Contrasting Day

A day of contrasting extremes today.

On one hand this weekend I have been getting a solid reminder of what perhaps could have been. Tomorrow is Cairns Ironman, which at the start of the year was in the plan as the next Ironman I was going to be doing after Busselton Ironman. I have lots of friends racing tomorrow in the Ironman and the Half Ironman, but I am not going to be able to track the race tomorrow without wondering, just a little, what might have been.

Over the last few months I have been very careful about not wallowing too much in what could have/should have been. I don't see there being much future in that train of thought, other than making me feel a bit miserable. Instead I have been focussed on moving forwards and upwards. Focusing on my next challenges and what I can be doing next. However, occasionally it can be hard to ignore what my dreams had previously been. What my plans had once included. I had similar feelings during Bussetlon 70.3 back in May, and I suspect I will have similar feelings tomorrow during Cairns. Interested in the event, and wishing my friends well, but at the same time feeling a bit bittersweet about the whole thing.

So if Cairns Ironman sits on one side reminding me of what I have lost, sitting on the other side were a couple of positive coaching experiences today reminding me just what I have gained.

First of these coaching experiences was a great ride with the Break Your Limits junior squad. The ride today was a 90km spin out into the hills with a bit of hill climbing and a solid 15km effort to put the sting in the legs. The 15km effort in particular was impressive to see. The effort was done on a rolling 7.5km loop up in the hills. For the effort the squad was broken up into groups of similar speeds and set off at intervals, slowest group down to fastest. The intent of effort was for the fastest group to see if they could catch the slowest one within 15km. The prize for the handicapped effort was a milkshake at the end of the ride.

Watching the juniors put it on the line in the effort was awesome sight, they really laid it down. Across the 15km I watched some gutsy efforts and courageous attacks as the groups fought to keep ahead of each other, but also as the individual cyclists struggled to shake the rest of their groups. In the end the fastest of the fast group just managed to overhaul the group in front and get across the line first, but it was a close run thing. No matter who won though, there is no doubt that the entire squad is going to be reaping the benefits of these sessions as they get back to racing. For me it was also a great lesson in what alternatives are out there to keep training challenging and exciting for the athletes. There is no doubt that this session ticked both of those boxes today.

My second positive coaching experience was closer to home and involved my wife heading out for a swim.

Since the beginning of this year.my wife has been training for triathlon. She hasn't necessarily had a goal race in mind, rather she has been keen to train to keep pushing her fitness and improving her skills. One of the areas where she has needed to work the most on her skills has been the pool. At the beginning of the year we did a bit of a video analysis session down the river and identified my wife as a 'Bambino' swim type as defined by SwimSmooth.

After identifying her as a Bambino we then looked up the SwimSmooth Guru to get some ideas of areas to work on. The Guru laid out an entire Bambino swim program for her to do which she has dilently been working though.

From doing that Bambino program she has progressed from barely being able to swim 300m to completing a full 2000m swim set today, including a 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m descending set. Over this period her pace over 100m has improved by about 30 seconds. To be fair she still has a long way to go, but those improvements are massive all the same.

Watching the improvements my wife has made certainly gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside and not just because she is my wife. Watching those improvements roll in bringing with them more self belief, increased enjoyment of sport and a desire to continue improving has been an awesome experience. In the end that is perhaps what coaches get out of coaching, the satisfying feeling that comes from helping somebody achieve their goals and reach what they had previously thought was unobtainable. If that is what comes from coaching then I can certainly see the attraction. Perhaps missing Cairns isn't the worst thing to have happened after all.