I recently wrote glowingly of women athletes, where I intimated how they tend to perform far closer to their true potential than their male counterparts. That is quite a bold statement, yet I truly believe that it holds true in many cases, particularly in top flight international endurance sports. While this observation formed the tail end of a piece more dedicated to non-conformists, I do feel that this notion – as well as a few others – deserves a more detailed mention.
Sporting results and social media content, whilst an integral part of daily information, tend only to scratch the surface of reality. If one takes a look at the weekend results of two female Olympic medalists, you could be forgiven at wondering where their future intentions lie.
Nicola Spirig and Lisa Norden finished one-two in the triathlon of London 2012. With a photo-finish determining their final results, these two athletes had very different pre-Olympic buildups. Their post-London schedules have also been far from conventional and - if one looks at what they have been up to this past weekend – quite diverse.
Whilst the Dane Norden turned in a seemingly below par performance at a lesser race in Zurich, Spirig was victorious on the athletics track in the Swiss National 5000m Championships. The fact that both athletes were competing at different events in the same country is perhaps not the only thing they have in common. More importantly, the common denominator between Lisa, Nicola and many other female athletes could boil down to a single word: trust.
The dynamics of male and female athletes are perhaps more different than one may initially believe. Take a group training ride consisting of several males, for instance. Whilst good natured banter and piss-taking is often prevalent, the underlying ego tends to become prominent at a certain point during the ride, normally the first major climb. This group session, whilst unstructured in the best sense of the term, effectively becomes a race where self-confidence either increases or takes a knock. I truly believe that many a male athlete - be they cyclist, runner, triathlete, whatever – tends to leave their best performances on the training field only to turn in sub-par performances come race day. I say this because I experienced this firsthand. In an older blog post where I recounted a period of pure motivation in my late-teens, one of the key contributing factors in realizing this mindset and attaining my ultimate athletic goals boiled down to a phrase repeated to me by an older athlete: “Don’t race in training, Jason.”
This brings us back to the word trust. Women athletes tend to place their undying trust in a coach. Compared to us males - who tend to know everything – this undying trust in another person’s guidance forms an athlete-coach connection that is perhaps critical to success. While this partnership can be a little tenuous at times, the coach/advisor/mentor’s most important role is to hold the athlete back. Yes, that is right; we see time and time again how a coach tends to have to reign the athlete in in order to protect them from illness, injury, overreaching etc. This can lead to short-term tension but does pay off eventually. Top female athletes are often very intelligent human-beings and this aptitude can be either a limiting or contributing factor to future success. Together with their showing their emotions more than males do, trust in their coach cultivates trust in themselves, more often than not resulting in a far more intuitive and coachable athlete.
Success stories of coach-athlete partnerships are plentiful. A great example is that of the great Zola Budd, who found true mentorship, life-balance and a love for classical music through a kinesiologist named Dr. Ron Holder. Then there are those instances where an athlete with world-class talent could have had a longer career, but suffered without proper guidance. If one thinks of Frith van der Merwe in 1989, her performances stand out as monumental. That she suffered chronic injuries thereafter and never regained that sort of form could be attributed the lack of a stronger guiding hand at the time.
Differences in attitude between men and women are also prevalent post-athletic career. Closer to home, I was fortunate enough to observe this theory firsthand earlier this year whilst working at a five day cycling stage race. Catering specifically for amateurs, this event involves several 160km-plus stages over challenging terrain, where participants are divided into three groups according to respective ability. Two days in there was an apparent upset, where a lady rider from the slower group three had assumed the overall lead in the female category.
Unbeknownst to her competition in the faster group two, Jo turned out to be a former elite-level cyclist in Great Britain, having lived and raced professionally over a decade previously. On holiday with her husband, this stage race was part of their greater travel itinerary, where actual winning was furthermost from her mind. Both geologists by qualification and occupation, travel with their bikes is their preferred form of holiday and wearing the leader’s jersey was but an unexpected surprise.
With her more results-driven competition intent on winning back the jersey, all sorts of tactics came into play upon Jo’s promotion to the faster group. But here is the best part of the story: upon conclusion of the timed zones midway through the third stage, the respective jersey competitions were effectively decided, with Jo remaining unruffled and victorious. All that remained was getting through the final 80km before a leisurely festival ride the following day.
Jo looked relieved that the lunch stop represented the end of the competitive component of the event, although not because she had the jersey. The ensuing race-neutrality signaled the opportunity for her to drop back down to her original group and ride out the remainder of the stage with her husband and friends! In contrast to some of the male “has-beens” in group one who were intent on harking back to their glory days, Jo’s attitude was refreshing as it was outstanding.
While Lisa Norden’s quest to regain full fitness is seemingly one of continuous obstacles, her commitment and resilience is certainly showing through. One of her trump cards – as with Nicola Spirig – is that she has a coach who understands her. Instead of driving her on with massive workloads, Darren Smith’s detailed approach to his charges promotes nurture instead of breakdown. Like Nicola’s sporting diversity, she is following a slightly different approach from the norm and has trust in it. It is all about patience, which if obeyed will no doubt produce spectacular results.
Women’s endurance sport is perhaps the most underrated source of knowledge, in my opinion. If you ever have the opportunity to mingle with top female athletes, beware:
You might learn something!
*Note: Image borrowed from www.zimbio.com
