A small portion of what we do as coaches is managing athlete’s expectations. Albeit a portion of what we do, it is a very important one.
We all tend to be very results driven. I sure am. Not only as an athlete but also as a coach. I expect that my plans and programs succeed when an athlete listens and follows all of my advice. However, I have to keep things in perspective. Not everyone is willing and not everyone is able to follow a plan or follow all of the advice. And, not everything works out as planned. There are so many variables. Everyone has different strengths, weaknesses, schedules, stressors and so on. Factor 9 athletes have had a lot of success but there have also been disappointments.
So, what happens when you have a major disappointment? Do you go into a depression and stick your head in the sand? Was all your hard work worth it? If you don’t think the hard work was worth it then perhaps you are out of balance. To become better, you have to work hard but also smart. Sometimes that actually means working less, sometimes more. If you have trouble picking yourself up after being knocked down then you are having imbalance problems.
That is, you are likely basing happiness on reaching a specific time, that is, outcome. Or, maybe you are basing too much happiness on triathlon goals and not other things in life. That is, you could be sacrificing other things you enjoy in order to focus on triathlon. Are you being a good father or mother? A good brother? Are you doing well at your career? You don’t have to choose one or the other but you may have to re-think how you balance everything in life.
Look, there is no problem with working hard and diligently towards a racing goal. However, you have to keep things in perspective. Just because you train hard does not mean you are going to have a great race every time. Racing is hard and the longer you race the harder it gets. A lot of things have to go right.
So, when you have a tough day, you dust yourself off, look at yourself in the mirror and go back to the drawing board. What can you do to better yourself? Do you need to train more or less? Were you consistent or erratic in your training. Did you give your coach good feedback after each workout so that they can plan the next set of workouts appropriately? And so it goes...
After Ironman Canada last year, I was walking the sign up line for 2009 Ironman Canada and was lucky enough to meet Barry Jonson. We chatted for a bit and he told me that he lived up in Northern Alberta. They only had a 20m outdoor pool where he lived so he could not start swimming till May. And, being up North, they could not do much riding till May either. Add to that, he has joint custody of two boys who live a few hours away. And, he is a multiple business owner.
Needless to say, Barry would not have time to do a large amount of training that a number of other athletes could afford. Nor, did he have time to do any other races. Ironman Canada was it. Yet, he was very happy to do what he could. He wanted to work with me to make sure he was spending that time well and heading in the right direction. I even went up North for a few days to train with Barry, his brother Bob and Bob’s son Brendan. We had a great weekend of training and it was great to meet the entire family.
It was obvious that weekend that Barry had done the indoor riding and running as he was already quite fit. Swimming, on the other hand, needed a lot of work. Throughout the summer he worked on what I taught him and by all reports his swimming certainly improved. This summer he came down to Okanagan Falls for vacation. We had hoped to meet up but alas he was thoroughly enjoying the extra time he had to spend with his boys doing things like floating the channel and hitting the beaches.
Barry passed away last week in his sleep. No rhyme or reason as far as I know.
He won’t be able to test his fitness on August 30th. He won’t be able to experience the highs of racing or the lows. And, even if he had been able to compete, I am sure that if things went poorly, he would still smile. That was just the way Barry was. He certainly would think about what went well and what needed to improve. But, he would also relive the good memories and share stories with his family and friends. Then he would go back to the drawing board and work on being better next year. |
