The Year of Excellence
I have been rolling this email around in my head all break. How do we set up a new year? With words? With a YouTube? How do we get that right frame of mind to tackle our new challenges? What is the most impactful way of startiung 2025?
Pumped up “lessssgo” motivation? Long winded rants about sticking to process? Examples of HPT’s successes last year ?
All very valid but also I found myself trapped in cliches….. and I hate cliches. We see enough of them.
So let’s just remind ourselves what we are about first off as far as how we go about our sport. Then I will add a few reflections from what I have seen and how I want to drive progress.
Who We Are :
HPT enters it’s 20th year in 2025. No mean feat ! Our secret to success in a sport that seemingly grows at an incredible rate comes down to being able to adapt to the future but using sound training principles based on challenge and growth whilst maintaining and enhancing our physical and mental health.
What We Do :
I have used the term humble and hardworking before as that is what resonates with me. The greatest sporting teams around the world have great people that train and race / play from the heart. No fancy gimmicks. Just a sporting team with progress and people with high principles at our core.
Reflections :
The last 2 years have seen somewhat of an explosion in performance from the top of the sport to the entry level. This is evident in the finish times of course, but also the way athletes are preparing. This makes me excited but also wary of what chasing outcomes means.
The calls have always been there. Next year I will do more. I will be consistent. I will eat like a saint. I will have the mindset of a Tibetan Monk. The pressure we place on ourselves for perfection is endless and entirely unnecesary. In fact the promises can have the opposite effect.
What Is Necessary : The Top 3 (for now)
Tie our training to our racing more : Gone are the days where we can just train a set volume, do our intervals and wait for the PB’s to come. We have to target a race, be clear of our goals, and train for that. You improve what you train and knowing the target is an obvious way to go about our work.
More isn’t necessarily better : I have been doing a lot of work in this area lately and I have seen instances where athletes are so fatigued on the start line that they aren’t able to race to the numbers they are showing in training. At the base of it all you must be improving in your training numbers and your racing outcomes…,. and you wont do either if you are chronically fatigued. In 2025 volume will be what it is. Training will be all about knowing exactly what we are targetting and training for it. Volumes may go down if you arent hitting your usual numbers due to excessive fatigue.
Long rides and runs : Again … Let’s not chase 4 hour mindless long rides but make our gold standard as training at a decent intensity with some exact race pace efforts in there. Get great at 2:30 with perfect pacing and nutrition before we go up the volume chain. Know your zones. Know your targets. Train to them. Get your nutrition right. Test your gear. Improve your aerodynamics. Quality over quantity.
HPT Socks by Pane e Acqua
I am excited to present the start of a clothing apparel brand by HPT Professional Athlete, Harry Wiles. Harry will expanding his line of clothing but has organised HPT socks as part of the starting line-up.
Below is from Harry.
“Hey guys just putting this out there as I’ve been in the process of launching my own apparel brand that focuses on high performance at an affordable price as I know how insanely expensive and overpriced this sport is. I am currently just making a few limited runs on items to get it 100% dialled. You may have seen me wearing my own tri suits last season with the brand “Pane e Acqua” which means bread and water. Anyway my whole idea is performance for the people which ties in with just keeping it simple.
The materials used are the same as many of the top level brands which charge significantly more.
I’ve started off with a limited run of HPT aero socks and calf sleeves. If you’re interested just use the code HPT at the checkout for free shipping and you can collect from Pete or myself at training.
Hopefully will launch more kit and the suits in the near future and completely open to any feedback or suggestions.
Thanks!”
