Lessons not learned

I feel like I write about this particular topic a lot, however, given the conversation I had this morning, it would appear that the message still hasn't got through to people, even people whom I help coach.

The conversation went something like this:

"This time I am endeavouring to do every session on the program, and since I started doing that I have been feeling great".

Excuse me?

It amazes me that people still haven't figured this out. People still express surprise when they realise that if they do all the training that they are supposed to do, consistently, then they will go quicker. I mean what do these people think that coaches write programs for, for their own entertainment? We don't write program hoping that an athlete might do 80% of it. No, we write them knowing that 100% of the program will help them reach their goals. 80% of the program will get a person near their goals, but reaching the goals is unlikely. If 80% of the program was enough to get a person to their racing goals then that is what the program would say.

Really this whole thing isn't rocket science. People spend a lot of time and money obsessing over the fastest bike or the fastest wheels or the best shoes and then happily skip a session because they were tired, or it was cold and wet or they couldn't be bothered. News Flash. Those skipped sessions are doing more harm than the fastest wheels or bike could ever make up for. Doing those sessions day in and day out are what makes you fast, not the bike or the wheels or the shoes.

Way back in the mists of time when I was a rower I had a revelation one summer during a training camp. During that camp I realised that if I simply rocked up to every session and did it to the best of my ability then I would get better. Not only better, I would get good. Which I did. That lesson has stayed with me for the years since then. Hard work and dedication trumps talent, and fancy equipment and any other silver bullet that people hope will be the key to their racing success. Every time.

Turn up, every time, do the work. There is nothing more to it than that. When will people learn...