I have often said, “I’m not a details person, I’m a big picture man”

That’s not entirely correct. I hope I haven’t mislead too many. I really don’t care whether you have a carbon, an aluminium or a titanium bike. As long as you’re set up pretty right and you ride it hard. I don’t care if your shoes are 20gms less than another brand as long as you don’t walk in the marathon, I’m happy.

For me the details that do make the difference are the ones I insist on throughout the year.

* Doing your AB work correctly. (Sucking in your stomach when you do leg extensions). If you have not done your core strength work correctly, you may as well ride a postman’s bike.

* Stretching. My eighty year old mother is more flexible than some of the “athletes” in my squad. Yet they consider the aerodynamic advantages of mounting water bottles behind themselves rather than on the frame to lessen the drag as they power through the bike leg. It won’t matter where they mount their bottles if they have to sit up half the bike because they’re too inflexible to touch their toes. There’s not much advantage in having a time trial bike if your “bike fit guy” packs your head stem up another inch????

* I’ve recently seen “bike fit guys” changing crank lengths on athletes bikes by 2.5mm ??? If you’re flexible you wouldn’t even notice the change. I have ridden crank lengths from 170 to 180 over a period of 18 months with no adverse or benifical effects. How much do these guys charge???? I’m not saying proper bike fit is not important, but the changes should not be made to justify the cost of the service.

* When I tell someone to eat protein at every meal, I don’t mean a little bit of skim milk on your corn flakes. When I tell people to take Opti after each workout, I mean a real serve of it and then follow it up with a real meal. Next time you race, we’re going to check your time, not your skinfolds???

* When I tell you that fats are very important in your diet, the two flax seed oil capsules am and pm are not your total fat intake for the day. If you’re shivering in the 24-25 degree pool water, something is wrong. The omega three oils found in “cold water fish” is the “anti freeze” that allows the fish to swim under the arctic ice with no problems. It is also the raw materials from which your body makes many of your important hormones. Another reason why some people feel the cold more than others is “low blood sugar”, have a piece of toast with peanut butter before swimming and see if that makes a difference. Peanut butter also contains fat “this is good”, fats are your friends. 

* When you’re swimming, breathing bilaterally is really important. It balances your body, you pull evenly with each arm. You swim a straight line in open water. And on race day you have options. Head position dictates leg position, good head position means less drag, faster swimming.

* Getting there on time. To some it’s a minor detail, they’ll always have an excuse or a reason for being late. If they can find an excuse for being late for training, they’ll find an excuse for not racing to their potential on race day. It’s just as easy to get there on time as it is to continuously get there 10min late. If I, as the coach, always arrived 5-10mins late, would the message I sent be one of “no longer caring”?

So some details are very important. But I don’t really need to know what your core temperature is at the moment. I don’t want to know the colour of your urine, or the consistancy of your stools.

Train smart – race hard – when in doubt, go harder.