A spreadsheet, and then nothing
OCC Athlétisme is the athletics section of Olympique Cabriès Calas, a multi-sport club founded in 1969 near Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France. Paul-Henri Giraud and a small team of coaches look after more than thirty runners there, on the road and on the trails.
Until this summer, the training plan lived in an Excel spreadsheet sent out to the runners. The file went out, and that was the end of it.
"Just an Excel spreadsheet sent to the runners: no follow-up, no feedback on the sessions."
For a coach, that's the most frustrating part: preparing sessions without ever knowing whether they were done, or how they went. And one spreadsheet for everyone, whatever their level.
Qualified volunteers, short on time
The OCC Athlétisme team has one thing that sets it apart: every coach is a volunteer, and every coach holds the official qualifications of the French Athletics Federation. The know-how is there; what's missing is time.
"We're a team of volunteers and we don't have much time to give our athletes. We all hold official coaching qualifications from the French Athletics Federation, and this tool lets us put our knowledge into practice properly."
Day to day, the club uses TrainerPlan for two things: preparing sessions and following the athletes.
- One plan per level — runners are split into groups and each level follows its own dynamic plan, instead of one spreadsheet for everyone.
- Sessions on the watch — once prepared, sessions are sent to the runners' connected watches, ready to follow.
- Feedback on every session — the completed activity comes in from the watch and appears next to what was planned.
- Comments — coaches reply session by session, right where the workout lives.
Finally, feedback
The first change is knowing what the runners are actually doing.
"We can now see what the athletes are doing, we can work with different plans adapted to each level, and the sessions are available on their watch. It's much more modern. The runners really appreciate it."
And the runners are following through: since August, nearly nine in ten planned sessions have been completed. For a team that, a few weeks earlier, heard nothing back once the plan went out, it's a complete change.
The second change is time. Following thirty-odd runners, each at their own level, becomes possible when everything is in one place.
"You can follow several athletes and give them feedback through comments, it's very productive."
The same service as a private coach
For Paul-Henri, this is about more than making the coaches' lives easier. Today's runners know about private coaches, plans on the watch and remote follow-up. A club that still sends out a spreadsheet starts a step behind.
"You have to keep up. We're competing with private coaches who use this kind of tool, so we need to offer the same service."
With TrainerPlan, OCC Athlétisme keeps what makes a club a club, qualified coaches and a group to train with, and adds what runners now expect: a plan suited to their level, sessions on the watch, and a coach who sees what they've done.