The relationship with a coach and athlete can be quite a special one. It's certainly an unique one, where 2 people come together and are committed to helping you achieve your goals. As with many relationships it grows overtime, so you get to know each other and the best ways to more forward.
What a good coach should do
At GGSC we believe that before anything a coach should listen to their athletes goals, to help understand what you want to gain from the coaching experience. We would use our knowledge to help guide the athlete as to how feasible the goals are. Not in all cases but more often than not, we know that you can achieve so much more that you think you are capable of, all with the correct training of course.
Understand the athletes level of commitment. Unfortunately we can't be full time athletes. At GGSC we have experience of coaching full time working mums, to retired women. We know that no 2 people are the same, and the training need to be adapted accordingly. Even if an athlete has heaps of time, it's important to schedule in recovery time too.
Understand the athletes level of fitness and fatigue. This is an ongoing learning process. As time passes a coach should be able to predict how an athlete can perform in certain situations.
Make sure the training is easily understood by the athlete.
In order for an athlete to make the most of their coaching
It's really important that an athlete communicates with their coach to help them plan the training specifically for them. For example letting the coach know when they have times that they can train and when life is a bit more busy. We understand that some curveballs happen in life, but it's best to be as prepared as possible.
A athlete should have some level of autonomy to get the workouts done. Just because you have a coach, don't be fooled, you still need to make the time and get the workouts done.
Giving feedback to your coach is really useful on how tired you are feeling and how hard you found the workouts, to help your coach know how they can plan the hard workouts and when it's time for recovery. Some workouts will always feel hard, but some shouldn't feel hard and are a sign you need to rest.
Letting your coaching know what kind of goals motivate you, so you can always be looking forward to make you a stronger cyclists together.
To find out how having an online cycling coach could help with your cycling goals Book a Free Discovery Call