Life of an Age-Grouper

Just over 5 months into this experiment of balancing being a new Dad while attempting to chase my athletic dreams and the outlook is promising. I can happily say that the fourth month denotes when actual training began.  My sporadic exercise has transformed into training as Noah developed a solid routine and Melissa and I have started to figure out our roles as parents. The consistency and quality of my training has started to approach my standards resulting in a steady improvement of fitness.  Instead of averaging 9 hours of training per week I'm easily fitting in 12+ hours.  This increase in volume was exactly the shock my body needed as I very quickly began to lean out, and my confidence in myself and the ability to reach my goals sky rocketed.  My goals were actually becoming a reality. Month four seamlessly transitioned into month five. Noah continues to develop more of a set routine and Melissa and I are continually redefining our roles as parents. This mon...

If you answered, Yes, then you might be missing or forgetting about an important aspect of training. I don't believe that a person can have a bad training session. Every athlete goes into their training session expecting to be 100% successful.  Our goals for that specific session might be predetermined my one's self, a training plan or coach. The success of the session is determined by reaching or surpassing those goals (speed, pace, wattage, heart rate etc.)  However what happens when you can't reach your physical goals? Does it mean that you failed? Does it mean you just wasted your time? Or ruined your training plan? Or dare I even say, lost fitness? Absolutely not.  Athletes often forget about the mental aspect of sport. They forget that mental strength is just as important if not superior to physical strength. When the body isn't firing on all cylinders athletes must remember they can still become a stronger athlete, a more dangerous athlete if they c...