Could computers make coaches obsolete?
Are virtual reality racing and online training planners rendering human coaches obsolete? We asked one such coach to consider his future
“Ninety per cent of the gains are achievable with automated coaching and training plans”
Adisturbing recent report by accountancy firm PWC found that around 30 per cent of UK jobs are at risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence by the early 2030s. While it appears that transport and manufacturing sector roles are most at risk, it does leave you wondering about jobs in cycling — such as mine, as a coach. Technology is becoming more and more important in how riders track and assess their fitness — could computer programs eventually render us human coaches redundant?
I have to admit, I do wonder sometimes about the extent to which a robot could nick my job. The cycling coach has been around for a long time, in many different guises: from the whistle-blowing, dernyloving stalwart of the track, to the volunteer local club coach, to the modern, data-focused professional coach. Not even the most ‘old-school’ coach is able to ignore technology any longer, given the almost universal use of GPS devices, Strava, electronic shifting, power meters and the rest. But do these technologies require complementary human input to maximise their benefit?
I’ve spoken to some of the biggest names in training software to see how far they think they can go in terms of automating the coaching process.
Zwift: turbo revolution
Zwift may not immediately strike you as a possible coach replacement, being part game and part training tool. However, the program’s creator Jon Mayfield tells me he created Zwift after finding regular turbo-training far too boring, and explains that it has moved on significantly since its inception. It is now one of the most advanced pieces of software of its kind.
Zwift is an entirely online virtual world full of different landscapes, real riders and real races to keep you entertained while on the dreaded indoor trainer.
Mayfield says: “Thirty-five to 40 per cent of Zwift sessions are riders completing structured workouts.’’ Where does that structure come from? “As well as hiring coaches to write the training plans, Zwift has built a platform where you can create your own custom workouts or import workout files from other formats. This doesn’t (yet) constitute a replacement coach suitable for everyone.
“For the self-driven amateur athlete, Zwift can fill the role of the coach by judging training load and suggesting rest days, but it is hard to replace the human element of coaching — understanding an athlete’s time constraints and how to work with their real-life scenario.”
In Mayfield’s view, a human coach is still necessary for the most ambitious riders — but not for everyone. “Ninety per cent of the gains are achievable just by guiding people’s rides through automated coaching and training plans. Most amateurs don’t need to gain that last few per cent that a human coach could dial in on.”
Then Mayfield springs a surprise on me. I expected software giants like Zwift would be wary of their users also being advised by human coaches, but Mayfield says: “A coach will always bring a level of accountability that software alone falls short of.”
Accountability — having someone to take responsibility — is a huge part of the coaching process, motivating riders to push harder than ever before, completing workouts they might not be able to otherwise. What Zwift does beautifully with its social features is to bring accountability to every session via the beady eyes of your friends watching online. Strava also does this, albeit with an option to hide your workouts from
public view. If people are watching your workout as it’s happening, there really is no hiding.
Even something as simple as receiving a ‘Right on’ from a friend while you’re midway through an FTP test could really help you squeeze out those extra few watts. The evolution of Zwift provides an enticing alternative to completing a structured workout — you can do a fullbore online race instead. Becoming ever more popular, online races even have their own World Cup series.
Though race simulation shouldn’t form too big a part of an athlete’s training plan, it certainly helps you prepare for the specific demands of an event. It’s often said that race-day motivation is almost impossible to replicate on your own and only the most iron-minded ever push themselves that hard without the adrenaline boost that comes from pinning on a number. The online racing revolution certainly changes all that and outstrips any programme limited to structured training when it comes to motivation.
From a coach’s perspective, turning every session into a race or racing every week is not sensible and won’t bring long-term success. Training often has to be slowed down in order to focus on building aerobic power and pushing up your FTP. The top priority of any endurance cycling regime should be to increase FTP in real terms or in watts per kilogram. The all-or-nothing nature of a road race or criterium often means little time spent working between 75 and 105 per cent of FTP, the key area for improving aerobic capacity.
Mayfield signs off with a key point about Zwift: “We’re not trying to replace riding outside — just trying to make riding indoors something entertaining that you actually want to do.”
I see Zwift as an opportunity to enhance the coaching experience. It may negate the need of a coach for a few riders, but more importantly it presents new, exciting ways to get the most out of an athlete. As a coach, tuning into an athlete’s online Zwift race to be a virtual reality directeur sportif, barking race tactics from afar, is an exciting prospect and far more informative than just studying a power file. Observing your rider in action helps with identifying the areas of most potential to improve their real race results.
Trainerroad: indoor efficiency
Trainerroad is a platform focused on making riders faster by using the best training plans. Speaking to Jonathan Lee, Trainerroad’s director of business development, I started out ready to spring to the defence of human coaching but ended up pleasantly surprised.
Lee has a wonderfully pragmatic view on the topic. “In terms of endurance training and established frameworks around training with power, we think that technology is a better tool for prescribing training programs,” he says.
