Tracy Cook
Triathlon coach based on the South Coast in England, UK
As a Coach
Tracy Cook is a qualified Coach and Sports & Soft Tissue Therapist who has joined TTH bringing with her a wealth of knowledge and experience of a range of sporting disciplines gained over many years as a Head of Sports in the education sector and, through advanced training programmes, as a successful competitive athlete at local, GB and World event levels.
Tracy was introduced to Triathlon in 2007 by a colleague who competed at elite-level in the 1980s when Triathlon was in its early days in the UK. Tracy’s enjoyment of, and success in, the sport led her to establish a school Triathlon club and to partner with a local club (Synergie Coaching) to help bridge the gap between school and local community sports.
As Tracy immersed herself in competitive Triathlon, she learned to coach all aspects of the sport in a school setting. She then went on to become a BTF coach in 2015, started coaching a local triathlon club when she left teaching and qualified as a Sports Soft Tissue Therapist (level 5) in 2017: Tracy now runs her own soft tissue therapy business from home and continues to devote her time to her real passion helping others to reach their full potential.
Tracy has worked with many athletes in the therapeutic setting, using her knowledge and understanding of how the body responds to stress-load, both physically and mentally, so that they gain a better understanding of the training effect on soft tissue, increase self-awareness of how the body responds and feels and, ultimately, develop within them the understanding they need to make better choices when planning training, reducing the risk of training overreach and consequent injury.
Tracy’s philosophy is to enable and support people to achieve their training, nutrition, wellbeing and performance goals, promoting self-discovery, self-learning and personal growth in fun ways, helping them to develop and improve their technique, build self-confidence and plan winning strategies, thereby empowering them to have more control over their training and preparation for competitive events.
As an Athlete
Tracy was a top age-group triathlete culminating in a second place at the IRONMAN World Championships in 2013.
When did you get into triathlon? I got into triathlon around 2007 after a colleague suggested I would be good at it as I already liked to cycle (though on a mountain bike at the time and was swimming).
How did you first get involved in triathlon? A good friend and colleague who competed at elite-level in the 1980s suggested that he thought I would be good at triathlon; this was brought about by an annual school end of term event (10 mile Cup) at my previous job. This involved being part of a staff team of 10 against teams of 10 pupils from each house ranging from Yr 9-13, each running the school mile (mostly on grass). I did a 6.03 mile’ though at the time my time didn’t really register it’s significance as I was more concerned of hoping to have beaten all my colleagues (all male)🤣, thankfully, I did and every year after that too 🙈. It was after this event that my colleague approached me 🤗
What is your favourite discipline? Hmmmmmm🤔 that’s a tough one to decide since this could change depending on the time of year and what I was realistically able to fit in around my busy job. I’m fairly consistent at all three disciplines, though I would probably say the bike, that has since changed to running. Swimming was always a big part of my training to just rumbling in the background as I was fortunate to live on school site and rock up to early morning swim training before work.
Why did you choose to take up coaching? Partly due to my job already teaching and coaching as the main role of my job. I also set up a junior triathlon club within the school setting as a club; which I also ran and was actually very popular. I also made a link with a local coaching company who offered some extra opportunities for school pupils to train on alternate Sunday’s in exchange for using the school facilities free of charge.
What is your greatest athletic achievement? Hmmmmmm that’s a tough one! They were all great at the time due to the journeys taken to get there... However, I guess winning my first gold medal at the Florida, Clearwater 70.3 World Championships in 2010. I had just stepped up from Olympic distance to middle distance and was diagnosed with anaemia earlier in the year, only 3 weeks before the qualifying race and my first 70.3 Wimbleball, Exmoor where I won my age-group! It was quite a year!
What is your greatest coaching achievement? I can’t think of a single achievement; only recall the delight “when they penny drops’’ and the athlete starts to bring a skill together and the sheer excitement, pleasure and renewed motivation that lightens them from within.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone new to triathlon? To focus on your own training and race strategies and not other peoples'...
Favourite quote: "You get what you think about! Think positive thoughts and those thoughts will turn into positive outcomes. Think negative thoughts and they will bring negative outcomes!"
Read Tracy’s latest blogs
Coach Tracy discusses the benefits of virtual land-based swim training, having already witnessed the success of the first TTH-swim-live program that has been implemented since January.