What is personalized coaching?

Personalized coaching: what is it?

 For several years now, I have been offering personalized coaching services to athletes, but also to people who want to perform as well on their bikes as they do at work. Here's what it involves.

There are several reasons why you might want to sign up for personalized monitoring of your cycling training.

Perhaps you simply live too far away from Vélo Cartel would like to enjoy the same programs as our members, but remotely. Or maybe your goals for the season are pushing you to be more disciplined, which requires more support. Perhaps you lack motivation or have an unusual schedule?

In any case, if you are consumed by the desire to perform, if you feel that you need training that is tailored to your goals and constraints, and if you are very serious about your approach, I can help you.

Selection and evaluation

Unfortunately, I can't take an infinite number of cyclists under my wing. Why? Because I closely monitor everyone's performance, which requires a certain amount of time in order to deliver quality service, but also to establish a relationship that involves numerous exchanges and modifications to the program along the way—the kind of things that require serious consideration of each person's data analysis and changes in their needs throughout the season.

So I select very serious athletes, but not only professionals. If you plan to do a season of road, gravel, or mountain racing, if you are obsessed with numbers and want to work on improving your fitness by following the protocols I recommend, then you are a potential client of mine.

We can start with a phone call or a meeting during which you can explain what you hope to achieve and give me your weekly availability. If I think we can work well together, I will offer you my perspective on things.

If you agree, an assessment will follow. Ideally, we do this at Vélo Cartel, but if you live far away, you can do it at home. If you already collect your data (watts, heart rates), I can even use it to create a profile to establish the basis for your training sessions.

Out of sight, close to the computer

It doesn't matter if you live on the North Shore, travel constantly, or can't get to Vélo Cartel your workouts.

For indoor sessions, I can send you your workouts on the Zwift and TrainerRoad platforms (however, you will need a Power Meter , ideally, a training base). Afterwards, for both rides and indoor sessions, you can download your data to the Today's Plan training software (this is done automatically from several platforms such as Garmin Connect). I will also post your weekly training plan on this calendar-like interface.

The latter is tailored to your schedule (each week, you can let me know if you have any commitments, the best times for your most challenging workouts, etc.) and, more broadly, to your goals for the season. This allows me to build your fitness development cycles in blocks, then adapt the program according to what is happening in your body and, on a broader scale, in your life.

Feeling unwell one day? Just send me an email or give me a call, and I'll adjust your weekly plan right away. At this level of performance, it's essential to get the most out of every session and take advantage of the times when you feel your best and most rested to tackle these challenges.

Every week, I analyze your performance. We can then discuss how you feel (you can also comment in Today's Plan, where I will read why you didn't finish a session, whether you found it too hard or too easy, whether you slept poorly the night before, etc.) and determine the course of action for the coming days.

Sometimes, feeling accountable and knowing that our coach will be observing what we do can have a significant impact on our commitment and discipline. If you ride on a rest day, I will know and remind you of the importance of taking days off, both for your mind and to give your body time to adapt and improve. Similarly, if you lack motivation, the plan in front of you and my possible inspection of your actions may pull you out of your torpor.

Set an example

You can even come and train with me if you feel like it. I still often do this, even with my youngest athletes, who are sometimes surprised at the level of fitness I manage to maintain at over 40 years of age.

The thing is, I test my own training programs before giving them to my athletes. Not only does this give me a better understanding of the effort they have to put in, but I also hope it motivates them in some way. It gives them the feeling that, even though they sometimes train alone, I understand them and know exactly how they feel.