Consistency

A lot more goes into performance than you think. One of the best places to start but is training consistency.

Missed sessions can be seen by the athlete as a “weakness”. More than likely but it’s something else. As your coach I never see missed sessions as a weakness.

This is what I see :

• First there’s a reason, then there’s a decision making process

• If you are regularly missing sessions it means you aren’t managing the load placed on you

• Don’t make it “your fault” - Make it a skill to develop

• Honest appraisal of your target / goal be it a race or a level of training

Reasons for missing a session :

• “Life” got in the way - i.e. work / family

• Mentally fatigued

• Physically fatigued

• Sore

• Don’t like the look of the session prescribed - too hard, easy, complicated, boring?

• Not enough time

• Dis-interested (mood state)

• Injured

• Sick

Decision making process : (happens quickly and subconsciously)

• Can I “get away with not doing it” ?

• How close am I to race day? - Consistency always improves 6 weeks until race day

• I have done this before and know I can do it on “x” training

• Seeking pattern recognition in training diaries

• Ticking green boxes feels good

• Getting red boxes feels bad

Dangers leading to “down the line” stagnation:

• Box-ticking

• Hitting “grey” in general program (as opposed to session intensity)

• Not taking rest days when they are prescribed

Some approaches :

• If you are super consistent and performance is stagnating then more than likely we can add more load on. That will put you back in the loop of maybe missing sessions. Are you okay with that ?

• If tired, commit to 10min and see where that takes you

• Identify sessions that a repeated “misses” and avoid that time slot

• Critically review upcoming 3 months in terms of availability for training sessions

• Take a week off - stepping away for a short break can be a great stimulation