THE GOLD MEDAL GURU
One of the most memorable moments in Canadian triathlon was when Simon Whitfield won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. One of the people responsible for his electrifying performance was his coach, Lance Watson. Based out of Victoria, this Triathlon Canada hall of famer and founder of LifeSport Coaching has not only coached an Olympic Gold Medalist and multiple Ironman champions, but a whole range of age group athletes as well. The richness of his coaching experiences make him exceptionally well-qualified to offer advice on tapering.
Regarding the Sydney gold, Watson recounts that during the weeks leading up to the race he and the rest of the Canadian triathlon team travelled to Australia’s Gold Coast to make last minute preparations. They felt at home in this area as they had done a significant amount of training there. This lessened the pressure on the athletes as well as the coaches. Once they got to the Olympic venue, Whitfield and Watson did a reconnaissance walk/jog of the running route. They stopped at critical parts of the course and discussed possible scenarios.
“We’d close our eyes and visualize Whitfield’s responses to challenges on the day of the race,” Watson remembers. “It was interesting to see it play out during the actual event because almost everything we talked about and visualized came to fruition.”
The lesson triathletes can learn from this example is that the more you can play out the race in your mind, the more automatic your responses to challenges will become during the race.
In over 25 years as a coach, Watson has discovered that an athlete can respond to a lowered training volume in one of two ways. There are athletes, such as Whitfield who respond very well. Their muscles seem very elastic and they can really bounce back from a significant decrease in training load. Then, there are other athletes whose muscles get tight or rusty by having any significant time off. Watson refers to people with this issue as “diesel engines” – Ironman champions Brent MacMahon and Lisa Bentley, who Watson also coached, fit into this category.
Watson learned “the diesels” responded better by doing what he calls a “Back Load Taper” which involves cutting back training load about five weeks prior to the “A” race. The protocol is a deep recovery block, followed by another shorter training block, and then, about 2.5 weeks prior to the event, reduce training volume, but build up intensity.
“You might get them to do some half-iron paced workouts, but at reduced volume, a half week before the race. You are not trying to build fitness at this point. You are just trying to maintain what they have.”
From a mental perspective, Watson says that a taper is the opportunity to bolster self- confidence by mentally rehearsing all aspects of the race. He adds that it is a good idea to go over training logs and reflect positively on some of those “all-star sessions” completed to prove to yourself that you have done the work and that you are prepared. Another psychological tip that Watson suggests is to rehearse the mental conversations you are going to have with yourself on the course during the different stages of the race.
“If you don’t prepare for the emotional side of things, and your race begins to go sideways, chances are the rest of your physical plan isn’t going to matter much either,” Watson stresses.
Watson also has experience when athletes seem to perform despite an inadequate taper. Take for example, McMahon’s 2014 debut Ironman race in Arizona. During the last block of training, prior to his taper, he came down with a case of shingles. After receiving the diagnosis, “we just shut him down, we did no training, but in the two weeks prior to the event, he began to recover and had a couple of good practise sessions, so we decided to go for it,” Watson says. “He went out, did the race, won it overall, and set the record for fastest Ironman time by a first-timer.” Clearly you don’t need everything to fall into place perfectly during the taper to have an amazing performance.