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Coaches Top Tip

  • Try hard or perform well? Which is preferred for your brain surgeon? It's the same for athletes. Train for performance, not effort.
  • In the spring you may begin to feel bullet-proof. Resist the temptation to leap tall buildings. Patience!
  • The harder your hard workouts, the easier your easy ones.
  • Want to be excellent? Everyone has the desire to excel; few have the will to make it happen.
  • You can't make a tired muscle stronger. You can only improve its endurance.
  • Being 100% healthy is more important than being 100% fit. Don't force it in the early stages of injury or illness. Back off.
  • For the experienced athlete, intensity, not volume, is the key.
  • I discover who I am when I race.
  • Training your muscles is much more important than training your heart.
  • Training is science. Racing is art.
  • True champions win, but they also know how to lose.
  • Swimmers, golfers and tennis players practice skills daily. Too many runners and cyclists just run and ride.
  • Everyone has the will to win. It's the will to work that makes winners.
  • The closer to your A-priority race the less important volume becomes and the more important intensity & duration become.
  • Focus on the process, not the outcome.
  • The 2 main elements of recovery are sleep and nutrition. Neglect either and recovery is prolonged.
  • Whether you're a pro or novice, only 3 things can be changed in workouts: frequency (how often), intensity (how hard), duration (how long).
  • When you come into top form you experience physical changes that border on astonishing.
  • Do you accept setbacks as steps on the way to success or as signs you simply can't do it?
  • Discipline: how important to you are nutrition, sleep, periodization, goal setting, sport skills, attitude, health, strength?
  • What does it take to be mentally tough for sport? Dedication. Discipline. Confidence. Perseverance.
  • The most common mistake athletes make? Not enough rest. Rest is when fitness happens.
  • No dreams, no goals and no priorities means permanent mediocrity.
  • The bigger your athletic goals, the more your lifestyle must be focused on achieving them.
  • Most athletes don't get how important movement economy is. Most would go faster from improved economy than from improved VO2max.
  • As you approach race day your training should become more like the race. This is the foundation of periodization.
  • The common denominator for all of the best athletes I have known is a 'can-do' attitude.
  • Four words are the keys to success for top performers: Just a little more.
  • Good athletes don't become good by training randomly. You need a plan to achieve your goals and purpose for each workout.
  • Do the least amount of most specific training at appropriate times that produces the desired results. All else is overtraining.
  • I see many goals that are actually wishes - vague desires for grand achievements that are poorly defined. Clarity is needed for success.
  • Recovery is just as important as a hard workout. Train hard. Rest harder.
  • Racing is how I find out who I am, what my limits are, and how I can overcome them.
  • Best way to improve running? Frequency. Most common cause of running injuries? Frequency.
  • A hard workout only creates the potential for fitness. It's realized when you allow for recovery.
  • Peak athletic success takes months and years, not hours and days. Be patient and train consistently.
  • High frequency improves sport skill efficiency. High duration does the opposite.
  • Consistent and moderate training are the keys to success in endurance sport.
  • To run or climb faster remove excess weight, increase muscular power, or, preferably, both. It's hard to be fast dragging an anchor.
  • 1 pound of excess fat costs roughly 1.5 watts on a climb and 2 seconds per mile when running a 10k.
  • The fastest way to raise your VO2max is to lose excess weight.
  • If you haven't changed your mind on how you train in 2 years, check your pulse. You may be dead.
  • In order to find your limits, it is sometimes necessary to exceed them. But rarely.

Jim Vance 

Jim Vance is a professional triathlete, as well as an Elite Coach and Manager for TrainingBible Coaching. He is also a Level 2 Certified Coach for USA Triathlon, hosting many clinics, talks, camps and other events throughout the sport. He was invited to speak at the 2010 Global Open Water Conference in Long Beach, California where his topic was "Building the Mindset and Performance of a Front-Pack Swimmer." Jim has spent time at the US Olympic Training Centre, training under the guidance of the National Team Coaching Staff. As an athlete he has seen success with two World Championship titles as an amateur, in both XTERRA and ITU. His impressive range of performances even stretch to Ironman, where he finished 3rd at the 2006 Ironman Florida, in a time of 8:37:09. He is also very heavily involved in coaching the Tri Juniors in San Diego, California. Tri Dynamic have enjoyed working with Jim Vance a number of times on our camps with him and Joe Friel in Tenerife, Barcelona and the Official Training Camp of Ironman Switzerland in 2011. Jim has recently been selected as US National Duathlon Coach and he has had athletes place in the top 5 at World Duathlon Champinships in 2011.

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