Why it's important to communicate with your coach!
As an athlete myself, I always feel like I am burdening my coach when I ask him questions. He has an open door policy but I don’t want to be another person dragging him down. I want to respect his time and be cognizant of the fact that he doesn’t just coach me! With that said, as a coach I see a totally different perspective. I am constantly begging for my athletes to communicate with me. There are two sides to an athlete coach relationship and to be successful transparency and vulnerability must be shared. There are a lot of factors that go into writing successful training plans for athletes. A person’s ability, work load, or level is extremely important. However, these plans aren’t not only dependent on the athlete as an athlete but also their lifestyle and commitments outside of the sport. For example, an athlete may be healthy from a physical standpoint and have time to train but if they are dealing with mental stress, that is going to affect how they perform and recover. I will use myself as an example. Last winter I went through a breakup that really took a toll on me mentally. I was dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety which affected my sleep and how I was running. The thought of putting pressure on a workout or a race seemed impossible and my coach Jason Holroyd recognized that. He reduced the intensity of our workouts and had me focus on running consistent mileage each week. We kept the goals simple and adapted the training to what I was going through. Jason is a great coach because he realizes that even if he has a game plan that has to be altered as life and training progresses. A great coach will not create cookie cutter plans and hope for their athletes to execute it perfectly. A great coach will think creatively for each athlete and adjust as they go. For a coach to be successful in this, if an athlete isn’t communicating effectively, a coach will most likely not be able to help them reach their fullest potential. The less we know, the harder it is for us to customize your training which will not only affect your performance but could put you at risk for injury. An athlete coach relationship needs to be a healthy partnership. Both sides must be willing to have honest and vulnerable conversations with one another. A coach cannot be afraid to share critical feedback and an athlete should not feel worried about sharing as well. There has to be mutual respect between the two. If you are a coach you need to listen to what your athlete thinks. If you are an athlete, you need to accept there are going to be times you are going to be asked to do things that are outside of your comfort zone and that’s because you have a coach to push you. The joy of coaching is to be able to not only help someone improve but also help them navigate the sport while dealing with all the stresses life comes with. Keep sharing your experiences, training, concerns, etc. and the relationship will be stronger than you ever imagine. Good luck! 