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Coaching 101
5.1k Plays1 month ago
In the latest episode of the Uphill Athlete podcast, Chantelle and Alyssa break down the ins and outs of coaching. They discuss how and why you might need a coach, what to expect, how to get the most out of your experience and much more. They talk about why coaching is the best way to learn about yourself and prepare in the most specific way for your objective. It also helps ensure your training load is tailored to you for not only best performance but injury prevention, overall health, and well-being. Learn more about why coaching might be right for you and how Uphill can best set you up for success.
Write to us at: [email protected] or visit us at uphillathlete.com to learn more.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to the Uphill Athlete podcast.
Chantel's Role and Coaching at Uphill Athlete
00:00:13
Speaker
My name is Alyssa Clark, and I will be your host today, along with a familiar and wonderful voice, Chantel Robitai. Chantel, thanks for coming on again to the podcast and helping us dive into a very interesting topic that you know a ton about, and I'm excited to unpack a bit. Awesome. Hi, Alyssa. I'm excited to get into this.
00:00:38
Speaker
Yeah, so one of well, first off, I should say and I think I've said this before that Chantel is our director of coaching at uphill athlete. And so she actually I'll let you say what you do specifically for uphill rather than than me try to go off and explain it.
00:00:56
Speaker
All right, well, among other things, I am Director of Coaching at uphill athlete. And ah one part of that um involves working with our coaches to um make sure that they have all the correct information and tools available to coach. um That means leading education sessions with coaches, helping them work through any problems,
00:01:20
Speaker
ah fun part sharing in the successes that they're having with their athletes and checking in um on
Addressing Athletes' Common Concerns
00:01:26
Speaker
them. So I'm kind of like the, I don't know, mother hen. um Yeah, I'm the mother hen ah for our coaches in a sense. And on the other side of that is working with athletes and prospective athletes. So when athletes are looking for a coach,
00:01:41
Speaker
I'm working to match them with the coach that best meets their needs. So I'm mother hen to coaches in a way, and I am a matchmaker as well for our athletes and coaches. Awesome. Well, that definitely helps um give some insight into what you do. And I want to dive into the idea of basically like what types of inquiries do you get for coach
00:02:12
Speaker
um Let's see, I'm going to preface this, Alyssa, with kind of our pet name for this episode that we've deemed I'm not worthy. I don't know if we have any Reigns World fans, but I'm Canadian. I love Mike Myers. ah But I feel like a lot of people are inquiring. If I look at our list of inquiries, I will say out of many of them, someone will inquire with the typical stuff, with their name and where they live, and then they say, my objective is this. They don't say, I need a training plan.
00:02:46
Speaker
for my objective. They don't say necessarily, I need a coach. Sometimes they do. um They don't say I'm struggling and I need help, although sometimes they do. What I'm really noticing is a lot of people are sharing what they are planning to do, but they're not really sharing necessarily what's their pain point. What's leading them to reach out to us in the first place? Are they coming back from an injury? Are they coming back from having a baby? Did they have a couple failed summit attempts or a DNF or or whatever it is? So I feel like
00:03:19
Speaker
Half the people are pretty clear about like, I have a problem and I need help to solve it.
Coaching Styles and Self-awareness
00:03:24
Speaker
um But what I'm realizing is a lot of people feel like compelled to to write and share what they're doing, but they're maybe not even sure what the problem is that they want to solve, or they're maybe not even sure that they have a problem to begin with. So that's kind of an interesting thing that I've been thinking about. And I think you know as we've been thinking about coming up with um putting together some podcasts to help our listeners and uphill athletes at large,
00:03:53
Speaker
um This is something that we kind of wanted to to bring out. It's like, you know what are the problems that you're looking for help solving? so When people reach out with those questions, we have to do a little bit of detective work now, right figuring out like okay what might be the problem be. That takes a little bit of time. and Figuring out like what is the problem what that you need help solving. and Once we figure that out, the next thing is really, how much help do you think you need and what kind?
00:04:21
Speaker
And that's maybe something that people don't often think about because for many people, they have never been coached. We might have people who've been coached in high school or maybe in college on a team, but they've never done any sort of one-on-one coaching or maybe they didn't really consider themselves a quote unquote athlete until they were 55. So they don't know what they don't know, right? So this is what we kind of want to help people with today is figuring out like, if you have something that you're preparing for, and you feel like you need some guidance, support advice, um what might
Support Options for Athletes
00:04:58
Speaker
that look like? And so although we're going to focus on coaching today, you know, we'll, we'll talk about some of the other options that we have for people at uphill athlete as well.
