Intuition, Nutters and the Will of Female Athletes
Brett Sutton has been a coach for all of
his adult life. From the time that his father taught him to be an
observer and a trainer, Sutton has applied those principles instilled
in him during his formative years to a seemingly diverse range of
sports.
“My father was a master in the art of
coaching,” explains Sutton. “He never read a coaching manual as
he couldn't read that well but he produced a constant stream of
winners. His confidence in my coaching abilities was such that he
sacked me as his assistant when I was fifteen. He told me that it was
time for me to be my own man.”
Brett Sutton is certainly his own man
when it comes to coaching. To many, he is a polarizing, even
controversial figure. His detractors say that he burns out streams of
athletes in an attempt to weed out potential champions. Others point
to the endless stories of monumental training sessions that seemingly
going against the principles of conventional wisdom. Burnout, injury
and disciplinarian are but a few of the recurring terms that have
peppered many an online forum discussion about Sutton over the years.
Yet there many athletes who hold him in the highest esteem, seeing
him more in terms of nurturer than merely that of a coach.
“Most definitely” says Sutton when
asked if he feels that he has evolved as a coach over the years. “For
some people I'm better and for others I'm worse – it depends on the
athlete. Every individual is different though, and it takes great
courage on the part of the athlete to give their complete trust to
the person coaching them. For example, if somebody is under
performing during training, I'll put my arm around one person and say
that it is OK and be sympathetic whilst I'll stamp my feet at another
ranting that this sort of behavior is totally unacceptable. While
you can explain those differing responses to them while it is being
delivered, it is very hard for them to process. It is a very fine
line between being totally authoritarian or empathetic.”
The attributes that make a good coach
can be difficult to understand. Sutton's background as a professional
boxer and later in the realm of animal and swimming coaching
gives him a unique perspective when it comes to endurance sports. At
face value, this diverse background is difficult to compare to a
sport like triathlon, but the similarities are more commonplace once
rationalized.
“I first coached football and then
swimming before moving on to animal training,” recounts Sutton.
“Working with dogs and racehorses taught me more than any lecture
that I've ever attended. You cannot talk to an animal; you have to
watch and work with the animal.”
With instinct and intuition being at
the forefront of successful animal training, Sutton has applied these
principles to humans with amazing results. Interestingly, he returned
to animal training for an extended period after the 2004 Olympics,
something that he thinks benefited his coaching in later years.
“I went back and worked with horses
for eighteen months. It was a great refresher course and helped me
greatly in in placing more emphasis on the mental side of athletics
coaching.”
Sutton lists the likes of Bernard
Hinault, Graeme Obree and Percy Cerutty as but some of the influences
on his coaching style over the years. Given that these three
individuals were somewhat non-conforming in many aspects of their
respective sports, it is perhaps unsurprising that Sutton likens
triathlon with the sport of boxing, where preparation in a holistic
sense is key to mere survival. One borrowed aspect would be that of
teaching an athlete the art defence, likening a boxer's ability to
endure a pre-determined set of rounds with that of a long-distance
triathlete dealing with a bad patch in the middle stages of the
marathon leg. Instead of fighting back, the athlete is prepared to
deal with a setback by applying what has been practiced in training.
Sutton feels that this sort of preparation cannot be quantified, as is
often the case in the world of multi-sport. In fact, since his
return to triathlon coaching after his post-Olympics sabbatical, he
has yet to use a stopwatch.
“I have trained in other sports where
measurements are necessary, but in triathlon they are not. Knowing
your heart rate is about the only measurement of importance in order
to move forward, but you don't need other data.
“Aerobic sports are scientifically
simple to train,” he continues. “But they are made overly
difficult by science. A person's power meter reading is going to be
very different depending on the swimming set they did before their
bike session. If they did 8x200m hard, then the cycling wattage will
be baseline if they rode for four hours. However, if they swam 5x400m
easy on a thirty second rest interval, then their wattage will be
pretty healthy.”
Sutton goes on to distinguish between
what he terms “gamers” and “nutters,” the former being those
who “want readings so they go easy on the swim, whilst the nutters
give it their all in the pool and then cry that night because their
bike numbers were so low. In reality, their workout was gold compared
to the gamer, who has the higher score, but they just don't see it
that way. I don't like tough people having machines telling them that
they are weak and weak people getting told they are tough when the
rested three days just to get a score. Just don't see the point.”
A noticeable trend over the years has
been the sheer number of world-class women athletes who have emerged
out of Sutton's stable, most notably Chrissie Wellington. This fact
extends back into the 1990s, where the likes of Loretta Harrop and
Siri Lindley achieved stardom under the former dog-trainer's tutelage
after many years of mediocre results. What are the reasons for his
continued success with female athletes? Are they more coachable than
males? For Sutton at least, it is a matter of attitude and mindset,
as well as the fact the men and women are totally different beings.
“It still astounds me that when we
look at all of the structural differences between males and females,
scientific data just lumps the two sexes together. This relates to
all aspects, be it diet right down to mental adaptations.
“I train men far less intensely than
I do females. Women are far less likely to sulk than men; they are
tougher and whilst they might be average with a road atlas, their
human compass is far sharper and more focused than most men. They
need less rest and when a female decides on a course of action, they
are far less likely to be affected by any distractions that may cause
doubt in their decision-making. Men are always re-evaluating their
position in everything they do, be it physically or mentally.”
Sutton sees himself as a coach of
excellence as opposed to one of lifestyle, which could go some way to
explaining his seemingly old-school principles as well as favoring
of a camp environment for his athletes. Whilst his intention is to
make an athlete more self-sufficient, he feels that group training
has some distinct advantages, particularly for those coming up
through the ranks.
“Outstanding athletes tend not to
have to struggle with many aspects that other less-talented athletes
deal with on a daily basis. They have little empathy with other
athletes as they are generally very singularly-focused in order to
produce great performances. What a training group does is to help
those lesser athletes that have less than brilliant self-discipline.
The group environment rubs off on them.”
Having now moved away from Ironman
coaching and focusing on Olympic-distance athletes, Sutton has
effectively gone back to his triathlon roots so to speak. How does he
view the current crop of triathlon exponents compared to those
champions he coached almost two decades ago?
“I still have my notes of what the
ITU athletes I coached were doing in training and racing then, so I
can be the one person that is qualified to compare” he explains. “I
think that the women of yesteryear ran faster with the exception of
Nicola Spirig and Emma Snowsill, who are doing the same times as Jackie Gallagher, Emma
Carney and Rina Hill were pre-2000 Olympics.
And what of the men?
"I think that the Brownlee brothers are maybe running a bit quicker than Simon Lessing and Mark Allen were, but not by much. When people make comparisons between different generations, they need to take into account people like Mark Allen. A champion needs to beat the best consistently and convincingly, just like Alistair Brownlee does.
"Champions are champions. Time is the only difference."
And what of the men?
"I think that the Brownlee brothers are maybe running a bit quicker than Simon Lessing and Mark Allen were, but not by much. When people make comparisons between different generations, they need to take into account people like Mark Allen. A champion needs to beat the best consistently and convincingly, just like Alistair Brownlee does.
"Champions are champions. Time is the only difference."
