Over the past year Aus Triathlon has provided their Juniors with a great education series. The one that really caught my eye was the presentation by Courteny Porter (who works for the AIS in skill acquisition), on how to turn a good junior into a great senior competitor. While we all think it is about fitness Courtney was able to look at it from a more wholistic perspective. And while it targeted juniors it is of course applicable to any level of athlete.
The talk reminded me of my former job working in Workplace health promotion, where we looked at health from the perspective of the worker, the work and the workplace. For triathlon Courtney replaced them with, the athlete, the skill/task/race/challenge and the environment.
Firstly, you need to look at the athlete. To successfully transition from junior to senior they need-
Some are innate but others can be taught by the coach or learnt by the athlete.
The task mostly relates to skills – swim technique, bike handling, run form, mental skills, race day tactics… While triathletes think they are racing the distance, the reality is that you are racing the day and whatever it throws at you- heat, wind, other competitors, corners, pressure…. Just being fit enough to race the distance in most races won’t be enough.
The coach’s role is to create an environment that allows them to develop these skills in all conditions. Sure, there will be some guidance provided on what we are working towards and what the skill might look like, but then it is up to the individual to learn what works best for them. There are limitless ways people learn, a coach has to make sure they match the optimal learning strategy to the individual. The days of simply trying to fit all athletes into one box when learning a skill are long gone.
“How you practice is much more important than how much you practice.” If you make mistakes in training, then you will be imprinting poor skills. It is the quality practice that counts- don’t waste energy on poor movement patterns.”
Each race is made up of a myriad of skills that we need to apply in an ever-changing environment. Learning a skill for me is first learnt under benign conditions but then it is important that you learn it for all conditions and situations. So don’t just do “same-same” and stick to races that don’t offer much of a challenge. It is these challenging environments that offer the best opportunity to grow. If we go in with a growth mindset and a plan, we will always come out the other side better for it.
What happens if the race you have been training for for months throws up challenging conditions? Will you be ready?
But when we learn a new skill, remember learning is messy!
Post session it is important to review the workout/race – video, coach feedback, it could be writing down how you felt and what cues you looked for as you executed the skill. Sometimes a drill will resonate while other times it will be a cue. Over time you can learn what the best strategy/environment is for you to learn. The review might also help you to learn what is holding you back- mindset, confidence, practice time, equipment, skills… Then you can work on overcoming these challenges in training.
So, whenever you train make sure you go into a session with a clear intention of what you are focusing on (purpose), self-monitor during the session to make sure you are on the right path (how will you know you are training right) and post session reflect on what happened and how we can move forward.