Why Winter Training Falls Apart and What to Do About It — With Simon and Beth Ward

Consistency is the word every great coach comes back to eventually. Not volume, not intensity, not the latest methodology. Consistency. But saying it and doing it are very different things. Particularly through winter, when the race season is over, the mornings are dark, and the motivation that carried you through summer starts to feel a long way away. This week Simon and Beth do a proper deep dive into what consistency actually means in practice, and specifically what habits and actions protect it through the winter months. IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER: Why the single biggest threat to consistency is not motivation or weather, but injury and illness, and what to do about it Why recovery should be planned before training, not fitted around it How to identify the weekly training load you can actually sustain across many months, not just the maximum you can tolerate for a few weeks The recovery day question: do you actually need complete rest or can active recovery do the same job? How to plan and protect recovery weeks before the training blocks start, not as a reaction to exhaustion A simple three-question morning protocol for managing the grey areas when you are not clearly well but not clearly ill Four winter-specific habits that protect your immune system and keep you showing up through the darker months KILLER QUOTE "Consistent imperfect training through winter is worth far more than sporadic perfect training. The promise of consistency is not glamorous. It does not make for exciting social media content. But it works. Every time." LINKS & RESOURCES Some podcasts you might find useful to go along with this one WHOOP Project PR Study Train Less, Recover More Recovery Based Training, Your Questions Answered Christine Clubbs episode: What your Garmin Can’t Tell You   FREE Download👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 Find out why some triathletes keep improving into their 60s while others plateau in their 50s. Why Some Triathletes Keep Improving Into Their 60s   If what you heard today resonates and you want a training structure built around these principles, with individuality, recovery, strength and the long game at its centre, that is exactly what SWAT Inner Circle is designed around. New members join at £65 a month. No minimum term, cancel any time. Details at simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle   Connect with me HERE: https://linktr.ee/simonward You can find links for the following channels - Website, Facebook, podcast, Instagram, YouTube   Email: [email protected] Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to [email protected] and you might just hear it on a future episode!