00:05:07
Speaker
Absolutely. And it's interesting, I actually just had this conversation with someone last night who asked me, Oh, do you have a coach? I was like, Yes, absolutely. Ben proven that i I should probably have a coach. I don't know many pro athletes without a coach at this point. I feel like that's definitely the minority. um But also we were just talking about how different it is to coach adults versus the experience you might have of a coach as a kid because as a kid, you're definitely much more in kind of that like teacher-student
00:05:46
Speaker
role um when we when we think of the traditional teacher-student role. um Because I do think coaching actually is teaching and being a student. ah But it's much more authorative authoritative. It's much more like, hey, I'm going to tell you what to do, and you just kind of do it. ah And we're not going to ask questions. And as coaching adults, as a coached adult, there's a lot more conversation. There's a lot more back and forth. There's a lot more um relationship building because quite frankly I can tell you that I don't think you racing this race is a good idea and you can do it anyway because you're an adult and so I think that ah some people approach coaching much more ah like that high school type relationship where it's like the coach tells me what to do and that's it.
00:06:36
Speaker
um And then others are like, well, I'm an adult and I'm going to do whatever I want. And so I think there's definitely, there's an art, as coaching is an art in the science, there's an art to the relationship building um within that, that I'd like us to move away from the idea of the high school student, but also maybe listen to the coach as well as as kind of a preface.
00:07:03
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that's a good place to start, Alyssa, is to kind of frame out um what the coaching style might look like differently for adults. And maybe before we get into the weeds, because man alive, we could do a whole series on that, couldn't we? um Maybe we'll start with thinking about like, once you've identified that you need some help, what kind of help do you need?
Factors in Choosing Coaching
00:07:24
Speaker
And so this is something that I work with people all the time through different inquiries and consultations. So Ask yourself if you're in a position, listener, thinking like, oh, I'm planning this climb or I'm planning this race and I feel very unprepared and I need some help. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and ask yourself a couple questions. What do I need help with? Do I need help with scheduling my workouts? Am I limited with time? Do I need accountability? Do I need structure?
00:07:59
Speaker
ah Do I need to balance my training more sustainably like I'm constantly getting hurt? um So think about those are some of the main things I want you to think about. And then the next thing to think about like, how self motivated are you?
00:08:15
Speaker
Is budget ah sensitivity a concern for you? Very valid concern in this day and age. um What's your training background like? you know Are you new to whatever it is that you're doing or do you have a lot of experience with it? Have you you know always been an athlete or is this something that you're coming into later on in life? Again, ah as I always like to say, there's no right or wrong answer. right It's no good or bad, it's just information.
00:08:43
Speaker
So if you are self-motivated, if you are maybe budget sensitive and you have a good training background and you just need a bit of structure, then maybe purchasing one of our training plans is a great place for you to get started.
00:08:56
Speaker
um you can you know We have plans for all different sports um and some of these you can layer together. you know We've got climbing, mountaineering, trail running, ice climbing, skiing. We have some cool new plans, ah shameless plug, in the pipeline that we'll be releasing throughout the fall as well. So maybe following a plan and going off on your own is going to work for you.
00:09:20
Speaker
If you feel like you need a little bit of community support um or you cannot nail down just one training plan, maybe joining our training membership where you have access to a variety of plans plus some strength training and and yoga videos might be your jam. um Maybe group training is helpful for you because you'd like to have a little bit of community support and you like the idea of having lectures from a coach, but still this means you need to be really self-motivated, you need to be really self-accountable, you have to be good at following instructions, and you have to be willing and able to make changes and training decisions for yourself. So you know those are some options for for people if you sort of fit into that category.
00:10:07
Speaker
However, if you also want to learn a little bit more about yourself and your own physiology and you want training that is tailored to you, your specific needs, your lifestyle, your goals, where you live, ah you have some injuries that you're dealing with or health concerns that you're dealing with or You really need accountability and I could probably name 10 other things.
The Coach-Athlete Relationship
00:10:33
Speaker
um Considering coach is is a great thing. And coaching is honestly the best way and the most supportive way to be able to
00:10:42
Speaker
train sustainably and prepare in the most specific way for whatever your objective is. So you'll have someone overseeing your training and planning out your training to make sure that your training load is tailored for you to get not only get the best performance out of you and have the best success at whatever that objective is, but also to prevent injury.
00:11:03
Speaker
you have to make sure that your overall health and well-being is in a good place. It also helps to feel a little bit less lonely, right? You have like your coach is fully invested in hearing about your training or the excitement over a piece of gear or new shoes, whereas your partner may have reached their limit hearing about this stuff. So having someone who's kind of like on your team, I think is also ah really great. That's another great feature of of having a coach. And like Alyssa, you started off with like, this is not a matter of like, okay, Alyssa, you're my athlete, I'm your coach, Alyssa, go do these things. We're actually co-creating this experience together. So together, we're going to develop our own communication style. Together, we're going to determine how much do you want to know about training philosophy and training science? Maybe it's a little, maybe it's a lot, maybe it's none, but it's up to you.
00:11:54
Speaker
And I like to think about coach athlete relationships in terms of like, if you think about a race car driver, or a a driver, you know, like some of these long distance car races, you have a driver and you have a copilot. So if the driver and the copilot agree on a goal, right, maybe it's a time goal, maybe it's a destination, and then they agree together on that.
