A year of training lies ahead of me. What should I focus on? What is my plan? How am I going to get through this massive year of effort?
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TRANSCRIPT
As I get ready to start a brand-new one-year training block, I’ve been thinking a lot less about the actual workouts and a lot more about how I want to approach the year.
Because one year is a long time.
And I think that’s the first thing I want to remember.
A year is long enough that individual workouts really don't matter all that much.
I’m going to have bad workouts.
I’m going to have great workouts.
There will be weeks where everything comes together perfectly, and there will be weeks where life gets in the way.
And I don't want to stress about that.
I want to focus on the workout that’s in front of me.
What am I trying to accomplish today?
And what can I do to give myself the best chance of accomplishing it?
And, bonus points if I think about that the day before.
Get a good night's sleep.
Make sure my gear is clean.
Get the bottles ready.
Have whatever nutrition I need ready to go.
Know what the workout is.
Remove as much friction as possible.
Because I think there’s a difference between being disciplined and making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself.
If I can prepare today so that tomorrow's workout is easier to execute, that’s a win.
Give the new plan a chance
I’m also stepping up my training volume.
I’m moving from what I’d call a medium-volume plan to a high-volume plan.
And that might turn out to be too much.
I honestly don't know yet.
But I don't need to know yet.
I want to give it a solid few months before I start deciding whether it’s working.
I think athletes can sometimes make the mistake of constantly adjusting the experiment before they've actually given the experiment enough time to produce a result.
So I'm going to try to resist that.
I'm going to train.
I'm going to pay attention to how I feel.
I'm going to pay attention to my performance and recovery.
And then, after I've accumulated enough information, I'll make some decisions.
Keep triathlon in perspective
The other thing I really want to remember is that triathlon isn't my life.
It's an important part of my life.
I love it.
But it's not my life.
My relationships and my mental health come first.
Triathlon comes second.
And that means I need to be willing to be flexible when those things conflict.
If something important comes up with my partner, or with family, or I’m having a difficult day mentally, I don't want to look at my training plan and think, Well, I've got to get this workout done.
Sometimes the workout loses.
And that's okay.
In fact, I think that's part of being a serious athlete.
A training plan is a tool for supporting your life.
Your life isn't supposed to become a tool for supporting your training plan.
Habit stacking
One thing I want to experiment with this year is habit stacking.
I've got a lot of training.
But I've also got travel time to and from the pool or gym, preparation, cleanup, nutrition, recovery, stretching, mobility—all of those little things surrounding the actual workout.
And if I treat every one of those things as a completely separate task, it can start to feel like training takes over my entire day.
So I want to find ways to attach those things to things that are already happening.
Maybe I listen to something specific during the drive.
Maybe certain recovery habits happen immediately after training.
Maybe my weekly training reflection happens alongside my personal journaling.
The idea is to make these things part of an existing rhythm rather than creating ten more things I have to remember to do.
Routine is a tool, not a prison
And that leads into another one.
I really like routine.
Probably too much sometimes.
Routine makes life efficient.
You know what you're doing.
You know when you're doing it.
You don't have to make a decision every time.
But I don't want to become fixed on my routine.
Because life isn't always efficient.
Sometimes the weather changes.
Sometimes plans change.
Sometimes somebody needs something from you.
Sometimes you just wake up and realize that today isn't going to go according to plan.
And I want to be able to adapt without feeling like I've somehow failed.
Routine is a mechanism for efficiency.
It's not the objective.
Actually enjoy the training
This one might be the most important.
I want to enjoy the training.
Because there are definitely days when I just get the workout done.
I look at the clock.
I look at the intervals.
I get through the session.
Check.
Done.
And there's value in consistency. Absolutely.
But sometimes I think I'm missing the experience itself.
I'm swimming.
I'm riding my bike.
I'm running.
I'm lifting weights.
My body is moving.
And I want to notice that.
Notice how it feels.
Notice the movement.
Notice the thoughts that come into my head.
Notice the emotion.
Notice the feeling of being outside.
Notice the feeling of getting stronger.
Because this isn't just a transaction where I put in 60 minutes and receive some future fitness benefit.
This is my life happening right now.
And I want to enjoy more of it.
Reflect—but don't create another chore
I also think it would be useful to spend a little time at the end of each week reflecting.
What went well?
What didn't?
What did I learn?
Was there anything I could do differently next week?
But—and this is important—I don't want to turn that into another item on my productivity checklist.
Weekly reflection: DONE.
That defeats the purpose.
Maybe I habit-stack it with personal journaling.
I've wanted to become more consistent with journaling anyway, so perhaps that's where the training reflection belongs.
A few minutes to step back and look at the week.
Not judge it.
Just notice it.
Food should be more than fuel
I also want to periodically revisit my nutrition.
Not constantly.
Not obsessively.
But every once in a while, step back and ask:
Is this actually working for me?
Am I enjoying what I'm eating?
Am I making food fun?
Because food is fuel, especially when you're training a lot.
But food is also one of the great pleasures of life.
And I don't want every meal to become a calculation of protein, carbohydrates, sodium and calories.
There should be room for enjoying food.
Share the experience
Another thing I want to do this year is find new ways to share the experience.
That's one reason I'm interested in video.
I've been podcasting for years now, but there's something really fun about telling the story visually.
Showing the training.
Showing the places I ride.
Showing the process.
Being creative.
And I think that's another way of enjoying the sport.
Not everything has to be about performance.
Sometimes it's just fun to create something.
Stay organized
And finally: stay organized.
Because nothing makes training more stressful than getting to the moment when you're supposed to train and realizing:
Oh crap. My gear isn't washed.
Or:
Where's that piece of equipment?
Or:
I wish I'd bought that thing three weeks ago.
Or:
I forgot to charge this.
All of those little things create friction.
And yes, staying organized takes time.
Washing the gear.
Putting things away.
Replacing things before they run out.
Charging things.
Preparing nutrition.
Getting tomorrow's stuff ready tonight.
But I don't think that time is wasted.
I think it's an investment in making the actual experience of training smoother and more enjoyable.
And ultimately, that's what I want this year to be about.
Not just getting fitter.
Not just hitting numbers.
Not just completing workouts.
I want to build a year of training that fits into my life.
A year where I'm prepared, but flexible.
Disciplined, but not rigid.
Focused, but not obsessive.
Where I take the training seriously, but remember that triathlon isn't the most important thing in my life.
And where, as much as possible, I actually enjoy the experience of doing it.
Because I've got a whole year ahead of me.
There's no need to rush it.
I just need to show up today and make today a good day to train.
