I\u2019ve said it before. Although triathlon is ultimately a solo sport, it\u2019s impossible to compete at a high level without having a good team behind you. A strong team gives you support and encouragement, creates accountability and gives you access to a wealth of expertise and wisdom. Those things make a huge difference to me, in training and on race day. And I\u2019m really aware of the difference a solid team makes as I head towards Kona.<\/p>\n
One of the key players on Team Berkel is my coach, Daniel Plews. You can read a bit more about Dr Dan\u2019s background here<\/a>. In this Q&A session, we\u2019re going to tap into Dan\u2019s experience and talk about a bunch of different topics relating to how you can achieve your goals, plus some specifics about the lead up to the big race in Kona.<\/p>\n Thanks to my manager, Shawn Smith, for asking Daniel the tough questions. I\u2019ve highlighted a few comments in the interview, which I thought were really important.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve found Dan\u2019s input invaluable on the Road to Kona<\/a>. As you head towards your own big race day, I know you\u2019ll find his wisdom as helpful as I have. So, enjoy!<\/p>\n [et_bloom_inline optin_id=”optin_2″]<\/p>\n Starting with the end in mind<\/strong><\/p>\n Shawn: You\u2019ve taken on a coaching role with Berks – a triathlete who\u2019s already had some measure of competitive success. What has your overall approach been? What has been your strategy?<\/p>\n Dan: We\u2019ve started by working backwards from the desired result and putting a plan together that way<\/strong>. If Tim wants to get a podium in Kona, the first question to ask is: \u2018What sort of numbers would a podium athlete be doing?\u2019 That\u2019s going to include things like power output on the bike at VT1 (first ventilatory threshold). Can he swim 20 x 100m on a 1:20 turnaround? What does his run speed at VT1 need to be after a hard bike, etc. If he\u2019s going to end up on the podium, then working backwards from these numbers is where we need to start.<\/p>\n Once we establish those, we start doing a lot of work around these intensities, focusing in on Tim\u2019s physiological responses, and adjusting from there as needed.<\/p>\n Shawn: That\u2019s the first of Stephen Covey\u2019s 7 Laws of Highly Effective People isn\u2019t it – start with the end in mind. I guess if you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re trying to get to, or what kind of performance level that\u2019s required, how can you know if you\u2019re heading in the right direction?<\/strong> How can you take deliberate, focused action to get there?<\/p>\n Dan: Exactly.<\/p>\n Shawn: So, you\u2019ve taken on coaching Berks pretty close to Kona 2015. Is it too late in the piece to really make a difference to Tim\u2019s Kona preparation?<\/p>\n Dan: That really depends on the athlete. With Berks, the base was already there. Now, it\u2019s more about fine-tuning. Once again, the key is knowing the requirements – you can\u2019t go into anything without knowing what is required. That\u2019s why you\u2019ve got to ask the question \u2013 \u2018What does Tim Berkel need to produce in terms of numbers to be on the podium at Kona?\u2019 If you don\u2019t ask that question first, then to put it bluntly, it\u2019s just guesswork.<\/p>\n So that was the first question we talked about, based on how he performed last year, how he was feeling and what he was wanting to see in terms of improvement.<\/p>\n Shawn:\u00a0 Once you know where you want to go and what the numbers need to look like\u2026?<\/p>\n Dan:\u00a0 Then you begin to work out sessions based around those numbers. Say for example, to podium he has to produce 5 watts per kg for an IM – I\u2019m just making up that number\u2026 it\u2019s really high and he could never do it. But let\u2019s just say 5w\/kg is the target power output. Then you have to devise sessions where he\u2019s building up towards doing that. That might start with 4 x 30min sessions at 5w\/kg. But in the end he needs to be able to put together 4 x 45min sessions at 5w\/kg. So you have to build those sessions up using a plan and the basic principle of progressive overload.<\/p>\n Shawn: This approach isn\u2019t just for elite athletes though. I mean the numbers are crazy, but the principle applies whatever level you\u2019re competing or training at. Given Tim\u2019s aerobic base, this is about fine tuning – taking what he\u2019s learnt from last year and then focusing more specifically on particular targets.<\/p>\n Dan:\u00a0 At Tim\u2019s elite level, I don\u2019t think you get quicker by just doing more and more slow, long distance volume. If you don\u2019t challenge the body to do things it\u2019s never done before, it won\u2019t adapt the right way.<\/strong> Just by doing more and more hours\u2026 well, you\u2019re flogging a dead horse. It\u2019s a case of looking at the session level, rather than over training blocks, at ways of achieving things that you haven\u2019t done before.<\/strong><\/p>\n Shawn:\u00a0 Looking back at the training Berks has done in the past, what are the differences between then and now?<\/p>\n Dan:\u00a0 The first thing I did with Tim was look at his entire preparation from Kona 2014. I wrote it out and looked at it. The thing is, you don\u2019t want to reinvent the wheel. I kept many things in there, because they were working. I just became more specific around key sessions, highlighted the goals for each session and then monitored those sessions and their associated load week by week, to ensure that the progression was moving and made sense.<\/p>\n Keeping an eye on the numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n Shawn:\u00a0 The big difference Tim has mentioned to me is that now it\u2019s all about the numbers and reflection based on analytics, rather than how his body \u2018feels\u2019.<\/p>\n Dan:\u00a0 There are a lot of very successful coaches who coach that way – monitoring how the body feels, being right there with the athlete, etc. But I don\u2019t believe you can do it that way if you\u2019re not actually there and present every day. I don\u2019t see Tim on a daily basis, so the only way I can get a gauge on how he\u2019s doing is through numbers and data. I\u2019m not there, I\u2019m not watching how he\u2019s doing, checking how he\u2019s feeling in the morning, etc. The only way I can monitor Tim\u2019s progress is through collecting data, and a routine Skype. That\u2019s the big difference between the past and now.<\/p>\n Shawn:\u00a0 Nowadays it\u2019s extremely important to have power data, whatever level you\u2019re at.<\/p>\n Dan:\u00a0 It\u2019s not just about what\u2019s happening during a session. The key thing is having the ability to reflect on what you did and what you\u2019ve done previously.<\/b> When things are going well, you want to be able to know why they\u2019re going well. And when things are going bad, you want to be able to reflect on when they were going well and why they might be going bad presently.\u00a0 The latter situation is not necessarily a negative if you have a logical explanation for why it occurred \u2013 it can simply be part of the training process.<\/p>\n Regardless, it would be a tragic waste to achieve an incredible result, but then have no data to look back on. I mean – a good session and a bad session look the same on paper. You can look back on training and say \u2018I did this here and that there\u2026\u2019 but the big question is HOW did you do that session? What were the numbers? Why did it work or not work?\u00a0 Ultimately, its all about the learning.<\/strong><\/p>\n Shawn:\u00a0 So it\u2019s coaching from a distance, which has its challenges.<\/p>\n Dan:\u00a0 The way to manage it is talking regularly, looking at the data and then working through it with Berks. It\u2019s been a learning curve for him – the numbers haven\u2019t been a big priority for him in the past.<\/p>\n The Road to Kona<\/strong><\/p>\n Shawn:\u00a0 Berks has had a couple of great results recently. What was the thought process going into Cebu<\/a>?<\/p>\n Dan:\u00a0 To be honest, we had done zero 70.3 work before Cebu. Nothing at speed. Going into the Sunshine Coast race, we started to introduce a bit more VT2 work – a bit more top-end running. VT2 is what most people would call your anaerobic threshold and a little closer to where triathletes perform at for Olympic distance races.<\/p>\n