December poses a lot of challenges for athletes who have committed to train for an endurance race in the coming year. The excitement of making that commitment can wear thin with the added distraction of everything else going on as the calendar flips over. Here are a few tips for getting yourself back on track or maintaining your focus when the distractions start to pile up.
- Make a shorter term commitment to work towards. That might be joining a masters swim class, mega training day, joining a regular training class, or booking a nutritional counselling session.
2. Book a training camp. Nothing provides the inspiration to stick to your training program than knowing you will be getting away for a focused weekend or week long training camp. You want to be fit and strong enough to take advantage of the training sessions and test yourself to discover where you need to do the work.
3. Schedule a few interim events/races. Treat these as your B races (a test of your fitness, not your standings) or C races (training days with a specific focus/purpose). These might be a shorter distance, or single sport event. Maintain your training for the A event and use these interim races/events intentionally to discover where you are physically and mentally.
4. Get a nutrition strategy in place to kick off the new year. This doesn’t necessarily mean a diet to shed the extra indulgences. It might mean cleaner eating with a focus on micronutrients to support the increase in your training efforts and recovery. Find out what your body really needs and build those habits into your daily routines.
5. Consider your gear and bike fit. Maybe you added to your ‘N +1’ number, or are planning to change up your ride for the coming year. Or you decided to try out a new shoe to address some of those chronic foot challenges. Making adjustments to bike fit to suit your goals for the coming year should happen early in the year so you have time to adapt to the set up and dial it in. It might also increase your comfort on the trainer which makes those indoor workouts far easier. Changing shoes can be a hit or miss scenario, depending on why you are doing to begin with. Give yourself time to figure this out before the volume and intensity of your training gets turned up.
6. Accept setbacks and allow yourself time to recover. This time of year – and this year in particular – presents many challenges that can be unexpected. Even getting the Covid booster vaccination can side track you with fatigue and muscle weakness. Trying to get back to training too soon presents the risk of an injury, which prolongs the recovery. Add to that holiday schedules, emotional stress, long-overdue vacations and the usual work/life demands and dedication to a training schedule can easily be over ruled. Let it happen, then pick up where you left off without beating yourself up or feeling that all is lost.
7. Look for inspiration. Watch the live broadcasts of the Professional Triathlon Organization or check out Lionel Sanders training videos. You may not aspire to the level of performance these athletes have achieved, but there is always something to learn just from watching what they do and how they do it. Just try running without engaging your core after watching some of the world’s best get after it!
