Conditions for (Personal) Success: #3 Your Execution

This is the third installment of a three-part series targeting athletes who are looking for that edge, that particular short cut or hint that will enable them to take their race day performance to the next level. The first installment (#1 - Your Schedule) was posted on 8/22, and the second installment (#2 - Your Recovery) was posted shortly after. This installment completes the series.

Execution. The word has a distinctive finality about it. And for good reason. Execution is where the rubber meets the road. It is the time when planning ends and action begins. Time to shut up and put up. Race day doesn’t care how many century rides you’ve done or how much weight you’ve lost. The only things that matter are what you do on the day. Depending on your event, you have anywhere from 1 hour to 17 hours to craft your race.

But execution begins w-a-a-a-a-y before race day. Execution happens every day, when the alarm goes off and you make that first critical decision: To Snooze or Not to Snooze. Or maybe execution begins the night before…at 9:30, when you are entering the second half of Law and Order…and you are getting sleepy and you need to decide whether or not the program is worth it. Or maybe execution begins right after you finish your long effort for the week, and you have to decide whether you are going to stretch and have that protein drink your coach has been talking about or if you are going to hit the shower real quick and go out w/ your friends.

I think you can tell where this is going…execution is a circle (no, not a noose). There is no single entry point. There are many exit points however, and deciding to execute is a daily endeavor. You can execute at 50%...or 75%...it’s up to you.

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts
Of course, a race is not built in a day. All the runs you have taken, all the time you set aside to stretch or chose fruit over that Snickers ™ bar…they all combine on race day to have an impact. But they can’t come together on race day if they haven’t spent time together in training. Think about it…there can be no summit of Everest without first climbing tens, if not hundreds, of peaks. And guess what? If you added up the elevation of all those peaks, it’s enough to make TEN Everests! Our training allows us to make the challenging mundane, both physically and mentally.

Our daily training helps to define that “whole”. Some folks start training for a race two months out. Other folks will spend two years building to a specific goal. Whichever way you slice it, one person is going to be way more prepared than the other. I personally prefer a pretty large “whole”, as my goals are high (Kona). If your goal is to finish, or to have fun, your “whole” doesn’t have to be as complex.

Just as your body responds to stress (aka training) to adapt (i.e. get fitter) with each workout, so too does your body adapt over time. Instead of adapting to a single swim, bike or run workout, your body adapts to macrocycles of exercise: what you did last month, last year, over the last five years. Remember this as you head out for that workout…you are adding this to the library of workouts that make you the athlete you are on race day. And remember it when you can’t make a workout…if this is just a bad day, you can look back on the other workouts you have done and rest assured you are in a good place.

Best Protocol? Whatever gets you out the door!
For those of you looking for the magical element to executing your plan…well, you can forget it. You’re better off looking for that winning lottery ticket…so you can quit your job…so you can cut back on your responsibilities…so you can train more…so you can have the race of your dreams. As if. The title for this section was taken directly from my colleague Gordo Byrn…it was his forum signature for a while…and quite appropriate!

There is no one answer…there is no universal element for all aspiring athletes. There is only what matters for you…your goals, your life, and your equipment. Whatever that key is, capture it and commit it to memory. You are going to need it on those days when your feet are dragging and the couch is calling your name.

Now get out there and train!

Coach P