The Big Picture

I am struck with how difficult it is for many people to see the big picture. Training is a long term process. I emphasize process. Nor will one workout will make an athlete, no piece of equipment or any magic potion. It takes time and well planned and monitored work coupled with intelligent recovery. The body’s adaptive response is quite predictable in response to various stresses of training. It takes a certain amount of time to adapt to speed, to strength to aerobic work. That time cannot be accelerated. Also keep in mind that the young growing athlete has large open windows of adaptation. This allows them to make rapid gains which lead to disappointment later on, because they expect to continue to make these gains at the same rate. As chronological and training age increases it becomes harder to make quantum leaps in training. That is precisely why keeping the big picture in mind is so important. If there is a clear goal and the athlete and coach are clear on the steps to achieve that goal then there is a better chance of that occurring.