00:12:17
Speaker
And then the driver gets in the seat and starts driving. If they make an unplanned
Adaptability in Training Plans
00:12:22
Speaker
left turn, it's not right or wrong. It's the copilot's job to course correct and make sure that they're still going to end up at the same goal. Coaching is the same thing. If we agree on what the goal is, we talk about the plan, we come up together with overall, you know, here's our goal. Here's where you're starting from.
00:12:40
Speaker
The coach comes up with some building blocks to determine how you're gonna get to the end destination. But ultimately, the athlete is the driver. The athlete is in charge. If they make a left turn, the coach has to figure out how to get them back on track. And a left turn could not be even, not necessarily something intentional, right? It could be an illness. It could be a new job that's taken up a lot of time, right? So it's the coach's job to figure out how to constantly keep things on track.
00:13:08
Speaker
And that takes a lot of strong communication from both sides. So that's why I say we are co-creating this experience. It's not just do this. It's, you know, we are going to do this. This is
Debunking Coaching Myths
00:13:20
Speaker
the plan. This is why we're doing this. And we are training with intention. um That's the difference, I think, to, you know, having a co-creative relationship between athlete and coach.
00:13:31
Speaker
I love that, especially the the connection with the the race car driver. That makes so much sense. And I think that that is one of the the biggest pieces. I'm also very involved, as are you, with writing training plans. And when you have a ah a set training plan, the thing I always say to people is like, this is a framework.
00:13:56
Speaker
for you to take and make specific to you. This is not just like, Hey, this is the only way to do it. If you don't follow to the exact minute, you're, you know, you're wrong or anything. It's like, no, this is to give you ah an idea of how this should look in a, in a gradual progression that should keep you healthy. But ultimately you are a one of one. You, you should take this and make it your own.
00:14:24
Speaker
And some people are really able to do that. Others, it's very hard for it. They just don't have the experience or knowledge to take that training plan and make it their own. and I think that's kind of the beautiful thing about a coach is that it's like, no, we're here to help you tailor that to you. Or maybe even the the time, right? they You have a lot of decisions to make every day. So if if you have to miss your workout on Wednesday and you don't know how to rearrange the rest of the week, you could get you could get ah hung up on making it perfect and then actually not even doing any workouts for the rest of the week, right? And this is the issue that we see. So if you have a static plan that you're following,
00:15:03
Speaker
We do, ah I think we do a really good job of of creating some great general plans and and that people can use as templates to follow. Following any plan is going to be better than following no plan, but following a plan that is specific to you and your needs and your lifestyle.
00:15:19
Speaker
um that is adapted to real-time scenarios and real-time information and data, because as you're training the coach, your coach is constantly reviewing that information and adapting the next training ah accordingly, um that's, you know, you're going to have the best results from from that. So again, it's it's not that, um you know, everyone needs a coach, ah but a coach can be particularly helpful for those reasons.
00:15:48
Speaker
One thing that I feel like I i get a lot, and Alyssa, I know you have a lot of these conversations with too people too, is they feel like, I don't think I'm good enough to deserve a coach, or I'm not your typical athlete, I'm not a pro, or I don't think my goal's big enough. So this is where the I'm not worthy comes in. And let me let you all in on a not so secret little secret.
00:16:17
Speaker
We, the vast majority of our athletes are not professional athletes.
Defining and Achieving Goals
00:16:21
Speaker
They are athletes who are professionals. They are newly retired men and women who suddenly have a lot more time on their hands and the kids are out of the house and they finally have some time and energy ah to invest into their own ambitions.
00:16:42
Speaker
That's a typical athlete. It is a new grandpa who's planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with his grandson. I could go on, but these are like really incredible.
00:16:58
Speaker
regular people. So let's get that out of the way. We are not only for professional athletes. Yes, we do work with some amazing professional athletes. But the vast majority of people that we work with are everyday people with, I like to say, ordinary people with extraordinary goals. And choose your own extraordinary doesn't have to be Everest. It could be that you want to just be able to hike in on your trip that you're taking with your family to Colorado.
00:17:26
Speaker
That's a really amazing goal. So we don't rank these goals. We don't judge your goals. Your goals are personal to you and whatever your goals are, we're going to get excited about them too because we're excited to be part of that. So I want to get that out of the way for for people. um Another one is like, well, I don't really have a specific event or goal in mind, but I am retired and I just moved to Telluride and I like to ski, bike,
00:17:56
Speaker
swim, climb, do all these things and I feel like I'm just tired all the time and i I don't know how to balance it out. So, you know, being fit to jump into any activity that comes across your path, perfectly reasonable goal. ah What other ones could you think of, Alyssa? Yeah, so that's such an interesting question because I don't, you know, as I think so often, there's a very narrow idea of what that goal can be where it's like, it has to be a race, it has to be a huge mountain. And actually, it can be much smaller than that. And so I like to have the athlete, like we talked about it, where it's something whether it's like, hey, I'm gonna go run this 10 mile loop, and I've only ever run eight miles before six miles.
00:18:50
Speaker
like I do like to have some kind of goal. I just think the term goal is perhaps not as wide or as broad as a lot of people think it is.
