The One Thing That Supercharges Improvements From Training

Podcast

July 13, 2020

One simple principle most athletes overlook has a big impact on how you train and race. Gerard and Jordan Donnelly explain. Get Fast Podcast, Ep 32.

Get Fast Podcast, Ep 32, with Gerard and Jordan Donnelly

The one thing is consistency. Put two riders on the same program, and Gerard says the consistent one will outperform the inconsistent one on race day, whatever their talent. His motto is "consistency is king".

Jordan says most people overlook it because it sounds so simple.

Why does consistency matter so much?

Gerard and Jordan describe two fitness graphs. A consistent athlete climbs a staircase: up a step or two, hold while recovering, then up again. An inconsistent athlete rides a wave: two steps up, one step back. The cause might be training too hard, illness, injury or life.

Gerard's illustration uses example fitness numbers, not a real athlete. Both start at 50. By week 20, the staircase athlete might be at 120 and the wave athlete at 75.

How many sessions can you miss?

Aim to miss none. Gerard is yet to coach anyone, himself included, who got through a whole program without something going wrong. His rough guide:

Two or three missed sessions a month across a long program is insignificant.
Keep inconsistency to about 10% and you're in the elite category. Beyond that, your results are compromised.
Miss 25% in a four-week period and he wants to know what's going on.

Do some sessions matter more than others?

Yes. For Ironman, half Ironman and other endurance events, Gerard says your fitness is determined by how much endurance training you can get into your body. Missing three Saturday endurance rides does more damage than missing three midweek rides.

Jordan points out that 10% on a triathlon program can mean one session a week. If that's the most important run of the week, you may not realise what it's costing you.

If you genuinely have no time for a key session, adjust the program. Don't lump missed sessions into the next day or two, because that can sabotage the next couple of weeks.

What if you're too tired to do the session?

Ask what you're too tired for. If it's high intensity, drop the intensity and still do the session. "Something is better than nothing," Gerard says.

Backing off can also protect you from getting run down. Gerard says days lost to illness or injury roughly double, because you need the same number of easy days before restarting the program. Five days becomes ten.

Does a green calendar mean you're consistent?

Only partly. The training calendar TriVelo uses colours each session: green for completed, yellow or orange for over or under the planned time, red for not done. Gerard's point is that green is based on time, so it won't show whether you hit the target.

On one ride in a Nationals campaign, he physically couldn't do the strength efforts. He finished the ride, and the session still showed green. So count your colours, then open the green sessions and be honest about them.

How do you plan a consistent week?

Look at your diary before the week starts. If an early start rules out Wednesday morning, Wednesday night is your session, and getting home to it is your focus. Gerard is lenient about a one-off. If it keeps happening, rethink your schedule.

The same applies when choosing an event. If a 20-week Ironman build has a stretch in the middle with no way to train, Gerard would question whether that race is your priority. If you can't maintain the consistency it needs, consider not doing it.

What does it look like done properly?

Gerard set his Nationals goal 16 weeks out, when he was a long way off form, and didn't miss a session. Neither did a TriVelo athlete on the same campaign, who stayed and did the strength efforts on the day Gerard couldn't. Both won gold.

Gerard says that athlete had spent years doing "a version of it". This time he did the program as written.

What if you know you're inconsistent?

Gerard believes people can change if they want a different outcome enough. Planning is usually the key factor.

TriVelo's rule here is "results or reasons". Race-day results don't care about your excuses. Jordan's challenge is to look back honestly, because we often exaggerate to ourselves how well we're doing.