Minimizing stress ahead of race week, is a high priority for me.  I don’t need to be wasting energy worrying about things that I am able to control.  For that reason, I spent a good deal of time today, focused on getting ahead of the game with my coaching duties.

Part of being a coach is setting up training plans for my athletes.  As a coach who provides custom plans, I spent quite a bit of time each week, carefully thinking about my athletes and their needs for upcoming workouts.  Unfortunately, when I am racing myself, it is not always possible to spend quite as much time preparing plans.  To counteract this, I try to prepare plans a little further forward in time than I normally do.

By having plans prepared ahead of time, next week I can spend my coaching time on reviewing workouts and supporting my athletes.  I won’t have to prepare detailed plans.  If changes are needed to accommodate things that come up, it will be easier to do that.  Plans for my athletes are always flexible, and I have learned that tweaking a plan, is much less stressful than preparing them.

I will continue to focus on minimizing stress before flying out to California.  That will include gathering all my race gear and packing my bike into the bike box, well ahead of the day we leave.  This time next week, I will be on the west coast and I cannot wait.