Training Plan of the University of Michigan Women’s Rowing Team (excerpt)

Your coaches consider the benefits of training so self-evident as to hardly require elaboration, so we’ll confine ourselves to just a couple of comments relating training to success.

If the team’s ultimate goal is to win the National Championship, then we must recognize this goal will not be achieved without cost. A favourite metaphor is to think of the NCAA finals as an auction, where each team and each crew will "bid" for their place. Training represents the funds you have available to make your bid. A crew that has trained poorly will be out-bid early, perhaps starting the race at a fast pace but fading quickly as their limited funds expire. A crew that has invested wisely in their Training Plan and accumulated plenty of funds will be able to bid strongly early in the race, setting a fast pace in the first 600-700m while still having plenty of funds in reserve as the bidding increases in the middle of the race and into the final 200-300m. We want to show up at the line holding a sack of $100 bills in each hand, while our opponents are jingling a few coins in their change purse. But to accumulate that amount of funds requires a substantial amount of training. (Perhaps during a lengthy ergometer workout, you can envision dollar signs where the meters appear, like a slot machine hitting a jackpot.) Still another metaphor is to imagine that when we race we are going to war, and superior training means we show up with bigger guns and more ammo.

Before looking at our Training Plan in detail, please consider a basic and unalterable truth: training is essential for success. This is a Law of Nature, like gravity. Your coaches have determined the amount of work necessary to give us a realistic chance to compete for a National Championship. This can’t be negotiated. Still, athletes on occasion try.

You can recognize how absurd the following conversation would be between a doctor and a very sick patient:
Doctor: I’m sorry to report you have cancer, which is life-threatening and will require painful and debilitating treatment for a long time.
Patient: But I have a husband and three young children and a part-time job, and I have so many plans right now!
Doctor: Oh. In that case, you just have a bad cold.

Yet some athletes apparently expect to have the following exchange with their coach:
Coach: Here is the Training Plan we need to follow to give us a chance to win NCAAs. It means several hard workouts a week from September to May with little mental or physical rest.
Athlete: But I have to study and I have a boyfriend and I want to hang out with my friends and I tend to get sick easy!
Coach: Oh. In that case, just train once in a while when you feel like it.

The point is, your coaches are only pointing out some physical truths, not setting policy for the Universe. If the goal is to win, the price can’t be negotiated. The only thing that can be negotiated is the goal.

We could train less and still beat a lot of crews. The decision you the athlete must make is, how many crews am I satisfied with beating?