A few people have asked me what it’s like training with a coach so I thought I’d jot down my thoughts.

Let me start by setting the scene. I’m nearly 50, my wife is a chef so I eat and drink too much and last year I was probably a Main 2 rider weighing 96kg. I was a yachtsman where hard drinking was a regular after every race. I started cycling about 18 months ago in order to spend time with my son who has just turned 18 and has the natural ability of the young to make cycling look effortless – track or road, fixie or road bike he can just smash it. We were riding more and more together and I was struggling to keep up. So after the UCI’s in March I got in touch with a cycling coach and committed to the program.

The most interesting thing for me has been training with really good fast guys and girls. Seeing how they spin their legs, seeing how they can really put the hammer down and produce massive amounts of watts for what seems like amazing lengths of time. Seeing how they handle their bikes on the road. Listening to the noises they make. Seeing the dummy spits and complaining. Seeing how they just do things as second nature. Seeing them suffer. Seeing them never run out of breath. They have been what inspire me. Watching them has taught me more than I could imagine. Even their simple asides “You should stay out of the wind more” are nuggets that make me a better rider.

At first my training started with lots of long slow rides at a slow pace. There was core strength building with weights at the gym. There was one legged riding. There was what I see now were very introductory training sessions on the wind trainer. Building a base. Getting some numbers down so the coach knew where I was at. I started with just a heart rate monitor and for a lot of work that is sufficient. In fact technology like ibike and software apps can produce wattage figures without the need for power meters. (Watts are the amount of the power you are creating and are the simplest way to see what your coach needs to work on). But ultimately I went and bought a power meter which I’ve now become addicted to. Knowing the numbers is any coaches view into your physical progress. I truly believe data is what he lives for.

On a daily basis my coach sets a task on a calendar which also messages my phone so now I wake every day and see what I have to do on my phone. Am I doing intervals? Long, slow, small chain ring ? Kings Park Hills ? Intervals on the trainer ? A hard three hour hill smash ? The decision is made for me. I just have to wake up at 5.15 and go and do it. This is not as hard as it sounds as long as you go to bed early. Dinner parties and late night drinking with the boys present particular problems but you’re either doing the program or you’re not. It’s meant I’m probably less loud and perhaps less interesting at a party. It’s meant I go to bed earlier. It’s meant I rarely watch tv anymore. It’s meant a number of times I’ve rocked up with too little sleep and a sore head – there’s nothing like a hard workout to sort out a hangover. I don’t overthink it anymore – I just get up and do what I’m told. I’m lucky – I work in Perth in a regular job. Some guys training find it hard because they work away or have regular business trips that disrupt things. Broken collarbones also seem a regular disruption. Cold, flus and even bronchial pneumonia upset even the best laid of training programs. But eventually you get back to where you were and start the upward climb on the slope of fitness.

Data is what my coach uses to understand where I’m at at any time. Whether that data comes from ibike, powermeters, heart rate monitors, my cranks or my wheels or even my iPhone really doesn’t matter. On the basis of the figures he will adjust the program. He can access this information through Training Peaks, Strava, Golden Cheetah, Garmin Connect and a host of other software to see things in my figures I can’t even access, never mind make sense of and understand. I don’t question it too much. If the coach says I need to do 3 x 3 minute intervals at 340 watts that’s what I do. There must be a need for it.

Sometimes I go on the road on my own. Sometimes in a group. Sometimes at home on the trainer. Sometimes in the coaches training area with others. Sometimes it’s boring. Sometimes it’s wet. Most times it’s hard. I stopped riding as much with the local guys on a regular twice weekly river lap. I missed that. But I’ve found a new bunch of people to ride and drink coffee with. A couple of the local guys are talking about joining SPR and come on our rides and are now starting to race.

The difference in my cycling has been astounding. Where cycling was a struggle and often not enjoyable it’s not anymore. Where getting up a hill was a breathless struggle of pain and frustration it’s now much more something to enjoy. It’s not the same fight for breath. It’s not that it’s not hard. It’s just that somehow I don’t worry about the pain anymore. Somehow it seems less important. I don’t feel totally drained and exhausted after a ride. I recover quicker. I can talk more on the ride cause I’m less out of breath. My heart rate slows faster. Sure it’s painful and your body wants to stop. But hills that you used to struggle to get over seem to almost disappear. You just ride over them without noticing. They are not the barriers they once were. Your average power increases. I used to feel extreme discomfort at a heart rate of 155 beats per minute. Now I can handle 20 minutes at 165 beats per minute. My breathing is slowly becoming easier. I’m not saying you get more time to enjoy the scenery. You’re too busy trying to hold onto the wheel in front of you. It hasn’t happened overnight. I just get up everyday and do what I’m told. As I’ll do tomorrow and the day after that.

