Marginal Gains (Technology)

This concept, which has been coined by the media _[1], is used by the British Cycling Team _[2]. The idea is to look at every aspect of ones training regime and make minutiae changes to edge success.

This blog post is in two parts. The first part looks at the role of Technology and the second on unexpected marginal gains.

Technology in sport is becoming a major and increasingly vital factor, particularly where 100^th’s of a second are separating top 3 spots. In some sports, like Formula 1, it is getting to the point where rules are introduced to try and make the action more exciting for the viewer[3]. Rather that allowing teams a free hand on car development.

It does looks like NASA control centre and probably the origins of this technology/idea did indeed come from the space race. One of the reasons to do this analyse is to monitor the life signs of the car and predicting required maintenance prior to it potential failing. In industry this is known as a “full life cycle model”[4].

This style of monitoring is being applied with the players Irish rugby team instead of wires they use a GPS pack.

Ireland rugby captain Jamie Heaslip says his team has have been wearing GPS packs since 2009. “By harnessing this data [it] can protect players from injury and of course to help them train to win”.  If we can have a picture of a player's health and what's normal for them, we can measure when they are most run-down, or vulnerable to injury, and adjust training or games tactics to prevent this from happening [5].

This because like the car a game/race takes its toll on players, so by taking this data and running though a computer we are able to essentially predict when a player/car is likely to get injured/break.

This potential gain for this style of technology can be classed as marginal. But the risk of loosing your top player through a training injury can spell disaster.

It is not just general monitoring where technology is making a difference ArcheryGB , with the help of Quintec[6], use high speed cameras for in-depth shooting analysis. One particular area they have been working on is the execution of a shot.

So the idea for this is that when the archer shoots an arrow you would want the hand to come straight back after loosing, ensuring a clean shot .  Now with physiological pressure of the shot and maybe holding the shot too long it can cause a forward/erratic loose.

By using the “blobs” they can identify with high speed cameras and some specialist software if the hand is dropping or going forward.

This is incredibly detailed and because it is so accurate the team can monitor the effect on the archer at different distances, target and blank boss. From this you can deduce the effect and adjust the training regime accordingly.

All this technology is great but do club coaches get left behind? Can club coaches apply these technological gains? Well yes I think so. The rise in digital cameras, smart phones and specialist apps like Coach eye mean that we can use tech more readily to analyse an athlete.

Granted it is not as accurate as the work completed by Quintec, but it can be useful.

The videos can then be hosted on websites like Youtube, which the archer and coach alike can view. Then they can view their own progress or you as a coach can use this to advise them, that is a lot of potential. Not bad when you consider this can all be done from a phone

So the use and application of technology can help support and train athletes in various ways. What of the other aspects of marginal gains?

Why Coach?

Well this post was planned to come a few weeks but with the recent news of Heather Watson “splitting”[1] from her coach this was perfect time to release it.

With high profile names leaving their coaching teams; my friends ask “Why Coach?”… It is not a surprise they ask, particularly when they hear me complain about the paperwork, time and the seemingly endless seminars that I go on. This work often involves traveling to different counties, taking annual leave from work, all for free and out my own pocket.

Well the easy answer is I love coaching and do it for the enjoyment.

That doesn’t really answer the question, nor make for an interesting blog post, as I personally feel it is a different type of enjoyment from shooting [2]. When you are shooting it is the challenge, the competition, the enjoyment of participating in group activity, which makes sport fantastic to the player. 

The enjoyment with coaching is quite different. It is the sense of fulfilment. When you work with someone and coach them you grow a, professional relationship, very much like a teacher/mentor does.

You get caught up in the emotions particularly when an archer, goes up to shoot that final arrow in a head to head and the amerce pressure that brings.

It’s rollercoaster of feelings, but like most emotions it comes with supreme highs and lows. The lows are particularly hammering, as coaching can be classed as a bit of gamble[3]. In that the changes you instigate to what you consider “better” might not work and you can be held accountable for that change.

