Are you a total beginner who wants to get in shape? Or do you have an injury that kept you sidelined for a year and now you want to get back to racing form?
According to four-time world champion triathlete Chris “Macca” McCormack, you’ll need three things to get back on track: a goal, a program to follow, and holding yourself accountable to make sure that happens.
Set your goal.
“A goal may be a sprint race, or maybe it’s a 10K,” says Macca. “It’s something on the horizon; then you work backwards to figure out what you need to get there.” If you’re starting with zero fitness, short distance events (those that take under an hour to complete) are the best ones to aim for because you don’t need a lot of endurance or skill to start with. It doesn’t take too long to train for one, and the race itself is also over quite quickly.
Get into the program.
Once you’ve got your goals set, you’ll need a training program to follow. The training program should cater to your needs and ability; it reduces guesswork and lessens the distractions because all you have to do is follow it. You can either get one tailored specifically for you from a coach, or take advantage of the multitude of distance-specific training plans for beginners available with your Pho3nix Club membership. Our training plans progress the physical challenge incrementally so you never get so exhausted that you might skip further training.
Follow through with accountability.
Lastly, you should go all in and engage fully with the process of getting fit again. You do that through accountability. Yes, you hold yourself accountable, your coach holds you accountable — and you should also find a supportive group to hold you accountable for completing your training sessions and keep you on the path of progress.
Macca says, “This is the main reason why our community was formed: everybody has this accountability amongst friends, asking you how’s the training going? Once you get over that month-to-month hurdle of trying to get fit again, training is just second nature; it becomes habit. And habits change lives.”
Time to get back into the habit and live a fit and healthy lifestyle for the long haul!
