Raceplan Coaching & Racing: The difference between training for fitness versus competition

I came across this short article in a coaching rag and think it's relevant to a lot of us, especially this time of year as we're coming off competition, hopefully taking some time off and planning for the next season.

Performance Conditioning (the rag I got this article from) has long advocated that the difference between an individual participating in a sport for fitness versus that same individual participating in a sport for competition is coaching.

Chances are you're not as gifted genetically as a high level athlete. Some coaches claim that genetics account for up to 90 percent of predicting athletic success. Good genes come with natural athletic abilities that allow for advanced athletic skills and the ability to take on larger training volumes and recover from hard workouts faster. In addition, time is a major factor. An athlete will train up to six hours a day [while] the recreational fitness advocate puts in 30 quality minutes three to four times a week.

Finally, the high level athlete has a vast amount of support resources: team physicians, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, sport psychologist and nutritionists all are available to the high level athlete on a continuous basis.

But there are some important similarities that you enjoy with the high level athlete. The first is your love of sport you do as a fitness activity. This is an important motivational factor. The next is the principles of how the body works and develops are the same and the mechanism for injury and its limitations to performance have the same outcome. You both have goals you wish to achieve based on your abilities. This makes planning very similar. You may think that an athlete faces little or no distractions and adversities. This is not true. They are just different. Life's challenges are the same, the difference is how they are handled.

Something to think about.