Coaches Comment: Keeping the Important Thing as the Important Thing.

As we look ahead to the triathlon season and the goals that you have set, your coaches want to make sure that we all keep the important thing as the important thing.  What do we mean by that?

The temptation is to think that your results in a 2XU race, GSV carnival, regional cross country or qualifying for a state or national team are the important thing.  Whilst these are absolutely nice to have, they only happen because of the training and work that you put it.  Which makes your ability to train well and consistently the more important thing.  You will have heard us talking about sleep, consistency, pacing, nutrition and more.  These are the things that allow you to train well and consistently and what gets results in the bigger picture.  Think of it like this… Your spikes or carbon shoes are the 1%, your ability to train well and consistently over time is the 99%.  When the 1% makes you unable to do the 99%, we will prioritise the 99% every time.

If you want an example of this, look no further than the Olympic Silver medalist, Julie Derron.  By her coach’ admission, Julie was very much an average athlete, however she committed to the work, did the repetitions and made steady progress over 6 years, only missing a handful of sessions in that time.  It was doing the 99% over 6 years that got her to Paris and to the podium, not the carbon shoes that she wore on race day.  She kept the important thing as the important thing.

Our hope is that in a few years, a few of you won’t even be thinking about 2XU or Vic State Teams or GSV.  You will have outgrown this scene and will be exploring new parts of the world of triathlon.  Focus on the 99% and you might just get to explore some of that world.