Posted: December 21, 2004

Multisport: EnduranceRadio.com Interview with Coach Lance Watson

From: EnduranceRadio.com

Tim Bourquin: “Welcome back to EnduranceRadio.com. Tim Bourquin: “Welcome back to www.EnduranceRadio.com. My name is Tim Bourquin. Thanks for joining us for another interview today. We’ve got a good one for you; we’re going to be speaking with coach Lance Watson. He is a triathlete coach, and he’s also a two time Olympic coach and has coached many Ironman champions, so we’re going to talk to him about his coaching philosophy and what he thinks it takes to be a great triathlete and endurance athlete.

A couple of things; make sure you sign up for our monthly audio newsletter. We’re giving away some great gear every other week to celebrate the launch of www.EnduranceRadio.com. We’ve given away some wetsuits and heart rate monitors and nutrition bars and a whole variety of things, so make sure you sign up for the newsletter so you can be eligible to win some of those things, and as always leave us a comment on the comment board over at www.trinewbies.com; let us know who we’re doing and how we can make the site better. So we’re going to be right back to speak with Lance Watson in about 30 seconds.”

“Dehydration can diminish your energy and impair your performance. Scientists at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute have been studying athletes for nearly 20 years and understand what endurance athletes need to stay hydrated. Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula contains a five electrolyte blend consisting of sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium, formulated to replace the fluids and electrolytes you lose during longer more intense workouts and races. Find out more about Gatorade Endurance Hydration at www.gatorade.com today. Is it in you?”

Tim Bourquin: “Lance thanks very much for joining us today, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us at www.EnduranceRadio.com.”

Lance Watson: “Thanks very much for having me Tim.”

Tim Bourquin: “So how long have you had your coaching business?”

Lance Watson: “Well I’ve been coaching online and professionally for about 19 years now. In fact with triathlon my latest venture is Watson LifeSport (www.lancewatson.com/)) and that’s been up and running just since this year.”

Tim Bourquin: “Okay, well we recognize some of the folks that you’ve coached; we’ve interviewed them in the past. I notice you probably chose the word ‘LifeSport’ pretty carefully because on your values it talks about how sport is a life style. How is that that comes into your coaching?”

Lance Watson: “Well it’s interesting that you ask that. I really hummed and arred over the name and really worked hard on my mission statement for the business. Obviously I work with some top international athletes, a couple of Olympic Gold medalists etc, and for them their life actually is sport, its fully consumed by sport and it needs to be that way for them to achieve at that level, but the name and the mission statement also reflects my values of coach and life-force, sport for life and finding a sense of balance yet focus, allowing yoursleeves to take it seriously while making sure that some of the pleasure and the joy that you experience in sport as a kid growing up are one of the reasons why a lot of us get into it in the first place is really captured as well. Its finding that nice balance between doing a good job of maximizing the physical aspect and reveling in this great sport that we call triathlon, the events, the people, the environment, the adventure of it all.”

Tim Bourquin: “Do you find that the more serious athletes get about the sport the tougher it is to find that balance?”

Lance Watson: “We sometimes joke that at the top level of sport balance is a distraction. The reason for that is you really have to be completely consumed by all the details surrounding sport, so it’s not just getting up and going to swim practice and doing a good job, and then you’re off to watch a movie or something like that, or hang out. Its constantly considering and reconsidering the finer points that make you a champion whether its re-evaluating your nutrition or doing a proper job of your flexibility and your core strength; after swim practice going to a sports psychology seminar and doing proper mental prep for your next session, and trying to integrate as much technology as you possibly can into your sport on an ongoing basis as well without losing focus on the core aspect of just training hard, swim, bike run.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now for someone who is maybe a serious age grouper and that is considering going to the next level and getting a coach, do they have to be concerned about, ‘I’m never going to be a pro but I still think that I can improve my performance with some coaching’?”

Lance Watson: “Well yes that’s interesting. I do get a lot of inquiries from serious age groupers who want to qualify for Hawaii Ironman or they want to win their age group at whatever event, and I think its becoming more of a smaller step for that crowd to look at coaching and hiring a coach, again to maximize what they’re doing, how they’re performing physically and mentally, but I’d also say that I think its really starting to become more and more of an option for people of all levels and abilities and levels of experience to research hiring coaches now because they realize, particularly in our sport of triathlon where you’re trying to put together the complex puzzle of training three sports, and for a lot of people having a family and job and there’s limited time to train, getting a little bit of experience direction to help you maximize your time and get ready and not make the same mistakes people were making back in ’84, ’85 or whatever. It really is becoming quite common for people to sign up for coaching at different levels, and there’s different kinds of coaching for all kinds of different people’s need.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now do you focus on any one particular aspect of the sport whether it be cycling or running or swimming? Do you feel like you have one that’s your forte?”