00:19:03
Speaker
And so I like to have some kind of check piece because that also helps us to figure out like, is this working? Is it not? And that could also be in the weight room. That could be with a number of pull ups. It could be, hey, you go into your gym and you've never led a 511 and that's we're going to work towards.
00:19:21
Speaker
like It doesn't have to be hanging off the face of a mountain or running the furthest you've ever run. like there's ah There's a lot of other parts that can fit as a quote unquote goal.
00:19:35
Speaker
um would you Would you agree with that? or Yeah, i and I think one thing that is important is that with all goals, it should be perp it should be ah personal and matter to you, yeah right? So if it matters if if what matters to you is climbing Mount Everest, that's awesome. well We'll help you get prepared for that. If what matters to you and what kind of drives you is um being able to you know You have a local hiking group that you hike with every Wednesday and you always feel like you are winded at the top of the climb or you're slower than everyone else and you want to get a little bit faster and a little bit fitter. That's a goal. That's a personal goal and we'll work with you to break look at that, break it down. And again, sometimes people like have something in their mind but they don't always know how to
00:20:28
Speaker
ah conceptualize it and that's what we do right is is part of like asking you questions that's part of coaching is helping you find your why what's what drove you to write that email in the first place maybe you didn't really quite know or have it fully formed right if the the baby wasn't fully formed when you at at that point in time but we'll work with you to try to figure that out and even if it isn't like you say like okay well my goal is just to be you know mountain fit or whatever, that doesn't mean that your your plans are not going to have a goal. We're going to look at those different things that you like to do and we're going to find a way to challenge you and make it fun and make it rewarding because it could be just like, I want to get better at mountain biking. How are we going to measure that?
00:21:10
Speaker
And it's it's it's more um motivating when you see progress. So I wanna get better at mountain biking. Okay, how can we evaluate that progress? What are the trails that, for one example could be, what are the trails that you typically ride now? I ride these trails. How do you feel on those trails? What are some trails that you know that your friends ride that you're afraid to ride? Okay, let's pick one of those and we're gonna break that trail down and by the end of the summer, you're gonna be able to ride that trail and feel like a rock star.
00:21:40
Speaker
That's a goal. That's rewarding. That's special. That's going to make you feel awesome. And and that is a personal goal to you. So again, it it could be something as small as that. It could be climbing your, fur it could be, you know, climbing your, ah hiking your first 14 or in Colorado on your vacation. And it could be any number of things that we could dream up in the middle. um So If you're thinking that your goal is not big enough or you're not good enough or you don't deserve it, let's get rid of the mean girl talk. we get We get that mean girl out of our heads and we think about if there's something that you care about that you feel that you need help and guidance with, then you deserve a coach. Absolutely. and i think that one of the
00:22:27
Speaker
greatest gifts that we get as coaches is that we, I think are often the first people who get to hear people's big and scary goals. Like that, if someone has dreamed of climbing Denali and they've thought about that since they were a kid and they saw a poster, they saw a movie, oftentimes that dream because it's so scary or it's so crazy or whatever to everyone else in their lives, like we might be the first people to get told that. And I think that that's so special and so lovely as a coach to get to share that with someone and say,
00:23:06
Speaker
Hey, that's possible and here's how we're gonna do it. Yeah, that's that's a big one. Yeah, I always felt really lucky with that. It's how I felt teaching too. And, you know, you have a student who's like, well, I really want to do this. You're like, yeah, that we can do that. It's going to be hard work. And that's okay. But that's a real gift that you give to us as well as a client. We want to hear that. And it's our job to figure out how to help you get there.
00:23:36
Speaker
I think a good ah good point um there, Alyssa, and I think sometimes for people, they have this crazy goal and everyone around them thinks that they're nuts. Like, you're 62. What are you thinking trying to climb Denali? we might They might have heard that 15 times and they're getting a little bit discouraged. And just to hear someone say like, you're 62 and you want to climb Denali, you're a badass. That's awesome.
00:24:04
Speaker
And as you say, Alyssa, it's gonna be hard work, but awesome. Now it's our job, like let's put our heads together and let's figure out how we're gonna make this work. What are the skills that we need for you to be successful on Denali? What skills do you already have that already you know lead to that? And what skills are missing? And again, not good or bad. Awesome. That's information, right? Now we know
Choosing the Right Coach
00:24:28
Speaker
what we need to to work towards to make that a possibility for you. Now you feel empowered. And now when that person says to you, that's nuts. How are you ever going to do that? Like, I'll tell you how I'm going to do that. Right? I have a plan.
00:24:44
Speaker
this is how I'm gonna do that. So that helps to, it's so powerful for us for to be able to help you see that you you do have that within you, that there is a plan, that there is a clear path, and to help build your confidence week by week, day by day, month by month, until you you know get to the base camp and you're looking up at that summit and you think, I have everything that it takes to get up there.
