1st Day of Christmas: One Philosophy of Consistency

Christmas is tomorrow! Wow!

Everything up to now has focused on gear. But gear is not the most important thing in triathlon training and racing.

1st Day of Christmas: Consistency!

All the best gear in the world is not going to get you to the finish line of your big training days or big races. Only training can get you there. A smart training plan that builds upon weekly successes to create monthly successes that then create annual successes. And the foundation of all that training is CONSISTENCY.

It's really that simple. For 90% of the triathlete population, consistent training at a moderate pace will bring consistent improvement at a moderate pace.  And then it's just a matter of time until you break into the upper echelon in which gear and equipment provides specific advantages.

But even the philosophy of consistency has it's own foundation. To be consistent, you have to be dedicated to get up every morning and hit that scheduled workout of 3-4 sessions for each sport per week. You have to have a schedule that let's you get in consistent workouts. Most importantly to me, you have to coordinate your family time such that they remain the priority in life.

Consistency will indeed pay off, usually fairly quickly for people just starting.

A key element to how quickly it pays off is if you are hitting the right intensity level. It certainly shouldn't be high intensity in the very early stages like the first three weeks, when you should be simply setting a groove for yourself and letting your body adapt to new stresses. The second three weeks, you can turn up the intensity a bit, and then you'll start noticing the changes towards the end of the third week.  Each week, you either maintain an intensity and volume level or increase ONE of them (don't increase both because then you'll certainly lose consistency from lack of recovery or injury).

Of course, if you workout consistently at too low of an intensity level, you'll never see a difference. I like to keep things around 80% of max heart rate to ensure I maintain consistency. Anything harder than that, and I have to start worrying about appropriate recovery towards the end of the week (and I certainly do do the harder workouts! they are scheduled appropriately for recovery).  I always here about people who go to the   gym or walk EVERY DAY but can't lose weight...well, short and simple....their intensity level is too low or they haven't adjusted calorie intake.

If you want to improve in triathlon, CONSISTENCY is the key.