How may AI impact Endurance Coaching?
In this latest article, Coach Philip explores how AI may change the face of coaching as we know it. Resisting the temptation to ask Chat GP to write the article for him, he explores this ever-prevalent and topical conversation area. How can artificial intelligence be used in order to help coaches deliver coaching?
Firstly, let’s clarify one thing: none of Tri Training Harder's coaches profess to be artificial intelligence experts. However, with the amount of work we have put into delivering our Professional Endurance Coaching Pathway, we feel we are in a position to offer advice or information on how AI could harness the coach’s knowledge.
AI is already used for talent ID, injury prevention through biomechanical analysis, competition analysis, data performance analysis, referee assistance (e.g. Hawkeye), fan engagement, and optimising equipment. AI and machine learning will be a big part of industry development, and we would be kidding ourselves to believe that it won’t be prevalent in coaching.
Any coach who is data savvy will already be using data analytics, metrics and programming to identify vast arrays of data. If we consider the metrics an athlete can use for a 24-hour period of training, devices can already start monitoring: sleep, height, Heart Rate, HRV, breathing rate, subjective scores, lactate levels, glucose levels, core temperature, body temperature, elevation, speed, power, gear changes, cadence, stroke rate, force production, vertical oscillation, estimated VO2max etc. etc. This list is already huge and becomes harder and harder to understand. AI and computer learning could significantly reduce the time that coaches spend wading through the data to help drive their conclusions. Asking AI to write programmes and deliver the analysis in easy-to-understand means will be invaluable.
If we model coaching as a simple cyclical process of Plan, Do, Review, Plan, Do, etc. We can see how reviewing and subsequent planning could be sped up through Artificial Intelligence, allowing the coach more time to make a considered impact for the athlete.
In fact, as with most industries, the ability to process data and essentially the whole internet or knowledge base is a significant benefit of AI over humans. What it may take a human a decade to learn, AI already knows. Subjectivity (as shown in the famous film Moneyball), human intuition or feeling is usually wrong, but data analytics, objectivity, statistics, probability and risk are more easily managed through objectivity. Therefore, with AI, we can provide coaches and athletes with better, more appropriate information.
This leads us to the significant area where AI may not be useful yet: context. Many of our athletes are surprised at how little time we spend talking about the sport and how much time we talk about the athlete, their life and ultimately, their head. We know sport is determined much more by the will than the skill. Perhaps, we will begin to see AI able to help train the brains of humans a lot more. However, the context and the delivery of coaching knowledge is the art of coaching which will be difficult to outsource to AI. As coaches, we continually talk to athletes knowing that two coaches with the same knowledge will deliver that knowledge in a way that will be very different from one another. A lot of this is based on human interaction. Therefore, AI will never replace the coach. Instead, it should assist them.
Nevertheless, in time, many AI-driven training programmes will be effective and generally improve athletes, and a significant number of athletes would benefit from reasonably general, personalised training programmes from AI-driven programmes. Can you imagine a programme where AI helped you match the contents of your fridge to the training you completed for your post-workout recovery snack and dinner? Solutions like this will become normalised and benefit many athletes.
Ethically, we have seen that humans are far from perfect in sports. Plenty of doping scandals have tarnished sports, with humans looking to find ways of being faster. There was a recent example of how an AI-enabled drone killed its operator to complete the mission successfully. The parallel to sports, where “winning at all costs” can easily be taken too far, is worrying. Equally, we see how there are some dubious coaching practices where athlete health is sacrificed for performance gains.
Ultimately, AI can do more good than harm for coaches and coaching if used correctly, like in any industry. Coaches will need to upskill themselves, though. If AI brings almost infinite knowledge, good coaches will be even more sought after. Coaches will need to have layers of understanding to implement this knowledge. Otherwise, they will become dangerous, like anyone with too much knowledge and not enough understanding. Coaches will help bring the context to the conversation. Additionally, their human-human relationship will be critical in delivering that knowledge to the athlete at the right time for maximum effect. This will be the area that most athletes will be looking for. For now, AI will assist coaches and revolutionise the coaching industry, making it more accessible to athletes, but the sharper end of coaching will become sharper, and there is a danger that great coaches, stuck in an old-school mentality, will mean their wisdom is lost as opportunities pass them by.
Philip is the founder of Tri Training Harder LLP. He’s a British Triathlon Level 3 coach, and has been coaching for over a decade and is involved with mentoring and developing other coaches.
Philip has have coached athletes to European and World AG wins, elite racing, many Kona qualifications, IRONMAN podiums and AG wins.
Alongside the conventional development through many CPD courses, he has also been fortunate enough to work alongside experts in the fields of Physiotherapy, Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition, Psychology, Biomechanics, Sports Medicine. Putting this knowledge into practice he has worked with thousands of athletes to various degrees, from training camps in Portugal and around Europe, clinics in the UK and online coaching.
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