However, he recognises the limitations of tech-dictated training.
“Technology won’t ever remove the need for the human element of coaching — accountability, guidance and emotional support are irreplaceable and extremely valuable. We don’t see software replacing that.”
When circumstances are objective and precisely measured (through a power meter), computer programs are entirely reliable, but as soon as assumptions or generalisations come into play, robots become error-prone. The human body is a mysterious and complex machine often throwing inexplicable curve balls at, for instance, an athlete’s ability to recover.
There is no way to precisely measure recovery, so it’s difficult to use objective data or apply algorithms and logic. A human coach using modern training methodology is able to almost completely rule out the risk of overtraining and ensure their athletes get adequate recovery. Is a robo-coach equally reliable in this regard? The jury’s out.
Robo-human collaboration
Most coaches seem to be embracing Trainerroad rather than running scared from it, and it allows training to be
geared towards the demands of the event, be it criterium, hilly road race, flat 25-mile time trial, or whatever. Each event requires different physiological strengths, we all know this, so devising event-specific training is crucial. Trainerroad helps a great deal in this regard, but a coach can still add significant value.
Through questioning the athlete and understanding their unique circumstances, the coach can determine the most suitable events, help to set achievable and realistic goals and keep the athlete engaged over the long term.
On the subject of motivating riders and keeping them interested during sessions, Lee says: “We’re not trying to beat Hollywood in terms of entertainment. Our sole focus is to make you a faster cyclist. Beyond that, you have the choice to bring in whatever entertainment you want. We’re not entertainment for your trainer; we’re structured training for your trainer.”
He is cautious not to overstate the potential of indoor training.
“To train and get faster, you must apply structure and eliminate variables — the turbo is not a poor and regrettable plan B for poor weather, it’s a plan A for building fitness so you can enjoy your less structured outdoor rides more.”
Training Peaks: smart planning
I would be seriously remiss to write about coaching software without mentioning Training Peaks. It’s probably the most widely known platform and specifically designed to improve the coach-athlete relationship through technological means.
Though Training Peaks’s automation features are continually improving, it would pale in comparison to the likes of Zwift and Trainerroad were it not for manual input from the coach. I personally use Training Peaks to deliver training plans and find it incredibly useful in managing athlete performance on a day-to-day basis.
Perhaps this is not in fact a war of man against machine; maybe the relationship between coaching software and coach will become more symbiotic than anyone was previously able to foresee: human coach working alongside robo-coach, each enhancing the other’s power.
The human element
In my coaching life, I occasionally end up in an unusual situation where someone needs something more specifically tailored and reactive than a training plan. In these cases, I’m positive that no robot could replace me.
Case in point: a courageous young guy named Chris Hall recently undertook an enormous challenge of riding 107km every day for 107 days to raise money for a children’s motor disorder charity called the Pace Centre. He came to me for help. The reality of riding over 7,000 miles in just over three months while working full-time is that it’s an incredibly emotional journey where battling fatigue and monitoring recovery are the most important aspects.
There was no plan to follow for Chris, just general guidelines around not riding too hard or being sucked into any road sign sprints. It took incredible dedication and willpower for him to sensibly manage his efforts over such a long period of time, and I like to think I helped him through it in a useful way.
When cycling goals are distorted from the normal formula of ‘get me this fit by this date’, machines begin to scratch their virtual heads. Experts have said that once artificial intelligence reaches its peak, humans will only need to get involved in tasks involving creativity, imagination and cognitive function — giving us quite a bit of scope to stay meaningfully occupied.
Choosing the right race
While the main role of the coach, whether human or robot, is to get you fitter and stronger, it’s also about results. When it comes to using newfound fitness to get results, you must select the right race. Professional riders know their strengths and target only events they know are suited to them. Amateur riders should do the same, and so a local coach with knowledge of the local courses and race calendar is of very high value when searching for your perfect race — another task with which a robo-coach might struggle.
So it looks like the humble human coach may still have quite a few years left before they are rendered redundant by smart software. In fact, it’s likely the support, guidance and accountability of a flesh-and-blood coach will prevail over even the most advanced technology for a very long time.
Understanding an athlete’s unique circumstances and physiology so that they can follow the best training plan for them is a complex task and still remains an art as much as a science. What do you do when you miss a key training session, do you skip it or shuffle the plan around? How do you know if you’re following the right recovery strategy once you’ve logged off your coaching software? An eagle-eyed coach can keep watching and making judgement calls long after a computer has been shut down.
Fitness training aside, knowing your sport well, knowing which local races are best suited to you, which teams and which people to follow within a race, are all important pieces of information that a good local coach has at their fingertips.
The list of considerations for an amateur racer is very long and includes riding skill, pedal technique, flexibility, riding position, equipment selection, aerodynamics to name but a few. Fitness and training should be at the top of that list for the vast majority of us, and training software has an increasingly important and potent role to play in helping us with these goals, but it by no means rules out the value of an attentive, canny and artful human coach.