Dig Deep Coach Ian Jenner gives his insight into the impact COVID had on his life in Northern Italy, which was the centre of the epidemic in the initial stages of it's arrival in Europe. He Also gives some thoughts on what his initial training ethos for his athletes and the goals for the future.
As Coaches we are used to working with history of how things work if you do this or that and the consequences of such action, Covid 19 was a whole new ball game !!
I am fortunate enough to live in Italy at Lake Garda which I have done for 4 years now. When Covid struck it was a slow boil effect. A concern that it wasn’t going to be too much soon evaporated and it was time to take stock of the situation. We were over two weeks ahead of everyone else, training outside was soon struck off the list with gyms closed too and not even running or walks allowed it was a lockdown in every sense of the word.
I immediately spoke to all my athletes and prepared them for the worst eventuality. It came down to organizing some of them with indoor trainers (before they sold out) signing up on virtual cycling apps and ensuring that they were aware that races and events would be cancelled and rescheduled. The goals and objectives will be moving, and the training will shift too.
I approached the time like it was a false start to the season, sort of a delayed winter, take your foot off the gas and be like a car sitting at the traffic lights waiting for them to change and go green. I wanted my guys to resist the temptation (as most did the opposite) with using the time off work and being on “holiday” with bashing out 100km rides day after day and peaking for what, nothing. Then when the racing starts you peaked during Covid what a waste. Better to tick over, back off and mix up the training too then when all opens then BOOM we are ready to go.
There is only so much turbo a person can bear, i did 10 weeks of no outside riding which was hell. With my athletes we added in things like online Pilates, and Yoga. We did bodyweight sessions, of course Zwift but also things like RGT, BingRingVR as many different virtual things as we could, we even did a few Zumba sessions. Then of course we tried to concentrate on diet too, last thing we needed was the added kg’s.
The last thing was being there for everyone, for a chat, a moan and even a few tears or a virtual drink. As I mentioned I spent 10 weeks at home, ZERO going out only to the supermarket or pharmacy so again being ahead of where everyone was helped hugely with keeping them all in a good place mentally.
Coaching is about team work and working together to reach your goals, this situation was a perfect ramp up of that, we got through it so far and maybe its not quite over but we are at least ready for what the future holds.
Ian Jenner is a coach for Dig Deep Coaching and also runs his own Training Camps & Coaching out of his base at Lake Garda. For more details see here -
