A Coaching Note or Prose

 Coaching note

 

As triathletes and open water swimmers at PeteWilbyTriathlon our number one underlying value is, to be healthy.

Healthiness, when viewed through our LENS, taking a holistic perspective, is built on the foundations of a healthy planet.  The air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink and swim in  — the environment — all affect our health.  

 

We have the power to maximise healthiness.  

 

Maintaining mental health is like riding a bike, running on the coast path or swimming in the sea.  We fall from time to time, some worst than others.  But the feeling of the natural external and internal forces on our bodies is invigorating.  We allow vigor to be our mood.  And when we fall - and we will - mood states like tension, depression, anger and confusion will arise.  We actively should accept all of these moods but always search for vigor.

 

When we train there should be a purpose or aim for every session, so that every session can be executed with intent.  The sessions sit within a goal-driven endurance training plan, containing good healthy habits, such as a RAMP warm-up.    

 

Strength training every week - lifting heavy stuff - increases the forces we can produce and improves our mobility.  Not only so that we can go faster and keep going longer but so we are more capable for life.

 

An intake of necessary nutrients that our body will accept to fuel our growth and activity is like electricity is to a modern car.  There is no point in risking falling to the side of the road because the battery is flat.  Food and drink power training and training invigorates.

 

 We are not distracted by any outcome, coined heroism, or rhetoric of what would be great if we achieved it in the future.  We seek to maximise healthiness.  We focus on the NOW.  

And in the words of John Cooper Clarke: "Imagine this, how deep would the sea be if there weren't any sponges?"

Happy Triathlon-ing,

Pete