00:25:12
Speaker
need Mother Nature on my side and a few other small things, but I did the work that I needed to do to get here and I deserve to be here and I have everything that I need to have the best chance of success. And so that's, you know, that's what coaching is. And it's difficult to say like, you know, to explain it in five bullet points what coaching is because coaching is a, it's a really individualized experience.
00:25:39
Speaker
And I think that's also something that a lot of folks don't understand is like, okay, well, what do I get when I hire a coach? What don't you get when you when you hire a coach, right? Like we, I feel like as a coach, we end up wearing a lot of hats, don't we? Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that there is a wide, like yeah every coach, like every person is going to have their strengths and their weaknesses. And so part of finding that right fit is figuring out like how that works and also realizing like there might be an evolution to that fit as well that maybe someone who worked really well for a time period of life actually you need like you two have have grown in different ways and that's okay too um so yeah i think
00:26:30
Speaker
Like personally, I was with another coach um who it just, we, are I don't know if outgrew, but it just, it didn't work anymore. And so I moved to a different coach and that was great. And also ah a coach can give you a different perspective on that training. I know Chantel, you've had a couple of athletes.
00:26:51
Speaker
come on that are newer, and I'm sure they greatly appreciate just the way that you explain workouts is different. And the way it's it's exciting to see like, um I can say from kind of the, from my perspective, it's like 95% of what my coach prescribes me, even I'd say 97%. I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. But what's exciting is that three to 5% that I'm like, I wouldn't have thought of that. That's cool.
00:27:19
Speaker
like ah that pushes the boundaries of that pushes the edge of the box that I wouldn't have thought of myself. And I think that's kind of speaking to perhaps a more experienced athlete, but it's also incredibly fun to work with someone who is like, I never knew that if I slowed down and ate food every 30 minutes, I could feel this good. And you're like, that's so cool. I'm so glad that we were able to make that connection and able to help you to see like this hour hike doesn't have to kill you actually with good fueling and like slowing down a little bit and then speeding up your you can do super well on it. And you don't have to be dragging behind other people.
00:28:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think, and we all have our own, you know, blindnesses about ourselves. There are things that we feel that we're good at, and there are feel things that we feel that we're not good at. And sometimes we can get in our own way about stuff, right? And so the revelations that, you know, even though we are coaches, we have coaches, there are revelations that we get from our own coaches that we wouldn't see within ourselves. And so I think that's um that's important and for those of you who are maybe thinking about if we've helped you get over the fact that you're not worthy and you're thinking okay you're right i deserve this i want to learn more about myself i want to see what kind of hidden potential might be lurking under the surface or i want to make sure that i'm really well prepared for my adventure you might be wondering like
00:28:51
Speaker
Hey, well, how do I, you know, how do I get a coach or how do I find a coach or what do I look for? And again, this is you know this is a really personal relationship. And so the the connection that you have with a coach is really important. So thinking about, like be really clear for yourself. like Think about it. Again, if you've ever been coached before, um have you had some good coaches in your life or have you had some not so good coaches in your life? what did you What did you enjoy or not enjoy about that experience?
00:29:23
Speaker
What do you know about your personality that you would need from a coach to ah to drive your relationship in a positive way? you know What kind of expectations would you have? Are you the kind of person that would be like, I just want you to give me my workouts and tell me what to do and I'm going to go do them and to give me some good feedback on whether or not I'm following correctly? you know So that could be one end of the spectrum.
00:29:48
Speaker
Communicate that clearly. like I'm really not interested in training theory. I don't care about science. I just want it to work. right I just want to get faster. I want to get better. I want to get prepared. Yeah, sure. There are some of those athletes, but I feel like most people should really think about this as an educational experience. You're investing in yourself. You're investing in self-knowledge.
00:30:10
Speaker
so Think about this as an opportunity to learn from about yourself. So what kind of person do you generally communicate best with? What kind of things might you want to learn about yourself that might drive life? Well, then it could be helpful to have a coach with, if it's, for example, if you're a woman going through Perry menopause, I would like to work with a woman who has some knowledge about that, or, or it's maybe important for me to work with a coach who has particular education in this area, or it's actually really important for me personally to work with a woman who's been through it. like That's important to me. It may or may not be important to you. So think about your situation, what you may know about yourself, what you may want to learn about yourself.
00:30:56
Speaker
And then think about, for a coach, like what's important for you? Is there a particular type of education that you would like them to have or experience you would like them to have? Maybe it's communication style. um You should also be concerned about how many athletes are they working with. And you know I feel like I have worked in other coaching companies. I can say very strongly that our uphill athlete coaches are compensated well for the work that they do.
00:31:25
Speaker
That means they're well compensated, therefore they are not overloaded with the amount of athletes that they coach to be able to earn a living as a coach. That's really important. So our our coaches are not working with 40 to 50 athletes. you know They're typically working with, you know some of our coaches are working with 10 to 15 athletes. Some of them are working with around 20 athletes.
