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 this before. And at the same time, we coaches are used to working remotely, telecommuting, never having the daily proximity with the athletes. So this remote relationship for us is not new in the implementation of programs for riders. It is not much different from winter preparation.
What steps did the team take?
The priority is to ensure the health of our riders and the team. It's really physical and athletic maintenance. It's more of a transitional situation than a developmental or optimal preparation phase.
The team took the decision to give riders time to prepare for family confinement from a logistical point of view and so that they could take time to take care of their family for 15 days.
How did you adapt the training programs?
Each trainer is responsible for 7-8 riders in individual follow-up. They have daily contact. Through our trainer - 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 have a precise follow-up on the evolution of the condition of our riders.
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 work on the motivation of 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.