It could be the catalyst as to why the person stops shooting or lead to injury. If that is the case it hurts, a lot. Now this is an extreme case as there are a whole host of reasons why a coaching relationship can go that way. You may need to move coaches to improve and achieve your goals.

Tiger Woods was first coached by his dad then Butch Harmen and more recently Hank Haney. In that time he went from junior golfer to number 1 in the world.

All things considered why do why coach?

What really makes me coach is when someone comes up to you 6/7months later and says “guess what I hit a personal best today” or seeks you out to say they got a bronze in the local competition or “I got my first gold today” and the best is “thank you, that really feels better now”. As a coach that news makes you feel unbeatable and that can’t be taken away from you.

As you know deep down they wouldn’t have been able to get there without your help. That is the reason people coach.

A small note:

The above is Ibrahim, part of the Quatar archery squad. This is not bad for someone who came to Reading University Bowmen as a fresher.

Over Train; does it exist?

As I sat at a coaching session, one of the county coaches had just started their course to go for senior coach award.  One of the tasks was to write a 2000 word essay on the theory of over train.

This would be a good blog post idea.  What is it about and if it exists.

Overtraining is a simple concept; it is the total focus on training to a point that it damages your ability[1]. So by trying too hard we will almost loose our integrity and become worst at our sport. Now this can come in many forms and one of the examples is with injury.

This is a tragic case when he suddenly collapsed on the pitch during a football game.  The most excepted theory is that Fabrice Muamba went to an intense American fitness camp club in Feburary of the same year[2]. It was surmised that this had put an untold stress on his heart and turned it into time bomb just waiting for it to give up. This theory can never be proven, but if true it does indicate the risks of overtraining.

It is not just fitness the pressure and stress of training can also cause anxiety. The mental stress is similar to job stress and it is well known that a broker’s job is stressful[3].

These examples could be result of over training, with both the sportsman and brokers going for gold at all cost, with themselves being the ultimate sacrifice.  Yet training is not simply the number of hours shooting or working, it covers a number of areas like[4].

• Technique.
• Psychology.
• Fitness.
• Nutrition.

 With the case of Fabrice Muamba it could be argued that too much effort in fitness caused him to bow out from the game and too much stress with the brokers affects their Psychology/mental state with similar results.

So have these athlete’s/workers neglected parts of their training program by focusing too much on one section, thereby leading to under performance?

This is possible; Simon Needham discovered that by shooting less number of arrows the week before a major competition actually improved his performance[5]. So before this realisation was he overtraining and focusing too much on shooting?

It could be that he was neglecting the other aspects of your training program or it is possible that his previous training program was not entirely suited to him.

Fabrice Muamba and brokers is a clearer example of overtraining and Simon Needham is less so.  What can be gleamed from both examples is that regular review of an athletes training program is key to maintaining peak performance.

This leads back to the original question; does over training exist? Yes I feel it does; there are too many examples of professional and amateur athletes bowing out from the game due to overtraining.

The bigger question to answer is though can the effects of overtraining be nullified by a complete training program?

Maybe as a complete program should be reviewed regularly, tailored to the athlete and complete in such a manner to maximise performance and minimise risk. Training programs can often be far reaching as current thinking (particularly in cycling world) is all about marginal gains to edge victory. 

Reference

[5] the Art of Repetition Simon Needham pg 103

“Know thy enemy as one knows thyself” Sun zu War 500BC

This time round I am going to focus my attention on the Ashes tournament and namely an article by Alec Stewart [1].

He is reporting on the “Dominate[ing]” English in the series we are 2-0 up in a 5 test match game and are looking strong going into the next test match at Old Trafford.

The language he is using and the feeling he is projecting already sound like it will be a forgone conclusion. Citing stats like

"347 victory" and a "sign of a great team"

This is very patriotic and harks back to when England was the Empire in the world.  This article is full of British pride when once again the Union Jack is and can be flown with all the glory of Royal Britannia. 