00:31:50
Speaker
And there's no reason for any of our coaches to need to work with more than 30 athletes. That means you're gonna get good attention from your coach. That means your coach is gonna have the, you know, I could ask any of our coaches, I could pick someone on a list, Alyssa, I could say, hey, I'm looking at your list of athletes, Alyssa. Tell me about,
00:32:08
Speaker
Tell me about Steve. And Alyssa would be able to very confidently without skipping a beat, tell me how old he is, where he lives, how many kids he has, what his job is, what he's preparing for, what his strengths and weaknesses are, where he's at in his training plan, what his next event is. If you're coaching 50 athletes, 40, 50 athletes, that's not going to happen.
00:32:30
Speaker
Right? And then also how how available is that athlete, is that coach going to be for you, right? to To ask questions or review your training files and things like that. So those are some important things to think about.
00:32:44
Speaker
And then finding a coach, obviously it's a little bit different. ah For our process, as I mentioned, I am both, ah you know, den mother and matchmaker. That means I know our coaches extremely well. I know their i know what their education is, their experiences. I know how they communicate.
00:33:02
Speaker
I know the differences between the different ones. And so when I'm working with someone who's looking for a coach, I'm learning about you too. I'm learning about you a little bit as an athlete. I'm learning a little bit about what your pain points and your needs are. And then I'm working to match you with the coach from my objective view of both sides, trying to match who's going to be a good fit.
00:33:23
Speaker
And I will say I have a pretty good success rate, but I mean, I'm not, I'm not perfect. Uh, if that doesn't work and for whatever reason you and the coach you meet and it's just not gelling, um, then we work to make another match. And you know, the reason why we don't, you know, we don't typically do like an interview process.
Evaluating Coach-Athlete Relationships
00:33:41
Speaker
Sure. Maybe it's nice to talk to that person for 20 minutes, but in 20 minutes, you're not going to get to know each other. So we feel that it's better for us to try to make an objective match based on ah Goals needs and personalities give the coach and the athlete some time some real good time to connect to speak to do a proper intake call for the coach to review some training files to um Have a couple of workouts going on first before you really know whether or not it's going to be a good fit So we've kind of developed ah an intake system to support that which you know, I've i've seen other models and I you know, I feel free to have your opinions. But I see actually this working really well for for both sides, for both the coach and the athlete um to get you started. And then right from the start, you can get going on like, what are your expectations from the coach? What is your coach expecting from you? And getting things, you know, really doing a job of like jumping in and and and getting going, rather than spending a couple of weeks, you know, needing to interview, you can kind of
00:34:47
Speaker
get into the good stuff right away, um which I think is really helpful. Gosh, what anything else on that? Alyssa, you would want to share? I think that was really useful to cover that. I can say Steve lives in Austria, two kids, strengths and weaknesses. Oh, I don't know. No, I'm kidding. I love you, Steve. But yeah, I think it's helpful to know that process.
00:35:16
Speaker
you know This is how uphill works, but at other companies it's going to be different. Also, you know there's there's going to be different price points for coaches, and I think it's very Um, it's very good to understand what you're going to get from a different price point. You know, you might see a coach that's maybe $80 a month and that's going to be a much different experience than, uh, a coach that is three, 400. And you might need the $80, like the $80 coach might work for you, but I think in this day and age of the variety of coaches that are out there.
00:35:58
Speaker
ah it's good to verify and also just understand what the expectations are as well. Yeah, great, great point, Alyssa. I think some ah you make me think of one other question that I often get from people as they say, like, Oh, well, I don't think I need to talk to my coach every week, or I don't need that much attention. And the way that coaching is priced is not necessarily for you know, the the minutes that you're going to be talking. So think about, you know, it's it's what's important to think about is not just the interaction that you're having with the coach, but like, what is the coach bringing? What education do they have? What experience do they have?
00:36:39
Speaker
take a look at the coach bios and and ask them, you know, and and ask those, ask some of those questions. You know, if you look at our coaches, we have a wide variety of coaches who have a range of experience in terms of educational knowledge. So we have coaches with, with master's degrees and um other graduate degrees, um you know, and who are continuing to work towards PhDs even, which is pretty awesome. We have coaches who are certified international mountain guides. That's a whole other level of experience. We have coaches that have multiple certifications in strength training, women's health, psychology, all of those things. So think about like not, it's not just about a numbers of like, I need X number of minutes with a coach. um But think about like what that coach is bringing beyond the minutes that you're speaking with them.
