Technology, Flow and Connection

“I’m too slow to need a fancy bike like that...” (Insert kayak/ wetsuit/ SUP/ other piece of adventure sports equipment as appropriate). 

How many times have you heard that, or even thought it yourself?  I know I have many times in different contexts over the years.  

This post is going to be a little bit different to my normal writing on here: I'm going to try and contrast some of my experience as a sea kayak coach with my more recent experience as a multisport athlete, and talk about ways that I am trying to use my own experience to develop.  

So the thing is 'I'm too slow/novice for that bike/boat/whatever' is mostly nonsense.  That might be a controversial perspective, but from experience, and from reading around, it's true. 

For several years before I started coaching, I paddled a sea kayak that I thought was the right boat for me at the time.  Then gradually I learned that it wasn't.  I tried a different boat - a Sea Kayaking UK Explorer - and it changed everything.  It helped put my body in a position where it could move efficiently and transfer power to the water; it gave me space to move and use my muscles in the right way, to be connected to the boat, the paddle, the water.  It accelerated my progress and allowed me to learn faster.  

BUT - and this is a big but.  It only did that because I took the time and made the effort to learn how to paddle it.  I learned about body position, about the kinetic chain (google it if you don't know what it is), and about power transfer. I got stronger.  I took my paddle stroke apart, put it back together again, and learned how it worked.  I changed the boat, and that facilitated my learning.  It didn't just make me instantly better - I did that with a lot of effort - but it made that possible, and most importantly, it made it enjoyable. 

This is where technology can really shine, if you're not an elite athlete looking for marginal gains, or someone who just wants to keep up with the proverbial Joneses.  Good quality kit feels good - if you learn how to swim/ride/paddle it- and if it feels good, you will enjoy it more, and if you enjoy it more, you will want to do it more. And that's how you get better at something... do it more. But the real magic is if you're able to do it more, with quality - and the feedback you get from quality kit is more immediate and better than from cheaper, spongier gear.  

And that leads me to the idea of Flow.  I've written about The Flow State before, in kayaking articles and blog posts, and I've mentioned it in passing in this blog.  It's a psychological wonder - the state where it's just your brain and the wave/bike/water/whatever; nothing else exists.  It really is a special and magical thing, and for me it's something I am constantly in search of in sport.  It takes an absolute match between the level of challenge and ability for it to happen, and it feels amazing when it does.  But there's also evidence that finding flow doesn't happen easily.  There has to be an element of struggle involved, you have to work for it.  But if there are barriers in the way - such as frustrating equipment, a lack of feedback, something that gets in the way of finding the rhythm of a movement, it won't come.  

So using really good quality equipment helps in that search... it helps me to learn about the activity and my body, to develop feeling and flow.  And that's why it helps me get better.  

After Celtman this year, I took the plunge.  I invested in a Triathlon bike, which will arrive next week.  I'll need to build it, have it fitted to me, and then learn how to ride it... and I'm incredibly excited about that process.  Learning to get better as a rider, handle the bike better, manage my power output better, and as a result ride Time Trials or triathlons better.  

I've also invested in a Swimskin to use in the pool.  Not to give me 'free floatation' - I've learned how to do that using body position.  But to help streamline my (let's face it) saggy, baggy 50 year old body in the way it is streamlined wearing a wetsuit.  50 year old boobs are never going to be streamlined! 😆  So by using a Swimskin I'm hoping it will help with that, help me feel faster, and help me find flow earlier in my pool sessions.  In turn that should help me enjoy them more, stick them out to bigger distances, and look forward to doing something that is just a means to an end at the moment: swimming indoors.  

By removing those barriers - the frustration, the distraction - I can connect with the water, the bike better.  Of course the one thing that's missing from that equation at the moment is running.  I've had lots of issues with my feet and ankles - plantar fasciitis, arthritis in my toes - and I have a 3.5cm difference in leg length to deal with.  This all makes connecting with the ground harder - and I'm beginning to think that may be part of the problem.  I'm going to be reading and experimenting with that in the next few months; I'll try and write about that as I learn more. 

And then, the last part of the title of this post: Connection.  That could mean physical connection with the water, land or bike.  It could mean a metaphysical connection in terms of being present in the moment and focusing on flow.  But in my current context it means personal connection.  

In a similarity to the opening line... 

"I'm not good enough to get a coach".  

Oh really?  Don't you think the more you have to learn, the more you'll benefit from coaching?  The more you have going on in your life, the more a coach will make training time efficient?  

The job of a good coach in my eyes is to read their athlete, interpret their needs, and provide the learning opportunities and training opportunities they need to in order that they can do the work to meet their goals.  But to do this, you have to be able to get to know your athlete.  They have to trust you, they have to believe you're on their side, and that you believe in them and trust them to do the work.  

You have to connect.  

And when connection really happens, it's magic.  Real trust, real belief, real understanding: that can take a coach and athlete to places beyond where they ever expected.  I've experienced it as a coach, on the water, and I'm now experiencing it as an athlete.  Working with Alan Cardwell as a coach has already taken me beyond what I ever thought was possible, and I really believe this is only the beginning.  

And as a result of that, we have a plan forming... a plan for Celtman, but also for other things too.  A plan that lasts more than one event, one discipline, or one year.  

But that's another post, for another day... watch this space 😉