Don’t sweat the small stuff!

I remember around five years ago walking onto poolside at the University of Stirling for the first time, I’d been involved in triathlon for a good few years previously and had my ideas of what high performance would look like. I was ready to see the athletes recording every split, checking their HR, having lactate tested and every detail analysed. However I was quite surprised not to see this, to see in fact the world I walked into and now work in is actually simpler and less complex than you may expect.

Now as a disclaimer I’m not saying this level of detail and data is never used. There is a time and place of course but on the whole I believe things are and can be simpler than needed. In the UK and perhaps worldwide in sport we have become obsessed with the “marginal gains” the minute details that make us 10% faster or stronger. Pick up any magazine or check the latest endurance sport websites and you will find the latest fad, product or idea that can push you on. Most but not all coming at an expense.

I have seen with athletes and even myself become distracted, jumping on the bandwagon or wanting to overcomplicate the training and coaching process. Sometimes out of curiosity or external pressures. However until the simple basics are nailed I do believe some of this can be shelved.

Instead of trying to decorate the cake perhaps you have to start with baking the cake! What I mean by this as there are some really basic principles in endurance sport that will make you faster, stronger and a better athlete. These are volume, consistency, the correct intensity at the right time and recovery. Pretty simple? But how often do you find your consistency changing? Or you push that easy run too hard and can’t push when you need too? How many times do you really hit the intensity that’s required and go all in? You can look at the small finer details but If you miss the big picture your cake won’t be ready to be decorated.

Endurance sport requires a level of patience, hours, months and years or hard work consistency and building the layers. How patient are you willing to be to invest in the process and ignore the noise and distractions of shortcuts? I have seen athletes who want to be faster and improve wanting to look at and track the smallest finest details, which if you have the time and resource is no bad thing. But if you haven’t mastered the basics first, if you aren’t staying consistent, doing the work and recovering then those initial layers will not build.

In performance sport we do look at a whole number of details, numbers and measurements. Some athletes want to do this more than others and you need to understand the want and desire for that. But fundamentally and what I saw and continue to see on the daily is the basics being done. The intensity delivered, consistency built up and the daily process being controlled. What I have learnt over the years is that it isn’t about the tracking, the monitoring or small things it really is the basics being done over and over again.

Maybe this all sounds too simple, perhaps it’s not want you want to hear or read and that’s okay. But really reflect on your training and your weeks. Are you really doing the basics as best you can? Maybe save some money on that live lactate tester and get more sleep.