Team Nagi Coaching Newsletter – November 2022
Hi guys,
The month of November is always a very busy time at Team Nagi HQ because as much as the triathlon season is finally winding down with the last World Championship race of the season in Abu Dhabi, many of you are now back in training.
What was so refreshing to see was that many of you took my advice and made sure you took adequate time out from training to let the body and mind fully recover from the 2022 season. You know how important I consider this for so many reasons and I appreciate it’s not always an easy task to do this. The reason this is essential is because you don’t quite appreciate how wound up and tired you really are from a full triathlon season of training and racing. It will have taken a big toll on the body and mind.
Once over the initial struggle to take this recovery you quite quickly realise how much you needed it. You then start to unwind, relax and enjoy the unstructured time out. Then slowly but surely, that motivation a desire starts to return to get back on to the hamster’s wheel once again. This is a sport that demands so much of you. If you can be sensible and take these important breaks when needed, you set yourself up for more enjoyment, continual progression, and longevity within the sport.
For the athletes that are back in training this month has mainly been about setting the vision for the season ahead. Planning for performance is crucial at this early stage. It’s a phase of the training I very much enjoy because my creativity is needed combined with my athlete’s input. Through discussion we set up and very crystal clear of what we want the end performance to look like in 2023. This process is known as reverse engineering. We work backwards from the chosen A race performance so we understand what we will do in week-one of training, why we will be doing it and how this fits into the bigger picture.
The simplification of training is also crucial at this stage. Too often, too many athletes over complicate their training and try to cram in too much. What is important is that the athlete focusses on what is necessary and has the greatest value in the context where they are right now. Strong foundations must be put in place. It’s also crucial that the athlete switches their mind off to what others are doing. The development of their own path will be based on a huge number of unique variables that are specific to them. There is a million and one ways to train but what is important is focussing on what is right for you. Copying what some else does really isn’t the magic bullet you are looking for because that bullet was probably only ever meant for one person anyway.
This process of filtering out the noise is crucial and is where far too many triathletes go wrong. There is a plethora of misinformation and conflicting advice out there. Often athletes don’t know how to filter what’s right or wrong for them and invariably end up going down the wrong path even when their instinct tells them otherwise.
Trust this instinct and do what’s right for you but base it on a sound and thorough review of who and where you are as an athlete. It’s about feeding the body mind and body what it needs. Then start to filter out the noise and don’t keep adding based on what you are hearing, reading, and seeing. Stick with the clearly defined plan that has been created by you or for you and put the blinkers on. If it’s something you whole heartedly believe in, then success just be right around the corner. If not, you need to ask yourself the question why because you could already be setting yourself up for failure further down the line. If you have a plan you believe in, then the rest is easy (so to speak!).
Race Results
Triathlon World Championships – Abu Dhabi (Olympic distance)
- Simon Evans
- Splits: 23:10 swim / 1:01:08 bike / 43:38 run
- Total Time: 2:13:36
- 9th in 50-54 category
The way this guy transforms himself every year is remarkable. I see the hard work that he puts in day in and day out, so this kind of performance doesn’t surprise. When he puts his mind on a specific task and goal nothing will stop him (well maybe apart from his wife Shannon!). Huge respect Si on a stunning performance. I won’t tell people that you also swam off course due to poor sighting and lost about 2mins which would have placed you even higher. See even the best swimmers have off days.
GB National Swimming Championships
Huge congrats to our brilliant backstroker Bridget Smith who took bronze in her age category in the 200m backstroke. Posting a blistering 2:50:19 after 8 swimming events is simply brilliant. Her team also took bronze in the 4 x 100m medley…a hugely tough competitive event!
Book of the month
I thought i’d give you something a little bit different this month as it’s ‘off season’. I also wanted to show you I don’t just read books about crazy people testing their bodies to their outer most limits!
This is a man that had a different kind of endurance capacity, this man was an Ironman of the kitchen. This beautiful book about a titan of a man touched me in many ways.
One thing is for sure if you love eating, buying, cooking, and reading about food & it’s history like I do then this book is most definitely for you.
I’ve always had an enormous amount of respect for the Roux family name in relation to food. I don’t think there has ever been a family that has had such an impact on the British food scene. Their restaurants Le Gavroche & The Waterside Inn are temples of gastronomy.
Quite simply the reason why we can eat at so many wonderful restaurants in the UK is because of the influence of Albert Roux and his brother Michel because they influenced many of the world’s greatest chefs.
Born in the countryside in France and then growing up in a food starved Paris during the second world war. As a child he saw the horrific impact of war on its people growing up in German occupied Paris. There was an extreme scarcity of food at that time, so it maybe explains the generosity that Albert showed in his cooking in later years.
But for me this book is the most wonderful journey you can possibly imagine because it really starts when he moves to the UK to pursue his dream of becoming a chef.
I’ve always had a fascination with the great people of the past and present. Especially what we can learn from their journeys through life. There are also so many parallels between the different worlds of food, business, sport, and team culture…best summed up by Albert’s son Michel Roux Junior:
“Most of all, it is a joy to see running through the whole book all the lessons that I absorbed from him over the years. The value of enjoying what you do. The power of optimism and the willingness to work your socks off. And the importance of food – not just how to cook, or recipes for particular dishes, but the real worth of food. Food is not just fuel. Food is a joy. Food is life. Food can bring people together. If you look at that very first menu there are lots of sharing dishes, designed to be brought to the table and carved. That is very much the sort of ethos he espoused. He was always thinking of the togetherness and conviviality that food can bring. That is a way of being. That is something that my dad taught not only me, but the whole country. For that, I am both proud, and grateful.”
Team out & About 
Anybody recognise this backstroke Queen? Hasn’t changed a bit! Still winning swimming trophies at every age.
Happy 50th Birthday to our ‘Dancing Queen’…the poolside would be less bright (and quieter) without you! 
Coming soon…Swimmer Reborn