ECB Coaches Association links Inside Edge 6 May 2018 | Page 44

42 PLANNING TRAINING PROGRAMMES 43 PLANNING TRAINING PROGRAMMES B ROW N L E E B ROT H E RS “I’m a big Yorkshire fan and love cricket”, triathlete Alistair Brownlee gushes. His brother Jonny is equally effusive. Before he is even seated for our interview he is eulogising about Headingly. “There’s nowhere I would rather be than at the home of Yorkshire watching a T20 game on a sunny evening”. They are tripping over each other in their eagerness to talk cricket, and coaching, rather than triathlon. When you are world famous for doing something like triathlon, I guess being asked about another sport is refreshing. Here are two genuine cricket fans, who understand the coaching process and what is required at an elite level. “The nature of triathlon is a bit different to most individual or team sports” admits Alistair. “It is multi-disciplinary, low profile, and extreme endurance. A lot of the responsibility is down to us, the athletes, rather than a coach, but I do think there are some things the guys at Yorkshire, or in any cricket dressing room in the country, might find relevant”. I caught up with them before they headed out to The Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games this month, and they seemed more than happy to talk all things cricket and coaching... Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee bite their gold and silver medals after the men’s triathlon at Fort Copacabana during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. “For both of us the coach often needs to hold us back, and just put the brakes on a bit.” AB: Our training structure means we are mostly based at home in Leeds. We are at a stage when both our coaches who we have worked with for the last ten years have both retired over the last six months. It is all up in the air at the moment, but the fixed set up is the sessions we attend are taken by a coach, with support staff there as well. There is a specific running coach and then a general squad coach. A lot of the day to day training we fill in ourselves. The coach sessions might be a couple of runs and swims each week, but the bike rides are always self- prescribed, and so is the larger training plan. When we go away, for instance to the Commonwealth Games, we travel with a coach supporter playing a role. We find when we’re away the most important role for them isn’t necessarily offering technical advice, holding the stop watch or being a sports science expert. A lot of it is someone who can get things done. They need to be able to support on a long bike ride, and offer psychological support, but they also need to be able to cook you dinner, make a cup of tea, drive long distances behind us when we’re on the road in difficult weather, and make sure they can get the bikes to a repairer when they break. It’s a physical and practical role we appreciate more than anything. CONTINUE Planning Training Programmes