Teamwork in individual sports

When you think of teamwork you think of sports like football, netball, hockey and the like where the strength of the team is greater than the sum of the individuals. In those contexts the team usually exists in a club which encompasses a network of people who all contribute to the end result.

Within individual sports the concept of a team is not really defined, except perhaps on an casual basis as cooperation between a couple of athletes to help each other. Pro cycling takes this to another level with their strong team ethos - and definition - where the support and assistance of a team is the key ingredient to success, but when it comes to the crunch like in the mountains or a TT then it is still down to the individual to perform.

But the focus for this article is on the kind of teams individual athletes (and some team players) build around themselves to help their push to success. In his recent book, "I'm here to win", Macca talks a lot about "his team" (also sometimes called an "entourage") and occasionally refers to them by name to explain the role they have and the kind of reliance - and trust - Macca has in them. This is just a current example of what is common place in elite sport, in particular, however some of the same principles also filter through to grass roots and amateur sport to help individual athletes get the most from their sport.

Here's some of the ways everyday athletes can build a team to rely on, and who support their sporting endeavours...which are just examples and should not necessarily been seen as re-requisites for your best performance.

Any athlete's team starts at home because without support there you probably wouldn't be doing your sport. Family support, understanding, encouragement and more is an essential team ingredient. Additionally, your "home team" is often great for giving off-hand feedback which can be very honest, something like kids telling their dad he doesn't play with them much anymore, perhaps because he's overtrained and too tired. Don't dismiss the observations from home.

Further important team members are the other athletes a person trains with, and especially a coach who is the person directing your energy in the most effective and productive way. Training partners provide the mutual support to be out there when elements suggest otherwise, and help to lift and push you to new levels. A coach is the brains behind your effort, and voice of reason against the wave of inner fears and anxieties. Their job is to help look after your physical and tactical development, and help in achieving an optimal emotional balance to be your best when you most want to.

All athletes need sports equipment and supplies, with many items being high volume consumables. So the places you get them from are also part of your team, where you rely on their understanding, knowledge and expertise to provide you with the right things for your performance. While these days there are many options for buying these things, especially on-line, personal service can often be more valuable than the discounts sometimes available elsewhere. Your loyalty to local outlets will be returned over time, making these places and the people who run them, key team members.

We've all seen the team of medicos that accompany professional sporting teams whenever they step outside, as much with the aim of preventing problems than to help fix them up. It would be a luxury for all of us to have this level of care, but nonetheless the motto of prevention being better than cure holds true and translates into having some good medico people you can rely on to keep you in tune and balance, and should the need arise, to treat any issues. Continuity with medicos really helps so they get to know you and your body, and may also help in getting to see them quickly. A typical range of medicos includes physio and doctor, plus some variety of masseur.

Along with your team on the home front, the support and encouragement - and understanding - of your friends helps a lot in accepting the sacrifices that are part and parcel of doing individual sports without feeling like an outcast. Having friends who can help keep your feet on the ground are refreshing, and who can expand your horizon beyond the training track. As they say, all work and no play makes "Johnny" a dull boy.

Different to friends, family and even a coach, having a mentor and/or confidant can be invaluable for the wisdom and guidance they can provide. Although their background may differ from yours, the key is that they understand your journey but can also point out the alternate paths, and ask key questions that will prompt you to look inside for the answer. They are often a sounding board for ideas and theories beyond the boundaries of sport, which in turn highlights the broad range of aspects that contribute to a sporting performance.

These are just a few of the people who you might have on your "team", whether it's by formal arrangement or otherwise, who together provide the necessary backing for your performance. While it can feel empowering and stoic to go it alone, that approach is usually only sustainable for a limited time. As former US president Ronald Regan said, "By working together, pooling our resources and building on our strengths, we can accomplish great things."

Single sport events

By simple necessity, multi-sport athletes are competent in many disciplines but masters of none, and it's only when they put the various sports together do their full abilities become apparent. Accepting that you "only" need to be good rather than great in each sport gives some comfort (and complacency?) compared to single sport athletes for whom the margin for error, and the difference between competitors is so small. But that doesn't mean that multi-sport athletes should not strive for some greatness in their disciplines...which is where competing in single sport events provide great benefits, both physically and mentally, and is something every multi-sport athlete should do.

Traditionally multi-sport athletes might compete in single sport events for variety, for off-season conditioning and other reasons, a little like footy players who play cricket in summer...or vice-versa. While I agree these are great reasons for doing single sport events, I'd go further and say in order to get the most from the effort of immersing yourself in those races you need to become "one" with your single-sport competitors and not just be, for example, a "triathlete doing a running race". You should aim to be like a "runner doing a running race" in both the race preparation and execution.

I should note that this approach is not at the expense of "training like a triathlete", about which I've written before, rather that any planned foray into single-sport events should be executed to get the most return from it. Let me explain further.

