The start of new year is the perfect time to shake up your training in order to get some big increases in performance.
The festive period has given you time off, so you’re refreshed, have new enthusiasm and some perspective on your performances over the past 12 months.
Here are five tips for reviving and improving your performance over the next 12 months:
Tip 1: Review 2020 – and be honest.
Being able to self analyse your performances in training and competition is an incredibly valuable quality. Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are: What worked, what didn’t? Where did you cut corners? What training sessions helped you improve? Where did you underperform in competition and why?
You find the answers to just a few of these questions and you’re half way there to becoming a better runner in the next season. Don’t lie to yourself either. Honest feedback is gold.
Tip 2: Revise.
Ok, so you’ve done the painful self analysis. You know where you feel short, you’ve identified some weaknesses. Now change your training to work on them. Einstein said the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
Maybe there’s a speed session you hate – it pushes you over your limits – so you skipped a few. Or you realised you got out kicked in the last 100m in most of your races. Well, this is useless information, unless you figure out how to fix these weaknesses. If lack of kick is costing you wins, time to add some more speed sessions to your programme. Getting dropped on the hills… looks like you’ll be doing more hill sprints in 2021.
Tip 3: Identify objectives.
What’s your goal for 2021. Be specific. Map out your season with a few key objectives. This will help you tailor your training programme to peak for big events or strengthen any weaknesses.
Tip 4: Become a complete athlete.
Running will only get you so far. It sounds counter intuitive but there’s more to being a good runner than just getting miles in. Think about strength training, adding core workouts and a bit of cross training. This will keep your enthusiasm up, mix things up, increase overall strength and mean you’re able to cope with the rigours and fatigue that builds up due to hundreds of hard miles.
Tip 5: Quality over quantity.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. You think more training equals better. It’s rarely the case. Quality almost always trumps quantity – especially when doing a sport which is as intensive and fatiguing as running.
If you’re not already doing so, add more interval sessions to your weekly running programme.
Tip 6: Keep a better record.
This comes back to tip one. Keep a good record of your training and results because it will improve your ability to analyse what’s working and what’s not. This is valuable information. Without it, you’ll be damned to repeating the same mistakes running badly or not knowing why you’re flying when you’re on great form – both situations are super frustrating and demotivating.
