Hi guys,
Hope you’ve had a great month despite this crazy weather we’ve been having!
I’m going to kick things off with a great quote I heard from Lionel Sanders a few weeks ago after his incredible win at Oceanside 70.3.
“Great performers are not consistently great, they’re great at being consistent”. Tony Robbins
What was even more interesting was when asked about the key factors that allowed him to find this incredible performance at the age of 36 when many thought he was on the decline…he replied “I actually took a proper off season to rest for the first time in my life as a pro and got some decent rest. I also managed to put together 12 weeks of the most consistent training of my career”. There were no bells and whistles, and it did include one short illness, it was just a consistent block of good training. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.
It also made me think of a piece of advice that legendary Australian Coach Darren Smith once gave to me about peak performance. He said, “to find peak performance you have to put a block of 12 weeks of consistent training together, do that and you’ll be in the best shape of your life”. He thought that was the minimum.
Both these statements made me reflect and ask myself how often do triathletes every put together 12 weeks of consistent training in the pursuit of ambitious goals? I’d argue that it’s rare, and it’s rare because of life & work stress, illness and injury prevalence.
It also made me think about how my version of consistency sometimes differs wildly with what some of my athletes consider consistent training. It’s amazing how often that an athlete will tell me how consistent they’ve been when I’ve only seen them hit a couple weeks of quality consistent training but then when we look back at the previous 8 weeks they are hitting as little as 50-75% of the training that has been set.
I certainly don’t think you have to hit 100% of training to find peak performance or good performance for that matter. It’s amazing but rare if you do in any week. But over time the best performers in training and racing come from those athletes that are hitting the mid 80’s and higher over a long period.
These metrics are all clearly visible in whatever training platforms you use or if you keep some form of training diary. Just look at training hours prescribed versus training hours completed and then average this over 4,8 and 12 weeks. And do it for each discipline, you might be quite surprised at what you see.
I also think huge improvements can be seen in just 4 weeks from athletes that are hitting 90% + of their training. I like to set this goal with my athletes because it seems a very achievable starting point.
Like the quote says, this training doesn’t need to feel consistently great, it just needs to be consistent. My favourite mantra in relation to the experience of training will always be ‘The rule of thirds’ because there is so much truth to it.
- A third of the time training will feel rubbish
- A third of the time training will feel average
- A third of the time training will feel great
What this is really saying is that most of the time training won’t feel particularly great (often due to life stressors impacting the body & mind) but you just need to knuckle down and get it done anyway. Because if you don’t for any reason, you lose the magic bullet that is known as ‘consistency’.
It isn’t a difficult concept to grasp but it’s one that so many athletes tend to struggle with. This is in large because of their boom-and-bust approach to training. They have big goals and aspirations but often fail to put the work in over a long enough period to achieve them.
As a coach the one thing I know is that training will be like a roller coaster for all athletes including myself. There will be ups, downs and everything in between. That’s life, and training reflects life, so just accept it and do the best you can. You can ask no more of yourself than that because long term consistency will always beat short term gain.
So, as we head into the warmer months of the year think about how you can be more consistent over the longest periods of time possible. Start with 4 weeks as your first goal. I promise you one thing, the return on this investment of this will be huge. It’s not the heroic sessions that will get you to where you want to be it’s how long can you keep layering compounding training interest over time. As the great investor Warren Buffet once said:
“Take that little snowball and start rolling it down a very long hill”
Race results
Ironman Texas
- Andrew Reardon
- Splits: swim 1:08:12 / bike 4:44:37 / run 3:47:32
- Total Time: 9:48:45
- 15th/ 297 (45-49 category)
To say things got tough out there in Texas for Andrew would be a huge understatement. So, to find this level of performance in the heat & humidity of Texas was an incredible achievement and should only be applauded. It was near 30 degrees on the day with very high humidity at 80% +. This dreaded combination can often be a performance killer for many athletes, especially coming off the back of a British Winter. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how fit you are these conditions can impact the body enormously and Andrew found that after a very hot swim he started to have breathing issues 80miles into the bike and then stomach issues. He also became really dehydrated which led to a very painful run from the moment he got going. So, to find one of the fastest bikes of the day and still finish the run in under 4 hours was a superb performance. Even with that he was only 8mins away from a Hawaii slot. Disappointing yes, but hugely motivating to know that it’s just a matter of time. It’s purely a matter of the stars aligning for him now.
Robben Island to Cape Town 8km swim (South Africa)
- Sami Roberston
- Water temp: 12.6 Celsius
- Total Time: 2hrs 16mins
Huge congrats to our legendary swim fish Sami Robertson who completed one his bucket list swims earlier this month in South Africa. It takes braver man than me to swim in those freezing cold shark infested waters! Over to Sami…
“Eerie start. It was very misty the sound of Fog horns around us was alarming!
The water was flat and calm, and once I got into a rhythm, it was lovely to swim in.
Anyone thinking about doing this swim should go to Derrick at Big Bay Events – whose team were flawless throughout.
All in all, the great experience… I’ll be posting a second reel on my personal account… that sounds right
The most difficult thing about the swim for me was the way the water shifted in terms of temperature, it was 9 degrees the week before I went. Then suddenly jumped up
To 12. We didn’t know how it would change
The was definitely a fear of eyeballing a sea monster.. luckily none were seen en route just a friendly seal which was ironic given my nickname was Sami the seal..”
Also, a big shout out to Toby Dean who set a new 5k PB of 19:49 at the Fulham Park run. He also won the 50-54 age category and finished 16th male overall.
What I’ve been watching this month
There’s been a basketball theme for me this month on TV and these two offerings more than lived up to the hype. Both are extraordinary life stories of two of the greatest basketball players ever to play the game. I was always quite aware that Magic Johnson was considered one of the greatest…what I didn’t know was what an extraordinary human being he was as well. His personality was larger than life and his very prime he was one of the world’s first sports stars to be diagnosed with HIV. What he chose to do next was a mark of the incredible man is.
Stephen Curry was told he would never make it as an NBA basketball player, the reason being he was too skinny and too short. But one Coach believed in him and gave him a chance, the rest is history. Steph has gone on to become the greatest 3-point shooter in the history of the game leading his team The Golden State Warriors to 4 NBA titles. The footage of him playing basketball as a tiny skinny child is something to behold, as is his capacity to find the basket every time even at a young age.
New athlete Q & A…Welcome to the team Peter Hicks!
Name: Peter Hicks
Age: 27
Star sign: Pisces
Years in triathlon: <1 before September 2023 I’d done next to no swimming biking or running.
Occupation: Software Engineer
In another life you would have been a..? a physicist
Who is your athletic alter ego? Kelly Slater, I think pro surfers have got it pretty sweet!
Favourite training session: Long bike ride, preferably with company!
Least favourite training session: Running interval sessions
Favourite training track (music!): To be honest, I prefer listening to an audio book or podcast!
Favourite book: The Hobbit
Last book you read: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Favourite training venue/location: I’m very partial to laps of my local parks (Lammas and Walpole). Boring I know!
Favourite race experience: Finishing my first half marathon and first ever race this March.
Top 3 race bucket list:
Ultra-trail Mont Blanc
Alpe d’Huez Triathlon
London Marathon
Favourite mantra: In for a penny in for a pound
If you could choose 3 famous people to come to dinner with you who would they be & why?
– Louis Theroux, seems like a nice guy and I’m a big fan of his weird weekends.
– Mary Berry, I’m an OG Bake Off enjoy-er and she can bring pudding.
– Richard Feynman, a rare crosser-over of great physicist and good dinner guest.
Training hours per week:
8-10hrs
What are your training & race goals for 2024?
1) complete any triathlon
2) Erkner 70.3
3) 1&2 without injuring myself