Patrick John McCrann | Athlete. Author. Coach.

Another huge component to reducing stress overall is to actually have a plan. It’s very important for you as an athlete so you know what you need to do, and when to do it. It’s even more important for the other areas of your life that you need to keep running smoothly so you can exercise in the first place. If you have a schedule, you can share it with your family/partner/etc so as to not book a conflict. If you have a schedule, you can sign up now to take those days in June off for extra training instead of waiting until the last second and losing out to someone with higher seniority. Sounds good, right? But where do you begin to plan?

If you are like everyone else out there, you get a book that has sheets and tables and pictures of buff athletes…even promises of athletic glory. After poring over this stuff for a few hours, you throw it all on a shelf too look cool at your next house party, go online and get a training plan. C’mon, admit it. You’ve done it. While that’s an okay option, there is a better way: the 10hours way.

Here’s how it works. Instead of looking at your whole year, setting goals and phases and benchmarks, entering weekly hours and focus points and then pulling a brain muscle from all this thinking and missing the first week…thereby ruining your whole plan…you start with what you know, and focus on the short term for success.

> Create a list of races and prioritize them as either Key Races or just a regular race.
> Draw out a time frame leading to that next Key Race using the number of hours you have free to train in the average week.
> Identify the Critical Success Factors for success at that race (hills, speed, endurance, etc.)
> Drop these into your chart, focusing on a particular CSF in each discipline each week (too many will overwhelm you).
> Get to training!

By starting with the time you have available to train, you won’t overload your schedule. By planning for your next Key Race, you won’t have to sketch out an annual plan and then spend the majority of your training time re-doing it. By getting you doing faster, this process will allow you to plan and adjust by your progess instead of where you think you’ll be in 6 months. It’s simple enough…it’s what I have used for my athletes with great success, and it’s very easy to learn.

In fact, I have written a bunch on the entire process. It will soon appear under the “Manifesto” link at the top of this page, as soon as I can get the appendices edited and get it posted on line. Remember to plan from where you are instead of where you’ll be in a year…it’ll get you on the road faster and that much closer to your goals!

Good luck!