Dealing with change: how elite athletes adapted in lockdown

Rowena Morris (RM): Welcome to COVID-19 Business in Focus, where we explore the business impacts of coronavirus. Through PwC's partnership with British Athletics, our goal is to enable better decision making, using data and analytics, helping the team win more medals, in more events at major championships.

COVID-19 has impacted everyone's physical and mental wellbeing, and for athletes and coaches, the lockdown has meant that they've had to think really differently about how they train, stay motivated, as well as inspiring others.

Today we'll discuss the emotional effects of lockdown on athletes and coaches, and the coping strategies that they're using. We'll talk about how they've adapted their training, especially given the delay to the Olympics, and the role of data analytics in supporting them. I'm also planning on asking them for their recommendations and top tips on how we can all stay physically and mentally fit during this period.

I'm Rowena Morris, a director at PwC, and it's great to be joined today by Holly Bradshaw, a British Athletics track and field athlete, who holds the British record in pole vault. Scott Simpson, Holly's coach, and Alex Cooke, a data intelligence partner here at PwC, are also in the virtual studio with me today. Hi everyone, and thanks for joining.

So first of all to kick things off, Holly, from your perspective, what personal challenges have you experienced as a result of being in lockdown?

Holly Bradshaw (HB): I've experienced quite a few challenges to be honest, and obviously the main one being a lack of facilities. My job is to go out into a training facility and train, and given you can't really do that with social distancing that's been the main challenge, and I've done pretty well to be honest – like, staying fit staying strong, I've been quite lucky that I had a garage full of equipment which has been great. I think the only thing that I've obviously missed is pole vault, I’m not lucky enough to have enough space in my garden to have a pole vault pit, which a lot of my competitors do. It's been hard, but one of one of the big things for me as well has been motivation. It's not being able to pole vault, not being able to sprint, not being able to long jump, one of the things that I absolutely love doing the most, I've actually not been able to do, which has been quite sad, and I have found the motivation element quite hard, but I've tried to stay as mentally strong as possible – like I said, the gym was kept me going and the prospect of competitions potentially coming at the end of this season has definitely kept me motivated. Those have been the main challenges to me, really.

RM: That's a really good overview, and I think you're really interesting to hear how you’re approaching each of those different areas and how you're getting through it. And how about you Scott? How has COVID impacted your usual coaching practices?

Scott Simpson (SS): Well, normally I'm on track around 10 sessions per week looking after not just Holly, but you know direct responsibility for another half a dozen athletes as well, and that sees me coaching obviously pole vault as you might expect, but also their track-based sessions, sprinting and so forth, as well as gymnastics and weight room activities as well. And then on top of that, I support two other coaches at our training centre with indirect contact then with a perhaps another 10 athletes on top of that, which is additional sessions, and essentially a lot of that's gone out the window over the last three months. We've had no access to pole vault or gymnastics facilities, it's only been Holly that's had access to weightlifting facilities in her garage, so yeah, we've been trying to make use of a lot of different surfaces for running on, we've been using the fields and the parks and things like that, but to try and keep the group engaged throughout this, which I think's been really important, I've just tried to do a few different things, so I've done a little team motivational video of all their best jumps over the last few months, we've done a few group challenges and tasks, some of those have been social, some of those have been more aligned to pole vaulting and performance, and then every week on a Saturday we do a workout of the day, which is a little bit different to what we would normally do – some people have loved it and some people have hated it, but I think that was always going to be the case.

RM: I like the idea of those group challenges and tasks and definitely pushing people into different ways of working out, that's really interesting. Of course the delay to the Olympics and Paralympics has been really disappointing for everyone but I'd imagine for athletes it must have been especially tough to hear, and especially given how long you've been building up to it, so Holly how have you stayed motivated and resilient during this time?

HB: Yeah, I mean when it was first announced that the Olympic Games was postponed I was utterly heartbroken – it's something that I've worked hard for many years and having gone to London and Rio I know how absolutely amazing the Olympic Games is, and everything that goes with it. For me, I love training of course, but I thrive and I absolutely love the competitive environment, so to have something pulled away from you as big as that was devastating, but to be honest, I was happy that it was postponed and not absolutely cancelled, which for me what seemed like a bit of a highlight, a bit of a bonus, but for me, I've done a few things to stay motivated throughout this time and I've seen it as an opportunity to work on other areas and channel energy into other areas of my training I might not necessarily be able to do, and that's definitely been in the weight room. I think pole vault always takes priority for me and I can't smash the gym and sometimes I can't get really fast because pole vault is taking priority and you can't do everything at once, so for me I've been in the weight room three times a week and I've been lucky enough to rewrite every single one of my PBs in the gym, which for me has been amazing, and just kept me motivated, kept me going.

