Are you struggling to fit training into your busy life?

You have big athletic goals for yourself in 2018 but in looking back at 2017, you feel your biggest struggle was lacking the training consistency that was needed to get you to the next level.

Whenever a goal-oriented athlete is unable meet daily (or weekly) training expectations, there is a general sense of failure and frustration stemming from missed workouts. Work, travel, family, projects and other life stressors are bound to get in the way of training but you are constantly reminded that consistency fosters success.  In looking back at 2017, be honest with your assessment of what needs improvement in 2018. Is the missing link to your inconsistency better commitment to training or a better designed, smarter training plan? 

Now is the perfect time to think about your previous season and what changes, tweaks or modifications are needed to help you be more consistent with training in 2018. It's natural to assume that "not enough" training prevented you from reaching your training but in reality, the biggest issue for most athletes is how you deal with the life stressors that disrupt your training rhythm. 

Consistent training does not mean perfect training.  Life will get in the way of training so you must always be an active and motivated participant in your life to safely integrate training into your work, family and travel commitments. Consistency comes when you find a way to integrate your training plan into your busy family schedule, a high stress work environment and other life commitments without compromising sleep, energy levels, emotions/mood, relationships and dietary habits. 

As you reflect on last season, consider re-evaluating some of the most common reasons that cause inconsistency in training:

• Lack of motivation/accountability
• Feeling constantly rushed in life, you can never slow down
• Trying to progress too quickly with intensity or volume (often due to fear-based training)
• Poorly planned recovery/easy days
• Trying to follow a training plan that doesn't fit into your life
• Summer burn out from being too "all in" with volume/intensity, too early in the season
• Racing too much without consistent training
• Not keeping up with strength training (or rehab from a previous injury) when training volume increases.
• Skipping the boring/easy sessions
• Training through injury or sickness
• Trying to make-up workouts (or do more than needed) for fear of losing fitness or not being race ready
• Sacrificing sleep order to squeeze in a workout
• Poor dietary planning
• Poor recovery nutrition
• Not understanding how to use sport nutrition properly
• Not being present during workouts (too easily distracted, mind wandering)
• Always comparing yourself to another athlete (or a past version of yourself)
• Not being patient
• Not keeping your easy days easy
• Fear of failure
• Relying too much on your gadgets/metrics to control your workout
• Being too hard on yourself
• Making the wrong investments (ex. race wheels instead of a bike fit)

Training is not about checking off workouts and cramming in workout sessions. It's better to do less training really well than to do too much training very poorly. Be realistic with your training expectations so that you can smartly integrate training into your life in an effort to reach athletic excellence in 2018. 

It's ok to make mistakes: reflect, learn and move on

You've probably heard the expression: Hope for the best and plan for the worst. 

Sometimes on race day, everything comes together perfectly and sometimes, well, it seems like a fight just to keep your body moving in a forward direction. 

No matter how prepared you feel going into a race, there is absolutely no way to know how your body will respond to the course, weather, nutrition or effort.
So instead of stressing about things out of your control, embrace the unknowns!

 This is all part of being an athlete and the unknowns make race day so exhilarating. That is, if you choose to accept the obstacles instead of complaining (or settling for a DNF) when things do not go how you planned.

Every athlete makes mistakes on race day. Struggles are not limited to age group athletes. All athletes, of all levels, experience battles with the mind and body in almost every race. 

Even if you think a race is going perfectly, it is really your ability to handle situations that makes for a "perfect" race. 

To help yourself out for race day, use every training session to better prepare for your races. Don't settle for easy courses, easy conditions or easy workouts. Challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone.
 Rather than going into workouts focusing only on the metrics, focus on your execution and how your body responds to given efforts. Complaining over a bad training session doesn't prepare you better for your race. It only causes you to question your abilities. Don't take the easy way out and just call it a day every time when you feel like your workout isn't going as planned. 

Adjust and keep adjusting until you figure it out. 

Every time you embrace uncomfortable situations in training, you will better prepare yourself mentally and physically for race day. 

 It may seem silly but enjoy the moments when things don't go as planned so you recognize that you are being given a great opportunity to learn and better prepare for your upcoming race. And on race day, remember that every race should provide you with an opportunity to reflect, learn and move on so that you can feel more prepared to handle situations at your next race. 

Every athlete wants to be fast on race day. Fast is relative to the course, distance racing, weather and your closest competition but it is typically defined as a personal improvement from a previous race.

But amazingly, racing is far more than the fitness that you bring to the race. You can be extremely fit to race but it takes great strength to be prepared to handle the obstacles that arise on race day. A weak mind or too strong of an ego can destroy great performances. 

In order to make improvements in your fitness AND to execute on race day, you must be able to reflect properly on your training sessions AND races and to learn throughout your individual training journey. Sure, you can tell yourself over and over that you need to train harder, train more, eat better and stay more mentally tough on race day but it isn't until you begin to accept the mistakes as great opportunities for personal growth that you will really see an improvement in your fitness and performance.