So here it is – another new year and all around people are making new years resolutions. Maybe you want to lose a few pounds, you resolve to finish every one of those tough turbo sessions, or you are more focussed on race results for the coming year. Whatever you want to achieve in the coming year or season, the new year naturally inspires us to think ahead to the world of opportunities open to us. If you haven’t already started setting goals for next season, now is the time to start!
Review
Before looking ahead though, it’s useful to look back over last season. Ask yourself some simple, general questions – for instance, “What went well?” Then begin to drill down into your answers a little further – Why did it go well? What training or sessions did you do that made that work? What tactics did you employ etc. Get right down to the specifics. Then do the same for the things that didn’t go so well, and build up a picture of your season, what you achieved and how you achieved it, what goals you didn’t manage to achieve, why you didn’t achieve them, and what you could do differently to make your chances of success greater next year. Remember, if you keep on doing the same things, you’re likely to get pretty similar results.
Assess
It’s also important to take a snap shot of where you are now. Assess your current fitness level. An FTP test (functional threshold power) to measure your functional threshold is a good place to start. It will give you valuable information about your general fitness – the size of your ‘engine’ if you like, and provide you with a baseline to compare against in the future. This way you can measure your progress over the coming months. Recently FTP has taken on some kind of mythical status – a ‘magic’ number – but a good coach will look at far more than just your FTP. Consider all the components of fitness, and particularly those that match the demands of your targeted event. Assess all aspects of fitness, skills and tactical ability before deciding exactly what you will spend your valuable training time working on.
Goals
Now you can start to look ahead – what do you want to achieve next year? Write down your goals. For the really serious rider we should be looking not just at next year, but years ahead. British Cycling, for instance look at Olympic Cycles, planning four years or more ahead. For most of us though, next season is a good place to start.
Begin with the end in Mind
Stephen Covey in his international best-seller ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ stated ‘Begin with the end in mind’ and you could do a lot worse than to follow his advice. Start with the goal – a clearly defined, specific goal. Form a crystal clear picture in your mind of exactly what it is you want to achieve and you are more likely to achieve it. Not just because you have defined what success is for you, not just because you know exactly what it looks like and feels like, but because by beginning with the end in mind you can analyse what it will take to achieve that goal – what components of fitness, techniques and tactics are necessary to achieve that goal, and hence exactly what you will need to work on to fulfil your goal.
Specificity
One of the main tenets of training theory is specificity. If you want to win a mountainous race, you need to work on your climbing. If you want to be a track sprinter you need to work on muscle mass, strength, speed and power. Chris Froome and Sir Chris Hoy don’t do the same training. They look at exactly what qualities they need to win their events and train specifically for them. Too many people just ride their bikes in the hope that it will make them faster. Well, it will to some extent, but to get the most out of your valuable training time and the best results you can, you need to know exactly what your goals are, what you need to be good at to achieve them and work on those specific areas.
Short Term Goals
You’ve reviewed your season, your strengths and weaknesses – so you know ‘where you are’. You’ve set your goals – so you know your ‘destination’. Now you need to plan your route to success. This is where a coach can be invaluable – they can analyse the demands of an event and power files associated with those events, look at your own strengths and weaknesses and design a training programme specifically for you to address those gaps in your performance, giving you the best possible chance of success. They can also advise you on how best to progress from A to B….there are lots of ways to go, lots of ways to progress your fitness. A good coach will know all about periodisation and how to bring on your form at the right time. An excellent coach will work closely with you, follow your progress and tweak your training programme as you go to ensure you get the very best out of yourself. This is why it’s so important to set intermediate, short term goals. Take stock of your progress regularly. If you’re not quite on course, it gives you the opportunity to get back on track. Without those short term goals you might end up going in the wrong direction all season, and your goals will remain out of sight.
Planning
Whether you take the advice of a professional coach or decide to go it alone, planning is the key.
- Review your season, assess your current fitness, your strengths and weaknesses
- Set your goals and plan how to achieve them
- Check your progress by breaking your goals down into smaller, short term goals
- See where you are and frequently revise your plan
Don’t just ride your bike. Don’t leave it to luck. Give yourself the best possible chance of achieving your goals. Plan for success now! As Benjamin Franklin famously said “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
