Club Coach

written by Richard Westwood

 Rob McCue

"I'm not just the coach of FMCT, I'm also a member."

Incase any of you missed that, it's a play on that "Hair club for men" commercial that used to air not so long ago. Jim, you should remember that one. Yeah, me too. In any case, the point is that Rob, our coach, is also a club member. And he's not doing the coaching position for the money. He does it because he's passionate about it. Ask anyone who attended the two well-attended Mega-training days last summer. Ask anyone doing the spin class this winter. Rob is always cracking jokes and, though he is quite competitive, he generally doesn't take himself so seriously that he can't laugh at himself... and me. But when it comes to his role as coach, Rob takes this seriously enough that he puts his best into it.

Trained by the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) for the sport of triathlon, Rob agreed to assume the role of club coach in the spring of 2008. His role is not to build an individual training plan for each person but to provide tips and guidance on the types of things we should be doing in order to have a successful, injury free season. He has also taken it upon himself to organize such events as last summer's two Mega training days which were a huge success, as well as the end-of-year "tailgate" party which also was a lot of fun.

In addition to performing his coaching role, Rob is also still an active Duathlon Age grouper, currently in the 45-59 age group (if you're in this age group and do duathlons, move to a different age group - lie about your age if you have to). He has represented Canada at the world Duathlon Championships in Newfoundland, his basement wall is covered in plaques from podium finishes at many races as well as overall series winners for the Subaru series of races.

For those who don't know Rob, here is a little background. Rob will tell you that volunteering is for suckers. Yet whenever an occasion arises where volunteers are needed, Rob is there. He has been the MC at our annual Run for Hope and will be again this year. He has conducted indoor training sessions at his house, frequent hill climbing sessions along Old Base Line and Terra Cotta hill, and then there is his infamous brick workouts consisting of hard intervals on the trainer interspersed with laps around the track. His philosophy is "Everyone is training hard, train harder". He currently coaches the 10k run clinic at the Running Room. He showed up one day and the instructions went something like this. "Ok people, today we will be doing hill repeats. You will need partners. The objective is to carry your partner up the hill on your back. At the end of the repeat, you will switch places and your partner carries you up the hill on his or her back.." His students were left speechless not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Yes, Rob believes in training hard.. but watch out for his sense of humour.