Last weekend I became a
fully qualified British Triathlon Level 1 coach. I signed up for the coaching
course back in the summer as I thought it could be something to get my teeth into
whilst I am on my pregnancy reduced training volume. (There is only so much
baking a girl can do to fill the 10+ hours that were previously spent swimming,
biking and running, and I would hate for my husband to get fat as a result!!)
Why did I decide to do
the coaching qualification? Well, several reasons, but chiefly because I was
massively inspired by having my cousin-in-law, Chris Dominey of Tri Coach
Cornwall, coach me at the back end of last year and into the start of this. I
was previously sceptical that I needed a coach, after all, I’m not a pro and so
it seemed a little self-indulgent, and hell, I managed to get myself a silver
medal in my first international outing in a GB suit on the back of my own simplistic
approach, so it can’t have been too off target. But once I took the plunge and
committed to his programme, it highlighted so many things that I was previously
doing wrong in my training, and my performance improved massively as a result…
too bad I then got pregnant and so wasn’t able to see if I could convert that silver to a gold at the World or European duathlon championships,
but I had a better reason this time for the DNS than my usual “injured”.
I used to think that
all I needed to do was keep my fitness levels up all year round, make sure I
swam, biked and ran each week, did a modicum of the dreaded S + C work, and
mixed the sessions up with some easy paced stuff and harder interval efforts. I
did not know that it is impossible to be “fit” all year round and that, in
trying to be, you risk over-training, fatiguing your body and, worse still, succumbing
to a plethora of injuries and illnesses, which is basically how I spent most of
my time in 2015 (injured), 2016 (ill) and 2017 (both!). A good coach will work
with an individual athlete to periodize their training, manage their fatigue
levels and make sure there is the right balance between the harder efforts
(that get you fit and improve performance) and the easy work (which allows your
body to recover and adapt). This was all new to me. At first I resented the rigidity
of the regime; being told that this is the specific workout I must do today,
when previously I would have taken the weather, my mood, my time availability
and others (e.g. availability of riding buddies and sessions offered by my tri
and cycling clubs) into account and decided on the day what activity I would
do. It was a very different routine to my previous ad hoc ‘wing it and see’
approach, but I can totally see now why having such a structure brings results.
I can now see others – tri club mates, training buddies – making the same
mistakes I used to make and seeing their same bewilderment at being constantly
tired or picking up niggles in the process: hardly surprising when they haven’t
had a rest day for 5 weeks! I used to fear rest days; I thought they were a
sign of weakness and my secret inner-lazy-self winning out over my more
disciplined-self. I now see that they are essential if you want to stay fresh,
keep enjoying the sport and see continued long-term improvements.
By taking the coaching
qualification, I hope to be able to impart some of this newfound wisdom(!) to
others and help them improve their performances. With the level 1 I am limited
in what I can do, but I view it as a step on the ladder towards progressing to
my level 2 and level 2+, with which I will be able to coach on a one-to-one
basis and write bespoke programmes… and do this in a professional capacity, for
financial gain. Online coaching is definitely something I could make work
around being a stay-at-home-Mum, and so it is a potential career path I am considering
for my future, post-partum.
Talking of baby, I am
now at 30 weeks and expanding by the day! I am still doing 3 spin classes a
week, 2 swims and the occasional parkrun, but running is getting pretty
uncomfortable these days as I need to pee every 5 minutes! I have found the
last few weeks I have been really tired and had a few unpleasant dizzy /
feeling faint episodes (luckily I have managed to sit down before any keeling
over actually happened), but then I discovered last week that I am anaemic and
I found out yesterday that I have a UTI (both common in pregnancy and both are
things I have suffered with before, which makes me more susceptible to them).
It would explain the feeling tired, faint and slightly elevated heart rate in
spinning! Hopefully now I am on meds for these issues, I will soon start to
perk up. No wonder I never experienced that second trimester surge of energy of
which others speak – I feel like I’ve been deprived of what my Mum described as
“the most energized few months of her life”!
People still continue
to pass comment on my activity levels and expanding waist line, as if I am
public property. The “oh my goodness, I can’t look you, what are you even doing
here in your condition? I think you are going to go into labour at any moment”
at spin class, to the “Gosh, you’re only that far on, I thought you must only
have a couple of weeks to go, your bump is so big”. It gets a bit tedious and,
for someone who has body image issues at the best of times, being told you look
massive and are “much bigger than they were at that stage” sends my
irrational brain into a spin. But then rational Ellie kicks in and remembers
that at my latest growth scan, both me and baby are bang in the mid-range of
where we should be at this stage. I just think that everyone has their own
opinion and, if you are someone who struggles with exercise you are more likely
to think I am bonkers, and if you are someone who is super-fit yourself, you
are more likely to appreciate that it’s good for you to keep fit throughout
pregnancy and I’m not some weird alien-type being for wanting to do so. Yes,
there has been more sofa surfing in the last month or so, but Matt keeps
telling me that that is ok and I do not have to be productive for every moment
of my waking hours! For now, when my 4-5pm witching hour strikes, I give myself
permission to be a newly qualified coach potato!
Below: Me and bump @ 28 weeks, enjoying our last little holiday with baby on the inside to Snowdonia
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