Fair Weather

I know in the blog I whinge about the weather a fair bit, but you know, it is my blog and I will whinge if I want to. Plus, it is sort of the time of year for complaining about the weather. All the cool kids are doing it.

However, this morning I was reminded of one training habit that I don't like around bad weather. Writing a session off before it has even occurred.

Like many people I am hooked into many social media channels in which various friends talk about their training plans, who is riding the next day, or running etc. Yesterday there was quite a bit of chat about training this morning. The forecast for this morning was pretty dreadful and so the consensus was that they would skip training this morning and instead re-arrange things to head out on Tuesday. I wasn't planning on training anyway and so I wasn't too bothered.

In the end this morning the weather was truly atrocious and so the decision to postpone the session was probably a wise one. The forecast for tomorrow looks good and so it is likely that they have traded a horrible session for a pleasant one. Winning.

Really, my issue isn't with re-arranging training, often that is the smart and safe thing to do. My issue is with deciding to skip the session 24 hours before based on a forecast.

Why?

Well simply because forecasts can be wrong. Take Sunday morning for example. The forecast for Sunday was very similar to that of Monday, the sort of forecast that you see and consider staying in your blankets. However, like I usually do I got up to check what the weather was actually doing and to my surprise it was lovely. I had a great training session, not a drop of rain, light winds. It was great.

What's more I have lost count of the number of times that has happened. Yep, sometimes you get up and it is raining sideways and you re-consider your plans, perhaps jump on the trainer or a treadmill, or perhaps head back to bed, but so often you get up and the forecast hasn't come true, the weather is wonderful and the session is good. If you had stayed in bed you would have missed a great opportunity for training and changed up your training plans for no good reason.

Frustrating and a bit of a waste of time.

Always, always get up to check. Over the years it became one of my little rules to train by. Never assume it is going to be too nasty to train, check to confirm it and plan accordingly.