Many people are fond of reminding track & field athletes that our sport enjoys periods of relevance on a four-year cycle. That may be true with many casual fans, but for those inside the sport, and for anyone serious about his or her training, a close look at the big picture reveals the fact that the essence of performance revolves around the efforts and gains that take place on a daily basis.
Now entering our third year of existence, the NorCal Distance Project has expanded and improved our ranks to include seven athletes, all based in Sacramento, CA, with an overarching goal of representing Northern California in national, international and World Championship level competition. With a blend of athletes that possess strong records of NCAA, Team USA and international exposure, anticipation runs high regarding the possibilities that await in 2016.
After a training cycle that spanned the past fall and winter, and will soon culminate after a brief indoor campaign, athletes will all take a break from the rigors of training and competing before beginning the personal and collective paths of the outdoor track season, the US Olympic Trials and hopefully NorCal Distance presence at the Rio Olympic Games. Our training will feature some important foundation work done here in Sacramento before a high altitude camp in Flagstaff, AZ, after which point athletes will open their competitive seasons in late April or early May.
Individual goal setting will not take place until later in the month of February, but this important exercise will serve as the impetus to build the blueprint for each athlete to strive for personal objectives during the months ahead. A big part of a coach’s and athlete’s ability to tackle lofty outcome goals rests in the ability to make progress step by step, evaluating along the way to make sure that constant adaptation and adjustment are carried out.
Successfully structuring and following a training plan places a great deal of importance on easily shared information as a form or meaningful and effective communication, and in our group, that means that training logs occupy a place of central importance. The ability to exchange and assess both hard data and subjective feedback in a fluid manner can make a difference in the quality and outcome of training sessions, and the size of our training group has pushed us to find a suitable place to consolidate all of our training information.
While it remains largely true that there are no secrets in training, sometimes it’s satifying when you feel as though you know something that can give you an edge. Although there is a time and place to adopt an ïopen book’ approach to training and workouts, one general secret to success that we don’t mind sharing is that the NorCal Distance Project will now be partnering with Final Surge to satisfy all our online logging needs. Final Surge’s philosophy and features provide a great match for our training system, and we can’t wait to hit the ground running!
You can find out more and follow the NorCal Distance Project at www.norcaldistance.com
