The Benefits of (Still) Training
The Triple Bypass Finish. See the full ride on Strava.
Almost 18 years ago, I started working with my first coach, Joe Friel. Joe was a well renowned coach then, as he is now, but he had also been a highly competitive endurance athlete for many, many years prior to rising to become one of the world’s best triathlon coaches. However, at the time we started working together, he had not been actively racing for quite a while, but I knew he was still physically active. With that in mind, I asked him whether he still continued to “train” despite not racing any more. The distinction between just going out to ride/run/swim/etc. versus “training” was distinguishable, at least to me, if the sessions during the week consisted of some sort of structured workouts. In other words, someone could go out for a bike ride every day and not necessarily be “training” when adhering to this narrow definition of the word.
Joe told me that he did, in fact, continue to regularly do structured workouts during many of his rides and preferred to do it that way. At the time, I was somewhat surprised by this as I essentially saw the goal of structured training to only be associated with racing and competing. At the end of 2020, I retired from professional racing and the same questions I asked Joe all those years ago would now be relevant to me. Since I no longer race, do I still train?
In 2021 and some of 2022, I did regularly exercise, but I did not really train in accordance with my narrow definition of the term mentioned above. However, as I got into the middle of 2022, I started to change that approach. An athlete I coach had asked me to join him in the Triple Bypass Ride (and by ask, I mean he just signed me up) and while not a race, it is a long ride with 10K feet of climbing and about 110 miles in length. As I hadn’t been riding for 18 months (after 2020 I took an extended break from cycling), I did feel that I would have to be at least somewhat thoughtful about getting prepared for the event.
And so I began to “train” a bit again. I started planning my sessions and tracking my progression with some tangible objectives and guidelines leading the way. What I came to find out was that there were unintended positive consequences from this return to training.
For one, training helps me think. As coaches, we are always looking to learn more outside of coaching itself, whether from reading, discussing, researching, etc., but we can also continue to learn from doing.
Secondly, training helps me feel. When I was racing and coaching at the same time, one benefit I always thought that came with that is that I didn’t just see a plan on paper, I would feel it. I would think about how challenged an athlete might feel during one session, or at the end of a week, or doing a session by themselves, etc. and it would give me pause and potentially make me change the plan accordingly. However, when my own training stopped, that skill became more based on memory than by action.
Thirdly, training helps me experiment. The beauty of my own training is that the consequences of a bad decision aren’t that big of a deal now. Whether I get something right, or get something wrong, I can learn something new without anyone else having to take the risk or pay the price if it goes poorly.
With all the above in mind, I am not suggesting that this would work for everyone. For some coaches, getting out to exercise might be better used to get away from the world of structured training. Doing so may help them come back better focused for the task at hand, whereas making their own exercise overly structured might take away from that. Additionally, many coaches may decide they don’t want to engage in much exercise at all. We all have to know what works for us.
Finally, I’d like to add another caveat that I find to be quite important in this discussion. I am not suggesting that the benefits a coach can garner from some structured training needs to be done at a high level or with high volume. This is absolutely not necessary. Whether engaging in a few short sessions per week or in extensive training, they all offer opportunities to enhance the positive feedback loop of doing, reflecting and learning.
-justin
The “Two Bottle” Ride with Petro. See the full ride on Strava.
The Kitt Peak ride that wasn’t. Full ride on Strava.