Speaking with Jane Hansom of Sponge Marketing during the build-up to the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawai’i, IRONMAN legend and coach Dave Scott gave his perspectives on the array of coaching tech solutions on offer across the endurance sport marketplace.
Dave felt that the many gadgets that have been developed are generally good for the industry, and the athlete. He said that new technologies are “a real asset. The only drawback is that [coaching tech] is on a pre-programmed system. When you add a coaching platform to assist that, you get definitive direction from a coach to say that: ‘this is your training intensity, your range.'”
He continued, “One question came up is that ‘Are we too reliant on technology when we actually race?’ To a degree we are, people become married to their device; and there’s a certain number of watts to be in; a tight little range. Yet, the unknown and unpredictable-ness of a race allows you to take a slightly higher risk. When you do that, you say ‘I feel great’, ‘my body feels good’, ‘I’m moving on fast whether it’s on the bike or the run.’ I think that’s a good thing to do.”
Dave added, “The simplicity of ‘old school Dave Scott’ is that I like the new devices, I use them with my athletes. I advise them to integrate those. But, I also advise them to take them off!”
He noted that training on instinct is as important, and that mixing intuitive feel and the use of technology for measuring performance is the preferred route to define an athlete’s potential.
