How To: Race Review for the Self-Coached Athlete

Not everyone can afford a coach nor does everyone want a coach. For those of you who are self-coached, it’s imperative to constantly review your performance in order to continually improve and learn how our bodies operate.

Self-coached athletes have a hard job. Not only are you in charge of your performance, but you’re accountable for creating a training plan, executing it, and objectively reviewing it constantly.

After a race, do you have a one-on-one review with yourself? Do you objectively critique your performance? Do you assess where you can improve? Do you congratulate yourself for accomplishing different goals you set for that race? Or do you go back home and think nothing of it until the next race and then find yourself making the same mistakes?

Here’s a list of five factors to consider when reviewing race performance:

Trust your instinct

You know yourself better than anyone. As a self-coached athlete, you need to learn to trust your instinct. That’s what Lizzy Armistead does as a self-coached athlete. When reviewing your performance after a race, think about how your body felt. When riding within the group, how did your legs feel? How was your heart rate? Was your breathing sporadic or controlled? How thirsty were you?