One Thing

In marketing, or at least video games marketing, we talk a lot about “the one thing” that defines a game around which a marketing campaign is crafted. Essentially, our "one thing” in Marvel’s Spider-Man was a completely original Spider-Man experience. We use the “one thing” to help combat “the monster,” or the key threat to undermining a game’s success. (Since this isn’t a games marketing blog, I’ll save all that talk for another time.)

In triathlon coaching, I’m learning each athlete has their own “one thing,” just like a game.

The “one thing” in coaching can be minor, but it can have a major difference. For one Good Wolf athlete, it meant identifying that if he kept his bike cadence roughly 6 pedal strokes per minute faster, into the 80 range, his off-the-bike run would dramatically improve. On race day, it did. For another, we identified that a mandated rest day early in the week could be the key to greater overall health and wellness. So far, we’ve dramatically reduced this athlete’s proneness to injury <knocks on wood>.

In my case, the “one thing” appears to be balance. Not physical balance, but rather eeking out the best workouts I can without sacrificing family time. Today, that meant heading to Griffith Park for a late afternoon run after we all got a special half-day off in the studio. I could have run longer today. But this sense of balance — getting home to my family for Friday Night Family Night — keeps me mentally focused and eager to train the next day, without feeling burnt out or guilty. The result is greater overall happiness with myself, and my family’s happiness with me.

What’s your “one thing” that might push your training to a more effective level?

Better yet, what “monster” is lurking in the shadows, waiting to derail it all? What are you doing to address that?