Lizzie Armitstead on: Coaching

Armitstead is an incredible athlete. That much we know already. But one of the most amazing things about her is that she goes it alone – she’s self-coached. This is pretty unique at pro level, in fact it’s even unique at a top end amateur level and we where keen to find out why she chooses to plan her own training, and how she does it.

How to: Write a Training Plan and Stick to It

Initially, the decision came out of necessity – Armitstead says: “It was more out of circumstance, really – I was a track rider, on a track programme, coached by a track coach. Then I decided to go to the road, and there was nobody available to coach me [on the road].”

A lot has changed since then, and clearly Armitstead could find a coach if she wanted to now – but she just doesn’t see the need – saying: “Since then I’ve tried to work with other people… but I’m not naturally the best communicator anyway. So picking up the phone and telling effectively a stranger how I’m feeling… I think it’s quite an intimate conversation. And I’m not that good at being able to do that with somebody that I haven’t got a strong relationship with.”

Obviously, Armitstead coaching Armitstead works out pretty well – too – she says: “I just feel I’m capable of doing it [planning effective training]… and I read up a lot [on training], I’m not going into it blindly. It’s so all encompassing, our job, and what we do, I kind of feel like I need to be at the centre of it. I need to work out what I’m doing.”

“Being independent has been a streak that I’ve had since childhood, it’s always helped me.”

I ask if that desire to be in total control is perhaps a piece in the puzzle that makes up the winning combination of a World Champion, and she says: “I think it [being good at controlling situations] contributes. Being independent has been a streak that I’ve had since childhood, it’s always helped me. Trying to be at the top of your game, you need to be able to be selfish, you need to know what’s right for you, and particularly in cycling there’s all sorts of people coming from different angles giving you advice and having that one focus and trusting your instinct is really valuable.”

Trust is important in the relationship between a coach and athlete, and the advantage Armitstead has is that she can write her own plan, and thus have total belief that it’s the right thing for her. She explains: “If you’re working with a coach you don’t trust, it’s not going to work. I see that all the time. I’m training with women who have coaches, but yet are questioning [their plan] all the time.

“I’m training with women who have coaches, but yet are questioning it [their plan] all the time.”

“I can do a race, and I can know exactly what happened in that race. I can go home, and sit down, and analyse my next week’s training and know what I need from it, because I was in that race. Whereas if you have a coach that lives in a different country and wasn’t at the bike race… is their analysis of what I need the next week as good as mine is? I don’t think so.”

Writing a training plan can be quite a challenge. So many spinning plates, things to consider – how does a World Champion go about that vital planning? I joke about sitting down with a 12 month calendar and a black marker pen – and it turns out I’m close to the truth. But there’s colour coding.

“At the start of the season, I phase plan. So I write in my races, and I block off – in colour coded sections – this phase will be endurance, this phase will be competition, this phase will be recovery. Then I go into each phase and add even more detail – this week will be strength work, this week will be interval training, this week focus on diet, this week focus on recovery, this week put sponsorship commitments in because you don’t have to travel. All these areas that affect performance – I think about them all.”

We’re nodding and considering our own plans as she goes on: “Then I decide which races I want to win. And that can be because I need the confidence more than anything, for example to go into Rio I want to win a stage in the Giro. Specific sessions I will plan a week in advance, then complete it, analyse how it went, and go on to the next week. And those specific sessions will be very detailed.”

Lizzie Armitstead on: Climbing

Improving our climbing is something so many cyclists set as a goal – and Armitstead is indeed no different, though her goals and motivations are a little more lofty. The Rio road race course is lumpy, and ends with a long ascent – something she’ll be focusing on in the run up.

How Breathing Properly Really Can Make You a Better Climber

Part of that will be becoming (even) leaner, but she needs to be careful: “Realistically in Rio I need to be as lean as I’ve ever been, but I know that from experience if I’m too lean for too long, then I get poorly. You can’t maintain that kind of motivation and dedication… and it’s not healthy I don’t think to be that lean for more than six weeks. So it’s about, for me, being balanced and losing weight slowly into Rio, rather than doing something extreme.”

Trixi Worrack on Nutrition: Once I Tried to be Really Light, I Wasn’t Powerful Any More

“Climbing isn’t just about losing weight. You get better at it by climbing.”

It’s not all about being light, though – believing that weight is the only part of the power to weight equation that matters on an ascent is a trap too many cyclists fall into. Armitstead says: “Climbing isn’t just about losing weight. You get better at it by climbing. Spending as much time as you can in the mountains – learning the rhythm of climbing, and power as well – it comes down to more than just being lean.

“Cadence is something I’m going to work at. It’s my least favourite thing to do. It’s not ‘suffering’ painful, it’s painful neurologically… being able to spin is just uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable to sit and spin… it’s more comfortable as a woman – with pain and the saddle – to sit and turn a bigger gear. So that’s something I need to work on.”

In the case of Rio, she’ll need to make sure her efforts are specific: “For me breaking down the Rio course, where I’ll win or lose the race is the last climb, which is 30 minutes long. So I need to become better at 30 minute efforts. I need to be suffering for 30 minutes, which I haven’t needed before. In women’s cycling there aren’t the Grand Tour stages where you need that, the efforts are more likely to be ten minutes. It’s quite different. So training effectively will compromise my performances in races leading up to it. That’s another thing you have to factor in – ignoring the media pressure and expectation, because I know that my training is right for Rio, not for being first over a 3 minute climb in the Women’s Tour or something.”

So that’s it – don’t expect to see Armitstead dominating those short climbs at upcoming races – but do expect to see her bossing the final kilometres in Rio. We can’t wait.