Improving Performance

You’ve trained hard. Raced well. The season’s been solid.

But that voice is there — What’s next? How do I get better from here?

You need a performance framework.

I call mine: 

The Formula 1 Model

Building the engine, the vehicle, and the skillset to race.

The Engine :

The first place the athlete goes to is their training. Rightly so. We invest a lot of money in our sport but really our most precious commodity is time. We need to know we are investing our time well. 

Look for 3 things in how you might look at training. Volume, intensity and density 

Volume can be an arms race. Be honest. Do you have more time? If so we have to discuss where we distribute it. Make sure it is targeted. Not just promising to do 16 hours a week but thinking carefully about whether the weekends are the best or mid week. Longer sessions or more sessions? The key is again the targeted approach. More volume at the right time of the year and the right sessions of the week. 

Intensity is our next natural go to for improving our strength and as such our speed. If we haven’t got time then maybe we can go harder. Not always the solution. Just think of this… should it be more intensity or a higher intensity? Higher intensities are fine but for a long course athlete the issue is you are teaching your body to use and develop the wrong energy systems. The balance is the key. 

Density isn’t a concept that is discussed much. It’s basically reducing the holes in your training. For a trainer session that might be reducing your warm ups, cool downs and recovery intervals and using the time saved for a longer main set. For a training week that would look like adding more sessions in. The benefits of reducing the time between sessions, from 24 hours to 12 hours can be significant. 

The Fuel System :

It’s no use having a fast car if you are shoving junk fuel into it and expecting it to perform. Spend time, effort, and money in getting the fuel right. 

In training,that means eating the right food in the right amounts at the right time. Under fuel and risk injury, illness and lack of performance. Under fuelling is a huge danger in our sport. Everyone thinks a lighter body is an easy fix to get faster and it can be but it carry’s a huge risk component. 

In racing this means understanding your energy burn rates at race intensities and fuelling accordingly. It DOES NOT mean just eating more and more carbs and thinking it will make you faster. For racing - again - the right fuel in the right amounts at the right time. 

The Vehicle :

The bike and its bits : Where are you at with your bike? How aerodynamic is your bike, bike position, clothing, helmet, wheels etc. When it comes to a Formula 1 car this area attracts a huge investment of time and money. Apart from driver skill it’s usually the difference at the very top of the sport where engines are largely close in performance. 

Wetsuits are another area to look at. Is yours really the one for you ? Consider testing others out. Also consider doing more swimming in it. Most athletes only race in their wetsuits, hardly ever training in them or even hardly ever hitting the open water. 

Run shoes are perhaps the biggest single performance game changer in our sport of recent times. Carbon shoes work. Full stop. But not all are equal. Test brands. Use them wisely. Benchmark one against the other and decide on performance not colour

Of course make sure you don’t forget the body. You can’t put a huge engine in a body that falls apart at the first sign of stress. Consider your strength and conditioning needs also. If injury is part of your life you need to factor in strengthening the system. 

Race Craft :

All the big engines and fast cars in the world won’t help you if you aren’t executing on race day. The big ones to consider how you can be a better athlete are pacing, nutrition, holding aero position and pre-race preparation. 

Start the process of understanding the whole system you are using and how you can go faster but being fuel efficient. Having a CDA of 0.23 is all well and good but if you can’t hold it for hours on end then you are leaving time on the table. 

Spend time and effort dialling into a system for pacing using things like power, heart rate and speed. Know your body. 

Wrapping it up ….

You will need to write all this down. Using my Formula 1 model, have a clear approach that is intelligent and well thought through. Don’t just expect doing more next year will bring the results. 

Attention to detail is what sets the podium apart from the rest of the race. Not just hitting the nail with a bigger hammer.