Consistency: A Crucial Piece of Endurance Performance

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out"  -Robert Collier

Many endurance athletes rely on "epic" training sessions or being "weekend warriors"  to prepare them for their races, but is this the best approach to longevity in the sport and continued progression? The simple answer is NO. In most cases these same athletes not only get to the race and under perform in relation to their actual potential, but are also not setting themselves up for long term success. There are many training principles to consider when discussing the importances of consistency, but I am going to focus on four simple principles and how they are only achieved with consistent training.

Overload: In order to become stronger there has to be a stimulus above what was previously done to overload the body, thus forcing it to adapt. Without consistent training there is a lack of a continual training stimulus. The "epic / weekend warrior" sessions do in fact overload the body, but in many cases at too quick of a rate and have a random workout structure. This leads to excessive fatigue, extended recovery, and in increased chance of injury. A consistent correctly dosed amount of stress will overload your body, but also keep you injury free and avoid a plateau in your performance.

Specificity: To become a successful endurance athlete you have to train to the specific demands of your race. Developing a consistent routine of training allows you to train these specific components of your sport on a more regular basis which allows you to adapt to the demands of what you will face on race day. Let's use the example of running off the bike in a triathlon. If you do three rides per week with three short brick runs following each ride, your body will become more in tune with the feeling of running off the bike and allow you to not only nail your paces, but also allow you to practice your transition. Whereas, doing sporadic sessions per week allows you to train this on a much less frequent basis, which makes it difficult to  fine tune your bike to run strategy. 

Progression: To become a stronger, more fit athlete, the training program has to overload the body in a progressive manner to levels that were not previously reached. Training consistency allows you to progress specific intervals and workouts to elicit this growth in fitness. When training lacks consistency the body is continually getting random small bouts of rest that eliminate the required continuous stress and progression from workout to workout. This principle is only achieved by consistent workouts. 

Reversibility: Without consistent training to provide the continuous stress requiring the body to adapt there will be a regression in fitness. Even if there are large "epic" sessions, there is usually a lack of structure and consistency to these sessions that overall leaves the body under stressed and thus plateauing and ultimately regressing in fitness.

If you have not yet embraced the importance of consistent training, make it a goal of training consistently today. If you have troubles with this reach out to me so we can find a plan that allows you to be consistent. I would rather any athlete train for 30 minutes a day rather than twice per week for longer durations.