#TeamTCUK co-founder and coach, James Pryke, offers his expert advice on how to keep consistent with your training and why it's so important, particularly during the off-season.

Being able to stay consistent with your training is essential to enable you to get the best possible outcome from your programme. The aim of your programme is to ensure gradual progression from week to week, from one training block to the next, and through the different phases of your periodised plan.

The training that you are doing now in the post season phase will lay the foundation for the more challenging race specific work you will progress to in the new year. So whilst the race season may seem a long way off, maintaining the habit of consistent training at all stages of the year will enable the best possible yield from your training hours.

With many of you beginning a new programme at this time of year, now is the time to develop good habits that will enable you to train consistently. Firstly, learn from your previous experiences and consider the main factors in your life that have affected your ability to train consistently. This could be your demanding work schedule, travel, family commitments, fluctuating energy levels and weather (particularly as we progress into the winter months). Having an awareness of these factors is the first step in identifying how you may be able to fit your training into your busy life.

Every Sunday review your training plan for the coming week and consider where you will be able to fit each session in. Plan to do the highest priority sessions on the days that you are most confident that you will be able to train. You may find that your coach has highlighted some training in your programme as ‘key sessions’, do your best to prioritise these where possible. If you are unsure as to which sessions you should prioritise, please check with your coach.

It’s always worth while sharing your training plan at the beginning of the week with your wife, husband, partner, or any other of the main stakeholders in your life that influence how you spend your free time. If they are aware as to when you intend to do your training in advance, this can help to minimise the chances of them planning for you to do something else, or at least enable you to plan an alternative time to train.

Please remember, if you miss something in your programme this does not mean you are failing. Hitting 100% completion week in week out is not something that is realistic for the vast majority of athletes and we will constantly be updating your programme to account for this. If you are unwell, you need to rest, if you are working away from home, you may not be able to train. If you know in advance that there may be a week coming up that you will be particularly struggling to train, please let your coach know, this can be factored in and could even be used as an effective part of your programme as a recovery week.