And another thing for me has been enjoying the things I can't normally do, and spending time with my husband. I normally hate walking – the last thing I want to do is come back from training or a hard session and go on a walk but I've absolutely loved doing that and going on bike rides while my husband is running. I’ve really enjoyed time that I've had really, at the moment, which has been great.

RM: Great news on those gym PBs. I'm interested to know, and what's your favourite and least favourite challenges set you from Scott?

HB: Yeah, I mean, the things we've been able to do that's been able to include everyone, it's obviously been fitness stuff, and Scott would absolutely agree with me that that is not my forte and I absolutely hate it, so when it was kind of put on the group we're going do these workout WODs every Saturday, I was hating life, and I did the first one and I had to lie on the floor for a good, you know, 20 minutes, I was that tired. But it has been nice, it’s brought the group together, and there was a speed power one in there, which was definitely my favourite, and that was definitely my forte, but apart from that, I’ve sucked at every single one.

RM: Oh, no. So how have you adapted your training now competitions have been postponed? We talked a little bit about it but it’d be good to hear a bit more detail about what you've been doing.

HB: Yeah, we had to get creative really, and me and Scott had a couple of Zoom meetings where we chatted about what we're going do to keep my brain stimulated to pole vault, because I have a lot of breaks in the past through injury where I've had to do similar things, so it’s not like it's the first time I've had to have a break from pole vault, but we’ve tried to keep the the block of training as similar to normal in terms of going out on a field and doing some running and doing the weight room stuff, but for example, we've had to come up with some drills at home that we can do, and it's quite well-known that I'm the bean lady, and I've strapped a beans to the end of a pole to try and make it feel like I'm doing drills with the pole, and we've set up the bins outside my house so I can use them as jerk blocks, so I can do some weightlifting, and I think I think my neighbours think I'm absolutely crazy – they see me in the street doing pole drills and we go to the local field, which is literally 200 meters from my house, and when Scott was allowed to get back coaching, we were throwing the shot putt in the local field, and yeah, I think my neighbours think I'm absolutely nuts.

RM: I love that you’re known as the bean lady! Scott, there are some obvious barriers to coaching at the moment – I'm thinking particularly about the social distancing measures, which means you might not be able to support Holly in a way that you normally would. How have you continued to provide that vital support, as well as inspiration to Holly, but from a distance?

SS: Yeah, I mean the hands-on practical spotting and supporting for athletes generally happens in the pole vault and the gymnastics environment, neither of which we've been able to do, so that hasn't been so much of a limiting factor, but in terms of how I've continued to support Holly, we certainly speak daily, we've maintained that daily contact throughout, and in terms of keeping her motivated, as Holly’s already alluded to, we just realigned some of her goals and objectives to attacking personal bests in the areas of training that we could actually do, so rather than that being pole vaulting or sprinting, it was more around the kind of weight room and throwing activities that were still possible. Another nice thing that we've done is that we've done a few sessions with Holly’s sports psychologist, where we've done some visualisation around pole vault sessions, so we've actually simulated a full pole vault session, but doing it via visualisation, which has been great. And since mid-May, when one-to-one coaching was reintroduced, I’ve essentially been back to all of Holly’s sessions, even if that's meant me sitting on the driveway of Holly's house and peering into her garage from a distance. So, I feel like we've done a good job, certainly since coaching resumed, of supporting Holly in the best way possible.

Some of the other things that have been great actually during this time, that Holly and I have taken on is just some other projects that sit alongside of her training, so we've done a series of videos for young athletes that are stuck at home during lockdown about how they can do some training in their home environments. Holly’s come in on a couple of coaching webinars that I've done for the coaching community, and offered an athlete’s perspective on that, and of course as always I've been helping Holly by proofing all of her university week for her spelling, punctuation and grammar before she submits.

RM: I like that full support that you're offering there, and I like that and it's not just Holly who's getting strange looks from her neighbours to you sitting at the end of her driveway and coaching her from a distance. If we move to a practical point of view for many people listening, many gyms and training facilities have been closed over the past few months, so how have you ensured Holly stays on track to achieve those goals whilst not having access to the same equipment, which will be a challenge for many people, and how do you plan to evolve her training so she's ready for that next competition, whenever that might be?

SS: Well to be fair, I would say roughly 75 percent of her training has been unaffected, It's only been, like I say, the pole vault and the gymnastics that have been the things that we haven't been able to do, and other than that, we've found creative ways of making it happen, even if the surface that Holly has been running on has been a little bit different to normal.

