Coaching: Training With Others
“I am being coached now, so do I have to do all of my sessions on my own? Is training with others ok – or is this messing with the plan? Would I be better to train on my own?”
I hear this type of question a lot!
The athlete usually has several concerns:
One. Athletes are often worried that scheduled training with others (e.g. Tuesday evening club run sessions) will mess with their specificity of training. That the group training won’t match their needs exactly.
Two. Athletes are worried about deviating from the training plan and swapping a planned session for a group / social session. They don’t know if they can / should.
Integrating Group Sessions Into A Training Programme
Firstly, I will say that it is usually ok to do a group session rather than a specifically planned solo session. In some cases, it can actually be better and enhance the overall training programme.
- Improved motivation – as it’s a session that the athlete really looks forward to.
- More likely to complete the session (than a solo session) – in my experience, these sessions with fixed times and dates – and accountability to other athletes – usually leads to the session being a fixture in the diary and get’s done.
- Social interaction – a training session with a social side, somehow feels easier than the solo session. It’s fun and you are training with your friends.
- Belonging to a team or a club – a shared experience i.e. ‘club run night’ is often hard work but good for the soul.
The Power of the Group
“I don’t like running”
One of my athletes says he doesn’t like running. To combat this, he makes as many of his planned runs ‘social runs’ as possible. Tuesday evenings he runs intervals with North Endurance. Thursday evenings he does some steadier running with Penny Lane Striders. In his current training programme I only plan for one solo run. Now he is running more, he is happier with his running and is improving rapidly.
“I can’t be bothered swimming”
Several of my athletes were in the position that if a session was ever missed in the week, swimming was usually the discipline to get dropped from their training. Too much hassle, not knowing what the pool will be like when they arrived, motivation to push hard when in the pool. They joined our Swim Squad and now never miss a swim session!
“Fancy coming for a ride?”
It is common for athletes to join others to do their weekend endurance rides. These are often organised during the week of the ride with the duration and route sometimes a bit of a surprise to us all! This time of year, I usually give athletes free reign with their endurance rides, with the general brief of keeping things “steady”, encouraging hills and having fun! Again, the power of accountability to others means these sessions are done, done well … and enjoyable.
Planned Group Sessions
During the planning stages, where I discuss with athletes what training time they have available, I ask whether they have any group sessions that they would like to continue doing. Sessions that they would like me to take account of and integrate into their training programme. These sessions include Swim Squad (obvs!), running track sessions, club run sessions, Zwift races, cycling club rides, gym classes.
When these sessions are known about in advance, I can plan these sessions into the athletes’ training programme.
For example, one athlete attends the MerseyTri run sessions on a Tuesday, every week without fail. She likes to do this from a social point of view (as above), and from a pushing-each-other point of view too. We schedule these runs into the programme. I don’t know exactly what type of session they are going to do, but it is always a high intensity interval-based run. It’s not necessarily the exact session I would plan for the athlete, but that’s generally ok. Knowing the type of session it is (high intensity / fast), I don’t schedule any other faster runs in for this athlete.
The second example is an athlete who loves Tuesday evening Zwift races. Again, I don’t know exactly the intensity or the duration of the race, but I know the effort will be around threshold / Zone 4, so I don’t schedule any other sessions of this type into her week. This athlete works super hard, races against friends regularly and has fun in the process – and we make it fit into the overall planned programme.
Unplanned Group Sessions
These are sessions that just crop up. Unlike the planned group sessions (above) these are the sessions that can have an impact on the training programme and make things a bit random e.g. “I went along to the UTS run session last night – some really hard intervals”. Not ideal when this athlete had already done an interval session a couple of days earlier. If this had been instead of the planned interval session, I would have been happier.
Usually the “I went to the kettlebells class at the gym last night because it looked fun” or “I went to the beach for a swim with some friends” are generally ok, in my mind anyway.
Should I Do An Unplanned session?
I like athletes to have some flexibility in their training and to enjoy what they are doing. If an athlete wants to deviate a little from their planned sessions to take advantage of a different training opportunity, they can – but just need to be careful.
My general thinking …
No Problem
- Adding a steady / recovery / easy session.
- Adding a strength session (gym, yoga, pilates).
- Adding a swim session (whatever intensity).
- Swapping a planned steady session for a social / group steady session.
- Swapping a planned interval session for a group interval session.
Be Careful
- Swapping an easy / steady session for a hard interval session.
- Swapping a session in one discipline (e.g. swim) for a session in another (e.g. run). Usually no problem every now and again, but don’t make a habit of it!
- Adding an additional high intensity session (except swimming).
I hope that helps? I hope it empowers you to be flexible with your programme – whilst making sensible decisions about your training. If you want to discuss this further with me, or want to include some more planned group work into your training programme, please get in touch.
Coaching: Training With Others
Discover more from Triathlon Swim Squad
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Pingback: Coaching: Getting The Most Out Of Your Training - Triathlon Swim Squad
Pingback: Training Through Stressful Times! - Triathlon Swim Squad