Each week, one of our our coaches jots down a short thought piece giving insight into elements of coaching, training, racing or mindset. This week Coach Chris talks about getting back on track when life gets busy or complicated.
How do you get back on track with your goals when life throws a few curve balls at you? (hello COVID-19?!) It’s a great question and one that we have all experienced. Pro athletes, coaches and runners of all ages all lose focus and screw up their training every so often. That’s natural. It’s the getting back on track that is the important part.
Usually, its around this time of year that the wheels start to come off on the new years resolutions, as the realities of life kick in and the normal post Christmas chaos, complexities and messiness take hold. As coaches, we appreciate that it is not possible to do train perfectly all of the time and that life can be complex. We will all have to re-focus or get back on track several times during any training block that we undertake, no more so than during the last year!
This particular point was raised during one of our GoRun 'Aid Station’ webinars recently and the discussion was really interesting. The main point I took away was that we are often led to believe through experts, books, podcasts etc that the process of ‘reframing’ or refocusing after tough situations and 'getting back on track' is structured, simple and linear. It's not! It's actually chaotic, complex and messy.
Some people verbalise this process, some people think their way through it, but the important part is that realising that it's going to be complex and messy, actually cuts you a bit of slack to work through it in your own way and time, which ultimately will be better than trying to do it perfectly in line with the supposed experts.
Here’s 4 simple questions or prompts for doing that, if you do lose focus:
Remember you and the coach are a team, they are here to help you.
Keep in touch with your coach and ask for help if you’re not sure what to do.
Emphasise consistent training, rather than trying to be perfect all the time. Regular training wins every time.
Think about what might have caused you to get off track? What can you learn from that?