So yeah, I would say that she's been able to stay in touch with those, and do most of them at home, and as Holly’s already alluded to, a lot of this is just about getting as creative as you can: doing drills in the street, making gymnastics equipment at home or out of whatever she can, whether that's strapping a tin of beans to a pole or using your your wheelie bins as weightlifting equipment.

But looking forward to competitions, obviously we know that the Olympics and Paralympics have been postponed until 2021, but we're still hopeful that there will be some competitions in Europe from mid-August onwards, which is essentially how we're focusing ourselves right now, and if ultimately that changes then we will adapt and move things again, but right now that's our ambition. In order to give Holly enough time to prepare for that appropriately, we need roughly 10 to 12 weeks of specific track time and pole vault time, and we've been able to restart that just in the last few days, which has been great and that does give us enough time, but we just need to be really careful now with how we reintroduce those training methods to Holly, just because the injury risk goes up a lot when you start increasing things like the intensity, when you change the track surface that you're running on, and the footwear that she's using, and so on and so forth. So yeah, very very gently increasing the intensity and frequency of the training that she's doing, and we'll ultimately only compete when Holly is ready to compete.

RM: That makes sense a great news, and great news that you’re starting to get access back to those facilities too. And so Alex, I know you've been working a lot with Holly and with the rest of the team, so would you be able to give us an overview of how our data analytics practice has been working in partnership with British Athletics?

Alex Cooke (AC): Sure, yeah. So PwC works with all sorts of organisations to get the best value they can from the data that they hold as businesses. Typically that's to drive performance and in the context of British Athletics World Class Programme, their mission statement is pretty clear: win more medals in more events, so as a consequence, our objective becomes how can we use data to help them to win more medals? And at least sport has a lot of data at its disposal. We collect some of the data from the sports sciences and the coaches that support athletes, and there’s a lot of historical data that we can learn from as well, so there's a huge opportunity there to drive that performance and seek those marginal gains that athletes like Holly need to achieve to be able to get on the podium.

So, the leadership team at the World Class Programme have engaged PwC to become more data informed. That includes improving the way that data is collected and stored, the way that it’s managed, to make fit for purpose, at the right quality available, to provide the reports and analytics that leadership coaches and sports practitioners require to be able to help athletes, and to help athletes themselves understand the opportunities and the impacts of choices that they make with their coaches on a day-to-day basis.

In terms of the services we're providing, it ranges from strategy, guidance around how to get value from data. We’ve implemented technologies in our full end-to-end platform that allows for the acquisition, storage and leverage of data in reporting and insights, and we have data scientists that are working day-to-day with coaches like Scott and athletes like Holly to look for insights that previously haven't been achievable.

RM: So I’d be really interested here from Holly from Scott, maybe start with you Holly, around how you normally use data to support the training just day-to-day.

HB: Yeah, so I actually, we collect so much data and I've become a little bit of a geek, I think before I even joined Scott eight years ago, I literally didn't collect any data and I just was this young enthusiastic Paul Walter who just, not winged it, but just was a bit rogue, and then it's definitely Scott whose taught me how important it is to collect data to the point where now, we collect so much data and it is vital to my training, and I mean, I've got a list as long as my arm on the data we collect, and that's from daily training logs, so every time I come to a session, what did I do in the weight room, how fast did I run, how many reps, how many sets, what was the recovery. And then I've got specific pole vault notes, so on this particular day, where's my run at, what pole was I at, how high am I gripping the pole, what was the bar at, where are the stands, and I think pole vault definitely lends itself to collecting data, because there are so many numbers and even when I'm away from the track and I'm not training, I'm still collecting data. I do a daily monitoring sheet where it's you know, what's my body weight, how many hours did I sleep, what was my sleep quality like, I wear a ring which supplies me with this data while I'm sleeping, so yeah, what's my heart rate variability, how deep did I sleep, and that for me now collecting that data is vital and it gives me the information I need to get better in terms of performance, but also am I ready to complete the session that's ahead of me, and for me, it's so important.

RM: That's really interesting, and Scott, from a coaching perspective, how does data help you make decisions about Holly’s training?

SS: I feel like Holly already gave a great insight into how that data works actually, but just to maybe reiterate and reinforce some of that. The data that we collect, for me, falls on into one of two strands: it's either daily monitoring, some of which is reported by Holly, some of which we collect at the training centre when Holly gets in, but that daily monitoring essentially helps create a picture of Holly's readiness to train, and then I can use that information to adapt the training that's been prescribed for a given day, either make a little bit easier if that's what the kind of numbers are showing us, or indeed push it on a little bit if the opportunity does present itself. And the reason for doing that is to both reduce the risk of injury if that's the case, but also to maximise performance within every training unit that we do.

