Backing up a little, I should explain that my goals and my process with my athletes is a little different from most coaches (yes coaches have goals too). When I started coaching three years ago, my plan was to work with a select few athletes and develop them to the elite level with the goal of winning every major race in cycling - from the Tour de France to Paris Roubaix to the Olympics. By keeping how many athletes I worked with to a minimum I would be able to give a high level of attention and energy to each individual.
My first step when I started coaching was to come up with a process that would operate at the level I was aiming for. So, I began looking at performance from every direction I could think of - outside in, ground up, top down, and on and on. When I was done brainstorming, I came up with a model for success that I believed would carry me forward. Taking that initial concept I began applying it to whoever was willing to listen to what I had to say. I knew the concept was sound, but theory and practice are two completely different things.
The first two years of coaching were solid, if unspectacular. The biggest challenge that I faced was belief - my athletes had to be constantly assured that we were on the right track. While I was confident in the direction we were going in, I didn't fully believe in myself. As I steadily amassed information and looked at power data though, it pointed to the fact that what we were doing would yield results. By the end of the second season, the three athletes I coached had taken three wins.
A year ago, I started working with a new athlete - Innokenty Zavyalov. After two years of coaching I was confident that I knew what I was doing. What's more, I had a clearer idea of what I was looking for in an athlete - namely commitment and determination. Inno embodied the key things I was looking for, proving his commitment by making the huge step of moving from Minneapolis to San Diego to work with me. I was excited to work with him because it offered the chance to start fresh with a new athlete who was one hundred percent committed to the Semper Porro process and philosophy.
After two years of laying the foundation for what was to come, I was ready for all the work we had done to show up in the results. I pushed everyone hard during the off-season. More importantly, I kept people accountable. When the season started, Bryan Larsen lit things up in the early part of the season with several wins. Erick Sobey quickly followed suit with a win of his own. Inno steadily progressed through the spring, building his power and his experience. Things came together for him at the Tour Of America's Dairyland where he took home two stage wins and the overall title. He followed that up with a long string of wins in the ensuing months pointing to the effectiveness of the Semper Porro Training process.
 |
| Innokenty Zavyalov |
Bryan, Erick, and Inno took home twenty wins this past season and countless podiums. Now we're heading into the off-season with our sights set on an even better 2016. The goal is not so much the quantity of wins, but quality. It's time to take things to the next level. Semper Porro.
 |
| Bryan Larsen and Erick Sobey |
No comments:
Post a Comment