Pillars of Successful Training (Part 2)
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The key to successful training is Progressive Overload,
not
Aggressive Overload.
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Last week I dove into the Pillars of Successful Training. A topic we covered in our most recent Mindset Endurance team call.
- Fueling
- Intensity Modulation
- Protecting the Quality Sessions
- Consistency over Heroics
Per usual, I got a bit long winded, so I decided to break the topics into two emails. So, here’s Part 2: (here’s Part 1)
3. Protecting the Quality Sessions
Every training plan should have workouts that standout as having specific goals. It may be fueling practice, intensity targets, heat adaptations, muscular endurance, or the long run/ride.
Before we go any further, let’s start with an often-skipped step: make sure know the purpose of your workouts. If you’re training just to train, how will you know if you’re improving?
For most athletes, you will typically have 1-3 quality sessions for the week. For a runner, that may be intervals on a Tuesday and the longer run on a Saturday. For the triathlete, you may have quality sessions for swim, bike, and run each week.
Make sure you’re looking ahead and identifying those workouts. What needs to be done in order to set yourself up for success? Get your nutrition ready the night before. Get a good night’s sleep. Check that your bike is ride ready.
If you know you’re going to have a late night at your kid’s swim meet or you’re feeling a bit under the weather, think about switching that workout to another day.
Is it worth compromising the quality or recovery because of other life circumstances?
4. Consistency Over Heroics
You know this. “Consistency is key“. We’ve all heard it and we’ve all seen evidence that it works.
What we usually miss, is the avoidance of the hero workout. You’re feeling good and you decide to go a little harder or a little longer. In the moment, it doesn’t feel like a “hero” workout. It feels like a good day and you’re just going to do a little bit more than planned.
I’ve been there. And to be honest, some days there are good reasons to do that hero day. But those days should be few and far between. Those hero workouts may feel great in the moment, but how are they going to effect next week?
Most of us are so in the current moment that we aren’t thinking about how that hero day is going to impact the next few weeks. Is one hero day worth taking an additional recovery day or week?
That extra workout. That additional run “because you had time”. Does that mean that you’ll now have to recover on the next day?
The key to successful training is Progressive Overload, not Aggressive Overload.
I hope you found some benefit or some reflection in these 4 pillars. In general, I think they’re relatively broad topics. But if you think hard enough, I bet you could find specific opportunities for improvement in one of these areas.
As always, I’m happy to discuss more so feel free to send me a message or email!
Happy Training!
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