RACE AND GOAL PLANNING

Right, race ambitions pencilled in. But how do you fill the space between now and then? Well, build-up races are a good start.

“I like to complete at least one race before one of my goal Ironman events around six weeks before,” says McNamee. “And it doesn’t always have to be a triathlon. I raced Ironman South Africa in April 2017 and because there weren’t other triathlons beforehand, I completed a local half marathon instead. It’s great to break away from the training cycle, go through the process of racing and get that extra boost of motivation before the final push towards your goal race.”

A more detailed breakdown of this race planning comes in the form of the A, B, C model. The ‘A’ race is your priority event(s). For the majority of athletes, this’ll be in the second half of the season and involves a taper. It’s where you intend to peak from your training and B/C races.

‘B’ races are events that you’d like to do well in but don’t possess the importance of A. You’ll rest for a few days before each of them, but not build to a peak. You can select as many as six of these.

Finally, the ‘C’ races. These are either done for ‘fun’, act as a progress report or a final short hit before your ‘A’ race.

Right, the skeleton of your season’s coming along. Now we’ll add a little more meat to the bone via the three layers of goal-setting: outcome, performance and process goals. “Outcome goals are often the ultimate aim but outside of your control. For example, winning your age-group,” says coach Andy Bullock. “Despite your best performance, it’s possible that you don’t achieve your goal because others simply perform better.

“Then there are performance goals, which are more under your control. Using time-based goals here can be helpful. For example, swim, bike and/or run in a set time, although again it’s worth remembering that if the weather conditions are tough it might mean your performance goals aren’t possible on that particular day.

“Finally, we have process goals. These are the things we do day in day out – getting enough sleep, eating properly, competing the session as planned. Put these small steps together and they become the foundation for reaching the performance goals. Process goals can also be performance goals along the way. E.g, if you hit ‘X’ time in three months’ time, then you know you’re on the way to achieving ‘Y’ time in six months. Using this strategy is a really good way of breaking down a large goal into smaller steps and allowing you to see progress along the way.”

f“PUT THESE SMALL STEPS TOGETHER AND THEY BECOME THE FOUNDATION FOR REACHING THE PERFORMANCE GOALS”