What motivates our coaches?
As coaches, we often focus on what motivates an athlete. Indeed, one of our primary roles is to help an athlete stay on track with their goals and keep their motivation high. Here though we ask the question: What motivates our coaches. The insight is illuminating, varied and honest. Read on to find out more.
What motivates you in the sport you do?
Some of our coaches are at the sharp end of their own performance, some have been, and some are just loving the lifestyle! No matter where they are in their athletic life, they still have a passion for endurance. But why are they still doing it? Here are what some of our coaches have to say:
I enjoy seeing improvement in myself and the feeling of achievement it brings. Six months after struggling to improve much in time-trials (back when I was 18 years old) I went on a three-week cycle touring holiday. We ended up building to 100 miles a day by the end, and the first time-trial I did after I got back, I took nearly 2 minutes off my 10-mile PB. I was not at all expecting the result or the feeling that I had when I realised that I’d just smashed my previous best. It was the first time I ever felt like that, and I can still picture it today.
Getting outside and moving. I think running has the best effect, and the more remote/spectacular the ‘outside’, the better!
I have to have a goal to get motivated. Like now, when my goal is over a year away, then I’m finding it difficult to get excited. I like to plan ahead and be aware of when my training should be entering different phases; a new phase helps with motivation as that is an indicator that the goal is getting nearer!
My way of life is often ‘last minute dot com’ so motivation can often come from the ‘S––! Is that the time already?’ syndrome, but I operate better under pressure, and therefore it gets done, and then I can relax!
For me, my sporting motivation comes from my joy of being active. Pushing myself now is more about working in a team environment as well as staying healthy.
I love racing! I enjoy putting my neck on the line and seeing what I can do on that day!
I want to challenge my body and see how far I can go. For me, I am most at one with myself when I am pushing the boundaries of what I can do.
I want to be an inspiration to the people around me and my children to help them have an active life. I believe sport allows young performers to learn many skills they can take forwards in life.
Being fit enough to just ‘cruise’ – this is when you can push yourself to a ‘good’ pace (whatever that is!) without it feeling too difficult.
The sense of personal satisfaction of achieving what I set out to do. Making improvements/achieving success are my key motivators. Having goals and then breaking those goals into smaller goals; like stepping stones taking you closer to your desired outcome(s).
When life gets busy and challenging at times and it can be hard to stay motivated as other factors influence how you may feel. During those times, I try to recall the positive feelings I gained from from this past (positive experiences) achievements no matter how small and that very often helps me to take that next step.
Though I’m very much intrinsically motivated - I do what I do because I enjoy it and regardless of competition I would still put in the same time and effort regardless. However, I do find some competition does motivate me; it’s helps to give me training more focus, keeps me on track when other distractions get in the way. It’s also away to measure your efforts, getting external feedback (performance based) which feeds into my motivation.
For me feedback (and praise) is vital to be able to improve. Without feedback I have no sense of how well we are doing and what I need to do do to get better; this can indeed affect my motivation
We can see above that coaches, like athletes, have a varied response to why they do their sport. We can understand different motivations would lend themselves to different styles of being coached and getting the most out of them. This aspect is the same for you – everyone is different and understanding your motivation (and relaying that to your coach) will help you excel in whatever you do.
What motivates you as a coach?
Coaches often have various answers as to why they coach. Here, we explore what motivates them the most when they are coaching.
Seeing improvement in others – it’s not quite the same as personal improvement, and requires a different sort of work, but comes a close second!
Helping people to learn something they didn’t already know, or might have overly struggled with without your help.
I enjoy helping athletes to realise their potential. I enjoy encouraging athletes to take ownership of their own development through the sharing of knowledge. It is watching the development of the individual’s understanding of the sport that brings me the most pleasure. When they look back at a race, a session, a skill and say ‘I did it’.
I love learning: for example, I am motivated by widening and enhancing knowledge within the additional areas of coaching such as nutrition and S&C.
I am motivated by bringing clarity and balance into an athlete’s often hectic lifestyle. I want to provide a structured, balanced and achievable coaching programme that compliments their own lifestyle and meets their goals.
I am motivated more when an athlete is driven by their goals. The more they put in, the more I feel I can give back.
I’m motivated by that elusive edge – what can I do to make me coach better than before, and how will that edge benefit the athletes I am working with. How can I help them ‘win’. For me, my competitive side is expressed through my athlete’s motivation and goals. That doesn’t imply I want them to achieve their goals more than they do, but it does mean I desperately want them to work within this partnership so we can work together and do what they are capable of executing. This is a team effort, and I will fully commit to the athlete’s dream.
I am also motivated or encouraged by ‘failure’ when something didn’t work, and we thought it would, my curiosity wants to work with the athlete and find out why and not let that happen again.
We can see here that the coaches’ motivation is varied and often different from that classic answer: ‘I want to help others’. Although that is one of the key factors, it is not actually what appears to motivate the coaches at all.
Coach Jon summarises how his understanding of his own motivations have meant that he has always been able to keep motivated no matter what life throws his way:
“I’ve been training and racing since early childhood where I would spend my school lunch breaks running cross-country trails across Dartmoor then spend most evening’s after school thrashing up and down the pool at the local swimming club. I guess the main thing that drove me to do it then still drives me on now; I just love it! I enjoy the training; I love the process; I embrace the pain and relish the competition.
Despite triathlon being a solo sport, I like training with others, I have to admit my competitive edge comes out in group sessions and I get driven to push myself harder by others. I’ve never been the fastest or the strongest, but if I can train harder, I know I will get closer and closer to those in front. I miss the camaraderie of group sessions currently, but the virtual world is making up for it pretty well. I’ve been doing lots of Team time trialling on Zwift, working as a team in a high octane all guns blazing TT effort is undoubtedly keeping me focussed on hitting the numbers on the turbo trainer at the moment.
In an ordinary world, I would say that having a key goal race ahead keeps me getting up in the morning for those early sessions and keeps me working towards those small goals I set myself. I’ve been racing a long time, but there is always something I can do better, whether it be a technical or physiological element, I’m yet to do the perfect race and I never will. That alone is enough to keep me focussed in my training, what can I do better next time?
My motivation for the 2020 season was at an all-time high. I had missed the whole of the 2019 season due to illness, but I was on track to come back stronger than ever this year. It looks like I’ll have to be even stronger in 2021. With no confirmed races on the horizon, I still find myself training hard (for Zwift team TT’s). However, life isn’t just triathlon (shock horror). I’ve also been working on other skills and habits. I recently completed a 9-week isolation challenge (bit.ly/9weeks9challenges). I am trying to carry on some of the good habits I set in those nine weeks, right now, I am making sure I complete a yoga session as well as a headspace meditation session every day. I’m certainly feeling calm, motivated, ‘flexible’ and ready to go when we get the green light to race again.”
We can see that everyone is motivated differently in the various parts of their life. It is also interesting to see just how vital that passion for the process towards a goal is for all the coaches. These are the experts – they know how to get to a goal. Yet still, to get there, they rely entirely on why they chose it in the first place. Especially now, when aims and objectives are so far away, these coaches are focussing on the simple steps to get further along their path towards it. Hopefully, you can learn from their methods and do the same for your dreams. Or, if you are coached, you can recognise how much coaches are on your side and trying to help you. They really are there for you.
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.