4 Easy Steps To Creating Annual Training Assessments for Endurance Athletes

How to Approach Annual Training Assessments for Endurance Athletes The Smart Way!

 

The 2024 endurance sports racing season is rapidly approaching the finish line, and athletes are no doubt looking forward to 2025 already. Many are basking in the glory of their 2024 accomplishments, or in some cases, wishing for what could have been in 2024.

Each season brings new challenges, new experiences, and new lessons. If improving from season to season is an important aspect of your pursuit of endurance sports, then leveraging the lessons learned from each season, or conducting an annual training assessment should be an important component of getting better each season. In this blog, we will review the four steps to prepare annual training assessments for endurance athletes.

These steps, and the questions within each step, can be used by both coaches and individual athletes. However, before we get started creating an outline to assess the past season, if you want support from one of our coaches, drop us a line! Together we can build out a comprehensive training assessment for you as an endurance athlete, or support you as a fellow coach.

 

4 Steps to Prepare Annual Training Assessments for Endurance Athletes

 

Training assessments for endurance athletes are a process of assessing seasonal performance and noting where changes can be made. Begin with asking questions while reviewing training and performance data. The following four areas of performance will help guide your questions to maximize the lessons learned and set yourself up for a great 2025 season.

 

1. Start Line Assessment:

   When comparing your best and worst race performances of 2024, what was your attitude and thinking on the start line? Was it positive? Was it negative? Was it focused on what you needed to execute, or was it on factors outside of your control? The true success of your preparation can be measured in how confident you were on the start line and is a key component of each training assessment for endurance athletes.

2. Race Execution:

   Again, comparing your best and worst race performances of 2024, what was the difference in your execution? Did you pace better in one than the other? Did heat or cold positively or negatively affect your performance? How was your race nutrition if the races were long? Training is just part of the equation, as no amount of training will overcome poor pacing, nutritional, or tactical execution. Analyzing your race execution is the second step in developing your training assessment as an endurance athlete.

3. Health and Injuries:

   If injuries played a role in the preparation and execution of your racing, what was the difference in preparation volume between healthy races and the ones that suffered setbacks? What was the difference in intensity distribution? What factors outside of training could have contributed, such as sickness, work stress, and sleep deprivation? With this information, were there signs you needed to cut back or refocus to more recovery? When developing your full training assessment as an endurance athlete, this third set of questions will play a key factor in your overall assessment.

4. Training Data:

   If you’ve collected data from your training, where were your best training performances, and how many weeks were you able to sustain them? When did you go over an 80/20 balance of intensity in your training? If you engaged in risky training sessions that put an extreme load on you, how well did your body respond, and for how long? Many athletes think taking risks in training is the quickest way to success and improvement, and while it can have some noticeable fitness returns, the longer these periods last, the more likely athletes are to achieve a plateau in performance or worse, an injury

 

Final Thoughts on Annual Training Assessments for Endurance Athletes

 

With simplified training approaches like 80/20, and conducting an annual training assessment as an endurance athlete, you will learn how to turn the successes and misses of 2024 into the secrets of success for the coming racing season ahead.

If you would like the support of one of our coaches to help you conduct a more comprehensive training assessment, contact us today! Let’s make next season your best one yet.

Interested in an in person running experience?  Check out Dream Run Camp, a unique experience from 80/20 Endurance Founder Matt Fitzgerald.