10 Things You’re Doing While Training That Could Get You Into Trouble Today! Part 2
Here are the last of the 10 things we're doing during training that could get us into trouble. Here's a recap of the first 5. Riding alone, training to fatigue, attention to details, headphones and early mornings / late nights. For the full blog post, you can read it here.
Social Media Maniac
I have several friends who cant seem to do anything without posting to social media. This seems to be extra true for athletes. You can see the new bike someone bought, the races on the schedule for the season and one of the most dangerous, posting GPS coordinates of routes taken when running and biking.
Social media is great for community, positive group discussions, etc. its not great for personal protection. Posts aren’t as private as they claim. It’s easy for an attacker to find out where you are when running at what time. Now, all an attacker has to do is wait for you on the route. Keep the personal stuff to a minimum. Post about excitement of training and racing without the personal details of where and when you’ll be certain places.
In the Zone
No, not that zone. When starting off on a 5 hour bike, it takes some “staying in the moment” tenacity to get long endurance training completed. As athletes we get “in the zone” for training and racing. What I see happen to many is they avoid eye contact either from narrowing focusing to that moment or because they lack confidence to hold a glance. Whether it’s laser focus or lack of self-confidence avoiding eye contact allows attackers an assessment of a potential victim. A profile of a victim is someone who can not hold a glance without looking away (almost always down) with another person. This is especially true for females. Let people you come in contact with know you see them. Confidence can come through in a glance and may have an attacker thinking twice about targeting you as a victim.
No Life Line
How many times have you set out on a course and forgot your phone? Or maybe you never carry one with you. Having a lifeline is important for safety. Having a phone can be the difference between life and death in situations from injuries to attackers.
No ID
Road ID is the best option for having all personal and medical identification in case of an emergency. Be sure to wear the bracelet and not the shoe attachment. If a car hits a runner, there’s a good chance the shoes are coming off. The last thing medical personnel are looking for is a shoe in an emergency situation.
Personal Protection Plan
Self-defense isn’t a “nice to know” thing, it’s a “need to know” thing for everyone! Having a plan for situations we may face and being prepared to deal with those situation is crucial for our safety and the safety of those around us. It’s our responsibility to defend ourselves from harm and protect ourselves from possible dangers we face while training.
Just like any training routine, learning and applying safety into our lives will become less conscious effort and more of a habit over time. Remember to train hard, have fun and be safe out there!
Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan
