Waffles or Spaghetti?

What makes great achievers?  The ability to compartmentalize daily stresses and success. Yes, it can actually be that simple; being able to segment each aspect of your day at face value. Assess what happened, understand why it was good or why it was bad and then move on to the next conquest of the day.

Athletes who approach their training and racing with a "waffle" outlook will tend to have more consistent success within their performance. Picture a waffle, what you do you see? A waffle is comprised of multiple tiny squares and each square represent each an hour throughout day, one hour can be good, the next may not proceed as planned, and then the following hour right back on track again. Waffles win!

Now athletes who may have all the talent in the world, yet perform inconsistently under the pressure might be best represented as a plate of "spaghetti."  This athletes outlook is plate of noodles and all it takes is one displeasing action to become unraveled. Spaghetti is messy!

Shifting your focus to a waffle is how I encourage you to approach your training.  Being able to compartmentalize your training from the rest your day will allow you to approach each training session with the focus needed to achieve your personal best.

Week #2: Consistentcy

Often the biggest obstacle in training is to be CONSISTENT.  Over the past year I have had many distractions that have pulled my away from maintaining a CONSISTENT routine within training; mainly finishing my masters and moving!  However, now that I am on the "greener" side of grass I see these distractions more as excuses for not finding my internal motivation to maintain my fitness.

My athletic goal was to kick of 2014 with nothing but awesomeness, which I did on January 1st and 2nd - then I came down with the flu.  Fast forward to January 20th, my training begins.  I have started my journey of CONSISTENT training!

My professional goal for the year is to continue to expand my knowledge as a coach and become a leader within the field of triathlon, coaching and sports physiology.  With that said, please join my this Thursday (Feb-6) @ 3pm MST for my first webinar of the 2014 season; Female Training Specifics. I will be presenting as a part of a series that USA Triathlon is conducting this month on Women in Sport.

 USA Triathlon Women in Sport Webinar Series

2014 Annual Training Plan

An Annual Training Plan (ATP) is a tool that guides athletic training over the course of one calendar year. It is based on the concept of periodization, which divides the ATP into training phases, and the principles of training. An ATP is necessary to maximize performance; so please join me on my professional and personal training progression throughout 2014!

In order to begin I need to ask the most basic question, what are my goals for 2014?

Professionally

• Continue to flourish as a Professional Coach
• Continue to increase my knowledge as a Sports Physiologist
• Establish a Professional Triathlon Team (age groupers & elites)

Athletically

• Ironman Colorado  - August 2014!

There you have it... my 2014 will be categorized into 4 areas, stay tuned for progress reports and insight into my world of coaching of leading and guiding athletes (myself included) to reach our true potential.