The cycling season is upon us and whether you've had a great winter's worth of training or you're just dusting the bike off in time for the lighter evenings, there's no time like the present to make sure you're getting the most out of your cycling and achieving this years objectives. So, why should you consider engaging a coach to enhance your performance?
Specificity – to create an appropriate training effect, you need to overload, adapt & recover in a manner that is specific to your physiology and what you want to achieve. Adopting somebody else’s plan, one the internet throws up or something generated by algorithms is arguably better than no plan at all but it's unlikely to be optimal. Your plan needs to reflect your age, sporting background, previous training and your goals. It must fit around real life and when unexpected interruptions occur, to be capable of appropriate adaption.
Structure – the sequencing of your sessions and how you incorporate racing and events is critical. With great music, the most important parts can be the pauses and silences between crescendos. With training and racing, the rest and recovery between efforts is critical to creating the training effect. How long should your taper be? When can you safely use racing as overload without risking fatigue? Understanding what to do when - how hard for how long – and when to rest to consolidate the gains made by your efforts, means you stay on target and get those PBs.
Objectivity – You know you better than anybody else, but it’s rare to find somebody who can be wholly objective about their own training. Riders can worry unnecessarily when training doesn’t go quite to plan or when sessions are missed through illness or ‘real life’ getting in the way. Often the temptation is to play catch up risking fatigue and injury. To have an experienced coach overseeing your progress means you have a confident reference point to answer questions and ensure your training remains on track. Objectivity and consistency are key to durable, resilient performance improvements.
Accountability – Simply, you pay to be coached, it means you value your training and have decided to invest in your physical and mental health. To know that somebody is providing regular feedback on your sessions keeps you on track. It means your 2 hour rides are less likely to become an hour and 23 mins and your efforts are going to hit the prescribed power band because a third party is going to be looking at them. As a rider, you can also hold your coach to account – why is a session being prescribed and what improvements can you expect to see over what timeframe? It’s a fair challenge.
Help and support – Psychology has a big part to play in effective training and racing. Not only do the physiological demands of your training need to match your goals, it needs to be engaging, stimulating and sufficiently interesting to keep you on track. Get somebody who understands you as a person and an athlete to keep you motivated when things get tough.
We should always train with purpose and intent with the sure and certain knowledge that we are making valuable investment in to our mental & physical health.
Get in touch here so I can help you achieve your goals.
Specificity – to create an appropriate training effect, you need to overload, adapt & recover in a manner that is specific to your physiology and what you want to achieve. Adopting somebody else’s plan, one the internet throws up or something generated by algorithms is arguably better than no plan at all but it's unlikely to be optimal. Your plan needs to reflect your age, sporting background, previous training and your goals. It must fit around real life and when unexpected interruptions occur, to be capable of appropriate adaption.
Structure – the sequencing of your sessions and how you incorporate racing and events is critical. With great music, the most important parts can be the pauses and silences between crescendos. With training and racing, the rest and recovery between efforts is critical to creating the training effect. How long should your taper be? When can you safely use racing as overload without risking fatigue? Understanding what to do when - how hard for how long – and when to rest to consolidate the gains made by your efforts, means you stay on target and get those PBs.
Objectivity – You know you better than anybody else, but it’s rare to find somebody who can be wholly objective about their own training. Riders can worry unnecessarily when training doesn’t go quite to plan or when sessions are missed through illness or ‘real life’ getting in the way. Often the temptation is to play catch up risking fatigue and injury. To have an experienced coach overseeing your progress means you have a confident reference point to answer questions and ensure your training remains on track. Objectivity and consistency are key to durable, resilient performance improvements.
Accountability – Simply, you pay to be coached, it means you value your training and have decided to invest in your physical and mental health. To know that somebody is providing regular feedback on your sessions keeps you on track. It means your 2 hour rides are less likely to become an hour and 23 mins and your efforts are going to hit the prescribed power band because a third party is going to be looking at them. As a rider, you can also hold your coach to account – why is a session being prescribed and what improvements can you expect to see over what timeframe? It’s a fair challenge.
Help and support – Psychology has a big part to play in effective training and racing. Not only do the physiological demands of your training need to match your goals, it needs to be engaging, stimulating and sufficiently interesting to keep you on track. Get somebody who understands you as a person and an athlete to keep you motivated when things get tough.
We should always train with purpose and intent with the sure and certain knowledge that we are making valuable investment in to our mental & physical health.
Get in touch here so I can help you achieve your goals.
Rich Smith has coached the GB Transplant Cycling team for 10 years, is a British Cycling qualified Level 3 coach and a final year psychology student. Previously he spent 30 years responding badly to people in authority in senior roles for Barclays, HSBC, British Waterways and National Grid Property before establishing RideFast Coaching in 2015.