May long pray it continue (please all rise for the national anthem), however I do have a nagging doubt that this is not the end.  The Australians are if anything fighters and will not lie down easily. Yes they are considered to be the “weaker side”[2] in this competition; however they came close in the first Test (lost by 14 runs[3]) and have had moments of brilliance.

 Ashton Agar's "astonishing 98" runs on last stand in[4]

This to me is not a side that you can write off, which is why you need to “know thy enemy as one knows thyself” So you don’t underestimate ones opponent and get caught out.

An example of this is to do with Rebecca Adlington coming third in the 800m Olympic final, this is a disappointing tale and where the hype for her winning was huge, but let us spare a thought to the Winner a young 15 year old from America. 

Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky was regarded as a sensation and a surprised winner of this event with the favourite (Rebecca) coming in 3^rd[5]. Was she such a surprised winner? Well evidence suggest otherwise as each of her previous Major tournaments her "times kept dropping" [6]. This shows that the probability of her going very fast in the final was there and predicted [7].

Now did she do something special? Certainly it was an Olympic gold. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and looking at her previous times the evidence was there that she could have been a threat.

Now back to the Cricket, if England can win the next test match, that would be brilliant. Yet if Australia wins I wouldn’t be surprised if Alec Stewart doesn’t report “Shock Victory for Australia”. Would I be surprised if Australia mounts a comeback? No, as you can never underestimate your opponent.

Update: The result of the 3rd test was a draw and not by England battling to the end in a heroic struggle against the southern hemisphere might. No the weather intervened[8] and stopped play just as Australia was on the road to wining. Oh well sometimes divine intervention has to play its part. Royal Britannia everyone.

Saints, Role Models and Lucky Charms

It is an interesting what we pay homage to and what we put our faith into, to help us succeed.

Dutch Target

It is a fantastic picture and many thanks to the “Dutch Target” for posting this on his website, view the link below the picture to have a look at more of his photos.

So what is a role model? A role model is someone we look up to and it inspires us to do great things.  It is often a member of our family, sportsmen, film stars, someone successful in business and also Saints.

Families are there to support us and in their only special way help sportsman from introducing us to a sport, taking us to the ground to train and cleaning our kit. That is sometimes the reason why we keep going to make them proud.

Telegraph

In the list I mentioned Saints; they are a curious one as they are irrespectively linked with Christianity and particularly the Catholic Church. Their exploits are arguably the first ever defined role models. 

They are people who did something in history so profound that they were raised to a saint status for all to reverie and pray to. That praying makes them an idol, so for example people would pray to Saint Margaret of Anitoch[1] for a safe child birth or for success in archery it is Saint Sebastian[2].

This doesn’t mean that people who are not saints don’t get the similar treatment.

Flickr

This is on the Gypsy Lane, Barnes and the location of the death of front man Marc Bolan of the T-Rex[3].  People have travelled from all over the world to visit this site. To put it another way they have taken a pilgrimage to this place to pay their respects. Now Marc Bolan is not a saint but yet people must Idolise him in the same way and inspire them to do great things. Don’t you think anyone who visited here wanted to bash out a riff like T-Rex?

This is where role of saints and role model becomes a grey area as they can be one of the same as they are used by people to inspire them.

This use of a role model is influential and they help us make decisions particularly if there is a common problem e.g I want to be the number 1 archer in the world, now how did Brady Ellison go about that?  Well he asked his coach “I want to be the best” Jenny meadows as admitted that Dame Kelly Holmes as her inspiration for that very reason[4]

Well when it comes to my role models, I have already spoken about a few on here and this is my current list.

• Annabel Vernon, post 1 expands on that.
• Brady Ellison for the question he asked his coach “How do I be the best” It would my dream to be asked that.
• Naomi Faulkerd as although we never cross paths we were pitch against each other in postal competitions as juniors. She is now in the UK squad and me, well I am here J and because of our diverging paths I have often wondered “what if?” (addition 05/06/2013 she has just been selected as talent coach for the south, you never know our paths may yet cross[5])

But there are other things which help keep our moral up and subsequently our performance and that is in the form of a lucky mascot.

