flake factor.

So, I had a little too much time on my hands at work yesterday and started reading lots and lots of blogs. It's funny, this time of year reading random stuff always makes me nervous about my training. In January- and February even more so- EVERYONE is training. Everyone's talking smack, everyone's got game. Everyone has a plan, everyone is serious and hardcore, everyone's putting big bucks into new equipment and new coaches, and everyone swears they're going to kick some butt come race season. It makes me worry that I'm not doing enough, but then I think again...

In my experience, most of it is just talk. It's the usual folks that stick with it and make it through, and the usual folks show up come race day with just a few new people-- and then come week two or three of racing, it's back to the usuals.

Running this morning, I was trying to figure out the difference between the folks who follow-through, and those who don't. Some of the don't category have been doing the Jan/Feb training smack talking for years. Here's what 3 miles decided this morning, my list of what it takes to make it real:
- Accountability to someone for actually showing up on race days through the whole season. A team, a partner, someone.
- Making an actual plan that includes races and dates, and making it public to increase accountability.
- Making racing a priority such that it's on the calendar and doesn't move, whether or not free tickets to Lollapalooza or an all-night Qatsi marathon comes along.
- Setting aside the necessary cash to make sure that financial issues don't get in the way of the schedule, and thinking ahead about other specific things in life that could get in the way and making a plan to deal with them. (i.e. needing rides, housing, dog sitter, etc)
- Knowing that training has its limits, and that going nuts for 20 hours a week on a trainer is more likely to burn you out than make you strong. I know too many cyclists who just ride the trainer until they're sick of their bike and don't want to see it again... until next winter, when they do it again.

But hey, I'd love to hear what folks have to say. I guess when I say "usuals" I mean the folks that read this blog, most of whom have as many race seasons under their belt as I have pairs of shoes, and they know that it's just another year of training and not something spectacular or unusual. But my team has several new folks this year who want to move into the "usuals" group, so I'm trying to find the ingredients to make it stick.