One of the best ways to begin prepping for an upcoming season is to start with your goals.  The idea is to get them written down on paper — not an ipad or a computer screen, sit down in with a pad of paper and pen.

Whether it’s a goal event in July or simply to finish with the ‘fast’ group on your local group ride, patience and consistency is the key.  Getting ready for a new season contains a long list of open check boxes, and they can’t all be checked off at once. One by one, week by week, you check a box, taking the time to build the proper base.

As we have entered the New Year, the goal is to be 100% back to the routine and you are ready for more volume and harder training. Working with an experienced coach is the best way to formulate a well calculated plan to get you ready for your goals in the most efficient way possible. Efficiency is a key word here, because there are so many ways to approach really getting ready for an event. An experienced coach can help you evaluate the goal event, and how that event ties into both your strengths and weaknesses. This is what builds the ‘plan’ to get you ready to accomplish your goals while not feeling overwhelmed by the plethora of training plans, theories and models out there. Even the most organized and thought out plan must be revised and recalculated, but having the steps laid out for you day by day, week by week can make all the difference in understanding the reason behind your training and hard work. 

*Article contributed by goTenac.com and United Healthcare athlete John Murphy.  Follow John Murphy on Twitter and Instagram!