One of most famous has got to be the Simon the cat on the HMS Amethyst the who “did his duty” in hunting rats, maintaining moral and remained at her post, by the captains side , throughout the Yangtze engagement. It is a truly heart warming story and she was awarded the Dickin Medal for bravery [6]. He was a very lucky mascot indeed.

So something which isn’t a person, a role model or a saint helped people in a dire situation. But it doesn’t have to be living creature to keep you on track. This is the moment for truth, I am going to regret putting this on the web, but this is my lucky mascot.

Yes it is a teddy; admittedly not this specific one but one very much like it. Why you might ask?

Well it reminds me of a choice I made a very long time ago. It wasn’t a particularly happy or easy choice, but it was made and this teddy reminds me of that.  Just by having it in the box reminds me of this and help keeps me on the right path, however repetitive that path may sometimes feel.

It does sound crazy; it is at the end of the day an inanimate object, which can be bought in a thousand different shops.  Yet to me it is special and because of that it will forever help me to succeed.

Revist My Goals

Well I sort of got distracted by my last post and didn’t even talk about archery. With the indoor season well and truly over it is time to revisit one of my earliest posts, my indoor season goals[1] 
So how did I do?

Grade 2 Coach.

This has been successfully completed, with much rejoicing and relief.  There are plans for the first of the lvl 3 trials in September/October, heaven knows if I will be ready for another round of death by PowerPoint, we shall see though.

New Stabilisers for my Bow

Complete, I now have a lovely set of longrods and side weights for my bow.  They are nice, although they apparently colour clash something horrible with my riser.  I really don’t see what their problem is, this might be because I am colourblind? Hell if it puts off my competitors, then that is an additional bonus.

Goal of 550

This was a just completion.  I hit a 552 on my last proper indoor competition, fantastic feeling and like always with a target score you generally only just completed it. 

Maintaining relationship with girlfriend

Well I am not single, so this must be a success too.

Conclusion

Overall it has been a very successful indoor season. I have achieved all my goals, albeit just, and in addition to this I have been able to grown in confidence as an archer and coach.

So what is next? Well my treat for achieving all this was to get a new bow. This unfortunately I will not be able to do, due to the reality of real life. I just can’t simply afford it.

The cost of the new kit would have been in the region of £800-£1000 pounds, this is just out of my reach at the moment. This is a good point as this can be the reality of an amateur sport, you just sometimes can’t physically provide the funds or time to do it.  I do wonder what you could achieve if you could do just that, an old friend is trying to find out.

Stergios Ntikos

Good luck to him.

With regards to a new bow you wouldn’t expect me shoot better, but that is not the point I am trying to make. I had it as a reward for my hard work, I have done the work yet there is no physical reward at the end of it.

I am not down and out yet though.  I can buy a new set of arrows; this will be a physical reward and allow me to remain competitive throughout the outdoor season. This would be great preparation for the indoor season when I can/possibly purchase a new bow.

Goals for the outdoor season

1. Achieve a bowmen status.
2. To work with more experienced coaches within Berkshire and Hampshire and develop youtube video footage.
3. Maintaining a relationship.

Honestly they are very similar to my indoor goals, there is one based on scores (Bowmen status) one to improve my coaching ability (working with experienced coaches) and thirdly there is one for personal relationship, which is good but is this set enough?

One of my inspirational figures is a guy called Devin Graham who runs a youtube video page and some of his videos are truly stunning, but more than that it is methodology which I admire.

Devin Youtube Page

That is dedication and determination[2] the saying he mentioned in the video at 6:35 is:

“A poor man plans for the weekend and a rich man plans 4 years in advance”

I would change the wording slightly from poor to content and rich to successful, but the principle is similar. So my season’s goals can be classed as the weekend goal, but they are incremental steps towards what?

That answer is one I am not willing to share online or actually been outlined by myself yet, but it has got me thinking that far in advance.  You never know someone may well use me as an example on their blog or use me as a role model, that would be a true honor.