Obstacle Mud Runner - issue 11

30 obstaclemudrunner.co.uk ForEliteAtheletes toFunRunners RACE : PERFORMANCE don’t lose your momentum Do you know your peacocks feather? The New Year comes around, and whether you subscribe to the idea of a resolution or not, you set yourself some goals or targets for the year to better yourself in some aspect of your life. January rumbles on, you are potentially drier on the inside than on the out (depending on where the polar vortex lands), and your momentum towards those goals starts to slow down. There can be several reasons why this might be. New responsibilities come up that compress your time, and before you know it, you’ve forgotten exactly what your goal was, or, you feel frustrated that you haven’t got the capacity to put the time in you want to. Old responsibilities – the ones that you accept and make compromises for all year round start up again, and all that relaxed bliss you had at Christmas disperses like milk when you make a cup of tea, and again you haven’t got the time or motivation to get back after your goals. Or, the enthusiastic pursuit of performance improvement just loses all its steam. Truth of the matter is, there are often lots of reasons why we lose our momentum towards our goals, and sometimes no answers. Here are a couple of ways to reframe goal setting and goal pursuit, so you can keep your momentum towards your targets continuing into the year. Who said January was when you needed to start? Resolutions are often set because the period over Christmas gives us time to relax, take the foot off the gas, and take stock of what’s important to our lives – bringing new perspectives from a place that feels like an elevated position. That headspace that we give ourselves allows us to re- engage with what’s important, what changes we would like to make, and re-energises ourselves to have the drive to get after what we truly want. But what’s to stop you reviewing when the race season starts, and plotting a smarter training plan that aims to harness that energy over a longer period of time? Why not use NOW to really plan your race season, how your training needs to be structured and periodised so you come into your first block of races in peak condition, physically, mentally and nutritionally. Having a chat with one of the many qualified OCR coaches around the country could be the starting point to your best year yet. Know your peacocks feather… Say you’ve mastered the January dip, and you’re well into February or March and everything seems hunky-dory for once. How are you going to sustain that momentum throughout the season? The temptation might be to think that you’ll be fine and all will be good in the weeks and months ahead, but research shows not one athlete ever has been able to ride the crest of a wave for a whole season without awareness of the support network around them to work through the ebbs and flows of a season. The temptation might be to think that you’ll be fine and all will be good in the weeks and months ahead... Can you remember last Christmas? You probably enjoyed some cracking food, countless treats, and the thought of smothering yourself in the mud pits of an OCR event were a distant memory…at least for a day or two. Graham Roberts Performance Coach and Behavioural Change Consultant at Ispire Motivational Coaching Ltd, gives us an insight into a world. I think most of us can relate. motivational coaching