The Austrian management guru Peter F. Drucker said it well: “Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” Put another way, without a clear plan, there’s no real commitment. It’s the same with training. We need a goal and a plan to reach it. Otherwise, the risk is we keep on doing the same old thing. If we do aim to improve our performance, we must know where we’re going and how to get there. “A training plan doesn’t have to start directly at the beginning of a year, but it’s a good time for making plans and setting new goals,” says Austrian sport scientist, coach and athlete Susi Kraft. Susi is one half of the Berghasen, an awesome German-language blog covering everything you need to know about ski touring: training tips, tours, gear and so on. We caught up with the passionate mountain lover and asked what goes into a good training plan. Read on for Susi’s six tips. Susi works and plays in the stunning mountains around Salzburg. © Berghasen Take the long view You might be wondering whether you really need to have a plan for the whole year. The answer is yes if you want to have an optimal training year and achieve your goals. Susi explains why: “When designing a training plan you normally define one or two personal highlights in the training year,” she says. “At those events your physical performance should be at the highest level.” Once the highlights are decided you then distribute every single workout/training session across your calendar. Sport scientists like Susi call this process training periodization, which has three phases: 1. Base period2. Pre-competition period3. Competition period “A smart training periodization is only possible if you have an overview of the whole year and the athlete highlights factored in,” Susi says. “Besides that you also have to factor in your personal life, like family, holidays, work, weddings, kids and so on.” Select your highlights Without a goal, it’s easy to lose direction. When thinking about your next goal, use the acronym as a guide, SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Specific: Well defined, clear, and unambiguousMeasurable: With specific criteria that measure your progress toward the accomplishment of the goalAchievable: Attainable and not impossible to achieveRealistic: Within reach, realistic, and relevant to your life purposeTimely: With a clearly defined timeline, including a starting date and a target date. The purpose is to create urgency. “The training plan itself should always be orientated around a goal you want to achieve,” Susi says. “That goal could be a trail running competition, finishing your first triathlon, climbing Mont Blanc or losing weight. Setting new goals and working with a specific training plan keeps motivation high. That’s what I see when working with my athletes.” Consider this “The no pain, no gain approach to training is really outdated, “ Susi says. “30 years ago experts in sports science didn’t always know how to train right. What we know now is that the best endurance athletes don’t train so hard – most of their training is at low intensity.” Take a moment to think about that before creating a plan to achieve your goal. This is especially important if you have a tendency to push yourself hard. A gentler approach may serve you better. “A lot of people I see try to get better really fast,” Susi says. “They train really hard, really long distances. You may get better quickly, but in the long term that’s really bad for the body and for the training programme. Some people actually get worse, become overtrained or are prone to injuries.” Don’t copy and paste Oh, the internet. We can find countless training plans and make them our own. Thing is, cutting corners like that might not give you the results you wish for. “If you just copy last year’s or someone else’s training plan it won’t account for possible improvements in your training status,” Susi says. “Your plan should always be built on your current endurance, strength and other skills. That’s why it is so important to do performance diagnostics regularly and before you start working with a new training plan or coach.” Avoid these classic mistakes Susi says people tend to fall into two camps. Those that go overboard and do too much high intensity training too soon, and those that like routine and do the same workouts every week. “Really think about intensity distribution in your plan,” Susi says. “The risk is, that you do the same stuff every week. That mistake may lead to slower progress, monotony or even overtraining because you didn’t consider rest day and rest weeks. Most people tend to train too hard over several weeks or months. Over a whole year this may lead to chronic exhaustion.” Don’t be that guy. Follow this planning flow Set goals / highlights Analyze your current physical status – endurance, strength, stability, speed, balance – by doing physical performance tests. The outcome is influenced by your training history. Also consider how much experience a person has and determine your training age, meaning how many years of endurance training, strength training you’ve done and how many years of specific training in the sport you want to compete in. How often and what exactly is your training programme (hours, km, what kind of sports etc.) Which weaknesses do you have? What are the main factors we need to approve? How much time do you have to achieve your goal? Determine the training periodization over the time window you have available. Carefully and realistically distribute the training intensity across the calendar Plan single blocks or training sessions Lead images: © Berghasen

KEEP UP WITH THE SUUNTO COMMUNITY The app has many ways in which it keeps you and our community engaged, helps you connect with people with similar interests and allows you to create everlasting training memories and to share relevant content with your friends or on social media. But, first things first: We value your privacy It's always up to you to decide how much you want to share. By default, after you have created your account in the app, your activities are private. Nevertheless, you can change that to any of the other two privacy options: show your activities to your followers or make them public for all the Suunto app users. Additionally, you can change that setting for every exercise individually. In the app's privacy settings, you can also define if you want to approve people before they can start following you. Read more about adjusting privacy settings with iOS and Android. Then: Create long-lasting training memories Edit your activities to make them memorable: write stories, add comments and comment on your friends' training, add photos and even videos taken during your activity. It matters even if you have a private account. This way, you create a visual diary for your activities and experiences. Share a data overlay image of your training After adding photos to your activities, you can share (or save) them with data overlays. You can add elements like altitude graph, total distance, the highest point and many more. You can also add a custom title text on top of the image. Share them with your friends, your social media, or save them for later in your files. Tap the "Share" button on your activity. Tap the information you have displayed to change it. Change the photo by choosing another one from your gallery. You can even share your training week, month, or year Want to show your friends your training days, duration per sports, distance, ascent and the active kcal? We have the best way for you to do that. On the app's main screen, tap the calendar or sports/h square and then choose what you want to share. You can send it directly to your friends, post it on your social media channels or save the image for later. Connect with your friends even if they aren't using our app (yet) You can sync your Suunto app account with our partner services, like Strava, Training Peaks, Relive and Fatmap, and reach your friends there, too. To connect your Suunto app with other services. Enable the automatic sync from under your Profile. Select the Partner services option and find the apps you want to connect your Suunto app to. Happy training!

