The year-round athlete

We all know there's 365 days in a year (+1 in Olympic years!), and, of course 7 days in a year, 24 hours in a day, etc. Usually we lament how quickly time passes, and that nothing you do will give you any more time. So the key challenge, then, is to make the most of each day, and in turn, each year.

From a sporting point of view, a year covers the whole cycle of annual events that we compete in, whether they're the same events each year or different ones. The benefit of doing the same events is being able to compare performance from one year to the next, where variety is the spice of life and doing different events provides new opportunities. As creatures of habits, I'd say we mostly tend to stick with familiarity, only occasionally stepping outside into new territory / events / challenges.

A year also provides a lot of time for training and competition, which is where the practice of being a year-round athlete has it's seeds. When considering a whole year there's lots of ways to break it down into sizeable chunks, based on training phases, competition phases, and so on. Of course there's also a rest and recovery phase which is almost a 'reward' for completing the work that has come before it.

A year-round athlete is one who will seek to make the most benefit of every cycle in every phase in order to further their athletic development. These people have learned the value of consistency across the year, and the compounding benefits of continuous development. They train hard, they race hard and when it comes to rest they're careful not to let it all go and slip backwards too far.

Rest is a relative term for a year-round athlete. Complete rest is taken when needed, but these athletes also realise the benefits of active recovery in all the forms it might take...whether it's a walk in the gardens, a hike, or any other recreation. Such rest runs in concert with mental rejuvenation, to pull back the physical and psychological intensity at other times in the year.

The year-round athlete knows their body intimately and what they need to develop their weaknesses, and build their strengths. They're always thinking about the fine points of performance, reading, learning and planning how to be more effective in training in order to squeeze more performance out when it matters. They are students of themselves - and their sport - always learning how they react and respond to different training stimulus.

A year-round athlete always maintains a level of fitness, and is looking to complement it in different ways. For example, you might see a year-round athlete doing pilates, core strength exercises and other strength and conditioning activities. They see the forest and the trees when it comes to ticking all the boxes.

While a year-round athlete follows a plan for training phases, they are able to compete well almost on demand, and are probably only 4-6 weeks away from top performance at almost any point in time. This is reflection - and benefit - of their consistency through the year.

A year-round athlete might seem a somewhat obsessive...and this is true of many type 'A' personalities who are attracted to sports...but a good sign of their experience is knowing how to maintain balance between family, work, health, social, sport and so on. They can switch "on" and "off" on demand.

Often you'll see or know of a year-round athlete and admire them - they may not always be overtly identifiable but once you spend time with or near them you'll know who they are. The thing is that year-round athletes exist at all levels of sport, each person inspired by their own goals and dreams, and what it would mean to achieve them. They're just people doing what they enjoy.