Keep Your Bucket Full

I came across this little graphic sometime ago and thought it was worth sharing.

It’s a simple reminder of the things that will fill or empty your bucket. I am constantly hammering home the message of sleep and rest to athletes. Overtraining will also play a big role in this one. De-loading and rest weeks are vitally important for all athletes. Don’t get fooled into thinking you can make constant improvements by training more. As you move from novice to intermediate to an advanced athlete the little things become more important. Big gains can be made as a novice athlete when beginning a new sport but those gains become a lot more difficult as you move up the training scale. Also, see neural fatigue

Over-training is a big performance killer. However, so is under training. 🙂 You have to be prepared to work hard and smart. Grinding out hard session after hard session doesn’t mean you will run faster get stronger or fitter. It may just mean you are excellent at grinding out hard sessions. I am notorious for making athletes end a session when they look like they have had enough. If I can see a drop in their mechanics and poor posture starting to creep into their training, they have probably had enough. Especially if it’s a high-quality speed session and we are trying to make speed gains. Poor mechanics and poor running technique just make a crappy runner. However, if the session is a bit of a grind-out session and we are trying to build a lactic threshold then I will probably let the athlete perform a few very crappy runs before I stop them.