No time to train WRONG

Stacey Richardson’s Weekly Workout Tip:

A great friend of mine shared with me why he has a coach.  It sounds like music to a coach’s ears and it will no doubt make your athlete heart sing.   How simple. How inspiring.  How totally accurate was Wes when he said,

“I have a coach because I don’t have time to do things wrong.   I”m busy. I want to maximize my training time and get faster. “

Finally, an athlete who gets it.  And just think of the number of athletes who have coaches and don’t listen to them.   We study things obsessively so you don’t have to.  We fill our days and nights with science, debate with other coaches, and balancing the art along with the science of coaching.  You can’t get that wisdom from a printed plan.  We learn through our failures and successes and so too can you.

Just last week I watched yet another cyclist blowing up his ride with bouts of standing and coasting, all the while running a powertap.  I wonder what his coach would say if he read those files. I wonder if the athlete does?   Plenty of miles to ride so its ok if some are wrong,  right??   NO!!  What if every mile and every pedal stroke really counted instead of only some of them?  My athletes hear me say all the time “You want to coast. Good. Go home and deduct it from your mileage.” Sure that’s hard core, but for the average age- grouper riding 100-150 miles per week, who has time to coast for any of  those precious miles?

Better yet, the triathlete who goes to the pool and grinds away lap after lap without every thinking about efficiency of movement, making improvements in stroke mechanics or daring slow down and focus  in order to get faster.   Do the same thing over and over and get the same results.  Or take a swim lesson, ask questions, struggle, and apply it to swimming correctly.   This is true of all three sports and most especially swimming.

The best thing you can do for training right is to turn on your training brain and challenge yourself to move differently, more efficiently, and with mindful focus on your training.  It’s not just practice that counts.  It’s perfect practice that takes you to the next level.  The choice is all yours.

 

 

 

 

 

Stacey Richardson’s Weekly Workout Tips
©TriStacey Coaching