Athletes often
train too frequently, too long and too intensely. That inevitably leads to
overtraining, burnout, illness and injury. Over the last 30 years I’ve helped
many athletes get out of the rut they’ve dug for themselves by teaching them
to train moderately and consistently. This is the key to success in sport.
If your race performance is spotty and you are unable to perform to your
potential at A-priority events then excessive and inconsistent training may be the
cause. In fact, I've found this to usually be the reason. If you are frequently tired when it's time to do a quality session then it certainly is the cause. In this case you must learn to harness and direct
your desire to succeed. How can you do that? It starts with training
moderation.
that you seldom explore your physical limits. Too many athletes try to do
the hardest workouts they are capable of frequently. Long workouts are much too
long and intensity is often too high. Most seem to believe that peak fitness
comes from finding their limits several times each week and rest is viewed as something for sissies. That way of thinking is a sure way to derail your training.
Moderation when it comes to workout duration and absolute intensity is what you should be seeking.
target. As your fitness improves what a few weeks ago would have been a hard
workout becomes moderate. So within the same season the level of moderation
rises. The same sort of thing is going on from season to season. If you are
training properly your capacity to handle a given training load increases over
the long term. What was a hard workout last year is moderate this year.
moderation. Consistent training means you don’t miss workouts – ever. Missed
workouts are the result of too much: too
much intensity, too much duration, too much working out and too much stuff in
your life. If you train (and live) moderately you will be consistent. If you are
consistent you will race faster. It’s not how hard the workouts are. It’s how
consistently you do them.
start coaching an athlete I ask if the training is harder or easier than it
was when the athlete was self-coached. The answer is usually that it’s
easier. I almost always have the athletes do less than they did before, and
guess what – they become more fit and faster. I focus our attention on
their weaknesses that must be improved for success in the next A-priority race. You’ll
recall from my Training Bible books that these race-specific weaknesses are called 'limiters.' If you want to
improve as an athlete you must know your limiters and then train moderately and
consistently with your focus primarily on them. That, in a nutshell, is the key to success.
