Defining Consistency

Einstein said insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting things to change (paraphrased).  Einstein was not a triathlete.  We effectively aim to follow a path repeating ourselves in an aim to make changes in the name of progress.  A key concept in training is consistency.  But what is consistency?


Googling "consistency definition" results in:

• the property of holding together and retaining its shape; "wool has more body than rayon"; "when the dough has enough consistency it is ready to ...
• a harmonious uniformity or agreement among things or parts
• logical coherence and accordance with the facts; "a rambling argument that lacked any consistency"
• (logic) an attribute of a logical system that is so constituted that none of the propositions deducible from the axioms contradict one another 

Doesn't help much in training.  The second bullet is probably closest to what we aim for in training.  I think it makes more sense to consider the scientific definitions of accuracy and precision.  Accuracy: the quality of being near to the true value, i.e. the closer to the bullseye on a dart board the more accurate you are.  Precision: the quality of being reproducible in amount or performance, i.e. the closer your three darts are to one another the more precise you are.  So in triathlon training, I would consider consistency to be training and nutrition that is both accurate and precise in terms of pointing you in the direction of your goals.

I include nutrition above because endurance athletes are notorious for training extremely hard and then eating whatever they like since they burned so many calories.  They're not getting fat so what's the problem?  The problem is the goal isn't to "not get fat" but rather "to get faster or go longer."  So if your nutrition isn't helping you reach your goal, then it is not consistent.

Training is similar.  The common fault of too much time at threshold is an example of being precise but not accurate and thus from training perspective being inconsistent.  So look at your training, are you getting the gut wrenchingly tough workouts in with intervals and tempo work as well as the mental grind of long, slow zone 1 endurance training?  If so, you will improve and are consistent.  If not, why not?  Are you focused the majority of the time on the task at hand and getting all you can out of it?  Are you getting enough sleep?

This leads me to the most interesting aspect.  This stuff is NOT rocket science.  But the old Buddhist saying goes, "A finger pointing to the moon is not the moon."  Simply put knowing what consistency is does not make you consistent.  Being consistent is up you.  Intellectual honesty about all aspects of your training, nutrition, recovery, etc. will tell you whether you are consistent.  Find the spots that are lagging and get to work.

Happy training!