Comeback Kid

Vanessa Herbert is a long time HPT athlete. Well over 10 years in fact. I first met Vanessa when she was doing a Level 1 Coaching Course I presented in Canberra. We subsequently started working together from there. Over this period Vanessa has done a lot but had to stop racing for a while due to an Ulcerative Colitis diagnosis. Combine that with the stress of running a large farm and bringing up a young family , things took their toll.

A couple of years ago, Vanessa wanted to take control back and came to our 2023 Alpine Camp. She was determined but didnt realise that sticking with her program would stand her in such good stead. The camp opened her eyes and re-ignited a passion for racing. Since then she has competed at a few events including Port Mac 70.3, but this weekend was time to get a big reward. She completed a clean sweep of 4 wins in the Over 50’s at the Riverina Tri Series and took the series win. Vanessa was never further back than 5th overall female across 4 races.

Congrats Vanessa !! This is one for you. It’s also one that demonstrates through positive mindset and hard training that athletes can do big things in this sport.

Kate Boyd, Scott Allison and Ryan Beattie headed off to the Sri Chinmoy Run Festival this morning. Looked like a cracking morning for it. Kate and Scott for the 7k and Ryan for the Half. Ryan came 3rd overall in the Half in a personal best time of 1:27:58. Scottie’s time was 32:37 and Kate’s was 33:40. All great times for a gravel and grass course!

Communication (again)

Last week I spoke briefly on this. It is something all coaches are working on all the time. In the days of so much communication it just becomes “noise”. My aim is to create a strong signal and not just be noise.

I have in the past sent important information out via no less than 4 channels and it has still been missed.

From Wikipedia .. Signal-to-noise ratio is defined as the ratio of the power of a signal (meaningful input) to the power of background noise (meaningless or unwanted input).

I have to punch through your noise with my strong signal.

In the end…. the best success in my experience has come when athletes actively engage in communication.