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Coaching question

Amprodude

Hi guys just wondering, those of yous who have a coach, when you get a plan do you stick to it 100% or do you do something different on one day of the plan? I normally stick to my plan but today I was meant to do hill reps but I ended up doing a 160km spin. I normally don't deviate from what is planned for me but today went on a long endurance spin with few mates and now I hope I'm not messing up anything with the plan. I'm on a racing program at the moment.

Thoughts or advice.

Thanks.

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Beasty

There may be reasons for varying my plan, and my coach fully understands that. For example I am currently not prepared to take too many risks with the weather, so will switch indoors if it's very wet or icy. I also am still very much in recovery mode after last year's accident, and there are times when I simply need to ease back. In addition my job means that on occasions I have to move things about a bit. I'll explain any changes when required and my coach understands - I have a pretty good feel for things anyway and I will provide quite extensive feedback with my rational if I do need to change things materially. I will still aim at sticking directly with the plan, or get as near to it as I reasonably can given my particular circumstances, and probably achieve that maybe 95% or so of the time

Amprodude

Beasty wrote: »

There may be reasons for varying my plan, and my coach fully understands that. For example I am currently not prepared to take too many risks with the weather, so will switch indoors if it's very wet or icy. I also am still very much in recovery mode after last year's accident, and there are times when I simply need to ease back. In addition my job means that on occasions I have to move things about a bit. I'll explain any changes when required and my coach understands - I have a pretty good feel for things anyway and I will provide quite extensive feedback with my rational if I do need to change things materially. I will still aim at sticking directly with the plan, or get as near to it as I reasonably can given my particular circumstances, and probably achieve that maybe 95% or so of the time

I suppose once I stick to it as best I can, I can't be doing too bad.

Beasty

Does your coach vary the plan based on your feedback? To me that's one of the main benefits of having a coach. Just because a training plan works for one person does not mean it will work for someone else and a coach should be tweaking things if the expected improvements are not materialising

Amprodude

Beasty wrote: »

Does your coach vary the plan based on your feedback? To me that's one of the main benefits of having a coach. Just because a training plan works for one person does not mean it will work for someone else and a coach should be tweaking things if the expected improvements are not materialising

He asks me who I got on during the week and asks me if I was feeling ok after the sessions. The objective at the moment for me is to build endurance for my races. I found pace was fine but last 10km of races my legs used to start cramping and forced me to get dropped at that vital time. I'm 4 weeks into my training plan now and haven't raced since I started it.

Beasty

Are you just road racing or are you planning on racing over the winter (CX for example)?

If the former the racing season is pretty much drawing to a close, with many taking a break ahead of starting building up again for next year (not me though as my target is the track masters in October - currently my endurance is abysmal but I'm not bothered as I don't need too much for track racing). You should be looking at building up your endurance over the winter and not worry too much about it at this stage of the year

Amprodude

Beasty wrote: »

Are you just road racing or are you planning on racing over the winter (CX for example)?

If the former the racing season is pretty much drawing to a close, with many taking a break ahead of starting building up again for next year (not me though as my target is the track masters in October - currently my endurance is abysmal but I'm not bothered as I don't need too much for track racing). You should be looking at building up your endurance over the winter and not worry too much about it at this stage of the year

I'm focusing on two races for remainder of the year and then build up endurance over winter.

LCD

As a coach I always tell my athletes that what I write is based on an ideal week, when work, family & all other commitments are normal. For the vast majority of people cycling is at best the 3rd priority in their life (family 1st, work 2nd) so it most fit in around those 2. This is why I always ask athletes a week ahead if anything is coming up & work the programme around that.

The whole training for fun versus training for a specific goal is often the great dispute of the recreational athlete. Is a 160km ride with your mates a lot more fun than a very intense 60min interval session alone, possibly on the turbo in your shed? Yes absolutely, however if you approach a coach looking to win 50-80km races in the next few weeks you must accept the trade offs, such as coffee stop rides being a lot less frequent.

What a coach gives you is essentially an instruction manual (along with advice & support). It is up to you to choose how you read it. Yes your hill rep session was designed to help you with your two upcoming races and was strategically placed alongside/complimented other sessions & recovery. Skipping it do go for an ultra endurance ride was, I would safely say, not part of the plan. Will it destroy the plan, no, probably not. The mental break from the rigid structure and the enjoyment of riding your bike with mates may even be of greater benefit to you than the hill reps.

If you want to or feel the need to change the programme tell "your" coach. I emphasis your because the coach is working with you, to help you achieve your goals. It isn't the other way around. If you say straight up, "I want to head out for the bun run with my club", your coach might insist that you shouldn't but ultimately it is your say & they will work it around the programme.