Caroline Toshack
European Duathlon Champion F35-39 2007&2008
I have been a competitive age group duathlete since 2005, and have primarily coached myself over that time. However, I reached a point last year where I could not look objectively at my own training and performance and needed some professional advice. From the outset I knew I had chosen the right coach for me. I have absolute trust in Louisa and I know that she wants me to achieve my goals as much as I do. My programmes are a perfect balance of injury prevention, technical improvement, progressive workouts and good old fashioned hard work. They fit well with my work and personal life, yet I do not feel that my training is being compromised in anyway whatsoever. I have been guilty of over-training in the past, one of the reasons why I need someone to overview my training. With Louisa I feel that I have never worked so hard, yet I start a new week of training totally refreshed and raring to go again.
Since running is my strongest area, we have been working primarily on my biking ability, while maintaining my running performance. After a winter of turbo sessions and indoor work I was delighted last week to get out and ride my bike and discover that my steady riding pace is now faster than it was at my peak fitness last year. I was even more delighted to surprisingly obtain a personal best 10k run, achieved on only 2 run sessions per week. To be at this point, at this time of the season is much more than I could have hoped for.
I am heading into the 2008 season a fitter, stronger, wiser, happier and mentally stronger athlete. I cannot underestimate the part that Louisa has played in this.
Caroline sucessfully defended her title to again claim GOLD at the European Duathlon Championships in her age-group.