Coach's Perspective: The Importance of Consistency in Training

I have been training for and racing triathlon for just over two decades now and for the vast majority of that time I did so as a pretty content middle of the pack competitor. Triathlon was a difficult sport for me to get in to and become proficient at. Like many who take it up, I did not come from a swimming background, in fact I barely swam at all. True, I wouldn’t drown if you threw me in the water but it was also true that I could not swim front crawl for more than a single length of the pool!

When I discovered triathlon I was a reasonable cyclist and of the three disciplines that was the one that I took to the most and excelled at before the others. Like swimming, I did not come from a running background and it was hard work to get to be much of anything of a runner but over time I was able to be respectable at that discipline if not any kind of standout.

In 2013, more than twelve years after I started in the sport everything changed. I made a breakthrough that I had long chased after but struggled for more than ten years to accomplish; break the five hour mark for a 70.3 distance race. After that, I began to see more of the same kind of results and in 2018 I got on my first podium, and even qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kona.

So what happened in 2013 that started the ball rolling on my sudden improvement in the sport that took me from the middle to the front of the pack? In a word, consistency. More specifically, it was consistency of quality training.

To be sure, consistency can be incredibly difficult to achieve. Life has a way of getting in the way and preventing you from being as consistent as you would like. Prior to 2013 my kids were pretty young and needed a lot more of my involvement and assistance especially when my wife was working on weekends. I regret that I didn’t see the value of being a more consistent husband and father back in those days because selfishly trying to prioritize my own training interests made me unsuccessful in both arenas-as a MOP triathlete and a laggard around the house!

But if circumstances allow it and you can get the buy in of your home team, specifically your spouse and your children, there is simply no substitute for being consistent in training and the results will follow when you can do that.

The value of consistency is best illustrated through evaluating the Performance Management Chart or PMC on the Training Peaks dashboard. Looking at my own it isn’t hard to see what changed that led me to achieve success over time!

Here is my PMC for the year 2011, a year when I raced two 70.3 races and did not do particularly well in either of them:

2011 Performance Management Chart

The blue line represents CTL and is a best guess estimate of overall fitness. The pink line is a representation of ATL and shows ho much training you are actually doing. The yellow line is your form or how rested you are. The pink and yellow lines will move in opposite directions.

I did four races in 2011, a 70.3 in May, an Olympic in July, a 70.3 in August and another half iron distance race in September. The pink spikes on the chart all represent the races. You can see that because my training was very helter skelter, the races themselves did more to boost my fitness than my actual training did. What I see when I look at this chart is an athlete who did the bare minimum of training until late March. Then he got worried about his race in May so started to get a little more serious and fitness begins to slowly climb but there is no consistency and fitness does not continue to build through the year. Then, after the last race training pretty much stops altogether and fitness is completely lost.

Let’s compare this to a different year, 2013 the year when things took a positive turn:

2013 PMC

This is a much different chart and reflects some significant changes but it still has some issues. In 2013 I did a 70.3 in early June, another in mid July, a third in October and then IMAZ in late November.

The good things on this chart compared to the one above are:

• The CTL reaches a much higher level because the training is far more consistent

• There is a pretty consistent build in CTL from mid-April until mid-October

• There is no complete cessation of training leading to a higher start point for the next season

Some not so good things are also seen:

• Training is really inconsistent until mid-April and because of that fitness does not build in a sustained fashion through that time

• Summer, usually a golden opportunity to build fitness is kind of wasted with no real gains until very late.

• After the race in October there is a steady decline in fitness to the IM in November meaning that I peaked for the race in October instead of for the Ironman.

Still, despite the flaws, 2013 marked a good year for me in terms of race results and it is 100% attributable to the improvement in training consistency and the consistency of quality. 

As an aside, looking at training volume I can tell you that the reason for the CTL being so much higher in 2013 is simply because my training volume was that much higher as well. I tell all of my athletes that if your goal is to break five hours for a half, you have to commit to a training volume of 12 hours a week for four months or more. Another way of illustrating that concept of consistency over time.

Finally, let’s take a look at my PMC for 2021 a year in which I raced St George 70.3 in May, Boulder 70.3 in August, St George Worlds in September, Indiana IM in October and Indian Wells 70.3 in December:

2021 PMC

I want to point out a couple of things about this PMC:

• Note how right from January 1 there is a consistent and continuous increase in ATL and CTL leading up to the big spike marked by the number 1. That represents the training camp that I participated in at St George. showing how valuable a good camp can be as a fitness boost.

• Tapers for races are seen in two places marked by 2 (I did not taper for neither Boulder 70.3 nor 70.3 WC)

• We took two family vacations during the year indicated by 3 and you can see how much those impact fitness!

• The rest of the year until after Indian Wells is just a steady diet of consistency and it paid off in: 7th place at 70.3 St George, 6th at Boulder, 3rd and KQ in Indiana and 5th and 70.3 WCQ at Indian Wells.

I am not a hugely gifted athlete. I still am not a great swimmer nor runner though I have made myself in to an exceptional cyclist. The reality is, I have earned my success by making my training a priority and involving everyone in my family in supporting me in making that happen. By being consistent all year long, I am able to show up on race day and perform at a level that makes me competitive and able to succeed and make up for the fact that I am not as gifted as many others that I race against. 

My point in sharing this with all of you is that anyone who wants to be competitive can make the decision to undertake this kind of change as well and embrace the same philosophy. There are a lot of reasons to participate in this sport and being competitive is only one of them. It isn’t for everyone, but if it is something that you aspire to, then know that by making a pledge to improve consistency and quality and possibly volume of training that is simply the best way to do this. And even if you aren’t looking to get on a podium I truthfully believe that everyone can see significant improvements through this kind of change and realize movement towards their goals. 

Now the ability to find the self motivation be that consistent is a whole other story and one for another blog post.

Train hard, train healthy.