The importance of a coach and / or mentor.
This article isn’t going to be a sales pitch to get you to sign up for coaching or anything like that. Not at all. Anto will probably slate me for saying that. This blog will be based upon my experiences working with and alongside coaches and mentors. At the moment I am not being coached, I don’t have a coach that tells me what to do every day. I don’t think I’m an athlete that can be coached. It would almost be a waste of both my time and the coaches time as I would continue to change and adjust the training as I wish and how I think I should be training. I’ve been around the sport for a while now to know what I should be doing, how many miles I should be clocking up, when to start speed work , what sort of speed work I should be doing and when to rest. I know my body and mind better than anyone else so it would make sense that I know when to rest and take some chill time.
That isn’t to say I do everything by myself. Far from it. I need people around me to train with and tell me what I should be doing. That sounds like I’m contradicting what I just said so bear with me. Currently I go to coached sessions in DCU. Every morning from 6.30am – 8.00am I swim with a few lads and lassies under the supervision of Stephen Delaney, the National Development Coach for Triathlon Ireland.
I first met Stephen in September of 2016 when he first started to take us under his wing. Triathlon Ireland have traditionally had a base down in UL. UL is the Leeds of triathlon here in Ireland. Stephen wanted to develop a base up in Dublin, for those living and attending university up here. Luckily I fell right into this category. I was previously training solo and was cracking. I couldn’t do it all by myself. I was swimming with a high performance group in the NAC, and after each session I found myself in a hole. There were 4 lanes and I was in the slowest with all the girls, struggling to keep up with every session, trying to prove a point. A session where I wasn’t lapped, was a good session. Sessions with Stephen aren’t necessarily long but fuck me pink, they’re hard! A favourite session of Stephens that he gives all his athletes is the Triathlon Ireland Test Set. Ask any of the High Performance athletes, this is hell. It’s a 400m, 300m, 300m and a 300m. Sounds simple and it is, and that’s why it’s a favourite of Stephens. You and Stephen will pick a target time and pace, next it is all about holding on for dear life. It’s such an honest session and like it or hate it, it tells you exactly where you are.
In such a short space of time with Stephen I learned so much. From “managing the load” all the way to tapering for races. His favourite phrase poolside would be “it’s just work.” He makes training seem simple, which it is. That’s what I love about him and his training. He instils belief and confidence in his athletes, a confidence you didn’t know was there. After a really good Winter and Summer swimming with Stephen and the group, I showed up to the final race of the season with high hopes. As I was zipping up my wetsuit I asked Stephen for his last minute advice, to which he simply replied with a smile, “you can swim.” All it took was those 3 words to instil that confidence and belief in me before that race.
It is no surprise that Stephen is at the top of his trade here in Ireland. A previous winner of the Rás, he knows what it takes to get to the top and the sacrifices that’s involved. He’s been to an Olympic Games with Bryan Keane and Aileen Reid and travels the globe to ETU, World Cup and ITU races with the next up and coming athletes. Hopefully I will be one of these guys travelling to races in the near future with Stephen. Although he is not my coach, he is always on hand if I need him for advice or a sit down and chat about training.
Enda Fitzpatrick is another coach and mentor of mine. Enda is the head of DCU Athletics and has mentored countess world class athletes over the years including none other than Fionnuala McCormack (formerly Britton). Enda is everything a coach and mentor should be. He’s not just there for every training session, he’s also on hand for a chat. He’s a guy you can go to for anything and everything. Having 2 daughters of his own, both of whom are class runners in their own respect and current students, he knows the student life and the problems that can come with that. Enda understands that athletes aren’t robots and that we need to let loose once in a while and he is an advocate of that, as is Stephen. He understands the student – athlete life and this is what makes him unique.
I had the pleasure of spending more time with Enda recently on a training camp in Monte Gordo, Portugal. Enda is some storyteller and every night at dinner he told us stories of the ‘good ole days’ when he used to dominate the running scene in Ireland and how he nearly made it to an Olympic Games. He would encapsulate us every night with these stories. I would go to bed dreaming of doing what he did and picture myself in the stories he told. I had no idea the calibre of athlete Enda once was and the times and races he ran back in the day. He allows his athletes to dream which is something I admire in a coach.
Recently I have been going through a tough time with training and family life and Enda was always on hand for a chat. Unfortunately I had to miss 2 big races I had been aiming for over the Winter. When times got tough in training over Winter, or when I was struggling to get out the door, I would think of these 2 races; Universities Duathlon and Universities Cross Country. When I told Enda that I wasn’t in the headspace and didn’t have the fitness levels to race these races he understood completely. It killed me that I wouldn’t be able to race the Universities Cross Country this year, as I felt like I was letting Enda and the guys down. He even rang me the day before the race asking me how I was doing, how the body was and if I wanted to just run the race. That’s how much he cares about his athletes, he’s always checking up on them.
Recently we sat down and discussed how we were going to get me back up and motoring. I needed a couple of easy weeks to get the body back up and running and also to find the enjoyment again. He could tell that I wasn’t myself. I train damn fucking hard and when I can’t train at my best for some reason, I break down both mentally and physically. Enda can see that in me and knows when to hold me back. At the moment I am on the mend and feeling stronger every day and slowly getting my energy back.
I love going to training sessions every day and that is in part to these 2 coaches. I don’t have to worry about them screaming and roaring at me. I know when I’m going well in the pool as Stephen will just be there with a half-smile with his stopwatch in hand. That gives me confidence and a buzz. I remember a particular hard session during the Summer with Stephen. You knew it was a set of Stephens as it was 20 x100m in the pool off 1:50, holding best pace and effort for all 20. I had the pleasure of doing this set with Liz Carr (one to watch in the future). Stephen barely said a word that whole time, he would just call out the splits, with the odd “this is great stuff.” He knew that’s all it took to get us going. Athletes that are in the middle of a big training block or training session are always on edge so you don’t want to rub them up the wrong way. Stephen understands this.
A coach isn’t just there to prescribe training and call out the splits. They’re there to help the athlete develop, keep training simple while still being creative. Creativity is so crucial in training and coaching, especially at the age where athletes are in college and transitioning into the senior ranks of their sport. They understand that a student has other responsibilities and it can be a tough time. Both Stephen and Enda adjust training when it comes to exam time in college. There isn’t such a big emphasis on times or miles, more so just getting out and training to escape the books. They’re on hand to talk about training or whatever is on the athletes mind, whether that be family, lifestyle or personal issues. To be able to get an athlete back up and running after a difficult period is a skill every coach should have. Athletes need to feel comfortable around their coach and feel they can approach them with an issue they may have. If I can be half the coach and athlete both of these men are, I will be a happy lad. Irish triathlon and distance running is truly in great hands and I’m am truly delighted to be working alongside both coaches.