Looking Back To Move Forward

When a season is over, it is time to take a deeper look.

At the end of every competition season, you can find the whole spectrum of emotions. Athletes who are:

• very excited, 
• somewhat excited, 
• okay, with the results, 
• not too happy about the seasons' outcome, 
• or very disappointed. 

No matter the outcome, it is a good idea to take a closer look at the ending season. 

I remember very well a situation end of March when one of my seasons was going to end. We were in Oslo/ NOR the place the last races were held, and I was sitting down with my coach. It has not been a good season for me, and it didn´t take very long for my coach to get to the point: “Who doesn´t cry in Summer cries in the Winter,” he said. He basically meant I need to push a little harder in Summer when I want to have better results in Winter. And he was totally right. 

Of course, he didn´t mean that every session has to end with tiers, but the solution to more reason to smile during the next competition season, is found in my Spring, Summer, and Fall training. I had to train better. 

When setting a goal to train better, the first step is to know what better exactly means. That´s why athletes should have have a training log. This training log helps to understand some mismatches, shows possible opportunities, and also what can be done better. I could look at how many kilometers I did on skis, roller skis, running, or biking. I could see how those kilometers were divided into different training zones and other details. I could see how much time I was spending in the gym or with my rifle. Looking at those and other numbers helped to understand the situation and showed where I could make impactful changes. 

To be able to use the training log, of course, it is important to log correctly. And then athletes or coaches still need to be willing to look at those numbers as helpful information without emotions. 

Another year, I ended up being 3rd in the overall world cup with the chance (and the goal) to win until the third and second last race. Of course, the 3rd place was not a bad result, but it was still disappointing at first, especially having the chance to win. My last three races were not good enough, but those alone not have been “the problem.” My Coach, at this time, made a cross-analysis, making the “missing link” visual. I would have won if I had hit the same number of targets as my friend and training partner did throughout the season. She responded that she would have won if she had skied as fast as I had. So both of us knew not just the part where we needed to improve, also how much we would need to improve.

Analyzing is mostly, but not only, about finding the things which need to be better. Can you imagine my shooting performance combined with my friend's skiing performance? Both of us would not have been happy. It is also good to look at the strong points. Sometimes it can be easier and more efficient to make those even stronger.  

But in the end, the analysis doesn´t help when it is not being used. That's why it is a good idea to plan or at least get an idea of what should be done in the upcoming training season. I liked to have some ideas for the coming season before taking the after-season break, which I talked about in Take a Break. 

When a season is over or coming towards an end, it is time to look back to make dedicated moves forward. 

To be totally honest, I wasn´t terrible, but I think I could have done better with that. Thanks to my coaches, who had a close eye on my numbers and helped me understand what was happening. I was better at comparing throughout the year, what I did at the same time the year before that, but I will cover another time.

Do You Have a Dream? Let's Take The Next Step!