When I spontaneously signed up for my first IRONMAN, all I knew about it was: swim, bike, run. And to be honest, I didn't even know in which order... let alone the distances. How will I train for it? I googled some training plans and thought I had it all figured out.

A friend reccomended to get a coach and to get into the pool as soon as possible. I knew better... so I started doing my own thing.

 

After a few weeks, the initial motivation was gone and I pretty much forgot I had to train. That was the moment I started looking for a coach and found Andy.

Andy not only planned my trainings tailoring them to my life and my needs, but also massively supported me while I was grieving the loss of my beautiful wife Laura.

 

For a long time after losing her I wondered what the point was (as in... life). I came to the conclusion that the point in life for me was Laura, but since this wasn't the case anymore, the only thing I genuinely felt would make me feel better was help others in one way or another.

I got my IRONMAN coach certification and I am currently getting another triathlon coaching certification, as I believe there are more ways to coach this beautiful sport. In addition to that, I am studying sport psychology, because this really is the fifth discipline.

 

Wait. Did I just say "fifth"? Yes I did.

Unfortunately there is often the misconception that triathlon is each indivudal discipline, where actually the swimming style would be completely different from that of a swimmer, since you want to save your legs for the cycling and running. Same goes for the cycling style, where a lower cadence would help the novice athlete more than a high cadence a pro-cyclist who does 25'000 km per year since 10 years uses. And running too, a heel or mid-foot strike is more realistic for a marathon after a 180 km bike ride (just go watch some pros winning IRONMAN world championships and their running styles).

OK, but four? FIVE disciplines? Yes, the fourth discipline is transitions.

The fifth is mental strength. There is no way you are going to (happily) complete an endurance event without it.

 

So, why coaching?

Back in 2014 I broke and compressed two vertebrae, dislocated and broke my right shoulder and damaged the axyllary nerve. Unfortunately I'm quite injury prone and not the best athlete. But the positive in this is that an additional asset for my coaching, is the fact that I understand the middle/back of the pack struggles, I understand how difficult dealing with injuries as well as recovering is.

I wanted to put the lessons life taught me to work, and the best way to do this right now, is by coaching the sport I love.
Having a background in extreme sports such as freediving, skydiving and BASE jumping, also adds that extra needed experience when it comes to mindset.

 

That's all for today. Now you know why I wanted to get into coaching.