Today the priority is to take a step back and give meaning to our daily life to slow down the epidemic and stay at home. There will be a second time when the situation will be simpler to work specifically for our future goals.
How do you live this situation?
At the same time, the situation is extraordinary from a logistical point of view. We have never encountered anything like this before. And at the same time, we coaches are used to working remotely, teleworking, never having daily contact with the athletes. So this remote relationship is not new to us when it comes to implementing programs for riders. It's not much different from winter training.
What steps did the team take?
The priority is simply to ensure the health of our riders the team. It's really about physical and athletic maintenance. It's more of a transitional situation than a phase of development or optimal preparation.
The team decided to give the riders time riders prepare for lockdown with their families from a logistical point of view and so that they could take time to look after their families for 15 days.
How did you adapt the training programs?
Each coach is responsible for 7-8 riders individually. They are in daily contact. Through our coach and physical trainer Stephen Barrett, we have set up a daily or almost daily weight training program for the athletes.
We have also set up home trainers sessions with today's technology which helps us a lot with guided or even piloted sessions.
All our training data is synchronized on our training platform, which allows us to accurately track the progress of our riders fitness levels.
We set up 2 collective trainings on a virtual platform, on Thursdays and Saturdays, closed to the team to ride together and keep a social link with everyone.
How do you manage to motivate the riders
This is the role of the trainer. To manage to break the monotony in the constitution of the trainings as much as possible. This means: vary the exercises, always give a red thread, precise objectives for the day.
The proximity with them is important so that they do not feel isolated. The structure had already set up a regular contact with a coach or a sports director.
