Resetting Motivation after a Lockdown for Athletes
The year 2020 will go down in many athletes logs as the year that never was, but why should it? We can all think about being able to pull a positive from a negative, and as we slowly get closer to a “normal” training regime again, how should we be planning for the future? What do we do with our previous goals, aspirations and hopes for what could have been in 2020?
There is no reason to think that your long term goals have been lost forever just because in 2020 you have not been able to compete. If you have not been able to qualify for Age Group Championships or have not been able to complete a new distance or any other achievements you may have had planned this year, how does that affect the goal you had set? If the world’s Olympic athletes have to reschedule, and they have far more at stake than most of us, then it should not be a significant issue for us to plan again for a successful season in 2021. We should plan to use this extra time to fine-tune your performance, take time to recover from any niggles or injuries you may have been ignoring, plan your training to hit the goals again next year as most events have been delayed by 12 months.
The fact that you may have had goals and targets means that you can still look at them and adjust your training programme to fulfil them. Short term goals may have to take the biggest hit initially and may change significantly depending on what they involve, but they are just stepping stones to a bigger ambition. Short term targets should be planned backwards from your primary long-term goals. So don’t worry if you have missed a few shorter races if you are planning a long-distance race, you can still fit them in next year. Don’t think you have to squeeze shorter races into the early part of your plan just because you have missed them. Put them into the program working back from your ‘A’ race. Remember a lost session/race should not be squeezed into the schedule, that’s where overtraining and injuries start to affect your long term aims.
If you are planning to race shorter distances then don’t be tempted to jump straight back into a race after lockdown eases, you will have time to build back up to your race condition over the winter and into next year. Use the extra time to build a better base, do more strength and conditioning and come back to race more efficiently. Someone who gets injured will come back stronger if they recover and build correctly, so do the same under these unusual circumstances.
Everyone is in the same boat, from Olympic gold medalists to first-time novice triathletes, looking to finish their first sprint distance race, will be replanning and coming back stronger physically and with a thirst for racing again in 2021. If you find yourself struggling with motivation at the moment, or find it difficult to readjust, then perhaps you need to look at your overall goal and objective and choose something where you can start building a plan for as opposed to being lost in the short term.
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The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.
If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.