Performing in Europe: Attitude and Approach Determines Success

“Travelling to compete on the world athletics circuit sounds exciting but it is full of challenges for the High Performance athlete and their coach. It is important to get things right as errors can compound very quickly when living away from home in different countries. It is easy to go off the rails and difficult to get back on track in a strange environment.”

Legendary jumps coach Gary Bourne has guided Mitchell Watt and Bronwyn Thompson to Australian records and championship medals. He also recently steered Henry Frayne to Commonwealth Games silver, and these are just three of his success stories over a long coaching career.

Gary has been travelling on the international circuit with his athletes for 24 years and knows what is takes for athletes to deliver. With the European season underway, Gary explains that ‘there is nothing magic about performing in Europe.’

Before Departure

Arriving in Europe in very good shape is the number one rule for a successful campaign. This means being toward the end of your specific physical conditioning phase of training when specific loads are reasonably high – for us this means our running speed and jumping / bounding and strength in the gym are close to PB shape. We train hard right up to the day before we leave Australia.

Travel Tips to Prepare you to Continue Training

The travel is long (24 hours or more in total) and arduous. For athletes with a history of back and hamstring issues it is important that they invest in their upcoming campaign by upgrading (at their own expense) to business (at least on the way over) or at least seats with more leg room for younger HP athletes. It is better to fly via Asia with a night’s stopover and the business class tickets are cheaper.

This year Henry Frayne flew Australia - Shanghai – Moscow – Milan business class for a considerable saving. He will fly back to Australia in cattle class after Stockholm, but he achieved his aim of arriving in Europe in good shape without any body sync issues, ready to continue training.

In my days of coaching Bronwyn Thompson, I developed a routine for long haul travel that involved getting up every two hours and spending 30 minutes down the back of the plane, standing and doing some light stretching and a few light (generally isometric) exercises. When in Singapore / Dubai or at other stop-overs, we would go into the airport gym and cycle / exercise and then shower & eat before re-boarding. If facilities were not available, we would walk for an hour or so.

There was only one sleep on the flights over, minimum consumption of airline meals, no coffee and definitely no alcohol. It worked well. You arrived tired but not stiff and sore. Sleep can be had at the end of the first day in Europe, but you arrive ready to get on with training.

Off the plane we continue with a program I call “time-zone adaptation”. It is just getting the body and mind into the new time zone (8-9 hours different to Australia). If we arrive in the morning (usual), we start that afternoon. We do three days of tempo running (10x100’s @ 80%), followed by a gym day and then a faster running day. On day 6 we jump if everything is feeling OK. This is followed by a rest day. Then we are ready to compete a couple of days later or train until you do like at home.

Maintaining Physical and Mental Shape

In Europe we continue with a training load like at home during a domestic season. There is a travel / rest day and then a warm-up only day before any competition day and competitions are followed by another travel/ rest day. I do an additional day’s taper only once during the European preparation for the championship – always for a single targeted meet where we are expecting good conditions and a good performance. I will do a light week and then a 3-day taper the next week for a major championship. It is the same program I follow at home during the domestic season.

Successfully managing the hiccup of long haul travel and adjustment to a new time zone is the key to starting off on the right foot. Getting on the plane in very good physical shape, getting off and managing the transition back to training with minimal reduction in load, provides the foundations for a good international season.

Attitude and Self Belief

Athletes who are in shape are most likely to come unstuck on the circuit when they start to second guess their training and program. They don’t really believe in what they are doing and become distracted by watching what everyone else is doing in training or at the warm-up track for competition.

They see other athletes doing different drills and they start to believe these things actually make a difference. I have observed this stuff for 24 years on the circuit now and never seen drills make any difference to performance unless they have been specifically developed to solve an individual technical issue an athlete may have.

I feel the most valuable trait for an athlete to have to compete successfully on the circuit is selfbelief. Much of this comes from knowing you have prepared well and are in great shape.

