Three Steps to Breaking Performance Barriers

Whether you are a seasoned athlete, a weekend warrior or a first time endurance athlete there is continual room for improvement. Some improvements might be small and some are large but now is the optimal time to monopolize on one or many of these areas to improve. We break these areas down into three key aspects of your training. Planning your future, Intensity vs. Volume and Increasing the accuracy of your training. Building a strong foundation – Just like a house your training has a strong foundation.  Most athletes have a beginning, typically where you are right now, and a finish, which most would view as their big event(s).  Much like a house has a blue print your training has a plan.  Houses and buildings tend to start with the architect that designs the structure to be beautiful and what the final result will or shall be.  

Once the spires and ornate fixtures are designed and drafted then the engineers step in and figure out how this beautiful new building will be able to survive the stresses and loads that will be placed upon it.  Much like the architect, you design you design what you want your year to look like and then the structure is added to help you stand when event day arrives.  Don’t be the building that collapses due to poor design, instead plan now for what your event will be. H.I.T. for fit – We often read articles about winter is the time for volume and hear myths of training in the winter or cold weather will “burst capillaries,” however, we recommend you think about the reality of this.  Nordic skiers are the first example that comes to mind.  These athletes perform in the coldest conditions possible yet have the highest VO2 max values recorded and prove all the crazy rumors wrong!  So rethink your winter training, are you going to do your standard low intensity training in high volume amounts or is it more realistic for you to try High Intensity Training to push your limits and challenge yourself for this winter season? Analyze and realize – Clearly by now you know that the science of training is important 

to us, heck it is in our name!  Not only do we consider the “science” to be based on the body’s physiologic response to training but we also care greatly about the importance of training devices in your training.  We do not make them mandatory for our athletes but we do feel that they offer a great benefit to the accuracy of your training.  Whether you use perceived exertion, heart rate, pace or power the key is understanding what it’s strengths are and what the pitfalls of your desired training device are.  A greater understanding of these devices and how they relate to you results in one thing…greater accuracy in your training which means greater results! Whether you think you are lacking in one of these areas or all three remember that you must start somewhere.  Take time to analyze what you have done previously, see what those actions resulted in and then evaluate how you should handle the future.  If you don’t feel confident in this contact us at [email protected] and remember that often the best coaches have someone else coach them.  Over years of experience we know that often we are biased, over analyze ourselves and that most importantly someone who has a different point of view can be very beneficial to furthering athletic success!