Multisport: Who Needs a Coach?

By James Herrera, MS
Carmichael Training Systems Director of Coaching

Who needs a coach? Ask six time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong about the benefits of having a great coach. Chris Carmichael, founder and CEO of Carmichael Training Systems has been working with the World Champion cyclist since his early days as a junior National Team member, when Carmichael was the head coach for USA Cycling. Carmichael’s relationship with Lance has transformed from that of coach, to advisor, mentor, confidant, and close personal friend.

The elite coaching team at Carmichael Training Systems, Carmichael’s Colorado based coaching group, coaches 3000 plus athletes of all abilities and sports, all over the world. World Champion mountain biker Alison Dunlap, World Champion time-trialist and Olympic silver medalist Mari Holden, Olympic swimmer Ed Moses, superbike racers Ben Bostrom and Miguel Duhamel, Champ Indy car racer A.J. Almandigger, supercross racers Kevin Wyndham and Timmy Ferry, and women’s downhill racers Kathy Pruitt and Tracy Moseley are just a handful of the elite professionals that fall under the guidance of Carmichael’s coaching staff.

Clearly, the best of the best need the guidance, nurturing, mentoring, and friendship to succeed at the world’s highest level of competition. The perceived stress to succeed at this level of competition takes a great deal of focus, meticulous preparation, and flawless execution. However, athletes at every level of competition experience the same perceived stress as the aforementioned professionals. Masters athletes must have the same level of focus, junior competitors must meticulously prepare for competition, and weekend warriors must flawlessly execute their plan of attack.

Every person that falls under the guidance of Carmichael’s coaches is deemed an athlete. Some people may not feel they deserve the title, as an athlete is most typically thought of as someone competing when the stakes are high, to cross the line in victory. Yet, anyone with the desire of improving their physical fitness for purposes of health, self- improvement, or competition, fall under the category of athletic minded. If they are not putting themselves on a start line, they are competing with themselves, looking to lose 10 pounds, hoping to better a personal best run or cycling time on a favorite course, or wishing to participate in their first mass start event. So yes, coaching is for everyone.

Eighty percent of the athletes using Carmichael’s unique training methodologies and guidance are 35 to 45 years of age, work 40 plus hours a week, have a spouse, children, and a variety of other life commitments. When this group thinks of coaching, they often remember experiences with team sports they had in junior high or high school. For most individuals, this was their last experience with someone they could call “coach.” With all the life commitments of a 30 plus athlete, it is this group that needs coaching the most. “The only person I ever knew as a coach was my high school track coach. When I turned to mountain biking, I was fortunate to crack into the pro ranks on raw talent. I knew I needed someone with the expertise in training to help me focus my talents and energy in the right direction,” commented Luna Chix downhiller Kathy Pruitt.

With childhood and teenage sports, practice was just part of the everyday routine. You went to school, you went to practice, you did your homework, and you went to bed. Then, you got up and did it all over again the following day. Once or twice per week, you were able to compete. Things just fell into place. In adult life, they don’t often fall into place. You want to compete in your first triathlon or 10k running event, but what’s your schedule looking like? You go to work, come home and begin afternoon chores around the house. Dinner may need to get started, the kids may need help with their homework, or you may have taken a work project home. You finish dinner with your family, your home-based work follow up, some quality time with your spouse, and its time for bed. This is the person that needs a coach the most.

Coaches can show you how to get the most out of a jam-packed day. They can teach you how to best structure your workout routine within your day to successfully accomplish the task at hand. It sounds pretty cut and dry on the surface, but it takes work on both sides. Coaches must ask the right questions and athletes must give honest answers in order for the training to work. It’s important to find out what a person can tolerate for an effective training load, taking into consideration all the other energy costs of the day. Coaches must balance the overall load of energy expenditure to get the best training adaptation possible. “I wasn’t quite sure how to put it all together,” said Blair Mathieson, semi-pro mountain bike racer. “I’d been racing for a year and struggling trying to find the time to fit my bike rides in with a busy work schedule. My coach taught me how to budget the time in my day, implement the best workouts, and take recovery time when needed.” Mathieson’s result was an upgrade to semi-pro status in two racing seasons.

