To be a successful Athlete, you must understand your ‘Why’…

Recently I have been engaged to design a leadership programme for a ‘blue chip’ corporation and as part of that I have been undertaking some interesting research on what drives our behaviour. This led me to thinking about ‘Why’ I decided to become a coach, as it’s something that I am often asked by athletes and business professionals alike. My answer is that I truly believe that sport is a gift for lifelong learning, health and happiness. It’s because I hold this belief that I feel it’s my calling to assist and guide people to be the best they can be. I hope it will enhance their lives as it has mine.
Have you ever thought about ‘Why’ you do the things you do? Finding your ‘Why’ or purpose can be a tricky thing to identify and that’s one of the reasons that many of us don’t give it much time. When we are faced with difficult and complex things to consider, sometimes it’s just easier to accept that’s just the way we are. I would suggest that if we really want to be great at what we do, we need to understand ‘Why’ - even if we find that hard to explain in words.
It’s the ‘Why’ or true purpose that gets us out of bed in the morning and into the pool or onto the turbo trainer. Most of us are able to articulate ‘what’ we do and ‘how’ we do it, but when it comes to our purpose we end up saying stuff like, it feels good, or I get a buzz out of it. Some of us will talk in terms of ‘outputs’ - from ‘getting in the top 10’ to things like ‘managing our weight’ - but I tend to think it goes a bit deeper than that. I believe it’s linked to how we like to see ourselves, and even what we believe to be our true identity.
If we think about this in neurological terms, working out the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ is tackled in a different part of our brain. It’s processed in the computer like Neo Cortex which rationalises and labels these thoughts with language, enabling us to find a form of words to explain it. The ‘Why’ is developed in a different part of the brain - the limbic system - this is where we develop our emotional responses. It is less familiar with language and tends to evoke what we might call ‘gut’ reactions, the intuitive responses when something feels right or wrong, but is hard to explain.
Having a better understanding of our purpose can help garner the level of commitment that’s required to become the best we can be. It manifests itself in the highest performing teams and individuals. It can be observed in the standards they set for themselves and this in turn drives the training and practice schedules they put in place. Understanding our purpose can deliver a constant source of drive and inspiration so it’s worth spending a little time to think about ‘Why’ it is we do what we do. To paraphrase a great leader that truly understood his purpose Martin Luther King said ‘I have a dream...’

ED's Exploits - 10 days in Mallorca with the GB Para-Cycling team

I have just spent 10 days in Mallorca working with the Great Britain Para-Cycling team. The primary aim was to build endurance before event specialization work on the track at Newport. Weather was lovely, nice and warm and sunny and no ice. Most of the athletes put in over 30 hours on the road with steady state riding, hill repeats, and interval work. They even had a couple of turbo trainers set up on the Hotel Patio, doing kilo repeats looked just as hard in the sunshine as it feels in my garage. Two of the guys on the squad lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were a couple of hand cyclists who were doing 6 hour rides, very humbling and inspirational but they just got on with it. Training involved two sessions a day, perhaps 3- 4 hours on the road in the morning, followed by intervals in the afternoon or efforts on the Turbo. There was no sightseeing or any of that stuff, when the athletes weren’t riding they were relaxing and refueling. That’s the great thing about training camps, being able to concentrate solely on your training. There are none of the little distractions that you get at home, so all you have to do is Train and Rest. This is actually quite hard! There were quite a few Pro Teams on the island including Team Sky; it’s quite funny seeing them all out as a team, especially when they have a little group of club cyclists hanging on the back. Actually it’s quite motivating, a bit like training on the same pitch as Tottenham Hotspur.(insert your team here) In between all the hard work I managed to fit in 10 hours myself - the Spanish were wearing wind stoppers and overshoes the Brits were in shorts a and short sleeves, cold weather is all relative. The weather was nice and sunny and the roads were quiet and what traffic there was, was pretty patient, alas it could not last.

Here’s my key bike work out for the month:

Find a 5km climb, bathed in sunlight
Warm-up- 15mins
Ride hard and controlled to the top, you need to last the distance so do not go off too hard. Time your effort
Descend to the bottom (recovery) Turn and repeat, aim for the same time-ish as first effort - Repeat
Soft Pedal home, preferably through orange groves
Shower, Sip recovery Drink, eat relax in spa before next session!

Meanwhile back in the real world, this session can be done on the turbo in the garage. Have fun!

My daughter joined the RAF last week; all the ladies have to do two weeks extra basic training, working on core stability. Apparently they find it really hard to march in their boots, due to lack of fitness. There is a high incident of pelvic injuries, so she is spending the first two weeks doing Yoga and Stretching! She has signed up as an Air Traffic Controller but will probably come out as a Pilates Instructor! What would Winston say!?

See you up the Road…

ED

Eamonn Deane is a TrainingBible UK specialist in the field of sports massage. To find out more about his work, check out his new website at
www.sportsmassagebournemouth.co.uk