And then the second strand of the data that we collect is not done daily, it's more intermittent than that, and it's effectively some field testing or diagnostic testing, which includes everything from her sprint times, jump distances, throwing distance, along with a whole bunch of other biomechanical measures that we collect during pole vault sessions, and essentially that ongoing diagnostics ensures that the training that we're doing is having the desired effect and producing the results that we would expect, so I hope that summarizes all of the data, that as Holly said, we do collect a lot, but that falls into two different categories and how we use that in an effective way to support Holly’s training.

RM: Yeah, makes you realise just how much data is actually available that you'll be collecting daily. I'm curious about how you've used data differently over the past few months, so how have you used the data to help you adapt to the current climate?

SS: Hol, do you want to go?

HB: Yeah. To be honest, obviously I collect a lot of data when I'm pole vaulting, and I've not been pole vaulting, so not necessarily missed out in that regard, but I would say 90 percent of the data that I collect has been able to go on as normal, which has been really great, and it's actually really interesting some of the data that I've collected from the ring that I wear has showed that throughout this time of I've been sleeping really really deep and really good and I'm actually recovering really well, so that's been great to see that this period’s not been detrimental to me, and I think the only the area that we've had to adapt maybe is we do testing to see my daily readiness if you will, and before a session I might go in a force plate and do like a max counter movement jump, which is where I just basically stand still and then I do jump as high as I can, and we record that on a daily basis, and you can definitely see the fluctuations in how I'm feeling and, like Scott said, he uses that information so either rein me back in it, you know, if my numbers are low he might drop a couple of reps, whereas if the numbers are quite high, and I’m feeling good, we might push things on, and that's just been what we're missing because that requires other people and a facility to do that in.

SS: And then yeah, just to add to that, I mean the great thing is that as Holly’s already said, her daily monitoring that she completes, I can view that on a daily basis by virtue of the power app that PwC has helped us put together some time ago, and that really gives me, you know, effectively live access to how Holly is reporting her data at home and that's been ongoing uninterrupted as normal. As Holly said though, the fact that we've lost a little bit of a daily monitoring from the equipment that we would access in the training centre has just meant that I've just been a bit a little bit more cautious than normal with the training prescription, just because I've had a hole in that data set, so I've just generally been a little bit more cautious with the intensity and the frequency of really hard training sessions that we do, but actually I thought it'd be useful while we're on that subject to perhaps talk a little bit for the listeners about the emphasis that we put on recovery in our training programme, which is absolutely huge, but when most people hear you talk about recovery, they immediately jump to kind of ideas about cryo chambers and oxygen chambers or alternative therapy techniques or whatever it might be, but the truth is that the two big things that we put huge emphasis on in terms of recovery is firstly sleep, and Holly has already alluded to this, we’ve really monitored both the duration and the quality of her sleep and I can firmly say that Holly is a world-class sleeper, which is a quality that I have seen in in many elite athletes over the years, and then the second strand of her recovery is linked to her nutrition, and I'm really proud to say that Holly essentially acts as her own nutritionist with some support and consultation from British Althetics staff, but she takes huge pride in owning that nutritional programme, what she needs to do in that space, and yeah, I think I recently joked with Holly that one day she'll make a great future contender on MasterChef.

But yeah, lastly that the other thing that I just wanted to mention was that during this this lockdown period, the time that we've had available has actually enabled me to make big progress on a project with PwC analysts looking at trends into Holly's historical training data, and the associations that exist between different exercise combinations and injury occurrence, and that's actually been really insightful and really fruitful in terms of some of the information that it's provided going forwards, where hopefully we can avoid some of the pitfalls that we've encountered in the past, and we are now actually just expanding that work to look at associations between exercise combinations and peak performance, which hopefully again will help drive better levels of performance going forwards.

RM: Yeah, it's really interesting to hear the power of data and looking back on those historical trends, but I also think it's really important just that that point around rest and recovery and something that you know, just people every day who are focused on improving their fitness is maybe something that is perhaps undervalued, and so I think that importance around getting the right amount of sleep and focusing on nutrition as well as doing your exercise, whatever that may be, running, cycling, whatever it might be, but getting that balance right is really important and a really good to hear. Alex, how have you seen other organisations change their data analytics strategy to help them to navigate the impacts of COVID-19?