One very good reason for doing a single-sport event is that it can take you out of your comfort zone in terms of effort and intensity, to reach new levels of performance. However unless you're ready and prepared for this, physically and mentally, then you'll miss these benefits and might as well have stayed home. For example, if you're triathlete and consider a 5km running race to be too short / easy and not challenging enough, then you've obviously been going sub-max for too long and haven't really raced it because a 5km race hurts...a lot!!! In this case, you have the opportunity to re-set your calibration of what max performance is, which will then carry over to the benefit of your triathlon performance.

The same applies to swimming and cycling races, to really race them like the single sport events they actually are and not be thinking about having to transition to the next discipline, and not fall back on the tired old excuse like "I trained too hard yesterday / last week / last year / blah, blah, blah, to do this (pi**y) little race hard." If you're going to make the effort of doing a single sport event, then give it the effort it deserves otherwise you might as well not interrupt your training...where in actual fact it usually is worth interrupting your training for a quality single sport race.

Another little (personal) tip on competing in a single sport race...dress at least a little like a single sport athlete. Nothing stands out more than a triathlete in a full lycra clad outfit in a field of runners!!!

As far as preparing for a single sport race, there is a lot to be said for having a focused block of training targeted towards achieving a single sport goal, in any discipline. Whether it is an open water swim event, bike TT, running race or otherwise, the benefit you get from immersing yourself in an emphasised training block...including doing some sessions with single sport athletes...will open your eyes to the effort and focus required to really lift your performance in that discipline. Of course, this should be done in a structured way within a year-round training plan - there's many ways of achieving it - so that your single sport focus is not at the complete expense of your performance as a multi-sport athlete.

In completing a single sport block you'll also develop respect for single sport athletes who you might have thought of a lesser mortals because they only specialise in one event, whereas every single sport is worthy of it's own respect from the intricacies associated with quality performance. And any single sport athletes you might train with may also develop some respect for you as a multi-sport athlete rather than seeing you as an obsessive freak show!!!

So when it comes to looking for ways to improve your multi-sport performance, give some serious consideration to the value of doing some single sport events, just be sure to approach it with the aim of doing those single sport events to really gain from the experience, and to give a boost to your performance across the board. You might even find you actually excel as a single sport athlete!!!

It's not called a marathon for nothing!!

The marathon is an event which has a status above any other running event. It humbles the best of runners as a test of physical, mental and emotional capacity. No wonder then, that at the start of the 1956 Olympics marathon the legend of Emil Zatopek uttered the words, "Men, today we die a little.". Not being one for gamesmanship, Zatopek was simply stating it as it really is. It's not called a marathon for nothing.

To a triathlete the marathon can mean many things, from something that skinny, hairy leg, eccentric folks do to being the final, necessary leg of an Ironman triathlon. Either way, what many triathletes miss is really knowing what it is like to run a stand-alone marathon, and the shock they get when they realise it is often harder and hurts more than an IM and wonder how it can be when they are so fit. That's why it's not called a marathon for nothing!!

Often there is discussion about the theoretical extrapolation of a stand-alone marathon time to IM marathon potential time, around which a rule-of-thumb of "add about 20mins" seems to have been developed...against which I've seen variance from about -5 mins to +2 hours!!! Such is the nature of an IM that to run the marathon leg to your potential depends on a lot of other factors besides a simple formula and some run fitness. There is no such thing as an easy IM run.

Conversely, there is further discussion about marathon potential from an IM run split, which is particularly interesting when it is applied to the likes of athletes such as Craig Alexander, Andrea Raelert, Mirinda Carfrae and Chrissie Wellington. Personally, I'd love to see them do a stand-alone marathon to see what time they could punch out, but I'm sure it would only put them in the "very good" class and quite a long way from what elite marathoners do...much like their individual performances in each of the three sports. But put them together, well then they are elite.

The main reason why a stand-alone marathon involves such unexpected(!) pain effort in the experience of triathletes is because their average pace is higher, right from the start, which is easy to do since your legs are fresh and it feels easy. Over the length of a marathon a fast pace hurts as you fatigue and the muscle damage from running faster accumulates...it is painful!!

Contrast this to an IM where you start in a fatigued state and simply can't run at the same pace as a stand-alone effort, and although you become very fatigued it's not quite as acute as in a marathon. Nonetheless, an IM marathon is still hard work as it's an extended period on your feet at the end of a long day.

Last month in IM Coeur d'Alene, Craig Alexander ran what some people called an "easy" IM marathon...which seems a bit of a stretch given he ran 2:46hr against an IM PB of about 2:42hr. While his effort is perhaps 1 (or 2)% slower than what he might be capable of, which in elite sport can be the difference between winning and missing the podium, that would mean little in terms of the toll it took on his body because he was still running at 98-99% of his capacity - especially since he started the run in chase mode - which over 42km is still hard running. You try it!!!

Discussion of whether an athlete ran a "hard" or "easy" IM marathon is in line with the discussion of whether they're going as fast as they need or as fast as they can...it's academic, since the person with the fastest overall time wins, whether it is a stand-along marathon or a full IM. It's not called a marathon for nothing.