Lance Watson: “I would say, historically I came from a combined distance running and triathlon coaching background. I actually coached at the University of British Columbia for track and cross-country for five seasons, but to be competitive internationally, for your athletes and as a coach now, you really have to have a pretty strong grasp on all three and on the technical aspects of all three. Now that being said, any coach that ever told you they knew everything about everything is probably the coach you don’t want to hire. A great coach will resource single sport coach, experts, as well as other experts within the community whether it be the sports psychologist, nutritionist, strength and conditioning etc. Its one of the great challenges of coaching triathlon, and training for triathlon too, is there’s just so much darn information out there and you never really stop learning.”

Tim Bourquin: “Well we’re going to take a quick break, but I want to ask you about how you set up some training plans for your amateurs and pros. We’ll be right back to speak with Lance Watson.”

“As an endurance athlete you have special hydration needs. Introducing Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula, developed for elite and endurance athletes for use during their longer, most intense workouts and races. Research shows you’re going to sweat out more essential fluids and minerals during prolonged training and races. Find out how to put them all back properly at www.gatorade.com. Get the edge you need to achieve that PR you’ve been training for. Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula, nobody does hydration better. Is it in you?”

Tim Bourquin: “Lance once you’ve had your initial consultation with your clients, how do you go about determining how much you want to see improvement and how far out do you develop a training plan; is it months, years or just a couple of weeks?”

Lance Watson: “Well the first thing we do is I have a fairly in-depth questionnaire that asks the athlete about their competitive history, whether they’re just starting or they’ve been doing it for a long time and at what level, and it extrapolates, at least superficially, what their strengths and weaknesses are and goes through what sort of training access they have, groups and all that kind of a thing, and then I would run them through some field tests which will establish heart rate and their current levels of fitness and ability within the three sports individually, and after that we talk on the phone and we go through their goals and dreams and aspirations, and match what they’ve been doing versus what their field tests say, just to determine whether they’re in good shape right now or not in good shape right now, if they’re reflective of their actual ability, and then we would also lay out their long term goals, their plans and we would start with; what is your dream goal? What do you hope to aspire to three, four years down the road or beyond, or maybe what even just over the horizon and maybe just out of reach?; and then some realistic long term goals, and then we start bringing it back and putting together the stepping stones to get there. Typically when I do a schedule for an athlete it will be, I do a month at a time, but there is an annual framework in place which that month’s schedule will drive towards. You don’t like to do too much detail beyond a month because things come up, whether it’s an ache or a pain or a family vacation or extra work load or whatever.”

Tim Bourquin: “Again back to the balance issue I guess, you’ve got to keep those plans flexible.”

Lance Watson:”Well that’s right. I coach people who, a lot of them are incredible people. Most people that do triathlon are incredible people because it is a fairly demanding sport and that level of achievement tends to be reflected in their personal life and their family lives as well. They tend to be active professionals and have families, and they want to do a good job at it all so they’ll hire a good coach to help them put it all together and maximize the time that they do spend training.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now these days you can pretty much find a triathlon every weekend, even in the US alone, let alone the rest of the world. There’s really truly starting to be no off-season. Do you have to work a little bit more to find out and plan around; okay we’re going to take a little bit of a break here, this is going to be our off-season even though it may mean missing a few races?”

Lance Watson: “Yes, that’s right, absolutely. I would normally start by establishing what I would call an athlete’s corner stone races, or their A level races, and first instance if somebody’s training for Ironman that typically would be their Ironman or if they’re doing a short course race, it might be their State championship or it might be their favorite race every year that they really want to do well at. We talk together about what are the goals there and what are we really striving for? Then we would work backwards from there and start to incorporate the B level races, or the building races, and some of those you would freshen up and try and do a really good job at, some you would train through a little bit more and use it for just a good threshold workout to build toward that A race. There needs to be planned some active rest throughout the year, one longer active rest period which typically would be in the winter, through Christmas is usually a good time, and then intermittently throughout the season too, but active rest has to be differentiated from off-season in the sense that we train pretty hard to make fitness gains and to try and improve, and you don’t want to just stop and go start from scratch six or eight weeks down the road, you do want to keep moving. It might be a time to go out and ride or run with a friend or someone who’s maybe not your speed, and make it a bit more social, have a bit more flexibility in the program, and do a couple of other things; maybe play some indoor soccer, go cross-country skiing, play some water polo, or whatever pulls you, but make sure that you keep moving.”

Tim Bourquin: “Lance we’re just about out of time. How can somebody get in touch with you if they want to find out more about your coaching services?”

Lance Watson: “Well come and visit me at www.lancewatson.com or else www.lancewatson.com, it’s my business website. I try and keep it updated with some news and some types etc.”

Tim Bourquin: “Great, well we’ll link to that right below the link to this audio. Listeners can go straight to your site from there. Lance thanks very much for your time I appreciate it.”

Lance Watson: “It’s been a pleasure Tim, thank you.”

EnduranceRadio.com offers online radio programs and interviews with endurance athletes and coaches at all levels. Visit their site today and listen to everyday athletes just like you and also professional endurance athletes talk about how they train, eat and race. Weekend warriors and serious competitors alike will find something they can implement into their own training and technique immediately from each day's program. A new interview is posted each weekday.

Contents © 2004 Endurance Radio, a production of TNC New Media, Inc.