monty wrote:
Here is the deal with Lionel, he doesnt need a coach. No one knows him better than himself, and he is one of those guys that just doesnt trust others when it comes to what he believes he knows better than anyone. This is not new or strange, virtually my whole generation self coached and managed themselves, and that was without the internet and all the knowledge base we all provided the current crop of competitors. So if Mark Allen and Dave Scott could do a 8;09 at Kona in 1989 with that knowledge, it should be immensely easier for an athlete with the right demeanor self coach themselves today.
Now to what Lionel is doing, he is doing great. He did need someone to tell him what an idiot he was leading up to this race, losing 10 lbs and 5 of it in the last few days before the race. That was just plain idiotic, and it looks like after the fact he knows this too. But problem is I'm not sure he would have listened to anyone before thinking how lean you are = faster times, just something he needed to learn on his own so that he can now believe it. Guys like him just won't believe others, and rightly so most of the time. But it is that once in awhile where it would have been nice if he were open and the right person was strong enough to be able to get through to him, but like relationship advice(do any of us ever listen to others?) he just needs to figure these things out for himself.
And he has done well along the way, with a steady and continued improvement. He has almost reached the pinnacle of triathlon and had a stellar career. To me his biggest enemy is burnout, can he sustain this pace for 5 more years, even 10?? Others have, but with a little more patience, Lionel wants things done, and he wants them now. This is what makes him such a great athlete to watch, he just goes after whatever he perceives as a flaw and attacks it. Who have we ever seen go from such a hack swimmer to doing an 18;50 LCM ? He defies all past examples, rides and runs with such an unorthodox style, that it just leaves our heads shaking and thinking if only he would listen to me, or that coach. Some people are just uncoachable by others, but that is ok. Mark and Dave and a lot of us did ok that way, trial and error, but always learning more from the errors than the victories.
He should be fine in Kona, unless the vegan thing is just deeper than he let on, or even knows about. But like he said, he has his own records of workouts and training blocs, so if they are good, continue to be good(and better than before) then he probably is on the right track. But he should be ready to adjust that in a moments notice in the next weeks if things go south in training, there really is not much room for error from this point on. And I would have him racing more at 163 or so for Kona, couple lbs lighter than last time, but much higher than this last race. He has acknowledged that 161 was probably the right weight when he weighed in a few days prior, so he is going the right direction..
All of this is extremely true. But at the same time that's what's hard: I WANT to see him dominate and do well all the time but he gets in his own way! He should not be making these types of huge, monumental errors in judgement at his level. Could someone with a real job making a top 1% income in their field get away with the errors he has made? No, they'd be fired.