Update+ Navigating New Water and Trusting the Process
Update
I can’t believe it's already nearly September! Where did the summer go?! You can feel a Fall crispness in the air, the days are noticeably shorter and the leaves up north are starting to change! Since the last time of writing, I can’t say that too much has been going on, but to be honest, that’s really just how things go. Eat, sleep, train, with work and a fun adventure thrown in here or there. I ended the last training block feeling content with the work I had done and took a few days to recharge and went caribou hunting! It was a crazy 48hrs and needless to say, I’ve got a full freezer! For the full story you can check out my instagram here. My training has been going well and I feel like both my base and threshold training are at a good level. That said, I ended the last block knowing that there was room for improvement on the high-intensity end of the spectrum. As planned, that is exactly what the block that I am currently in is focused on…Higher intensity! It's these next 8 weeks that my training to date, this season, has largely been focused on. This is a slightly different approach than I’ve previously taken to training, which has been interesting to say the least.
New Waters
To give you a bit of background, I have historically been what most would consider a “high volume trainer.” In order to do this I’ve more or less pushed the boundaries on what one would consider advisable when increasing from year to year, but it has undoubtedly paid off. You could also say that the ratio of effort input to improvement output has been relatively high. AKA the more you put in, the more you get out. Which is true, to a point. That said, it's likely that in order to continue to see improvements for many years to come, the process will have to become more refined and the differences from year to year will be less drastic. I like to think of it like throwing darts at a board. Rather than whirling as many darts at the board as you possibly can and hoping for the best, each dart is thrown with greater precision. Not to say that any previous season has been laid out haphazardly, but rather this season's process will simply be more refined than ever before.
The biggest emphasis this year is to make gains via high quality work (intervals & speed, etc) in order to continue to increase my power output. To do this, we’ve further optimized the sequencing of training during a given week, block, year, etc. So why the title, “Trusting the Process?” While I will still be training just as much over the course of a season volume wise, it has felt much easier to do. That's likely due to several factors which I will discuss in a later article. In previous years I’ve always pushed things to being just one step away from too much, and have been able to find that line and ride it without taking that last step off the metaphorical cliff. This year, it feels more like I’ve been 3 or 4 steps away from the edge and to be frank, I don’t like it. I’ll write out a training plan and have to find ways to cut out hours, find myself with more energy and therefore feel like I could possibly do more.
A lot of times you hear people say trust the process when things aren't going quite as they had planned, but in my case I’m trusting that this process is going to be my best avenue for success, not just for this season, but for many seasons to come.
Next up, I've got some Time Trials to look forward to, a couple more potential adventures, and the start of my fall school semester.
Until next time,
Garrett
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