00:37:35
Speaker
It's the time that they are taking to review your training files. It's the knowledge that and intention that they put into every workout that they're prescribing. And all of that, um I feel that um should be mentioned too. For someone who maybe doesn't have you know doesn't have the ability to commit to monthly coaching, and that seems out of the realm, um it doesn't mean that you don't have access can't have access to a coach. At uphill athlete, we also do coaching consultation. So if you're following one of our training plans or you're working on a training plan by yourself and you just want some input or you want to ask some questions, you can actually talk to a coach and you know um through a consultation and ask some questions. We can't make a training plan for you over the phone, ah because that's not how a good training plan is made, but we can answer questions, we can give some guidance, we can give some advice. um so you know there there are more There are multiple ways of
00:38:30
Speaker
getting some coaching input if you're not in a position to work with a coach one on one right now. Yeah, absolutely. And I can say I've done a fair amount of consultations in my day. And I think they're awesome. It's really useful to just oftentimes you're telling people they're not crazy, or finding something where you're like, Oh, yeah, that's why you feel so terrible. And so it's nice to also have that option of just like those kind of bigger picture, hey, here's what's happening or why. Yeah. As I think, again, really coaching, coaching is education, right? It's, it's learning, learning a little something about you, learning a little something more about yourself or having an insight that, you know, you're coming against the same pain point maybe again and again, or there's a lot of confusing information out there on the interwebs, right? And on Instagram, like all these influencers and
00:39:29
Speaker
I don't know, funny diets and things like that. So sometimes you just want to have a little check-in right about something and and and a consultation is is maybe all you need at this moment for where you're at. Definitely. So if coaching, what's kind of like a possible typical coaching look like and what can an athlete hope to come out of a coaching relationship with?
00:39:55
Speaker
So first of all, I think there's no typical coaching relationship because every coach and every athlete is going to be different in their needs, communication style, e etc. However, upfront, you should be establishing with your coach what your communication is going to look like. Because really coaching goes far beyond a coach, you know, scheduling workouts and just saying good job. So, you know, a coach will be doing a you know spending some time, particularly when you're getting up front to learn about you, your lifestyle, any kind of limitations, whether that is um functional limitations, movement limitations, injuries, time limitations, medical issues, et cetera, and figuring out how to you know come up with a, yeah, where do you live, right? There could be all kinds of things. Living in flat,
00:40:49
Speaker
Yeah, living in it yeah you live in a you live in Texas and you're preparing to do a high altitude adventure, right? So those could be limitations. um you're not It's not a situation where you're gonna be, you know, as we talked about, you're just gonna be blindly following something, right? So come of let's think back to the sort of co-creating things. um It's really, I feel like coaching is often like kind of an experience. And and if it's done well, you should you should be every day, every week, ah learning a little something about yourself and about the training methodology. So when you do each workout, you should have a clear sense of why you're doing it.
00:41:29
Speaker
how you should be doing it. And your coach should be able to give you some clear feedback on, yes, you followed what I asked you to do. No, you didn't follow what I asked you to do. And here's why. right And then you just keep repeating the process. We're going to continually evaluate reevaluate how you're doing. We're going to continue to evaluate whether we're on the right path. Because just like if we come back to our driving analogy, right we have a we're trying to get from destination, from a origin point A to destination point B. We might have to take some detours. We might be able to take some shortcuts, but we always want to be kind of reevaluating our route to make sure that we're we going on on the right plan. And if we're doing things correctly,
00:42:14
Speaker
ah It's a terrible business model, but you may not need us forever, right? um Because you're going to be learning along the way. You're going to be understanding about the methodology. You're going to be understanding about what works for you, your body, your lifestyle, your circumstances. So maybe you get to a point where you feel like, I don't need that anymore. But I feel like for a lot of folks, once they get into coaching,
00:42:37
Speaker
It's so nice to have someone overseeing what you're doing. We all spend a lot of time planning things all day long, whether it's in our jobs, it's planning stuff for your kids, it's planning stuff, um other things in your life. It's so nice to know that you can trust that someone is overseeing the training and that just gives you a little bit more space in your brain to think about other things.
Self-awareness and Coachability
00:43:01
Speaker
um And so with a coach, you'll you'll know that you're doing enough of the right things. You have the many opportunities to continually question and learn. And I really you know ah encourage people to question, question, question along the way. That's the only way to learn. Absolutely.
00:43:21
Speaker
and Speaking of which, we actually have to wrap up because I'm chatting with a client soon to to talk about his experience. But I think our last question, and I love this, is, are you coachable? We're saying yes. the Are you? I know Chantal is coachable, but are you coachable? That's right. So like another one of those things where you should take a deep breath, close your eyes and ask yourself, are you coachable? Like, let yes, your coach is going to make a plan for you.
00:43:50
Speaker
Yes, you're going to talk to your coach probably once a week or whatever timeframe you feel you need to talk with your coach. However, the coach is not doing all the work, right? We are not going to push you up the mountain. We're not going to push you around the track. We are not going to be there with you. We might be there in spirit. We might be there in your pocket through training peaks on the app or on your watch.
00:44:12
Speaker
um This is a way for you to learn about yourself as much as your coach is learning about you. So are you receptive to taking in new information? Just because you've always done something doesn't mean that that's the best or correct way for you to do it.
00:44:27
Speaker
Are you clear about where you are now? So that's really awesome that you were a college soccer player 30 years ago. Time has changed, circumstances have changed, your life is drastically different from then. So are you willing to be really crystal clear about where you are now? um You're gonna have someone to be accountable to, right? So of course the coach is gonna be seeing whether or not you're doing workouts. We will check in on you of like, hey,
00:44:56
Speaker
Alyssa, I see that you haven't ah you didn't do this workout from Wednesday and it's Friday. did you Did your watch just not upload the workout or did you not do it? So we're going to be accountable, but we are not going to be... you know you You're not a little kid. You are an adult, so you have to also be accountable for getting the work done and for communicating when you need changes to to the plan. ah Because overall, it doesn't have to be perfect.
