Winter Block Training Goals

But first, two things: I had a great catch-up with Wild Bill Gammel and Rick Hartman in Texas at the “Gulf Coast Casting Confab”, and it was great to see Andy, Phil, Kalyn and Brian too, as well as meet the other attendees. Man, I wish I could have been there in person! It looked like a great gathering. I’ve known Rick, Bill and Andy for over 20 years now and we certainly have not fished and cast together nearly enough in that time. I’m really hoping that we can change this and spend time doing these things properly over the next twenty years. Life is pretty short (although hopefully longer than that!) and we need to be doing these things because this is what life is really about!!

The other news is that we are very close to being up to date with Sexyloops rod builds, for the first time in I don’t know how long! So I can start promoting again. I went a bit quiet on this front during our move to Spain. I am the friendly Sexyloops Customer Service Department and the last thing I need is hundreds of unhappy customers emailing me every day :)) So it’s great to have caught up now and we can start promoting rods again, giving the customer service level that I would expect for myself.

Now to today’s FP. I want to talk about the importance of goal setting. So let me give you an example from my life of this annoying thing that I seem to have become slightly obsessed about, which is Ironman.

By the way, it’s not possible to have two hobbies in life that are all-consuming such as fly fishing and Ironman, unless one of them is also your job. Fortunately one of them *is* my job. And I’ve realised over the past ten days, since IM Malaysia, that while I achieved my previous goals – such as to have fun and actually finish – that I now have a new goal, namely that next year I want to place in the top ten of my age group.

There are several criteria that you need to have when setting a good goal. It should be achievable, challenging, measurable and, as far as I’m concerned, fun. (I know: not quite the usual goal setting criteria which is: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound – where is the fun in that?). I was looking at the times for IM Malaysia over the last couple of years in my age group, and I think it’s achievable. I need to really focus on my swimming however – I’d like get that down to 1hr15 – and swimming is highly technical, like fly casting, and I think that’s achievable, with coaching and of course training.  I might also pick up marathon swimming on the side (10km plus). I think that will help very much in fact.

The bike is pretty good, but of course I also need a new bike!! It’s the run in the heat and the humidity that’s the problem. But running is my background. So instead of running at 5.30 in the evening, I need to get out in the hottest part of the day at 4pm and for my body to learn to adapt to this. Being able to lower the heart rate while still running would also help but I haven’t learned to do that here yet. It’s similar to an overheated car and stopping is the only option, so far for me at least.

So anyway, that’s the short version of my IM goal for next 12 months. Go from 40th position in my AG, to top ten. Time wise that’s a big leap. But it is totally transforming my approach to training now, it’s made me very focussed on what I need to do, and I have a clear route to making this happen. To have a plan you first need a goal.

How does this apply to flycasting, I hear you ask? Well for many of my Zoom students they are coming into their winter black. This is actually when I see more of them. Summer is fishing! The winter block is when we can all build technique in our flycasting without distractions. If it’s cold, then we need to be particularly focussed, because then we need to make the most of our limited time outside. Every session needs a mini goal in itself.

The first thing is to establish the overall goal to be had from the winter block. For example that might simply be to increase distance from 70’ to 100’, or to learn Spey casting, or to pass the Sexyloops Challenge, or to take CCI or MCI, or to become competitive in flycasting.   Whatever it is, this goal – or goals – is necessary. Otherwise not much is really going to happen in this winter block. If the goal is to simply maintain levels, then that’s something that still requires a training plan.

If you are self-coached you are going to have to work this out for yourself. Once you have your goal you can structure your plan. How many hours/week are you going to train, and over how many sessions? And then, what specifically are you doing to train during these sessions? How are you going to measure your progress, and what targets are you setting yourself along the way?

That has to be the very first thing you do. For those of you coming into winter, if you have decided to improve your casting, then what are your specific goals for this period leading up to next season? For assessing this, you can reflect over the last season to see what your weaknesses were, and also look forward to next season and so you plan to go chasing Tarpon for the first time for example. You can take a lead out of other sports here; the winter training block is often viewed as building your base “fitness” level. If you don’t know where to start, I see flycasting as being divided into four cornerstones, which are Accuracy, Distance, Presentations and Speys.

For those of you looking for coaching – preferably not in US Eastern Time Zone (!!), which is really too busy for me at this time – I coach ten sessions for 900USD, which usually takes about 10-12 months. I can currently take on 1-2 more students.

And of course if you buy a Sexyloops HT rod you get one Zoom flycasting lesson absolutely free (and a 1 in 666 chance of winning a two week fly fishing holiday with me!).

Have a fantastic week. I actually have a day off today and am going fishing!!

Cheers, Paul