In my last blog post I wrote about goals; the art of setting them and how they’ve aided me over the course of my cycling career. I alluded to some upcoming goals, one of which is actually the Gran Fondo World Championship TT in Japan at the end of this month. I’ll actually dedicate another blog to that specifically (why it ended up on my calendar and my preparation) but it made me think about other people I know who have raced this event previously. I’ve actually coached several riders who have achieved excellent results in their age categories at Gran Fondo Worlds and most of them juggle training around full-time work, as well as a busy family life. That is actually one of the great things about time trials (and particularly shorter distance ones); it’s possible to perform very well with a modest number of bike hours each week. The main considerations are incorporating enough specific, high-quality intensity sessions and making sure that the plan takes into account the individual’s time constraints. Adaptability is also key.

It’s funny that, as a coach, I have a very different mentality than I do as an athlete. I’m losing count of the number of times I’ve said to my riders “do what I say, not what I do!”. I suppose it’s good that I have enough self-awareness to know that I don’t always make the most intelligent decisions when it comes to my own training, though clearly I don’t possess enough sense to make better ones. Or perhaps I’m just exceedingly stubborn. Either way, I write this as “Hayley the coach” for fear of encouraging others to follow my own terrible examples.

The first thing that I tell people, but ignore myself, is that “Life TSS is a thing”. The majority of riders reading this won’t be full-time athletes. They will have jobs, families, pets…numerous other priorities and commitments that take energy and add stress. Even for full time athletes there are factors such as travel that need to be considered and can’t be underestimated (I’m trying to remember this one…long travel days aren’t really rest days and can take it out of you). All of the little things that need to be tackled during a normal day will add up and sometimes mean that the amount of energy we have left for training is reduced. On the occasion that I receive a message from an athlete telling me that they’ve had a stressful work day and don’t feel up to their interval session, I’ve always moved things around or told them to take a rest day. It’s far worse to try and train, potentially risk illness or more serious fatigue, and undo months of hard work. The amount you’ll lose from skipping one session is minimal and unless it becomes a regular occurrence it’s unlikely to have an impact.

Clearly I am a big fan of a structured training plan. Both as an athlete and a coach. However, I think that for the majority of people there needs to be some flexibility. The truth is (and yes, I’m sorry to break this to some of you) that most riders and racers are not elite athletes. Their entire life cannot be built around training and recovering from training. For many, it’s actually the recovery aspect that’s more challenging to fit in and that’s where ‘real life’ has an impact because poor recovery from training, combined with stress that isn’t accounted for in training peaks, will eventually all add up and mean that sessions are ‘failed’. I think there’s a real talent and self-awareness in identifying when the total load (training plus everything else) becomes too much. Mature athletes will then listen to their body, talk to their coach and adapt the plan.

It’s different for everyone but some common signs of overload are:

• Poor sleep (this is the first sign for me that I’m overtrained or stressed - I struggle to fall asleep and then have a lot of nighttime disruptions)

• Frequent minor illnesses

• Persistent saddle sores

• Heavy legs both on and off the bike that can’t be attributed to a very hard training session or high training load

• Struggling to wake up/get out of bed in the morning

• Moodiness/irritability

• Change in metrics such as HRV/RHR

I actually think that for a lot of people, one of the biggest benefits of having a coach is that there is someone who will ensure you take adequate rest. They can look at the overall picture from an outside perspective and judge when an athlete needs more recovery rather than extra stimulus. There are so many training plans available online now and many of them will achieve good results, but what is missing is the human element. Someone to be accountable to but also someone who stops an athlete from overtraining or pushing themselves to breaking point. More is not always better and I’m someone who absolutely needs to be told that! Sadly I’m terrible at taking my own advice.

I like to think that as a coach I’m approachable. That my athletes feel comfortable talking to me about how they’re feeling and their perception is that I listen and adapt their plan accordingly. As a rider I am pretty inflexible, but as a coach I recognise that there are things in life that are far more important than completing every single training session perfectly. Yes, winning is great, but there are so many goals that can be achieved without sacrificing other things in life. I would never want any of my athletes to look back on our time working together and feel disappointed that they’d missed out on a life event of some sort just so that they could complete a training session I’d set. I’ve made those sacrifices myself. Some were worth it. Others…questionable. But I’m trying to keep that in mind now, when I have a little more flexibility over my race schedule compared to previous years. So yes, I am terrible at taking my own advice but I am trying to get better.

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Do you want a dedicated blog post on how to get the most out of yourself on limited time? The sort of sessions I suggest and how to balance the week? Drop me a message and let me know! I really want to hear about what you’d like to read so please do let me know!