Tough to be young
One of the challenges of coaching the Trek-Livestrong riders is to make them understand that although they are in a rush to make it to the next level they must also practice patience.
Tough to be young.
One of the challenges of coaching the Trek-Livestrong riders is to make them understand that although they are in a rush to make it to the next level they must also practice patience. It is hard enough to temper their ambition if everything is going smoothly, but it is even more challenging when illnesses or injuries slow them down. Between Carter Jones’ IT band problems, Dale Parker’s crash-induced knee problem and having our team house struck by a viral bug, my job is to make sure the guys don’t panic but instead get themselves well and healthy before starting the hard training and final preparation for Tour of the Gila next week.
How do I explain it? “They want to be part of the Pro Tour yesterday.” They want to be noticed as soon as possible, but what they have to understand is that some riders develop faster than others. Although I am confident all my riders have talent, I have to make sure they don’t burn themselves out by racing or training too much. I am the first to say how important it is to train hard and to live and learn the life of a pro cyclist at an early age. But without having 100 percent of your physical abilities the last thing you want to do is to ignore what your body is going through. I monitor their training and racing as much as I can, but I do so more closely when they are sick or injured.
Once in my career I was over-trained so badly that I had to call off the season in July. It is better to show up at a race 2 percent under-trained than 2 percent over-trained. It’s a tough lesson to teach my riders, but I am patient and know they will come out richer for the experience.
As for me, like I told you on my last blog, I participated in the annual Kelowna event, Ski2Sea. After I persuaded my wife, Jodi, that doing a 1km uphill run, some downhill skiing, 8km of cross-country skiing, 28km of mountain biking, 36km of road riding, another 14.5km of running and a further 8 km of canoeing would be fun, I convinced her that competing as a team instead of as individuals would be the best way to go. I have to say that despite me being a mediocre cross-country skier and crashing twice on the cross-country portion “the Merckx duo” finished an honorable 14th place overall, winning the open mixed category in just over four hours of racing. Unfortunately, a day after the grueling event we discovered that our time chip had malfunctioned. We had no official result and our bragging rights for the year went out of the door. Nonetheless, I want you to know that despite my lack of training, my effort in the 36km road bike section aboard a borrowed Trek Speed Concept time-trial bike was blazing fast. But then again I have no official time to prove it. Oh well, you’re just going to have to take my word for it.
Until next time,
Axel