While it is sometimes difficult to coach an elite athlete due to the stress of competition at the highest level, they are often easier to cope with when designing training, as their daily schedules permit an incredibly large window of time for implementation. Imagine what you could do if your only job was to focus on adequate training and recovery. How much better could you be? You may not be competing at the next Olympic games, but you’d certainly be stronger, faster individual if this was the primary focus in your life.

This phenomenon is often experienced at Carmichael’s cycling training camps in Buellton California and Colorado Springs. Training camps are most often held for five to seven days, with a much greater riding volume and intensity than athletes are used to riding at home in a similar time frame. The primary difference is, for one week, athletes live the life of a professional racer attending early season training camp. The athlete’s life for the week includes three well balanced meals a day, periodized to training demands based on Carmichael’s newly released Food for Fitness, large volumes of daily riding, sometimes entailing two daily riding sessions, evening massage, and post dinner training lecture. Sag vehicles support riders on the road to ensure adequate hydration, nutrition, mechanical, and clothing needs during training. Professional race mechanics wash and adjust athlete’s bikes after every ride.

As athletes arrive at training camp and read the weeklong itinerary, they are often amazed at the number of hours they’ll be spending on the bike. Athletes divide into small, similar-ability groups and begin to work with coaches on skills, positioning, and maintaining proper training ranges. As the week progresses, they become smarter, stronger, and used to the lifestyle of a pro cyclist. It’s not so difficult to ride 400 miles per week when you can spend a good portion of the day concentrating on recovery. An afternoon nap, nutritious meals, and an evening massage puts the icing on the cake. You also realize why a professional in training can eat cheesecake or ice cream for dessert on a nightly basis. Athletes depart training camp with a new found love of the sport, an enhancement of proper skills and training techniques, and a newly assigned Carmichael coach. Multi-time Iditabike champion, Janice Tower, was blown away by the experience. “When I put my job down for a week and just concentrated on training and recovery, I couldn’t believe how much my body could tolerate. It was an incredible learning experience.”

As with Chris and Lance, the key to success with the coach-athlete relationship is a mutually respected bond. The mentorship, advising, and confidence the coach inspires creates a friendship that often lasts a lifetime. Just as athletes are committed to their performance-oriented goals, the coach is committed to the athlete’s success. “My coach and I have a great relationship,” says Australian professional cyclist Niki Gudex. “Sure, we talk about my training loads and recovery on a regular basis, but it’s so much more than that. He’s got me thinking about what I eat, how much I sleep, how quickly I’m recovering from workouts, and how other life stressors can affect my performance. He listens to my feedback and we work together to mold and twist my training into a plan that works. He’s always thinking three steps ahead of the game. It’s so nice to have someone that’s concerned with your performance, someone you can trust is going to help make the right decisions.”

Making the right decisions is what it’s all about. We all have a finite amount of energy to expend within a given day. Learning how to portion this time is a key ingredient of athletic success. Again, it doesn’t matter if you’re an Olympian or getting ready to toe the line at your first event. What does matter is that there is professional guidance out there to help you along the way. Carmichael multisport coach Derick Williamson tells us, “it’s about helping people achieve something they never thought they could. We teach people to believe in themselves, show them the internal drive and motivation they possess, and give them the confidence to succeed in attaining their goals.”

Carmichael has taught his coaches well. His coaching colleges, continuing education programs, unique methodologies, and company-wide standards of excellence teach his coaches how to be the best and what they do. His coaching team may never have the opportunity to coach a six time Tour de France champion, but they will coach their athletes with the same techniques, knowledge, and passion that have made all Carmichael athletes champions in their own right.

© 2004, Carmichael Training Systems, Inc.