South African ultra runner Ryan Sandes was right on the money when asked about races being cancelled in 2020: “Sure, it’s a little disappointing,” he said. “But at the end of the day it’s just a race. I’ve still got my health, I’ve still got my family. When you look at it more holistically like that it gives you peace of mind and you become a better athlete, a better human, you’re more relaxed. For running ultras you need this, you need to be calm and in a good headspace.” Whatever your sport, having a positive, calm headspace is optimal. It hasn’t always been easy maintaining that this year. But the reverse is also true; training, pursuing the sports we love, helped to keep us on an even keel. Each reinforces the other. The data we’ve collected and crunched from 2020 user activity shows staying active, finding ways to train, and even taking the opportunity to rest more, have been key in helping us ride out this crazy year. We’ve found ways to keep ourselves pumped. Let us walk you through the data.   Spain on top The first wave of COVID-19 hit Spain hard. The lockdowns were strict, sudden and shocking. But that didn’t stop Spaniards from continuing to train and find ways to challenge themselves. Our data shows Suunto’s users in Spain clocked the highest total minutes per user, averaging 5,965 minutes on average. Spanish Suunto athlete Joaquin Perez also looked out for community initiatives to help his community cope. Back in April he told us: “A good source of inspiration and motivation for the community are the multiple solidarity initiatives that exist, for example in Spain last Saturday there was an initiative to raise funds for COVID-19 research where more than 7,300 athletes ran in their homes and raised almost €83,000,” he says. Click to read more about how Suunto athletes adapted to life in lockdown.   Go France! Respect to Suunto users in France for having the highest total ascent numbers! They also had the highest total meters for all workouts combined in both running and cycling. And, just like in 2019, the French had the highest "adventure running ratio": our French community ran 15 times more on the trails than on the treadmill!   We stayed upbeat Even with tough times the average mood our users selected after each workout was "very good". This is slightly higher than the year before in spring 2019. By the time autumn arrived in the northern hemisphere it was about the same as 2019. Check out our article about making your best workout playlist ever, and give your mood a boost on your next workout!   The most active countries were … Take your hats off to Finland, South Africa, Sweden, Russian and Poland for having the most active Suunto users. It’s interesting South Africa is the only country in the southern hemisphere to make the list. It also went into lockdown early.   These places caught more Zs Finland, New Zealand, Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium came out on tops for getting the most sleep. Respect to Finland for having the most active users and also the users that got the most sleep. The Finns were also the only ones sleeping more than seven hours a night on average. Impressive! Learn how sleep can make you a better athlete!   You sport freaks mix it up In 2020, the average number of different activity types per user was 4,2. This means an average Suunto user enjoys more than four different sports, with running the most popular. On average, our users tracked 66.5 total workouts of any given type during 2020. Click for 12 ways to change up your training over winter   Walking booms When things get tough, conventional wisdom says to take a nice, long walk. Somehow Suunto users must have got the memo because there was a massive 70% increase in that activity among our users. What does this tell us? It could be that because so many of us were doing home office we found more time to take walks. Maybe with family at home, too, we took more walks together. Whatever the reasons, it can only be a good thing. Read our articles on walking: How to walk your way to good health How to improve your walking technique How to walk mindfully and its benefits   Other increases Hiking amongst our users also had a big increase, by 37%. Mountain biking increased by nearly 20%. Unsurprisingly, there was a big increase in indoor cycling.   Swimming drops off With pools closed, swimming dropped off with our users. Even with vaccinations available, this trend will probably continue into 2021. Our solution? We recommend you triathletes and swimmers pivot to open and cold water swimming. Read our articles on how to do them safely. 10 reasons to enjoy open water swimming with Suunto What you need to know about cold water swimming   Diving booms! Put your fins together for the divers! Landlocked lockdowns didn’t stop our community of explorers from venturing underwater with an average of 15.5 m depth for divers and 6 m for freedivers. In a year of backyard adventures when divers explored what treasures their local sites have to offer, August was the busiest month on record.   Lead image: © Philipp Reiter     Read more articles 10 must-read Suunto articles from 2020 7 tips for running in the rain 14 tips for backcountry skiing this winter

