Hi all –

Welcome to 2012. I look forward to such an exciting year in coaching you all towards your goals, as well as being on those race sidelines with you. It’s an Olympic year – which is always special in my world as I only ‘age’ based on the olympiad clock…

Despite us not having a winter here in California (yet?) – we are still in the preseason in most cases. Please remember some important principles in the preseason: form & efficiency.

Form at this time year is so important as we don’t have the time needed once we are getting closer to our events to work on the fine details of form. Whether swimming, biking or running – use this time of year to focus on a few (3) things that you might want to improve upon. These are not necessarily changes, these are subtle adjustments that we know will make us faster or more efficient. Form starts at slower motions and gradually gets incorporated in faster efforts etc.

Suggestions may be in Swimming: reaching further for untouched water, better kick with pointed toes, a faster above-water recovery or even something as simple as learning how to use the pace clock at the pool, NOT YOUR WRISTWATCH…! For Biking: what about those pedal circles and how you are pulling the one leg up vs. pushing the other leg down, or ensuring your toes are relaxed while cycling (not bunched up in the front of your shoes), or how your cadence is climbing, on flats and how to make adjustments to gain speed! For running: light on the feet? What about that footspeed at 88-92? Relaxed shoulders vs. recruiting too much arm swing? Or have you tried ‘falling’ into your running stride – does it make you faster?

So, slow down, and become more aware of what you are doing and how you are moving, recruiting, engaging etc. Can there be some free speed in those easy adjustments? Now that you have found some free speed, try to get more efficient at it – apply at all different speeds, apply in different scenarios and repeat, repeat, repeat. Start with specific time intervals in applying the changes, and increase that time as it becomes easier and your feel better about holding longer.

For many of you the regular season training is quickly approaching. We are only 17 weeks out from IM St. George, 12 weeks from Oceanside, and 19 from IM Texas. So those June IMs are almost within the 20 week window – this is when the training must shift to a more focused, specific and aggressive goal oriented plan. Why is 20 weeks out so important? Because with a 3-4 week cycle build around recovery weeks (individual for most of you) we only have 3-4 rotations to work through – then its time to rest!

Therefore – you should have tested by now. You need that for your indoor trainer workouts, your Z2 work and the 20 week window to go. You should have sent me your 2012 goals by now. Please be specific with them: is your goal measurable? Attainable? Realistic? Time specific? Many of you have heard the SMART criteria at work, it works really well in sports!

NOW is also when the log becomes important – is is always important. But – you just telling me you did the workout is NOT enough. And saying: felt good, did it, complete..that is also not enough. Want good coaching? Fill out the log with some detail and like you care about your performance. My coaching is only as good as your log. Want generic, boring, repetitive workouts? Keep putting into your log “did it, done” or nothing at all. My job of being a coach, as described in the coaching agreement, states I will deliver the workouts, but the ‘unlimited program adjustments and email feedback’ only happens if you fill out a thoughtful and detailed log.

With the Coast Ride this weekend, I wanted to remind you all that there are 2 ‘non-profit’ events on the AIMP training camp calendar each year: The Coast Ride and the Donner Tahoe Training camp. This year again Tahoe will be the first week of August, hopefully just as many can join then as this weeks Coast Ride!

Upcoming AIMP events:
This weekend: Coast Ride 2012
Feb. 16-22 – AIMP Spring Training Camp – Tucson, AZ
March 16-18 – IM St. G Mini Camp – St. George Utah

Lastly: please let me know your progress towards 1000/250. All of you should know how close you are to completing this aerobic platform, too much time and sacrifice towards this training & upcoming season to NOT know where you are at this point. Next comes a really high quality/high intensity/high risk training phase for most of you, so we need to know where we are with a healthy platform.

Thanks! Talk to you all next week – from the Coast Ride.