00:45:23
Speaker
But if you can be 100% consistent, 80% of the time, you're going to be able to make it happen. um What others on this list, Alyssa, do you have for people to ask themselves about being coachable? Yeah, I mean, the biggest question or the biggest piece I think is, do I want to listen to someone also who might tell me this is not the best idea right now?
00:45:53
Speaker
do I want, which goes into the accountability, like do I want someone to tell me, hey, that's not the best decision. And if you don't want that, then it might not be right for you. But for me, I think the most impactful my coaches have been of when they have told me, no, I think that's a bad idea. I don't think you should do that.
00:46:17
Speaker
And i need I know personally, I need that. And i my number one thing with coaching is to keep my athletes safe and to keep my athletes healthy. And I try to keep those the forefront and everything we do, I want you to reach your goal, but I want you to be safe and healthy going into it. And i that is where I will get I will say fierce with my athletes is if I think they're going to hurt themselves or if they're going to put others or themselves in danger. And that's when I will be very blunt and say, you haven't done the work to, or not you haven't done the work, but like we haven't put together the pieces for you to do this in a safe manner. I would highly recommend you don't do that. um Yeah.
00:47:07
Speaker
And most of the time, we've had those conversations. So that's not like a mic drop to them. It's like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. Because, you know, for the past few weeks, I've laid out like, Hey, we need to hit this mileage. And that hasn't happened. And so it's like, Oh, yeah, you kind of knew that. um So I think it's like, are you willing to take that honesty? Are you will? Are you willing to listen to it? And also realize, like, yes, we have these goals, but that's not a be all end all, especially in the mountain world where there's a safety piece to it. Yeah, I think that's that's really important. You know, it's like, are you are you going to be receptive to that? Because, you know, yes, you will be paying us to coach you, but you're not paying us to be the yes, ma'am, you know, along the way, we will challenge you, we will make you think. And it's because um
00:48:03
Speaker
You know, maybe it's like your your parents might have said to you like, I'm doing this for your own good, Alyssa. You know, you might not like it, but it's really the right decision to to make. you know You know, you might not always like what we are suggesting, but know that it's coming from a ah good place and wanting to keep you safe. And it's not maybe that you you can't do this thing, you know, this weekend. It's maybe just not yet, not now.
00:48:27
Speaker
And yeah if that's really important, right? Here's the the steps. so And also being like sharing how it's going. Like, you know, it's it's not a one-way, coaching is not a one-way street. We wanna know how you're feeling about it. If there are certain workouts that you don't like, tell us. It doesn't mean that we're never gonna prescribe that workout, but is there a way for us to make that fun? Like Alyssa, I remember you once saying like, I'm really struggling with this one athlete that doesn't ever wanna do their strength training.
00:48:55
Speaker
And it wasn't a matter that they didn't like the strength training. They weren't comfortable in the gym or they weren't comfortable with certain exercises. So communicate with your coach. um you know Don't be afraid. like You're paying us for this experience. All that to say, um you are worthy.
00:49:15
Speaker
You are worthy. If you know that you need help and you need guidance, um we're here to help. And if you don't know what kind of guidance you don't need exactly, feel free to to write to us and and ask us about that. If you are considering coaching but you still feel after listening to this that you don't feel that you're worthy, ah you're welcome to book a 15-minute free consultation with me and i can we can talk about coaching and what that might look for you look like for you.
00:49:42
Speaker
ah what coaches might be suitable for you. um That is always an option that's open to people. I'm here as ah as a resource for all of you um in our community. If you do decide to go forward with coaching, you know hopefully we've given you some some good things to think about in terms of what to consider in a coach and what to look for when you're evaluating potential coaches for you.
00:50:09
Speaker
And don't forget to evaluate yourself.
Contacting Uphill Athlete for Coaching
00:50:12
Speaker
Are you coachable? How open-minded are you willing to be going into this um into this potentially new relationship? How ready are you in your life to take this on and potentially make some changes? What kind of support systems do you have around you, family-wise, work schedule-wise, whatever, to get the most out of your coaching experience to set yourself up for success?
00:50:40
Speaker
Any last things, Alyssa, that you would add? I think you you really nailed it. I would say it's so fun to build that relationship. We want to we want to help you be your best. So let us let us know, send us an email, speak with Chantal, and we're excited to help you reach your goals. I think that's really why we do it. Yeah, we have the coolest jobs. We do. In my own humble opinion. I agree.
00:51:09
Speaker
Well, you can reach out to us through our website or write to coach at uphillathlete.com. Thanks for listening to this. We hope that you have at least a little bit more insight into what happens with coaching and we're here to help. It's not just one, but a community. We are uphill athletes.