Consistency: The Key To High Performance

This article was written by 2018 Masters National Road Champion, and CINCH Cycling Coach Scott Shaw

Consistency...It’s a CINCH!

Have you ever wondered how to get the most out of your time and training to optimize your progress and performance?  In my experience, the recipe for success is different for everybody, but a key ingredient for almost everyone is consistency.  Consistency is one of those words that everyone agrees is good, but what does that look like to a CINCH athlete.  Here’s my take...

Start by planning your week –

• On Monday (or sooner), read through all your workouts to get a feel for how the week will flow.
• Consider the time, terrain, intensity and plan your routes.  
• Visualize the power profile for your workouts and ask your coach if you have questions..
• Think through fueling, weather considerations, the best time of day for you. 
• Try to pre-plan how you’ll re-fuel/rest/recover and sleep times/duration.  
• Even consider bike maintenance and don’t forget to recharge those batteries. 
• Put your workout times on the same calendar you use for everything else so they are built-in (not fit it in) to each day.
• Bottom line:  The more details you can pre-work, the less “friction” there will be between you and your workouts all week. 

Prepare the Body and Mind 

• Before your ride, eat your 3-sigma pre-ride meal 2-3 hours beforehand. 
• Do core activation just before or just after changing into your kit.  Just enough to wake up the neuromuscular connections and major muscle groups.  (Check Out This Article For A CINCH Core Activation Routine) 
• As soon as you clip in, push pause on everything else and fully commit to your workout.
• Do your warmup.  It’s part of the workout.  Afterward, if needed, calibrate power meter.

Execution 

• To get the most out of each interval do not think about the rest of the workout.  Make the elements of the current interval your primary focus - Time, Power, Cadence, Body Positions, etc.
• Anticipate terrain changes so you can shift proactively to control power/cadence.
• During the recovery, periods flip the switch to the Cloud mindset - keep legs moving, relax, breath, fuel.
• Repeat until the workout is done.
• Listen to Episode 29 of The Process Podcast for more awesome tips on Execution 

Post-Ride – 

• Tomorrow’s workout starts as soon as you upload today’s workout so refuel as soon as you can.
• Upload to Today’s Plan and score yourself, leave notes, and answer the coach’s questions.
• Reward yourself and treat your mind/body right – relax, massage, sauna, Norma Tech, etc.
• For More Great Nutrition Recovery Tips read This article  "How To Recover Like A Tour De France Pro"

By incorporating these tips/concepts (and others that work for you) into your weekly/daily routines as often as possible, you’ll optimize your consistency and get the most from each workout.