Building your team around you
Often we talk about triathlon as an individual sport, but in reality, behind every triathlete has a team behind them. Here we discuss how important it is for triathletes to build up this team with all the right people.
As a coach, we talk about working in a team all the time. The coach can call upon specialists (physios, biomechanists, nutritionalists, Strength and Conditioning coaches and, at least within Tri Training Harder, other coaches and mentors to help with an athlete and the athlete development.
This is a great network to continually build and tap into. However, the athlete should be doing something similar. The athlete’s team will have some overlap with the coach’s and there is every chance that they end up using the same people – e.g. nutritionalists. Equally though, they may though have their own local physio they are using as opposed to one the coach works with. However, that doesn’t change the point that this individual sport is really a sport where an individual can only get the most out of their performance with a team. After all, they say that it takes a village to raise a child…
Building that team
You already have part of your team now without evening realising it. Your family, partner and immediate close friends are an important basis for the team around you. Depending on your stage in life, these people will certainly take slightly different roles but the point is still absolutely the same. You nearest and dearest are part of your team and without their support, not only does your journey become a lonely one, it certainly makes things a lot harder.
Then you will have your training buddies: squad or club members as well as people from any classes you go to. These people will be slightly more removed but still emotionally attached to how you perform: they care. They will be competitive in a friendly nature, and each person inspires the other differently. Perhaps your swim lane buddy goes and breaks a PB in a local race. You realise (eithout actually racing) that you were part of that and that can inspire your confidence and may allow you to dream. Or perhaps you are normally the runner of the group and suddenly you find yourself going into the second half of the session with tired legs after a big week of training. All your training buddies would love yo get your scalp and so, they inspire you to dig deeper and find that training level you may have struggled with before. Either way, your training buddies help you dig deeper in training or simply make the early mornings more bearable and are part of the team that helps you succeed.
Finally and usually with an over-exaggerated importance, you have your triathlon team: your coach(es), physios, psychologists, nutritionalists etc. For some people this list could go on and for others it may simply be a coach. Either way, these are the objective members of the team and are vital to keep you on the track you want to be on and help you keep the main thing the main thing.
Everyone in this extended team you have created have various levels of interest in you and your performance. But they all care about your performance: without them you don’t have your team. If you look at all the top athletes, though their team may be more obvious, they still have a team, just like you. Even at a basic level, you do have a team (unless you live alone and have no immediate ties to anyone): your family is your team and they will be helping you achieve your goals. Either by sharing the load of house work/duties/chores or letting you have space to go and do your own training.
Either way, now is a great time to thank them and make sure you discuss with your whole team the plan for the next season and where you want to take your sport.
We’re here to help
Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.
The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.
If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.