expectations and had a ton of fun doing it. 

The point is, just trust your coach.  I understand it’s hard to, but if you aren’t going to trust them then why pay all the money to have them coach you?  Training for this race is about going hard on the days you need to go hard, then resting on the days you are supposed to rest so you can build strength fitness levels.  If you follow their plan for hard days but do your own thing on the lighter days you are mixing apples and oranges and who knows what kind of results you will get.