SUPPORTER'S CORNER

Only as a team you are strong

There are two major factors that determine the success or failure of an ultra-athlete in addition to the athletic and mental preparation:

A well-functioning team of supporters who will assist her/him during the race.

A well-functioning social environment - such as a partner and / or family, who support the athlete in everyday life and share the athletes' athletic ambitions and dreams.

Below is a compilation of the qualities that a good supporter should have.

During a race, the focus is entirely on the athlete

It is not easy to find good supporters. They have to want it, they have to be able to - and then they need to have enough time / holiday to be present during the competition.

So, here is the list of qualities:

Enthusiasm and fun at ultratriathlon.
Enjoy teamwork: It makes sense to work with several supporters (at least two, preferably four people), who keep each other awake or alternate in support.
Perseverance and the will to stay up all night long: Even as a supporter, you have to expect to get along without or with very little sleep.
Take back yourself: In the race the athlete is in the focus - but not totally forgotten (eg do not forget to eat enough).
The willingness to sacrifice one's free time and, if necessary, to spend holidays on it.
To be tough: These are extreme conditions. As a supporter, you must not take everything personally, even if the situation is difficult or due to fatigue sometimes a wrong word is spoken.
Empathy: Leave the athlete alone if he is annoyed. In particular, if you do not know each other too well. If necessary, agree in advance with the athlete, which behavior is the right one.
Do not be too delicate: If the athlete moans and wants to stop, do not answer with "oh yes, you poor, then better stop", and when there is no health problem, motivate the athlete to go ahead and not to quit.
Adhering strictly to the agreed schedule, but also reacting flexibly depending on the situation.
If the athlete becomes aggressive or insulting at times, keep your ears closed - in sports the athlete is ticking differently, so you can not take anything personally.
Acting accordingly: Make sure the athlete eats and drinks regularly and has the right equipment for every discipline and weather.
Decision-making: Make your own decisions when the athlete is no longer able to do so. For example, take him off the bike when he is too tired and make him take a break.
Serenity: Do not put the athlete under pressure.

Biggest mistakes when supporting

Disputes in the team, because you spend a long time in a small space together - especially when the team members know each other not so well. It might be a qood idea to train supporting during a longer training session, during which the future supporters accompany the athlete in the preparation phase. It is an art not to let athletes feel the problems which might arouse amongst the members of the supporting team.
Not pay enough attention to nutrition and hydration (risk of dehydration). A good supporting team acts proactively - not only in terms of nutrition.
The support team forgets itself: Even if the athlete sleeps little and “tortures” himself, the supporters should not do the same - they must always be reasonably well rested. Sometimes it happens that the athlete had to send his supporters to bed or someone did not eat enough because of the stress.
Always question everything: In my opinion, the best supporters are mothers: they are well organized, caring and know exactly where what is. Good are supporters who do their job reliably and maintain order. On the other hand, with supporters who are themselves athletes, experiences might not be as good: they automatically assume their individual experiences and know everything better. Rarely, they are also ultra-athletes and know the specific requirements.

What does the supervisor expect from the athlete?

Some ultratriathletes are a bit chaotic and not as well-structured as long-distance athletes. Although an ultratriathlon takes much longer, most athletes are much more relaxed. The following things may be expected by a supporter from his / her athlete:

Getting along well with each other
A certain amount of gratitude
Have a great time together
Information about the athlete's strategy (there are special time goals, a strict nutritional plan, a specific sleep schedule)
Information about equipment and catering (which garment is in which box, where are the replacement tubes, which composition of the beverage powder is desired, etc.)

Strategies for motivational problems

At some point, problems inevitably will occur: the point at which every athlete goes through a crisis. Be it due to fatigue, pain or external conditions like weather or a wheel defect. Here it is beneficial if not only the athlete has a suitable method to deal with it, but also the team knows how it can support the athlete from the outside.

Whatever works, the reward principle is: ride two more laps, then you will get this or that to eat or drink (cake, pizza, beer, etc.).
When the wailing of the athlete goes wild, let's just say it in plain language: "Now stop moaning, the others are also riding through the constant rain - pull yourself together!"
Situation-dependent acting: If the athlete takes an unusually long time for a round and begins to lose time, one can sometimes say: "Were you on the beach?" Perhaps the athlete is a little offended at first, but until the anger is gone, he completes the next round much faster.
Running with the favorite music of the athlete
A supporter accompanies the athlete; that brings distraction.
Sometimes it helps the athlete, when the team just shows presence - he is reassured when he sees that someone is there for him.

team building

Excerpt from team building for a large competition (RAAM):

“Without revealing too much about the preparation for the race, it might still be mentioned at this point that we had at least one team meeting every month for more than half a year and therefore slowly became a unit in advance. I don't think that there were and are many athletes who prepare so meticulously for this special race and involve the entire crew so early on. We did banal get-to-know and motivational exercises, but we also had discussions that got under the skin about fears and expectations. In retrospect, the foundation stone for future success was certainly laid in the spring, when our team gained momentum from time to time and everyone began to personally identify with the challenge that lay ahead in the summer.

What was the deciding factor in this regard? Certainly also the fact of self-confidence to have a crew attend regular meetings - not an insignificant amount of time for a group of working people - so to speak. Sometimes it was uncomfortable how much commitment was required from the team members and how much the athlete himself was the focus. We also always encouraged the athlete to take his own ambitions seriously and not to forego any detail in preparation, which may later be relevant to success.

It is important, as an athlete, not only to focus on organizing race participation and personal training, but also to expand team building accordingly. One should therefore not neglect to actively "request" the meetings. Starting difficulties in fine-tuning can certainly be avoided with more preparation time and an even more open handling of possible problems in the race.

It is nice that there are people who are willing to work in the team of a single athlete, who are selflessly committed to achieving goals of other people and even find it enriching. Conversely, you do not have to start a multi-day competition with a crew that is not at least largely the case.

partners

A few lines on the question of why an extreme athlete takes his wife or husband to the toughest races in the world.

Some athletes see it as a weakening of the team to have their partners with them because, of course, difficult, sometimes even unsightly moments can occur during a race lasting several days.

Others do not even ask the question, because the partners are very happy not to be involved or even actively work against it. Quite a few relationships may have been broken by this time-consuming passion.

But you can always feel that such a race is strengthening a relationship. The racing adventures thus become part of the shared memories and can perhaps be passed on to children as anecdotes. Then it becomes understandable when you read that all the adventures would never have been experienced without a partner who not only tolerated such spinning mills, but also always actively supported the implementation.

Source: "Go hard or go home" by Daniel Meier, adapted

Source: "Randonnée" by David Misch, adapted

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