Season Review - Part One
Looking Backwards
I’m back in Sweden for a week. ÖtillÖ will be my first ultra event since the LT100 Bike, over a decade ago. On Monday, I’m going to race down the Swedish Archipelago with Jonas Colting.
The event is a biggie - 9km of swimming and 61 km of running. We swim between 24 islands and run across them.
What Went Right?
In the northern hemisphere, soon, we wrap up our seasons. As an elite, September was a month for self-reflection, unloading fatigue and mapping out what’s to come.
September was also time to complete a non-athletic project with long term potential. I’ve written books, built new products, and started companies.
Last month, before the school year started, my wife sat us down and asked…
What was your favorite part of the summer?
This simple question set off an avalanche of memories… of fun, achievement and good times.
I recommend you start your season review by writing as many good times down as you can remember.
Something I noticed in 2023…
Improving was more satisfying than performing.
Part of the feeling is my fitness isn’t yet at the point where I’m ready to “perform.” But another part of the feeling is the way I’m wired. I get a lot of satisfaction from working towards long term goals.
So when you’re writing down YOUR list of what-went-right, pay attention to themes that arise.
Our next season, and our entire lives, need only make sense to us. There are many things “everybody does” that don’t fit well with what motivates me. I need to remember these items.
Where Did I Make Mistakes?
The usual suspects here. Write down…
Injuries
Missed Races
Cancelled Trips
Unforced Errors
We all have patterns and habits that can lead to self-sabotage.
I’ve found it most effective to focus on what we want to have happen.
Don’t Travel To Train becomes Stay Put & Train
Don’t Run Max Effort 5Ks becomes Tempo Before Threshold
Those are couple lessons from my Spring & Summer. Consider what might have knocked you off plan and how to address.
What Do I Want To Keep?
Which aspects of your plan worked great?
Pretty clear what worked for me…
A focus on Green Zone volume.
Back-to-back easy days, every single week.
Don’t load when evening resting heart rate is elevated by more than 5 bpm above normal.
The last two lessons are new. The first lesson goes back 30 years but I’m always tempted to go that little bit harder.
Whatever your list. That’s 80% of next year sorted right there. Write it down.
Keep. What. Works.
Compounding is what drives gains.
What Surprised Me?
The counterintuitive lessons of the last year will be forgotten if we don’t write them down.
Some of mine make no sense, but the data is clear:
I can improve my running when running very little.
Really easy works really well.
Nothing happened then a lot happened.
The feeling of being “old” was a lack of metabolic fitness and a fear of appropriate recovery.
Let’s dig into these as they will help you focus this Fall & Winter.
Frequency Matters - we underestimate the power of short, frequent sessions and tiny doses of pace. Our short workouts count, far more than we give them credit for.
General Capacity is a tide that lifts all ships. Volume - Adaptation - Consistency. If you have ambitious goals. Get the volume by any means necessary.
Slows Works Well for certain athlete types. Learn, and remember, YOUR type.
What I mean here, specifically, is know which part of the Green Zone is most important for YOU. We’re all going to be doing a lot of endurance training.
Athletes, like John Hellemans, perform with a focus on in Zone 2.
Athletes, like me, can do well with an emphasis on Zone 1.
As you develop from Recreational to Competitive to Elite - you may find your endurance mix needs to adjust. I’ve always done well with a volume-emphasis and training one level “down.”
That’s me.
What did you learn last year? Write it down.
Gains Can’t Be Scheduled - another way of saying, the results aren’t up to us. I capture all my data, test regularly, get injured, get better… I see no pattern to the timing of when I improve. What I can see is consistent work, over long time horizons generates satisfaction and improvement.
Metabolics Matter. Both for racing fast and feeling good outside of training. My biggest win of the year was shifting my lactate curve down.
Here’s the payoff:
Metabolics Unlock Volume
Volume Unlocks Performance
Separate from the performance equation… if you want to do cool stuff with friends and family then improve your metabolic fitness.
Fitness opens our world.
Taking Stock
Plan a low-key MONTH where you’ll shed the fatigue of last season, take stock and establish a healthy baseline. This is a great time to visit your physician for your annual check up.
When taking stock, consider:
What went right?
Where did I make mistakes?
What do I want to keep?
What surprised me?
Write it all down and put a note in your calendar to review in September of next year. These reviews are a lot of fun to track over time.
Finally give thanks. It’s pretty cool that we can spend so much time exercising.
A special shout out to:
My Wife, Monica
My Coach, Johan
My Training Partners - Justin and my lane mates
My Writing Partner - John Hellemans
And You, thank you for reading our stuff.
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