By Guest Writer: SEA Coach Tim Faia
Generally, the sports we coach/participate in are hard. Maybe that’s why we do them, because it’s just the act of getting out there that makes the rest of our lives more fulfilling. If you, like me, are a morning person, then the rest of the day builds a fatigue that makes late-day motivation tricky. But that morning light is never sweeter than when you have earned it. Sunsets are cool but, sunrises? Come on.
Juggling the time we take to workout amid family, work and life commitments takes a special kind of planning, and having a coach that understands this is key to helping the athlete grow as a person and competitor. Tools like recovery monitoring (such as Heart Rate Variability), sleep quality, and honesty with what success looks like can all lead to peaks and valleys. Motivation ebbs and flows and sometimes a new bike, pair of skis or running shoes can do wonders to re-stoke that fire and drive to be better at our sports! Verifying that the athlete is on the right path can do wonders for confidence and motivation going forward. Life outside of sport may take over for a while but having the confidence and maturity to put the missed days behind you to smash the next workout will make you stronger down the road. Missing a few days is going to happen, not letting it submarine your mindset is important.
Think of it as a 3-sided see saw; training, life outside of sport, work- all 3 get moved up and down the priority scale, when one needs more attention the others will get less, as we move through our season attention needs to be given to outside factors, sport can’t always be the focus for most amateur athletes. Giving other factors/influences shrift during the season can make our training better as we return to the program and get back that familiar fatigue in the legs that we all love so much, as the fog/fatigue in our brains fades! Balancing the see-saw for a while means that the work-life balance is happening, make notes during those times and share them with your coach, that magic time can be revisited again if we know what happened to arrive there. Letting life happen makes our commitment to sport that much richer and more rewarding. Smashing a workout after a particularly intense life/work phase is one of the best feelings that can power us through the next low spot. Remember, we get to do these things, don’t forget to look around and take stock of the beautiful opportunities we get as athletes!
