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March 4,
2006:
The day after our little volunteer adventure
last year at Kona, Pete, Trevor and I were
enjoying a cold beer on the deck of the house
when Pete threw out a casual comment - “We
should do some coaching.”
At the time we were both already coaching. I
was volunteering as an assistant coach for a
great little club in Victoria called Team X and
was working with several friends who would come
to me for 70.3 programs. Peter was working with
a handful of entry-level pros and top age
groupers hoping to make the jump. But I knew
what he meant. Let us make it somewhat
official. We'd throw a little notice up on the
website, create a system and solidify a
philosophy. I thought it was a smashing idea.
Trevor concurred and we all drank to it.
When we got home Shawn “webguy” Skene was
contacted and a notice was put up on the new
website. We were looking for a few good
triathletes. Shawn, who's been involved in this
sport longer than both Pete and I (and I go back
to 84 when I did my first race) was keen about
the idea as well. He wanted to take on a few
Ironmen athletes. This prospect concerned me a
bit at first, not because I questioned Shawn's
credentials, but because I worried there
wouldn't be the demand for the three of us to
get the 3-5 athletes we were looking for. Now
some of you reading this are probably already
chuckling – of course the demand was going to be
there! Who wouldn't want to get in on what Pete
had to offer in the way of nailing an Ironman!?
The thing is, Pete's philosophy as a coach has
always incorporated a high level of
communication. I know this first hand. When I
was working with him in 2004 for IMC we were
friends and that didn't change when he started
doing my programs, what did happened was how we
communicated. Most of you can relate to the
“established” form of communication you create
with different friends. Both Pete and I freely
admit we are not “phone” guys. We are “email”
guys. The phone is to be used in 30-second
bursts when you or the person you're trying to
reach isn't at their computer. Conversations
should go something like this:
Receiver: “Yeah?”
Caller: “You eaten?”
Receiver: “No.”
Caller: “Sushi on Wharf, thirty minutes?”
Receiver: “Good. See you there.”
Click.
That's what a phone is for.
And that was pretty much how a Pete/Clint call
had gone up till then. But things changed when
he started doing my plans.
At first when I'd see his name on my call
display it would be accompanied by a quick pang
of anxiety - “Sweet mother pearl, is something
wrong?!” Why else would he be calling??
So now the calls were going like this:
Clint: “Pete, what's up? What's wrong?”
Pete: “Nothing. How did your ride go?”
Moment to gather myself.
Clint: “Not so good. I bonked.”
Pete: “What?! Why would you bonk? It was a 2
hour ride. You shouldn't bonk!”
Clint: “Forgot my carbo pro and after the
fourth repeat up the Observatory I started to
feel light headed. I barely made it home.”
Pete: “The Observatory? I didn't say to do the
Observatory.”
Clint: “Yes, but I felt good...”
Pete: “I'm coming over there!”
Click
The above was pure fiction. I cannot make it up
the Observatory four times and would only try
under the threat of severe bodily damage. But
you get my point.
When it comes to coaching, Pete wants to talk to
the athletes. He wants to hear their voices, to
hear what they're saying between the
lines. That takes a lot of time and time costs
money.
Where we were in our lives – mortgages and
bills, we couldn't do this service as volunteers
or for minimum wage. We set the prices at a
place where the hours we put into each athlete
would return enough to make it worth our time
and encourage us to make sure those commitments
were met.
There would be no templates. We set up a
partnership with
www.workoutlog.com (clearly one of our A
list choices in this endeavor so far) and Shawn
popped up a notice on the website. About
sixteen minutes later someone made a comment on
Slowtwitch and within the hour inquiries started
coming in. 89 on the first day.
The response was, and still is, absolutely over
whelming. We took weeks to short list the
athletes and calculate who fit best with who.
Recognizing the huge demand for what Pete had to
offer, we put out feelers for other coaches to
join us. There are hundreds out there but Peter
would only take on people he knew and had worked
with. No chances were to be taken. Pete's long
time partner Paul Cross came on board and, as of
last week, we were stoked to announce Rumon
Carter would also be working with us.
Peter spoke to Lori about taking on one or two
athletes but the timing just wasn't right. When
Tyson is a little older she said she'd look at
doing some coaching. She'll be a great coach.
So the long and short of it is – Shawn, Pete and
I were at capacity within a few weeks of putting
up the notice.
Paul and Rumon will be taking on people for a
while and there will always be turnover. You
can expect a lot from Pete's program but Pete's
program will expect a lot from you.
I think I speak for Pete and Shawn when I say
the journey thus far has been exhilarating,
frustrating and rewarding. I did not anticipate
the vicarious thrill I'd get when my athlete's
did well. Pete had had a taste of this when Jim
Vance knocked it out of the park in Florida and
Desiree opened eyes in Kona. He wasn't straight
up coaching her but he had his input and it
clearly had an effect.
When my athlete Irvin Tang toed the line at a
recent ½ marathon I was holding my breath.
You're doing the race with them. When he
crossed the line in 1:21 – crushing his previous
PB by more than 3 minutes and coming in 10th
over all, I just about jumped through the roof!
Let me make it clear – I'm not taking credit for
his awesome performance. I've only been working
with him for a few months. My point is you
become linked to the people you're working with
and it feels great – usually. When things
aren't going well you feel that as well.
Nothing worth having comes easy or free.
And it's not all just work and racing. Robin
Barsantee, the Southern California Polar rep,
and I have a little gentleman's bet going to see
who can lose 10 pounds the quickest (and keep it
off). I suspect I'll get my ass handed to me on
this one. He's training harder than I am.
So what has this all go to do with my personal
journey to Kona in 07? Nothing. But it's what
I felt like writing about. |
