A couple recent conversations regarding prepping athletes for Championship meets inspired this quick blog...

It seems to be rather common that coaches are learning more about adjusting workouts based on how their athlete seems to be feeling on that day. A lot of times we do this during the middle of a workout and it is largely based on their performance during the workout. I think that this is a rather easy thing to do. Some coaches take this a step further, and are able to adequately assess an athlete's feeling before a workout and be able to prescribe the correct work for the day based on how the warm-up looks and after receiving feedback from the athlete.

However, I would argue that the most neglected -- perhaps the most important? -- feeling is the post-workout feeling. This is especially true during the Championship phases of the season. This may be the best time to adequately assess the CNS, especially. Often at the beginning of workouts it's easier to think you are fresh and feeling ok, but after even a moderate level effort (or even easy efforts) it is apparent that you are not.

Without going into a diatribe on the topic, my point is this: especially during times of the year where your performance needs to be at its best, spend more time focusing on the post-workout assessment of how your athlete feels.

• a DECENT coach will adjust today's workout based on how an athlete is feeling during a workout
• a GOOD coach will adjust today's workout based on how an athlete is feeilng before a workout
• a GREAT coach will adjust tomorrow's workout based on how an athlete is feeling after today's workout