The Weekly Routine: 29er Pathway

With the revamped US Sailing Olympic Development Program announced recently, junior sailors around the country will be making a push to earn invitations to "ODP" Training Camps, but in the scramble to get on the inside track, it's important to keep the fundamentals first, and keep the big picture in perspective.  Every month, I coach sailors who believe that they're just one revolutionary piece of advice away from a breakthrough performance - that all they need to do is find the right coach, who can tell them how to sail the boat correctly, and that they'll suddenly jump to the front of the fleet. 

The truth is that the best coaches - the ones who consistently produce standout athletes - aren't primarily teaching boat speed, tactics, or boat handling.  The aspects of training which cause the best sailors to rise to the top of the stack have more to do with big picture program creation, which over time create the other advantages.  While coaching from an expert in your class can certainly be a useful tool in the climb to the top, and the US Sailing ODP will definitely be a great resource for sailors looking to compete at the top international level, if you think that getting advice from the ODP coaches is the big boost you need to jettison you to the top of the fleet, it's probably a good idea to take a step back and evaluate your big picture program first.

Focus on the process of improving
Kevin Hall wrote an awesome article for Sailing Anarchy about the importance of "meta-practice", or practicing the process of practice (if you haven't read the article, check it out here).  In the article, he argued that the best America's Cup teams aren't the ones who practice effectively right out of the gates, but the ones who develop a systematic training process over time.  In junior sailing, this idea is even more pronounced because of the fact that there is such a wide range in training programs and skill levels.

The first, and most important part of this idea is that in order to improve, you need to reflect on every single practiced session.  Getting on the water for a few hours is a great way to keep your skills sharp, and build up muscle memory which will help you execute on race day, but if you're not spending some time after practice, talking or at least thinking about what went well, and what didn't you will not progress beyond mastering the fundamentals.  "Practice makes permanent", so only perfect practice can make perfect.  Unless you are already doing a technique perfectly, practicing without reflecting on what needs to change will only solidify improper techniques and habits, so even if you just pick one lesson to reflect on from each practice, start cataloging lessons learned, and using those to dictate the focus of future practices.

The second point that Kevin articulates well, is that not all of your reflection should be about speed, tactics, and boat handling; the best sailors spend time thinking about the process before anything else.  If you can create a habit of reviewing your practice efficiency, and finding places to improve the time spent on and off of the water, you will get more out of each practice, and over time, will develop the edge that will put you at the top of the leader-board.

How can you get the most out of the US Sailing ODP Camps?
With a solid plan for improvement in place, the ODP training camps and regattas will be a great supplement to your training schedule, so when you have the opportunity to take advantage of the coaching, it's important to go in with a plan.  In our 29er HP camps, we strive to send sailors home with a clear picture of their next month's training requirements, and at the ODP's this should be the goal for your team.  Take notes, write down quotes from coaches, and be sure to ask questions about what the most important things for you to work on are.  If you do a good job at the camp, you should have material to work on for several weeks after.

Finally, own your own development.  Don't adopt a technique just because a coach tells you it's right unless you fully understand, and agree that the technique is superior.  As a coach, one of the most rewarding experience for me is to have sailors question techniques that I'm teaching.  The main job of a coach is to help sailors learn the process of improvement, and a major part of that process is questioning new techniques until you totally understand them, and feel comfortable enough to call them yours.  There are many ways to go fast, so ask questions, and don't wait for the magic bullet.

The bottom line is that being the best is never an overnight development.  There is no magic bullet, so it's important to put together a plan that is completely within your control regardless of whether or not you get selected for a training camp, and then execute, taking advantage of opportunities if they arise.

29er HP Training In Santa Barbara

The Weekly Routine: Discoverer

Sorry for the late post! The majority of my Monday was spent somewhere in the middle of Texas on my way back from the Miami OCR.  Fortunately this gave me plenty of time to reflect on the regatta, and our final breakthrough of the week.  This week's Monday Routine focuses on one of the key aspects of performance, which ties together all other components: mindset.  Enjoy.

I am a Discoverer.  I am intrigued by systems, and routines that produce consistent outcomes – especially in situations where systems are not initially obvious.  When I face a challenge, I retreat into my mind to dissect the systems at play, to figure out how to modify individual system components, and then to rebuild them better than before. My skill set pays dividends in a coaching role, building systems for improvement, and planning for success, but in the heat of battle – behind the sheets myself – as Dwight Eisenhower famously said, “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

In high school, I was meticulous and methodical in learning how to boat handle and race FJs.  I quickly mastered the maneuvers, and learned the theory behind strategy and tactics of short course, high school sailing, but when it came to racing, I struggled to execute consistently.  My starts were inconsistent, and when I did get off of the line, I wasn’t always confident in my tactical decisions. In short, all of my planning and practice, went out the window in the chaos of competition. 

