‘The price of greatness is responsibility.’ So said Winston Churchill. It’s a similar sentiment for road cyclists when it comes to goal-setting. Or should we say goal-getting. For the riders who reach, nay surpass, their targets are the ones who realise that, ‘The price of greatness is accountability.’ Let us explain…
‘Accountability in cycling terms is a feeling that someone aside from you has a stake in your training journey,’ says top cycling coach Phil Mosley. ‘No matter how self-motivated you are, there’ll always be times when you won’t feel like training. The idea that someone else is invested in your training can be the difference between skipping a session and getting it done.’
It’s something we can all relate to. The alarm rings, though it’s drowned out by the deluge outside. You’ve pencilled in an hour-plus ride with you, yourself and I. Cue rolling over, pulling the duvet up and drifting back to sleep. A similar scenario with a group of you and that extra element of not letting down your comrades – and, in turn, yourself – sees you wearily slip into your Lycra for what turns out to be a glorious ride. I mean, unless your ride’s regularly punctuated by punctures, when’s a ride not a glorious ride.
Seeking consistency
Ultimately, the aim of being accountable is to deliver consistent training as no matter what lay-up of carbon your pride-and-joy’s made from or the ratio of different sugars swilling around in your energy drink, that is key to reaching your goals.
‘When you’re preparing for cycling events, you’re always doing one of three things: training, recovering or detraining,’ Mosley explains. ‘If you train consistently enough, you’ll train and recover, whereas if you’re consistent you’ll have periods of detraining. It’s like taking two steps forward and one back. Think of each completed workout as being another jelly bean in the jar. The fuller the jar, the fitter you become. Will you be adding one jelly bean per week or three? That’s up to you, but the more consistently you train, the more jelly beans you’ll accumulate.’
Research supports Mosley’s jelly-bean analogy. Take a 2016 study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport (opens in new tab) where a track-and-field athlete’s chances of success significantly reduced for every modified training week. For modified, read injured or ill. There are similar studies into an athlete’s success, or not, at the Olympics.
So, as…
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