Forward Thinking Training

It is entertaining that this catch phrase popped up in my mind the other day and has continued to play over and over again to the point I want to try to outline this thought in writing. It is something that many successful athletes have done through history. I can look at the type of training that I did lifting weights and how that helped me win a multitude of competitions and I have also observed these same traits in other successful athletes in a variety of sports that require training.

What are those traits? Here are some of the major traits, but there are still many other good traits.

• Determination
• Disciplined
• Structured
• Consistent
• Progressive

After a quick Google search and by the multitudes of web pages that this is not something that I conjured up on my own as if I could take credit for this catch phrase, but this is something that is highly important to me as I continue to pursue improvement in cycling. I take what I have learned in the many years of training and I apply those same principles to cycling. Sure the training is obviously different, but the principles bulleted above are common.

So what is forward thinking in training to me?

First, it takes determination to push through the discomforts of training or the feeling of lethargy or other life distractions. It is not saying, “With work and other things in life I just don’t have time to train” or “I had a hard day and I believe I will skip training again.” Determination may require setting alarm clock a little earlier. Determination is another way of saying deep desire. Determination flows right into being disciplined so I will move forward in my thoughts.

The key aspect to forward thinking training to me is consistency. I noticed that when my training in lifting evolved over the years consistency played a major role. I had a structured plan that worked very well for me back in the day. The structured allowed for progressive training and had just enough recovery time built in.

How does one put all of this together and especially in the case of improving in cycling?

I am fortunate that I use a power meter to gauge my training and the WKO+ software from TrainingPeaks allows me to analyze my data. It helps me understand how yesterday’s training impacts tomorrow’s training. This is very important to me in forward thinking training. For instance, if I have five consecutive days of training lined up in my structure I need to train at an intensity level that will allow me to train those five days and yet each of those training sessions need to be effective (progressive) as well.

It is my hope that this planning will work out, but if I were invited on a group ride that is unpredictable in miles and intensity that causes a very high stress load that event can disrupt those scheduled training days. This is something I have experienced in the last couple of years as I am starting to get structured in my cycling training. I have been on group rides that were as intense as being in a race with a lot of burned matches and high stress loads. I am not saying those type of rides are not beneficial, but they can be disruptive to the planned training structure and may be disruptive to being consistent because more recovery time is required. This can happen on a solo ride as well. I have done long distance solo rides that racked up 350+ TSS (Training Stress Score) and found that I needed a couple of days rest following and missed the scheduled training days following the big ride. This hurts consistency.

Having the power meter and the software is really helping me dial into consistency with a progressive trend. My thought in becoming more consistent is be better at forward thinking training. It is an observation of how progressive training today will impact tomorrow's training with consistency in training being a key element.