Tristar Athlete, all of us posses the burning desire to be the best version of ourselves in endurance sports. To achieve and to be at your personal best is a fundamental core belief to being a Tristar athlete. The synergy of coach and athlete meets here in this coaches corner discussion where we look at the point of view (POV) of the athlete and coach. How each side of the relationship works and the time horizons that follow.
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
DAILY TRAINING PERFORMANCE
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “I cant hit these numbers, what is the coach thinking?!
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: This athlete is tired but has training consistency and is likely growing the most on fatigue where he/she is not hitting the numbers. I will check in to make sure things are ‘ok’.
(or) we may need to make an adjustments to threshold based on recent training.
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️:” Im not as fast as I was yesterday, I must not be improving.“
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: The past 40 days (CTL) of training have been full and consistent. This athlete is getting fit! As the coach I am looking not at each day but each training block and cycle for improvements. Each day goes something like this…. Learn more
(or) The past 40 days have been hit or miss with lots of gaps in training, total upcoming expectations should be held in check for raceday performance. Long term thresholds and potential may need to be looked at.
(or) This athlete is tired and has been training a lot in the most recent two weeks (Acute training load, ATL) and needs more freshness to be hitting the numbers and may need a rest day.
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “Im going to stop this workout as its too hard and I am tired.”
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: Oh no! Missed opportunity here. …This athlete was on the edge of a breakthrough. Pushing past limits and boundaries and as long as they don’t get sick or injured its important to make these leaps even though they can shake the confidence.
(or) Perhaps there was an issue with sleep, nutrition, fatigue or time commitment that lead to this, I will need to dig deeper and find out why.
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “I beat all the targets today and then some. I even went over what was RX’d, cant wait for the coach to see this!”
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: This athlete went “off the reservation” and potentially this could impact other ares of training for this week. There are only so many times the heart can beat each week! And this may duplicate training energy systems. I better let them know about “doing their own thing”
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “The past week I have not performed at all and failed most if not all of my sessions.”
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: Red flag! 🚩 This athlete either is training too hard, their thresholds are off, their ramp rate of training is too much or some other life event “life TSS” is happening here. Time to issue a rest day and find out what’s going on.
(or) I need to remind this athlete that is is the consistency, breadth and depth of training over time that nets huge gains and that any singular session does not move the dial nearly as much!
““Anyone who has ever made anything of importance was disciplined.””
RACING
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “Im not any faster at my race, I should be faster and I have been training so hard recently. Other athletes are faster than I am..”
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: This athlete missed a large portion of the key training sessions in the build or base phases that led to a loss of fitness and performance.
(or) The athlete unfortunately did not raise their race potential in the off season which was needed to have a breakthrough race later in the season.
(or) other life stressors such as lack of sleep and recovery were are an ongoing factor.
(or) The athlete had an injury that held them back from being consistent in one or more disciplines.
(or) The pacing was blown on this particular race and adversely impacted performance.
(or) Conditions made the day more challenging than expected, the athlete should regroup and get into another race to test this theory out.
(or) This was a race to train through so the athlete would gain valuable race experience and fitness from racing. Meaning, it was not designed to be an “A” priority performance even though the “A” effort 💪🏻 was there.
(or) This athlete needs more racing experience in general to move the dial upwards since this type of stimulus as coach I cannot give to them in training. Racing gives athletes a +5% boost by competitive pressures and not to mention it is impossible to give an athlete that hard of a workout!
““Champions keep playing until they get it right.””
CONSISTENCY
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “I have been training for months and I though I would have improved more by now”
Athlete 🏃🏻♂️ vs coach 👨🏻💻 time horizon of performance
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: The physiology of training takes a long time to raise raceday potential. This athlete needs more time and consistency to adapt to training…. The time horizon to recognize this athletes full potential is two to five years from when they first started their training even though they will be making large gains along the way.
(or) The athlete needs more training time to perform at the distances they are shooting for.
(or) The athlete has an aerobic limiter and did not do the base training required to see the improvements they are looking for. Low and easy heart rate base training which raises the bodies thresholds by creating greater fuel economy. ❤️
““Small daily improvements over time lead to stunning results.””
GOALS
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “I want to win my age group next season……”
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: This athlete is laying down the big goals, do they realize what it takes? Are they willing to put in the sacrifices needed to get there? Do they have the time and support network to accomplish what they are setting out to do?
(or) This athlete is telling me some big goals.. however their work / lifestyle may get in the way of their ultimate goals. We may need to keep an open dialogue about how we get from A👉B.
(or) This athlete seems highly motivated but can they go the distance and be consistent year in and year out to see this multi year goal. …. is this athlete willing to do what it takes and make the necessary long term sacrifices to get there? Do they realize that athletes who win races have been in the “queue” longer than they have.. building and working their physiology and thresholds.
(or) This athlete needs a longer time frame and experience to get there, they need to learn how to “hold their hand in the fire longer” and develop their training suffering capacity to improve.
(or) Does this athlete have the ability to compete against what their peers at this level are doing in terms of thresholds and CLT’s? (Continuous training loads)
““Potential is not an endpoint but a capacity to grow and learn.””
EXECUTION
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “I think my training has been going great”
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: This athlete is telling me training is going well, however no data seems to upload and there are gaps in training. I need to ask the athlete to be more effusive with their comments in training peaks so I know whats going on.
(or). The athlete does not seem to hit the intensity factor, TSS, or interval specificity I am asking them to do to improve. …Most athletes who are a success on the Tristar Athletes team stick to the plan and dont impose their will on it 🤙🏻. While parts of the season will ebb and flow up and down, it is more like a funnel where the further out things are less specific but as race season approaches things get very specific and dialed in.
(or) This athlete is training way too hard and the intensity and or volume is too high. They are heading for an injury or longer term burn out. The ramp rate is too great…. Somewhere we need to pull back and get on the same page and see the long term approach towards systematic periodization.
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “I have been doing most of the training”
% to training plan by athlete ability
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: This athlete has missed enough sessions that we may miss our goals this season or at upcoming races.
(or) The key sessions were missed at multiple junctures and while the total consistency has been there the key sessions were not. The specificity of what they are trying to accomplish, threshold or longer distance time trialing was not met. We need to “temper” expectations..
“Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.””
PSYCHOLOGY
Athlete POV 🏃🏻♂️: “I have doubts that I can ever be as good as I think I want to be”
Coach 👨🏻💻 POV: I believe! As a Tristar coach that anything is possible and if my athlete stays strong in constitution the sky is the limit!
(or) Does this athlete have a fear of failure (racing or training) and they should know that this is a natural and normal feeling. I will encourage them that failure is ‘ok’ so they can learn to be great in the future.
(or) Need to check in with this athlete to see if there are other factors that may be contributing to this self doubt, external of even training.
(or) Does this athlete have a fear of racing? Perhaps open water swimming? Fear of FTP testing where not hitting the numbers would create a sense of failure.
“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”
Tristar Athlete, have a question about your training? Performance or just need a check in? Our coaching team works as one unit meeting and communicating weekly to discuss our athletes goals and performances. Contact your specific coach or reach out to all of us here. Train hard.. and SMART! ~Tristar Atheltes coaching staff 👨🏻💻 👩🏻💻👨🏻💻 👩🏻💻👨🏻💻 👩🏻💻
Meet the Tristar Athletes Coaches
