Faith

MUSINGS FROM A COACH - 23 MAY '24

Faith.

What would be your most frustrating issues if you were a professional and had every day available to train with no constraints other than your body and mind? Some thoughts:

-Constantly wondering, do you have the best products, equipment and nutrition?

-Are you training correctly?

-Are you recovering correctly?

-Why are others doing things differently?

You can probably relate to the above questions and realize that these questions are not just asked by professionals but by all of us.

When we focus, commit and do things that are routinely hard - both physically and mentally - it requires incredible determination and willpower. There are sacrifices that we make and decisions we make every day to stay on our focused path. Because of this, it's only natural for us to question, "Are we doing the right things?"

And here's where we can easily lose sight of the tree in the middle of the forest. Sometimes it's a new piece of tech gear that makes us wonder if we'll perform better if we purchase it. Other times it's a supplement that claims a performance boost in very general terms. Often we see teammates, friends and competitors doing different types of training that we are doing, causing us to question if what we're doing is right. Or we undergo extensive performance testing and now feel the need to follow very strict numbers from an algorithm for our training.

We're giving so much of our time for a goal that we start to think we need all these other things to increase our performance. Would some or all of them help? Potentially. But more important than all these distractions is our consistency of training, recovery and adherence to a plan. We, at some point, must trust the plan, execute it and learn from it.

Even at the highest levels of endurance sports, there are no absolutes, no magic pills and plenty of "questions" that constantly arise. The seasoned athlete understands this and trusts in the process. This doesn't mean that what is programmed cannot be changed. In fact, most professionals don't make it through a week exactly as planned. There must be great communication between the athlete and Coach and a willingness to discuss those questions as they come up. But once a decision is made, it's time to get to work and move on.

These questions arise whether we're looking for the 1% improvement for the elite or the 20% improvement for the amateur. Either way, we must - at some point - commit to the plan and have faith in its design. It's not an easy thing to do, but recognizing that you are not alone in asking these questions may help you stay on track and trust the process.

Gratefully,

Mark

CEO Team MPI