Who hasn’t struggled with putting consistency in their training? It’s easy to defer things, leave your training for later, hit that snooze button, prioritise other aspects of your life above your training…… or the classic I can’t really be bothered today, or convince yourself that you are tired, ill or injured and a rest will be the best option for you. These are all my excuses, reasons and justifications, what are yours?
Here are some simple ways to put that Structure, Routine and Consistency back into your training.
30in30
Commit to doing a minimum of 30 minutes of swim, bike or run on six days each week (plus one 30 minute stretching based activity on the seventh day of the week, for 30 consecutive days. Post daily onto your social media to create accountability.
For 30 days in a row, complete a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise (hence the 30in30). If you do more that’s great, but find yourself 30 minutes to get some work done, EVERY, SINGLE, DAY for 30 days. You may have had a 2 hour ride scheduled, but circumstances conspire against you. Instead of flagging the entire session, get out and do 30 minutes of it (that still counts).
To create some accountability post each and every session onto social media. Start with Day 1 of 30in30, and work right through until Day 30 of 30in30. Make sure you tag me in @coach_ray_nz on Instagram; Coach Ray / Qwik Kiwi Coaching on Facebook, @CoachRayNZ on Twitter. Feel free to use the tags #30in30, #qwikkiwi and/or #coachray
Zwift Academy 2021
Get after your goals and train with Zwift’s worldwide community. Get familiar with the training systems you need to reach your goals. Hit your next level with structured workout programs designed by world-class coaches. Measure your progress during your journey and score in-game rewards. Get after it!
Registration for Zwift Academy 2021 closes on 27th September 2021 and it runs through until 25-October-2021.
Unlike previous years you are only trying to improve your results, you aren’t racing anyone. The academy starts with a baseline ride, involves a number of workouts that you schedule into your programme, a couple of recovery rides and then finishes with a finish line ride, which is the same as the baseline ride and you see how much you’ve improved. That’s a total of ten sessions over 4 weeks or longer (depending on when you sign up).
There are four grades you can choose from and they are gender based, so you are only competing against the same gendered athletes. A for males and B for females are the slightly longer options and C for males and D for females for the slightly short options.
The workouts themselves you can do any time, but the baseline, recovery and finish line rides you need to book in to do them. Don’t worry there are plenty of convenient times to do them. There were a dozen options for the day I chose to do my baseline ride, and I’m expecting the same for the recovery and finish line rides.
Sign up here: https://www.zwift.com/ca/academy
If you’d like to discuss with me how to optimise the sessions so you can get the most out of them, reach out on social media and we can have a chat about how to achieve that.
Ironman Virtual Club
Born out of the COVID lockdowns around the world, this is a virtual collection of challenges and events. Get out and log your training, whether indoors, outdoors or as part of a race. Earn badges and rewards in the Ironman store.
There are some easier challenges and some tougher challenges (such as a full Ironman). I find you need to log in often and see what new challenges are available, as some are only available for a day, they might be something that aligns with what you are doing and the shorter the window to do the challenge the more flexible it might be. Some challenges give you a week to complete and some a full month. Either way there are some interesting challenges there, just a matter of signing up for it (FREE) and then getting out and doing your training.
Only workouts done after you sign up count. For example the other day when I did the Zwift Baseline ride, after I’d done the ride I saw there was a challenge for that day that required you to swim, bike or run for 40 minutes. TICK ✅ but alas, after I signed up for the challenge it wouldn’t let me post day the ride I had already done 😔
The first badge was easy to achieve, you just had to run for 5km and ride for 10km, split across two different sessions. If you are tracking your training with a Garmin or similar device it’s easy to connect in and sync for everything to log across.
Go to ironmanvirtualclub.com to sign up and feel free to join the Qwik Kiwi Coaching Club when you sign up for Ironman Virtual Club.
Land of Endurance Training Day Badge 
Tutorial Challenge Badge 
Athletic Brewing EZ like Monday Morning Badge 
Santini Canyon Challenge Badge 
Gatorade Endurance Intro to Hills Badge
Under Armour All Out Mile
Many athletes–runners or non-runners alike–have at some point in their sport journey hit the track or pavement in attempt of a mile personal record or “PR”. From dedicated short to mid-distance runners, to team sport athletes trying out for the team at the beginning of the season, or those new to running who are lacing up for the first time, the mile is accessible, while also requiring focused training and preparation to run a personal best.
The premise is simple. Run an all out mile, then train for a few weeks and then run another all out mile and see if you are faster.
Register is open until 30-September but the sooner you join the sooner you can register an all out mile, leaving more time to train. Then between 1st and the 11th of October run another all out mile to see how much faster you now are.
If you’d like to discuss how to make the most of the month left of this challenge to make the biggest gains, reach out to me with a Direct or Personal Message on Social Media and we can have a chat about how you can improve your all out mile the most.
Register here: uaalloutmile.com/ and feel free to join the Qwik Kiwi Coaching Club as part of the challenge.