A change came during my sophomore year, when I started focusing on 29ers.  In the 29er, every second is critical.  While I was learning the boat, it seemed like the tiniest lapses in focus made for a soggy afternoon, and as I improved, I realized that even the slightest hesitation in a reaction could throw the whole groove of the boat off, giving away boat lengths in a hurry. Staying upright and keeping the boat moving fast required a kind of hyper-vigilance and awareness that I had never brought to my sailing before. Moreover, even when I wasn’t racing, the high speeds of the 29er eliminated my ability to think through problems before reacting – in the do-or-die situations, either instinct took over and the boat stayed upright, or you went swimming; there was no middle ground. 

I brought this new found mindset to my racing, and the results were shocking

When I came back to high school racing, I brought this new found mindset to my racing, and the results were shocking.  All of a sudden, the flurry of activity on the start line faded; I trusted the instincts that I had built in practice – trusted my decisions in tight situations – and let the commotion around me fade into the background.  I began reacting to tactical situations without hesitation, focusing all of my mental resources on executing my maneuvers rather than trying to figure out what the best path was; somewhere in the back of my mind, I already knew what the correct move was, I just needed to pull it off.  My results took a sharp turn towards the top of the fleet.

This new method of thinking – the Adventurer mindset – is an important weapon on the race course. While the goal of practice is to internalize good decision making and good body control, on the race course the ability to engage in the Discoverer process by fully thinking things through, disappears. Quick reactions and confidence in your intuition are the most important tools available.

Next time you go racing make a conscious effort to switch out of practice mode. Focus on constructing a positive dialogue with your teammate (or in your head if you are alone) to keep you focused on the “now” – wind ahead, pressure in the sails and on the helm, and boat positioning are all good topics to ensure that your mind stays present, and ready to respond to whatever racing throws your way.  If you notice your thoughts circling back to something that already happened, refocus by calling the next puff, or letting your teammate know how long the lull will last. Trust yourself to make good decisions. When mistakes happen, rather than dwelling on them, label each one in your head as “mistake”, and move on until you get off of the water, and can afford to dig into the big picture and the systems at play.

The Monday Routine

From across the room a siren begins wailing at 7am snapping my eyes open, and propelling me across the room to swipe the sleep button and stop the screeching.  About 10 alarms are set to go off in succession each minute from now if I don't turn them off, so with blurry eyes and heavy fingers, I quickly unlock my phone, disable the impending noise makers, and take a deep breath.  I am not a morning person.

After carefully making my bed perfectly, I set to work whipping up four eggs atop corn tortillas, cooked in olive oil, and topped with avocado, tomatoes, cheese, and Cholula hot sauce - 1100 calories to start the day with a bang.  I sit at my desk to eat my breakfast, watching one of the gems that I have bookmarked as a motivational video for Monday mornings.  It might be a TED talk, a kiting video, or a montage of motivational quotes, but whatever it is, it has been carefully vetted to ensure that I finish up my eggs with a high level of stoke to take into the day.  Finally, I throw on some music while I wash the dishes, to get pumped up for my morning gym session.

A few months ago, I realized that my weekend regatta participation (whether as a competitor or a coach) was throwing off my ability to get motivated, and get back into my weekly routine after driving back on Sunday nights. Every Friday, I would resolve to stick to my routines while I was away, and every weekend, I would loose my resolve, just in time to disrupt my weekly groove. To remedy the situation, I began planning a Monday morning routine to get me out of bed early, help me get a jump on my daily nutrition goals, and ensure that by 10am, I was walking out of the gym feeling good about my productivity. 

When you find yourself routinely falling short in areas of your training or your life that you have identified as important, having a routine to help ease into the activity can be extremely helpful. On light air days, instead of just scrapping a practice, get in the habit of spending half and hour on the water doing something simple. You might work on linked tacks, rudder-out-of-the-water, or even just sitting next to a buoy for ten minutes without moving.  You don't have to give up your whole afternoon just floating around in no wind, but try making a small commitment like twenty or thirty minutes before calling it off - who knows you might discover something interesting, and get inspired to spend another hour on the water! 

Working on maintaining flow on a light air day in Santa Barbara.

Building processes like this is the key to good training, in the pursuit of mastery, whether it be in sailing, school, work, or elsewhere.  For those of you who need a Monday morning routine, I am going to attempt to update this blog each Monday with a new article on routine, process, and training, to help get you pumped to start a productive week.

You can follow our posts right here at www.McBrideWilsonSailing.com, or via twitter @mcwil49er and @wmc8367