Elite coaching special - Nic Bideau, coach to Craig Mottram

Bringing the best out of Mo
One athlete who has benefited from spending time with Mottram and Nic is Mo Farah. In the summer of 2006 he went second on the British all time list at 5K and won European Silver. Typically for an athlete who had been around Bideau the look on his face at the finish of the European Championships showed he had been running for gold.

Nic said how Mo had progressed on a winter trip to Australia then a pre-season trip to the US: “Mo first came to altitude with us in Australia and after the first few months we realised he shouldn’t just be doing the exact same workouts as Mottram. So the next time, when he came to the US, we adjusted the training to be more specifically tailored to suit Mo’s engine and he improved dramatically.

“In our group, if ten people come to training they rarely do the same session. There are times there is no problem with them all doing the same training but when there is specific preparation you have got to be careful.”

But the training is not the only key to improvement: "Mottram is very disciplined and very focussed on good recovery. Mo, prior to coming to train with us would come to train on a Tuesday then say ‘See you next time’. What was in between was not so measured. Our system is very measured. We’re making sure we’re not training too hard on the other days and that the athletes are achieving what they are supposed to in between the times we see them at the track.

“From my observation English guys these days are more likely to run 40min at a good pace – what I call grey area training, it is neither specific training nor recovery and is more useful in getting athletes tired for the next session than actually building fitness. My athletes would do 65-70min very easy recovery runs. Mo saw this and how they lived. It was more than just how they trained, it was how they were eating, the gym sessions, the focus.”

The benefits he reaped were clear to see. Other British athletes may soon be benefiting from Nic’s input too. As well as working with Becky Lyne, Nic is also speaking to Andy Baddeley. He said: “I want to see what effect I can have on him if he comes out to Australia for a period with our group. He has already had a couple of years in another system and so I am looking forward to the challenge of getting him thinking more like a winner.”

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