Make next season your Best yet

Like a number of athletes right now your season maybe winding down - getting in a few last minute events to extend the summer. We have a number of athletes focused on big 'A' events in Kona, Clearwater, Hungary and the NYC Marathon but most are just about done. So now is a good time to start to review how your season has gone, what's worked well and what you need to do differently, to make those performance gains that you want next season.

For those of you that have ever done any form of performance coaching you may be familiar with the "GROW" model, but if not, it's a simple way of giving yourself some self coaching around your own performance development. Let me explain how it works.

G = Goal. What events or performance targets are you going to set yourself next year? Are you going to work on that swim stroke that has been holding you back? Maybe you need to improve your FTP (functional threshold power) on the bike to PB on the bike split? Some of us are more motivated by a big race or a new country to visit that has an exciting race attached. Whatever it is, we want to find something that is going to get us motivated. Something to get out of bed on a cold January morning to go and swim laps in the pool or hit 'another' turbo session with the required gusto! What is it that’s going to light the fire under your bed and get you focused for a winter of consistent work?

R = Reality. How has this year gone? Did you achieve the goals you set out to achieve or somewhere along the line fall short? What was it that caused you to achieve that result good or not so good? What were you really pleased with? What did you feel could have gone better? Getting to the 'Reality' of the situation is all about being really honest about what you have achieved and getting 'real' about your expectations. I.e. if you are still considering that sub 9 IM consider the implications and consequences. Have you got 12-20 hours per week to put in? If not then you may want to reconsider. This is about setting yourself up for success not failure.

O = Options. This is where we start to kick around the ideas and shape up the things that we could do - where we look at what's possible. If I’m going to try to make the GB team, which would be the best qualifying race? How might I go about improving my swimming? What resources are available to me? These are all great questions to help explore what you are going to focus upon.

And finally W = Will. This is often the most revealing part, as it asks us to consider how motivated we are to do the things we need to do to succeed. For example, if we have considered going to race a 70.3 in Europe, how motivating is that for us? If you were rating it on a scale of 1-10, would it be a 9 or a 3/4? What does the score we give it say about that as a possible option for us? If we did score it as a 9, what might make it a 10 or what are the next steps to make it happen? If we can find some season goals that are truly motivating, making the space and energy in our life to achieve them becomes a whole lot easier.

Take some time out over the next few weeks and sit down with your GROW headings and ask yourself some of the questions I’ve listed here. Getting a clear view of where you are headed and what you find motivating, will sustain you through your Winter Training and provide a great platform for your progress next year.

ED's Exploits - Testing Times

The sad death of Peter Tindley of CC Weymouth, in our open 50 mile time trial made me think long and hard about Time Trialing. At heart I am a “tester”. Probably because I have won a few time trials, its easy to like something you are successful at. More and more though, I have felt uncomfortable about the roads we race on and the danger from traffic. Historically, Time Trials started very early in the morning to avoid the police, it was illegal to race on public highways, that’s why riders also wore predominantly black kit, imagine going out on the roads these days trying not to be seen!?.

When racing became legal, the early starts were kept to avoid traffic but that was more than 50 years ago. These days, even on a Sunday morning at 07.30am there are quite a few cars about. Why do we race on dual carriageways? Why do we race on roads I would not dream of training on? Why are we obsessed with standard distances? Why are helmets not compulsory? Alas, I only have questions with no answers. I even promote an open Time Trial for my club, on a dual carriageway course, that makes me part of the problem! It’s a relief when everybody comes back safely, I can tell you.

It seems that Peter’s tragic death was due to rider error, so it could have happened anywhere, it could happen out training today. At least on dual carriageways there is room for motorists to avoid cyclists. Some of the lanes I regularly ride are very narrow with blind corners, horse riders, tractors etc. It could happen popping up the shop to get the paper. It’s known as the race of truth, its pure, honest sport, there is no luck in testing, and the strongest man wins. So it’s ok then? Again I offer no answers. There have been four fatalities in Time Trials this season alone, which is a high number for a “minority sport”. No doubt four people have been killed in traffic accidents today. So we accept the risks and try to minimize them I guess.

On a brighter note, I finally got myself a win. A road race down in Dorset, yes it was a “Fish and Chipper” but it’s been more than three years and a win is a win, and I worked hard for it, honest. Hands off the bars, milking the applause from one man and his dog, pathetic, I know but still very exciting, all the same!

Had a guy come to see me with a torn hamstring, he is a football player and he trains once a week, yes once. He tells me that if there is a live match on the tele on training night, then half the team doesn’t turn up. Compare that with most runners, triathletes, cyclists, whose biggest problems seem to be overtraining. I tried to tell him that if he trained more, stretching, core work, endurance based stuff then perhaps he would get injured less (the training effect). I am not sure that he heard me, still he is a nice guy and the “hammy” is responding well. Moral; don’t feel guilty if you miss a training session, there are still people doing less than you!

Take care out there, see you up the road…
E D