Athletic Intelligence - listening to your body (a)

You're a runner, triathlete, cyclist, swimmer, paddler, adventure racer...you live and breathe the endurance lifestyle for one or a variety of reasons: participation, performance, perfection or podium and, in some senses, simply progress and pride.

The basics: you still need to train: run, swim, cycle, paddle, and even climb safely, speedily and economically, and ‘transition’ swiftly in races. Strength and mobility work and smart recovery strategies help too.

Smart Training – the Intelligent Athlete:

Smart training is understanding and applying the differences between hard training and training hard.  Hard training is easy - go out and smash yourself. Swim, cycle and run longer and faster. Rack up the numbers. Anyone can do it. It’s not smart, nor necessary.

Training hard is different. And better. It is understanding what you are training for in a given period of time and training to meet the aim and objectives of that phase, block, cycle, week or session. It is training with identifiable purpose, and necessary flexibility.

Realising when training hard needs to outshine hard training, and vice-versa, all athletes need to be able to change, alter or adapt their actions, movement or skills to the context of training, and competition.  I call this ability to sense and mobilise change, athletic intelligence.

Athletic Intelligence involves listening to your body too: knowing what to listen for when, and what to do or change when you hear something.

What do you listen for, and when? And what do you do about it?