As we wrap up the season and enter the new year, it’s a great time to evaluate our triathlon achievements, and make plans for how we can improve.

The following 11 tips can serve as an accelerator for getting your training organized, and your planning off to a great start in next season!
1. Review what you did last season. Did you hit your goals?
2. Set goals for upcoming season. Don’t set the bar too low!
3. New Training Partners. Sometimes a fresh group of training partners can help you reach those new goals.
4. Set a schedule that’s repeatable. A plan where you schedule 10 hours a week and hit 95% of your workouts is better than a plan where you schedule 15 hours and hit 50% of your workouts.
5. Update your gear! Clean and tune-up your gear. Put lubricant on zippers, look over old run shoes, replace the screws in your winter run shoes, make sure you have hats, gloves, and winter gear ready to go for cold weather training.
6. Create your schedule around vacation, and add in training camps, scheduled time off and family responsibilities.
7. Plan your season into periods – swim, bike or run focus (if that’s your weakness), race pace workouts, taper, transition to new distances, and more difficult courses.
8. Plan your meals, start weight training, and yoga.
9. Schedule your workouts on your calendar. Don’t break these appointments!
10. Set a bed time and stick to it. Lights out at a consistent time, be disciplined.
11. Stick to your goals in #2! 

Coach Mike Ricci is the founder and head coach of D3, is USAT Level III certified and has coaching style that is ‘process focused’ vs. ‘results focused.’ When working with an athlete, their understanding of how and why they are improving is always going to take precedence over any race result. Yes there is an end goal, but in over 2 decades of coaching, experience has shown me that if you do the right work, and for the right reasons, the results will follow! And if you understand and enjoy the process, the likelihood of achieving your goals will increase ten fold! I like to say, “If you aren’t having fun, why are you doing it?”