It’s been over a month since my last blog and as always I have no idea what the title of this blog is until I write the last sentence of it! So here we go…
In my last blog I was really into the latest Mel Robbins book “Let Them” and I’ve now finished that. With the abundance of information and tools she gives in this book to self-improve I think I’m absorbing this information and trying to be more self-aware of my emotions and how I conduct myself in front of others. I’ve now moved onto another of her books – “The 5-second Rule” and hope to continue in becoming a better person.
One of the points she raises is the world we live in – and about how much distraction there is. One thing being our mobile phones and other related devices – ironically you’re probably reading this blog on your device so it actually shows you there is a “own goal” on my part, but hear me out…
We are constantly linked to these devices. Emails, social media, messaging apps, games, adverts, the list goes on. What they are actually doing is robbing us of our spare time – we work 8 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week, we sleep a fair amount too, and the rest of our spare time is separated into what we choose to do with it – and the data clearly shows our devices are hogging the majority of this part.
So, I’ve chosen to turn off notifications and only look at my phone when I feel I need to, I’ve deleted a few social media and messaging apps as they no longer serve me and already I am feeling there is a lot of more spare time to have actual conversations with people and loads more time to listen to podcasts and read books that I would previously have no time to indulge in.
I think it’s safe to say if you’re looking at your phone within 2 minutes of rising in the morning, you’re addicted to it and perhaps need to look up once in a while – as Ferris Bueller says “life moves fast – if you don’t look up once in a while, you might miss it”!
Sufficed to say – since my crash I’ve had quite a bit of spare time with the loss of my job due to my injuries. I’ve managed to fill it with going to the gym, or going swimming or cycling (indoors as a rule) due to certain triggers that can occur on the road. And of course, my coaching is picking up rather nicely and I’ve now mustered the courage to start a few Vlogs on my Instagram page hashtag_coaching2023 as well as celebrate the athletes’ achievements, not only at races and events, but when training too which is of course all about the journey – not the destination.
The 1-2-1 phone calls to each athlete have definitely added an enormous insight into their training and lifestyles. I think the interactions in these calls are more important that the sessions scheduling itself as it provides valuable information so I can adapt and change schedules depending on feedback and also I serve as a sounding wall when athletes need to vent about their daily lives – my mental health training has definitely allowed me to listen, not to reply but just to be there when they need a neutral person to talk to.
Regarding my own training I’m still progressing as best I can, it’s all relative of course, some people think I’m quite advanced in my biking but compared to where I was pre-crash I’m nowhere near where I used to be. I know I shouldn’t compare apples with oranges but it’s hard not to look back and see your old numbers and one day hope to achieve that high again. And of course age is definitely a limiter in that aim – the older we get sometimes the best we can do is at least maintain performance instead of lose it.
I’ve added in a few new angles on my training – the first is Deka training on a Tuesday evening at local community centre. This is a 10-station fitness workout mixing agility strength and endurance. This is the “Deka Strong” contingent of the Deka brand as the others include running, which of course, I can’t do. This was the discussion in November last year when Suzy was at Hyrox London and her friends Vikki & Jason suggested we try it. Sufficed to say we went to our first session on a Tuesday night and we’ve been going ever since. We did enter a “Co-Ed” (Team” event a few weeks back and did quite well compared to other teams so pretty chuffed with that. It was assumed there were certain stations that I might not be able to do so we talked about doing the team event so Suzy could do the things I couldn’t. But, it soon became apparent after a few Tuesday nights that I could do all the stations, albeit a little slower on some (for obvious reasons) so, on the same day as we did the Team event I did the “Solo” competition as well – finishing 6th overall and first in my Age-Group! Life in the old dog yet eh?!!!
Another angle in my training was to break up my strength & conditioning training into body parts each day Monday to Friday. So Back on Monday, then Chest on Tuesday, then Legs, Shoulders and Arms to finish off the week. This has come with certain pitfalls which I have learnt the hard way not to do. Legs on a Wednesday followed by a hard bike session for example – I won’t be doing that again! Also, an upper body session, then straight down to the pool…nope! Every day is a school day I guess.
Talking about swimming, I’ve lost my love for it at the moment, if indeed I ever actually loved it. I’ve procrastinated on several occasions and before I knew it the day was over and I was like “oh well” so I know that I was not keen to stare at the bottom of the pool any time soon. It’s fair to say I’ve only booked one swim event (and Aquabike Middle Distance in May) so I’m not 100% focused on that part of my training.
It’s all been centred around the cycling at the moment, I’ve been experimenting with quite a few sessions and if successful I’ll write them for my athletes at #hashtagcoaching in the very near future. These have been, on the whole, quite a success with only a few sessions that were just one or two watts beyond what I could manage, so I’m pretty chuffed with being self-trained at the moment.
I guess the question I ask myself is what would an external coach do for me? I’m fairly proficient at periodising and setting schedules so I’m unsure what a coach would bring to my table. Also, I see the cost involved in what I would expect from a coach and it’s very expensive out there!
I do wonder if my own coaching price point is too low, a fraction of the cost of most online coaching sites but I remind myself of the “Jerry McGuire” film – it’s about being personable and in tune with my athletes rather than going for quantity. I believe the athletes’ coaching experience gets vastly diluted when they are part of a coaching “machine” that sends out generic programs.
Oh by the way – we went to Majorca again!
Suzy’s work from home job means that as long as she is in front of a computer on UK’s 8-5 hours she, in theory, could be anywhere in the world. And there has been some hesitance in finding something to do for her birthday, so I just booked it last-minute and off we went.
Suzy still worked a few days out there but when you switch off the computer, leave the office and go for a sunny beach walk it kinda hits different than the doom & gloom of a grey-skied UK. I managed to fit in quite a few bike rides whilst she was at work (naturally) and there was no medical emergency this time and the weather was sunny pretty much every day (not bad for February) so we had a great time away.
The day before we went to Majorca, we both entered our first event of the year – the Ely “Hardriders” 25 mile TT. This race usually is in sub-zero conditions and is only for the hardiest of riders to compete in – it certainly lives up to its name. The last time I had entered this was back in 2015 and it was a shock to the system to say the least – 10 years on and the course has changed quite a bit to keep us off the main roads and with that comes mud, potholes and subsidence surfaces to watch out for when trying your best to go as hard as you can! I was going quite well despite a gnarly crosswind, all the way up to about 23 miles where a marshal sent me the wrong way. I was just about to catch a young lad on the road and the marshal was so busy talking to the youngster he clearly forgot his “you’ve only got one job” remit and didn’t point out the sharp left into the finishing lane. Instead I carried on the road I was on to go into the village the wrong way and pass the finish line completely in the wrong direction! A “DNF” isn’t really the result I wanted but it’s nothing to get precious about and it was a good hours’ workout. It is what it is. At the time I was livid and made the race organiser aware of the marshals’ failings. After I had calmed down I apologised and left the village hall with a smile on my face and we headed off to the airport, leaving our sweaty kit and muddy bikes in the boot of the car for a week until we returned from our holiday.
Photo: Davey Jones
The next event is a 21 miler TT near Bury St Edmunds – a two lap route and a starting & finishing lane so I think I’ll download that route to be safe – you live & learn!
And there it is – the title – “You live & Learn”!
Takeaways from this blog – cut out the Doom Scrolling, listen to podcasts and read books and download race courses! lol
Onwards!