BDD...here I am.  Great motivation...wish I had read it this morning as I was in a funk all day long.  I mustered up the energy for a 1.5 mile run followed by 10 minutes of sprint intervals**.  I'll need to set a reminder to read your Monday morning motivations.

This weekend was good...I bailed on a happy hour on Friday night because I didn't want to ruin what I'd worked hard for all week long (am I weird?  the wife even looked at me funny).  Saturday I did a pseudo-brick with a 2 mile run followed by a 10 minute moderate bike....I know it wasn't much...but I want to start slowly to avoid re-injuring my calves (yep both).  Started coaching my girls' lacrosse team (I'm excited for season to start). At practice, I convinced one of my assistants (who did an Oly Tri last summer...complaining the whole way...and swearing never to do it again) to train for our local sprint tri this summer.  Between BDD and Steve..the inspiration will overflow.   So Sat night...I made up for staying in on Friday night and watched the Jets beat up on Indy (GO JETS) at my brother-in-laws house...the GlenFiddich flowed nicely.  Sunday morning I biked 8+ miles then took my daughters to their basketball games.  Sunday night was the best as I watched the Eagles lose.

I'm psyched as this week I can sign up at the local indoor pool to start swimming. 

**I call my sprint intervals "Strahans" after reading about a workout Michael Strahan does, post-NFL, to keep in-shape.  Set treadmill to 10 mph, incline 10%.  At the top of each minute, sprint for 20 seconds then jump off & rest for the other 40 seconds....do this for 10 minutes.  Let me tell you...I couldn't do it.  Damn near had an "americas funniest home video" moment.  I had set tread mill to 5% and 7mph.

Thanks for listening.

--Rob--

The Power of Consistency

So how do you get to be consistent in your training day in and day out?

You need to make a 100 percent commitment to train and back that up with action. It isn’t easy to be consistent and self-disciplined, and there will be times when it will be hard and it would be easier to take a seat on the couch and turn on the tube instead of lacing up your shoes. But, if your goal is to reach the next level or race your best, you’ve got to decide you really want it and fight through the tougher days and adversity - do this and you will succeed!

Once you’ve decided to commit, hiring a coach to help you plan your season and design a training plan that works with your life schedule will also help you be consistent long term. Having a coach to provide helpful feedback, positive motivation and accountability, especially during tougher periods, will help you stay on track. 

Whether you decide to use a coach or plan your training yourself, it’s important to have a training plan that is realistic with your schedule. A schedule that will allow you to be successful includes adequate time for recovery, training, and is in harmony with both family and your work life. Trying to cram training in and not allowing enough time for recovery/sleep, or having a training plan that puts stress on work and family time won’t be sustainable over the long term.

Keep your training simple — to improve you don’t need a complicated training plan or complicated devices. Most of us are busy and have lives outside of triathlon, so keeping it simple allows for consistency. Put in the work long-term and you will see the rewards!

I have my athletes use repetition to build consistency. Repetition of workouts provides a number of positives to your training. It helps develop skills and a greater understanding of your training; you’ll develop awareness and intuitively feel better than if you have a plan or workouts that are constantly changing. You’ll see improvements and notice over time that you feel better and recover faster. By repeating workouts week to week you will be able to see progress and work to get better with each training session. It also keeps training simple; for instance, knowing you will do a certain type of workout each Monday brings better time management. This all adds up to long-term consistency.

Fueling your body properly will also help you be consistent with your training. I tell my athletes to think of their bodies as race cars - to get the most from your vehicle, you want to use premium-grade fuel. Aiming for a high-quality diet will keep you healthy and recovering better. If you can stay healthy and injury free you will be more consistent over the long term.

Sleep and recovery are vitally important to success of consistency. You can’t truly train hard if you are not recovered and haven’t gotten proper sleep.  Aim for getting quality sleep each night - a minimum of 7 hours.

As you plan your next racing season, think about the Power of Consistency and what it can bring to your training and racing...the rewards in improvement and success are worth investing in!