Henry has great belief in his own ability and when he is in shape I believe he is capable of beating anybody as he has a fierce competitive nature to go with it. The difference between 8.30m and 8.50m is some speed and technique, but it also attitude.

Training Base and Cooking

Managing diet is another important factor. I already mentioned not over-eating on the plane and getting the diet right is just as important when you land. We used to rent a house from a lady in Cologne for our small group. This enabled us to cook our own meals and for the coach to keep an eye on the athletes’ diets. They were great tours with Chris Noffke (8.33m-LJ Former Wold Youth Champ), Briggsy (Kane Briggs 16.97m-TJ, 2.24m-HJ), Mitch Watt (8.54m-NR LJ), Henry Frayne & Dan Greenwood (Biomechanist). These days Airbnb seems to be the option for everyone as there is no central training base. Key training base considerations for my athletes are weather, access to facilities, familiar medical and relative closeness of several airports with discount European airlines.

Houses or apartments, such as AirBNB, are better than hotels as athletes and coaches can prepare meals as they do at home. If in Italy it is worth bringing a can of protein (approved) as well, as the local food, with most of the cheaper options being pasta and pizza, does not contain much protein and meat / chicken can be expensive.

Cultural Appreciation but No Street Food

The travelling HP athlete needs to be adaptive to new cultures and different environments and customs. Don’t expect things to be like they are at home. Be well mannered and courteous at all times wherever you are, and the locals will generally be welcoming. Make sure you dress in a manner that is respectful of local customs or beliefs. Boys should dress tidily and don’t walk around or train without your shirt on and girls should dress conservatively outside your training venues, so you don’t attract unwanted attention in some countries.

Do what the locals do. Be flexible – in Italy they eat meals much later than in Australia and most shops are closed between 1-4pm then opening until 9.00pm. Stay away from street food and cheap take-away food as a stomach virus can cost you dearly. Henry Frayne lost a week of training and about 7kg in the last 14 days before the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and it completely de-railed his campaign.

Bronwyn Thompson achieved her career best jump of 7.00m under the coaching of Gary Bourne

Rest Over Physio

Just because there is a free physio or massage available, don’t over-use it. Try to stick to the same routine you follow when at home in Australia. Henry has had much less physio in Europe this tour than he does in Australia. There is more time for recovery and rest before and after training and this will help in the macro-tapering between high level competitions and it will help bring about the best performances.

Athletes’ Form and Sticking to the Competition Plan

It is essential that the coach controls the competition program. Good form does not mean an increased capacity for competitions.

In a championship year I prefer a program of compete, compete, two weeks training, compete, compete and then into the team holding camp for 3 weeks training before the championship. However, this very much depends on how the athlete travels.

Professional Athlete Versus Tourist

Travelling athletes can get off track by forgetting the reason they came to Europe in the first place. To stay on track the athlete has to live life as normal as possible.

When I see athletes eating out too often, putting on weight, doing the tourist spots at the expense of prioritising training, sitting around focussed on planning their holiday post the championship, rather than focussing on their upcoming performance at the championship, or going out regularly at night, I get concerned. I am concerned about where their focus is, and I have seen it often enough to know it will end badly for them when they get to the big stage. 3 weeks training before the championship.

Touring HP athletes are professionals, and this is their job. The European circuit is the only real test of their mettle and the only place to genuinely impress the world. Fiercely defend that opportunity as an athlete because if you don’t you may never get another one.

You are privileged to be there and there is an entire history of parents, family, supporters, friends, Institutes and Academies back home who have contributed to getting you there over your life to date. Honour that support through giving your European campaign and the championship at the end your total focus and effort toward being the best you can be. That will be appreciated far more by all involved compared to a host of pictures of you in tourist spots, in restaurants or drinking coffee.

Promise yourself a holiday after the championship as a reward for your good performance at the championship! Make it a motivating factor and not an end-in-itself.