I bet it was busy at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on Monday. Everyone was travelling home from the greatest show on earth.
I love the Olympics, especially the first week; it is one of my favourite things to watch and see.
Watching the BBC's montage of emotional responses to events, particularly those involving GB athletes, always makes my hair stand up on the backs of my arms.
I'm fascinated by the whole Olympic cycle, and so if you take British cycling, for example, they've had a pretty good games this time. Maybe they didn't win quite the medal haul they would have liked, maybe not quite the goals they would have liked, but they have a really, really young team, and if they can keep that team together for the next four years, oh my God, it could be super special.
And so, how does it work for them, do you think? (I love to imagine this stuff; I love to think of what it would be like if I were part of it.)
They go home now and have a little rest after the massive work, but not too much, but very quickly to get back to work, and the first thing would be a debrief.
What actually happened?
What did we actually get?
Where are we now?
Who's proven themselves, and who hasn't?
What worked and what didn't?
What would we change?
What would we keep the same?
That would be the coaching personnel, the management personnel, the facilities, the athletes, the bikes, everything.
You do it as quickly as you can, and then you start to plan, and the plan is four years.
So, the plan will start with an outcome: what you would like to achieve.
For many people in that group, nothing short of gold in Los Angeles starting on July 14th, 2028, will do.
Then you decide how you are going to get that.
You work backwards from the 14th of July 2028 to now.
What will you need to have?
What kit will you need?
What support will you need?
How much money do you need to live?
What facilities will we need to have?
How will we use those facilities?
How much will you need to train?
What will that look like?
Where will you need to peak throughout that whole cycle?
Where will you rest?
When we have time off?
When will you go as hard as you can?
Put it all down in writing.
What will you eat?
How will you sleep?
How will you socialise?
How will you not socialise?
How much will you travel?
How much won't you travel?
Write it all down.
Once it's down and brought together, agree on it and sign it. Then, break it into four-year cycles, three-month sections, and six-week training blocks, and then go.
Don't look back, don't change the goal (unless something catastrophic happens), and go through the process.
If you listened to any of the interviews for some of these high-end endurance athletes, the guys in trampolining, cycling, swimming, canoeing, or anything like that, all they talked about was the process.
It's your process. Stick to it, and don't be distracted. You set the goal four years ago. Stick to it, and if it doesn't work, we'll change the process next time.
I love this.
Does it resonate?
For most of us, we could never contemplate running our work or running our life like an Olympic cycle.
We could never see the long-term distance because all we're doing is grabbing the short-term shiny bright objects, pushing them to the side, setting the task far away and then process, process, process.
Today, I'm going to write down where I'm going to be on July 14th, 2028, in my life, my work, my health, and my bike.
I will write it down now and work backwards, and then I will go through my process.
Blog Post Number - 3897
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