When I started I needed a sleep most afternoons. That’s over now. I rarely sleep in the day anymore. I can feel the morning’s ride in my body if it’s been a hard one. But I can feel myself getting better able to handle a hard morning ride too.

I ride 6 days a week. I spend 15-20 hours a week on my bike. I love every minute of it. My family is very good about it. I’m very fortunate. As are most of us.

Our coach asked us all to write down our three goals for the year. I wrote Pickering Brook Races, Collie Donnybrook race and Tour of Margaret River. But some participants have chosen the 3 Peaks, NRS Series and other disparate goals. Your goals are your goals. They need to be specific, measurable and have a time period attached.

I’ve gone in my racing from finishing 10 minutes behind D grade to finishing with the bunch. I’ve even done a race and stayed on the front for pretty much all of it doing all the work just because I felt good that day. I just did Tour of Margaret River which was my first multi day race. My first team time trial. I finished with the bunch most days. It was very exciting riding with 60 cyclists at speed. I did my first criterium on the weekend. I had no idea what to expect. It was a lot of fun. I can do SPR Thursday slow (!) river lap and hold on to the end – just.

We’ve also done practical learning sessions – cornering (which still scares the hell out of me), riding close in a bunch, hitting another wheel. In each case they have paid off for me in a race I’ve been in.

I eat more than ever. Two breakfasts. Lunch at 11am or I start to shut down. Something when I get home from work. Anything I want for dinner. I have more muscle. I weigh a lot less. My doctor is amazed at the improvement in my liver test. I’m still the slowest up a hill on SPR long hills rides. Other riders still drop back and pace me up and even give me a push now and again. I still can’t keep up with my son. But he said to me the other day “Hey Dad that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you go hard and catch someone on the road and leave them behind.” I’m still in awe of the Fast, A Grade, NRS riders. They are incredibly strong, tough and I reckon, more importantly, brave. I’ll never race with them at their pace. I’m happy in D Grade. With the older blokes and the 14 year olds with restricted rollouts. At Tour of Margaret River we were well matched in the slowest group. Racing gets better and better as you stop being dropped and actually mix it with he bunch. You go from riding an individual time trial each race to racing as a team or group. The final sprint actually matters.

A facebook survey brought up the following reasons for a coach:
1. Structure
For many athletes, setting up the structure of their training is the hardest step. There are many components involved in how you prepare for your event. Factors like experience, goal time, time to train and others all come into play. This also makes it confusing. When should you do a base period? How long should your build be?

2. Accountability
Another popular answer, accountability, is something a coach can provide in a one-on-one manner. For some, knowing someone else is going to see if they miss or shorten a workout gets them out the door.

3. Motivation
Daily training, while effective, can also be draining. From hard tempo runs to long bike rides, the training can be daunting at times. Having someone else to cheer you on and push your limits can make all the difference.

4. Provide Wisdom/Smarts
Picking and choosing from the multitude of literature on training can be time consuming and stressful. Having someone invested in your goals to wade through that and provide a clear plan allows you to focus solely on getting the work done. Additionally, coaches can shorten the learning curve of endurance sports training. Coaches also give the feedback necessary to avoid making the same mistakes repeatedly by providing unbiased comments.

5. Lower the Chance of Overtraining/Injury
Endurance training can be addictive, and overtraining is a real concern. Having someone else to monitor not just your daily workouts but your overall health can keep you from overdoing it. Having a coach pull back your training before an injury happens is highly valuable.

6. Time Management
The majority of athletes have limited time to spend training, so ensuring that every session matters and no time is wasted is key. Having an unbiased expert create a plan that works with your schedule and directly address your strengths and weaknesses can take you to the next level without wasting your most precious resource- time.

7. To do the Thinking for Them
Whether it’s analyzing a run, looking at your overall season, or addressing a weakness, there is a seemingly never ending list of elements to incorporate into your plan.

This is what training has done for me. Who you choose as a coach is up to you, what you want, where you live. My coach has taken on a huge role in my life. I push hard in a race for fear of letting him down. Other riders have said they hear his voice in their heads. But not once has he ever said anything of that manner. He’s positive, inspiring and very knowledgeable. The club is associated with Toby Brown and Jonathan Bolton (who is now a registered coach in how own right) and with Cath Dixon and Luke ‘Eurohubby’ Dawson from Velocoaching. But other riders use Brad Hall, Perth Integrated Health, Chain Reaction Training and others to great effect.

My training program this year has changed my riding forever. I’m getting better all the time. I’m enjoying riding a lot more. I don’t quite know what my coach did to make me improve. He knew what I needed. I just wake up every day and do what I’m told.

* Thanks to Velocoaching for the 7 points.