We collected advice from Hive athletes who compete in a number if different disciplines on how to set, train, and achieve a personal record (PR). Whether you're in the process of training for a PR or are thinking this will be your next goal, these tips will help you push yourself to your new best.
1. Believe in Yourself
One of the biggest lessons I have learned is you’ll have bad days and you’ll have good days when it comes to training. Tears and frustration are okay! But, it’s what you do the following day that matters. You get back out there, keep training, believe in yourself and remember your goals. Make sure your goals are reasonable and attainable!
- Molly Bond, Obstacle Course Racer
2. Training
A PR is set in the training leading up to the race: in order to accomplish something you’ve never accomplished, you need to do something you’ve never done. That doesn’t necessarily mean more mileage, sometimes just better key workouts or more consistency. Once you are in “PR shape”, treat the race like a celebration of your training. Don’t spend 99% of your energy focusing on the little things that make less than 1% of a difference. Stick to your nutrition, sleeping, gear, and mindset that you use in daily training and trust that it will work just as well on race day!
- Alex Gold, Runner
3. The Important Questions
Don't stop asking yourself the important questions: how do I get faster, stronger, better, smarter, healthier? Record everything to see what's working and  what isn't and change one thing at a time. Once you've reached the big day, do everything exactly as you've planned: your routine, your nutrition, your warm-up, your gear, your head-space. Finally, give yourself a very specific target and BE IN THE MOMENT! Change your approach as needed to give yourself the best shot at reaching your goal.
- Heather Nielson, Cyclist
4. Consistency, Patience, & Persistence
In order to set a PR, you have to train with consistency, patience, and persistence. It takes time for the body to adapt to the training, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen over night. If you can have a proper training cycle with adequate workouts, easy runs and rest, you will be able to achieve your goal at obtaining a PR. For example, I like to have a good training cycle for a few months in order to prepare. Given that, I like to incorporate workouts that I have to run faster than goal race pace and some workouts that are at race pace. This allows my the body to adapt and get used to running at that effort. I keep the rest of the runs very easy to allow my body to adapt without overstressing it or causing an injury. And last but not least, proper rest is important so the body can heal and become stronger and faster.
- Kaci Lickteig, Trail Runner
5. Give Yourself A Chance
The best way to achieve a PR is to train hard, train consistently and to give yourself a chance on race day. Be confident and go after your goal. If you don't push your limits, you will have a safe time, but not your best time. The best thing about PRs is that they don't matter to anyone else. It's all on you to achieve it. So, believe in yourself and your training, and give yourself a chance!
- Luke Crespin, High School Cross Country Coach