AC: Rowena, it's been  a real time of reflection for most organisations. Everyone's been really disrupted by COVID-19. For British Athletics it was the movement of the Olympics and Paralympics, but also the championships that they run in this country and associated impact, but for other businesses, understanding the impacts of what's happening through COVID-19 can be quite existential, so data analytics is here to help solve important problems just generally; with COVID-19 some of those problems are unique, for example managing and forecasting cash flow within a business, or changes in workforce planning and logistics, modelling customer demand for example, so our focus might have shifted, and the strategy that an organisation uses and where they drive value from data analytics may have changed, but the capabilities that we use to bring about those insights are the same, whether we're dealing with elite athletes performance, or we’re dealing with the change in footfall on the high street, we're using the same skills, the same technologies and the same approach to data analytics in all of those organisations, so it's really important at a time like this that are all data sources are leveraged, and right now people will talk about the use of epidemiological models to look at how we think the virus is going to continue to impact our lives, and to what extent, as restrictions come and go with within different countries and clients that we support, we try and bring data sources like that alongside existing data sources, for example, if we're trying to look at the demand for a given product in retail or consumer products, we’ll take historical data relating to sales, and then you bring that alongside how we think demand’s going to change alongside insights likethe amount of people that we think are going to be on the high street and how that changes across e-commerce and bricks and mortar stores, for example.

So all organizations right now are looking quite hard at the data they have and have been looking to see if they can help plot a path through COVID-19 recovery, and to support the ongoing performance of their business.

RM: That's a great overview. And as we look to wrap up, really interested to hear from all three of you actually around what your top tips are for our listeners, so what advice would you give to them to help them to achieve their goals during this time, so maybe if I kick off with Scott?

SS: For sure yeah, and I'm not sure I'm going say anything completely revolutionary here, but the first one I would say is try and take on a project that really really motivates you, and I would encourage that to be both at home and in the workplace, and I think most people are on that anyway, you know, I look up and down my street here at home and I haven't seen the gardens in the street ever looking this good, so I think most people are kind of getting stuck into that anyway, but try and do something with relation to those projects every day, and I think that's a real kind of source of motivation for people.

The second one would be around communication links and just try and keep those comms open. I think it's easy to get siloed and stuck in a bit of a rut where you don't reach out to people but we've started an online coaches group, where we meet twice a week, and it's been amazing actually that how much those relationships have flourished during this really strange period of time and actually it's better than it's ever been in terms of coach collaboration and relationships, and working together within that coaching family, so that's been great, but I would I would extend that to my personal family as well and friends and really try and make those communication networks sustainable during this difficult period.

And then the last one which is a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but on a personal level if you really want to stay busy and focus during lockdown, I would just suggest having your first child in the middle of it, because that's certainly keeps you out of trouble.

RM: Yeah I bet! Holly, how about you?

HB: So as well as pole vault, I've got a passion for sports psychology, and so I have five top tips actually, and bits of advice that are and kind of research based and I've done a little bit of research into this myself on overcoming adversity, and it says that experiencing challenging times such as COVID-19 can actually propel you once higher functioning, so the tips are to, of course, stay positive as best you can throughout this period, make sure you're setting weekly goals, that once you've achieved them, you celebrate them and actually enjoy that you've achieved these goals, like Scott said earlier, the social element is so important. I'm such a social person and having that contact with other people needs to still be in there, whether it's a phone call or social distancing, but again is it's super important to have the support there. And the last two are: identify any weaknesses you might have, and strive to try and make them better, and close the gap between that being a weakness, and lastly, use this opportunity, while there's not really much else going on to learn something. For me, I've learned so much more about my sport. I've been reading up on sports psychology, and how that can help me as an athlete, and I think using this opportunity to learn something new is really really important.

AC: So I would just say to echo Holly and Scott here, if we've learned anything over the past two months across many of the issues and opportunities that are facing societies, to keep communicating, keep talking and keep listening. Also, I just think we've got all this extra time right now – people aren't travelling around, we're not commuting, there's not so many activities that we're ferrying kids backwards and forwards to, for example, so use that time wisely, look for the opportunities that exist in this changed world, and also, rest more: we’ve heard from Holly and Scott just how important rest and recovery is. Maybe practice mindfulness, maybe use the opportunity to get some additional exercise, and I think finally you know, this won’t last forever, so my top tip is to start developing the plan for bouncing back.

RM: Thanks so much, Holly, Scott and Alex for sharing those stories and insights, and of course thanks to everyone for listening, and if you'd like more tips on how to manage your mental and physical wellbeing during the lockdown, listen to our podcast episode on leading through a crisis. Thanks everyone, and until next time, please stay safe.

Participants

• Rowena Morris, director, PwC
• Alex Cooke, data intelligence partner, PwC
• Holly Bradshaw, professional athlete
• Scott Simpson, senior coach, National Performance Institute