Training: The Basics VI

The Hard Stuff

We’ve been working our way through the “Ten Commandments of Training.”  This week we focus on the two which are often the hardest to follow.  Why?  Read on.

Commandment VII) Improve your weaknesses. 

Sounds simple and easy, doesn’t it?  Just work on your weaknesses.  The thing is, this is difficult.  Everyone has some particular thing that they really like to do.  This is usually because they are good at it.  It may be sprinting, or climbing the long big stuff, or blistering descents, or cranking up the wick and motoring through the flats.  Whatever it is, we look for opportunities to do it, and gain a great deal of joy and reward from it.  And therein lies the problem.  There is a tendency to neglect areas that can reward with increased performance, while over-developing areas of proficiency.

It takes some deliberate thought and action to tackle one’s weaknesses.  Here’s a bit of a plan.  Before beginning training, sit down and do an honest and thoughtful self-evaluation.  Do it on paper.  Make a two column pair of lists.  Label one,  “I am good at” and the other,  “I don’t do well at.”  Be brutally frank.  No one else is going to see this.  But it’s a really important tool in your training kit.

Once you’ve finished this self evaluation, you will have a very good idea of those areas that require more work.  About now, you will be having a bit of a sinking feeling.  Are you thinking something like,  “Aww phoey!  This isn’t going to be any fun at all.  I hate some of this stuff!”  If so, you are not alone.  It takes courage and gumption to go after the hard parts.  On the other hand, it won’t be all unremitting drudgery.  There are a lot of rewards, and you will be able to go and “play” with the good stuff too.

About now, you may be wondering just how to work on improving those areas of weakness.  You may just need some help to design a program that will address those particular areas.  It’s even trickier to incorporate that program into a full training plan that addresses all of your needs.  Be prepared to pay for this advice and help.

Also be prepared for one more important effect.  When one deliberately works to widen areas of strength and competency, there is always a price.  We tend to lose a little of what we are best at, while we work to get better at the less practiced areas.  That feels wrong at first, but know this, becoming more widely proficient, gaining strength in more and broader areas, will result in an overall stronger, fitter, and happier you.  It’s worth the cost.

Commandment VIII)   TRUST your TRAINING

This is another really difficult one.  Remember!

Training is a stimulus

The body responds by becoming stronger and more fit.

This takes time.

A good and well rounded training plan is almost a year-round work.  There will be times of doubt.  It happens to all of us.  We start to wonder if this is all worth it.  We begin to think that we’re over-doing things, or not doing enough.  We want to “tinker” with the plan, and change it up to make it “better.”

These internal doubts can lead to some pretty intense emotional moments.  In fact, outright panic is not all that uncommon.  These doubtful moments tend to occur at one or more of three periods in the execution of a training program.  They are:  1)  During the early phases.  2)  In the middle part of the program.  3)  During the later weeks of work, near the end.  (Sometimes all three!)

Don’t laugh!  I’ve seen folks pay really good money, and then go all emotional and fight against the routines, from the beginning to the end of a training plan.  (Often the individual in question will then blame their coach for the resulting bad performance.)

The problems arise when we feel that we are not working hard enough, or that we are working too hard, or that we are working on the wrong stuff, or that we are not seeing an improvement.  All of this is natural and normal.

Face it, the most of athletics, and of cycling, is mental.  Overcoming our personal demons is a big part of this mental exercise.  And training is as much about mental conditioning as it is about the physical.

We are programmed, almost constantly, by an event driven, immediate reward seeking society.  We are constantly told we can get “instant results!”  Truth is, anything worth doing takes time, patience, and a certain amount of mental frustration.  It takes a lot of faith, but trust that your training will get you there.  Be willing to ask questions, and do research, but resist (strongly) the urge to panic.

Next week:  We wrap this up with the last two “Commandments”:  IX) LISTEN to your body.  And X)  COMMIT to your GOALS.