Suunto athlete Lucy Bartholomew has published a book of her favourite recipes. Called Sustain your Ability, available in print and as an ebook, the plant based cookbook is loaded with delicious meals and treats designed to keep active people fuelled and thriving. “These are all recipes I’ve used to pursue my athletic pursuits from the age of 15 when I started, says Lucy, now 24. “I made the book for people who are trying to sustain an active lifestyle. I was going to call it ‘sustain’ which means to nourish, to thrive, to continue to live, and ‘sustainability’ is the ability to do that for yourself. So it’s for people who want to live a consistently sustainable life. This isn’t a book with some sort of dietary fad – like ‘follow this diet for one month and you'll reach peak fitness’ – it’s for those who are passionately dedicated to being active in the outdoors.” Now available for download, the book was three years in the making. A self described foodie, Lucy initially posted her favourite recipes on her blog and shared them via social media. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the Melbourne based runner suddenly found herself in lockdown, and prohibited from travelling more than five kilometers from her home. “I was thinking I’ve got to have a goal during this time otherwise I will lose motivation,” Lucy says. “COVID gave me time at home with a kitchen, it gave me time because I wasn’t training as much which also gave me a lot of energy. It was a nice distraction. It kept my dad and I very full.” While all the recipes are plant based or vegan, Lucy says they are easily adaptable for people who eat dairy products or meat. “The recipes have been inspired by my travels,” she says. “After Western States in 2018 I went to Mexico where I learned about the culture and the way they make things. Then I went to Nepal and that’s where the dal recipes came from. The meals these places produce are made with ingredients that aren’t super rare or expensive, they normally consist of rice and beans. “They are all meals I enjoy before, during and after runs,” Lucy continues. “It really shows how after nine years in the sport and the fact I still love it is because I’m able to be sustainable in the way I approach it, just like the way I eat.” Read more articles 9 bits of positivity from a crazy year 10 must-read Suunto articles from 2020 7 tips for running in the rain

It’s been one heck of a year, to put it politely. The COVID-19 pandemic shook the world and pulled the carpet out from under our feet. All our plans, goals, normal daily routines were thrown to the wind before we could get our pants on. It’s taken us a while to get our balance back. This is especially so for athletes who, like musicians and performers, no longer had events to train for and travel to. The race calendar was suddenly empty. Yet, somehow training had to go on. We’ve all had to pivot and find ways to stay inspired. Suunto’s ambassadors all found ways to stay stoked this year, and continued to inspire others along the way. We caught up with some of them and asked what they’ve learned, and got nine timeless, and positive lessons all of us could do with. Be like water South African ultra runner Ryan Sandes had big plans for 2020, and they all went out the window. “It’s been really important to be fluid with life in general and with your training,” he says. “When I say fluid, I mean to be adaptive and move with the situation. It’s important to just make the best out of the current situation and find creative ways to mix up your training.” Ryan mixed it up by running a 100 miler in and around his home in Cape Town during lockdown in April. The total course length was 110 m, and he did it about 1463 times. The total elevation gain totalled 6000 m. His neighbours thought he was crazy, and stayed up during the night to support him. Hit play on the video above to watch his mammoth home run! Lucy Bartholomew published a plant-based cook book this year. Focus on what you can control This tip has been a big learning for Australian ultra runner Lucy Bartholomew this year. In July, a strict lockdown was imposed in Melbourne. Residents were only allowed out of their homes to exercise and to purchase essentials for no more than an hour a day, and could go no further than five kilometers from their homes. “It taught me to focus on the things I can control, like my effort and attitude and not overly stress and worry about what I can’t control,” she says. Instead of stressing, she focused on cooking delicious food and creating and publishing a cookbook, called Sustain your Ability. “I think the act of cooking and nourishing our body has been highlighted over this period as we have had more time at home so it’s really cool to connect with people around that.” Emelie Forsberg listens to her body, and knows when to push, and when to rest. © Kilian Jornet Accept where you are at It’s not surprising many of us lost motivation this year, especially early on. “I went through a struggle with motivation and then got it back and it was such joy!” mountain athlete Emelie Forsberg says. “Also becoming pregnant with our second child, I couldn't train because I was just too tired. So that has also been a mental challenge – trying to climb out of the hole of tiredness was interesting.” The takeaway is it’s important not to judge yourself if your motivation is low. It’s natural for it to wax and wane, especially in a year like this. Rather than give yourself a hard time, observe it, and accept that’s where you are at now. You might just need to give yourself time to rest, recover, adapt and find new goals. It will come back. Small goals make a difference When everything we normally look forward to has been cancelled, it’s natural to feel rudderless for a while. That’s why it’s so important to find new goals to get a sense of direction and achievement. “I set small goals every day, even as simple as ‘do a load of washing’ and saw that as a success and as an achievement,” Lucy says. “Sometimes we don’t give ourselves credit for just waking up and getting out of bed every day – that takes guts!” The highlight of 2020 for Courtney was attempting an FKT on the 805 km Colorado Trail. Run for the love of it For US ultra runner Courtney Dauwalter, who thrives on racing, her daily goal was simply to get on the trails near her home everyday. “I learned that I love training and running no matter if I have a race or not,” she says. “I loved getting out the door every day to explore our local trails even though I had no idea what I was preparing for.” Greg Hill got his own garden going, and supported his neighbours to do the same. © Greg Hill Care for your community With lockdowns happening across the world, and our usual social circles are disrupted, many of us have rediscovered the importance of local, even micro local, communities. For skimo legend Greg Hill, supporting his local community gave him and his neighbours a new sense of purpose. “I recognized the importance of community and how we really need to work together to weather this storm,” Greg says. “As an athlete with a voice, I used my voice to empower other ideas. I pivoted and started figuring out how to inspire people in other ways. We started a committee aimed at making Revelstoke more food secure. I brought in 100 trucks worth of soil to fill people’s gardens so we grow more food locally. It gave myself and others purpose while we were contained on our properties.” Investing in strength pays dividends long term. © Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool Build strength Ryan Sandes and Lucy Bartholomew both spent much more time on strength and mobility training this year, and they say they feel better for it. Lucy also focused on recovering from an injury she ignored in 2019. “Usually training takes me two to three hours and it was almost refreshing to accept that this is what it is and to instead limit it to an hour of power (remember Melbourne residents were permitted out of their home for only an hour a day),” Lucy says. “I think it made me more efficient and then I spent more time in my home gym doing more strength work and yoga, which has been so much fun and really rewarding.” Family, good health, tasty food, fresh air – Emelie is grateful for the little things. © Kilian Jornet Be grateful for what you have Stuck indoors, and bombarded with bad news about the pandemic, it’s easy to overlook the positive. But for Emelie Forsberg this year has brought home to her how important it is to focus on all the wonderful things we have. “I think this pandemic has made us appreciate the small things in life that we sometimes take for granted, and that we value even more now, like being with family and staying healthy,” she says. Savour every hug Remember back in 2019 when people were hugging and high fiving all over the place? Ah, such fond memories. All of our Suunto ambassadors are longing to reconnect to their sport communities when the worst of the pandemic is behind us. “I will never take another hug from granted!” Lucy says. Lead image: © Philipp Reiter Read more articles 14 tips for backcountry skiing this winter 10 must-read Suunto articles from 2020 8 tools for tracking the weather with Suunto

Suunto ambassador and record breaking ski mountaineer Greg Hill has achieved some incredible things; skiing two million vertical feet (609, 600 m) in a single year, climbing and skiing over 190 mountains, his inspiring Electric Adventures challenge in which he has so far climbed 100 summits without using any fossil fuel. On top of this, add to the list being an awesome dad, and a voice for climate change action. Yet, behind every elite athlete, is at least one trainer who helps to keep the fire burning and things progressing in the right direction. This is true for Greg who has had the same highly sophisticated trainer for the last 21 years. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Greg had the time to sit down and reflect on this relationship. Thanks to my trainer By Greg Hill As Covid hit, we all sat back and reflected on our lives. What I reflected on most was my relationships and their importance. Of course, there were family and loved ones which are the most important. Yet, there were also others whose importance in my life became obvious. Relationships with co-workers, neighbours and, now that I think about it, a long-lasting relationship with my personal trainer. I should introduce myself. I am Greg Hill, a super passionate backcountry skier. This passion has driven me to find first descents, push endurance records and explore places like no one else. My passion lies in pushing into the unknown; be it the physical or the mental landscape. I first met my trainer in a parking lot in Whistler in 1999. It was a moment fated by the stars. I knew I needed a trainer, but I never understood how important the relationship was going to be. This began right at the start of my obsession with vertical travel in the mountains. I knew little, but dreamed big. How could I push and evolve my skills without a proper trainer? Most likely I wouldn’t have accomplished any of my goals without this connection. I had no idea how much this relationship was needed, but we hit it off right away. The moment I was told how fast I was moving upwards, I wanted to excel and push that number higher. With my days being diligently tracked I pushed higher and further for hours. Multiple summits, long, long days, bigger days than I had ever done before. Always the incessant qualifying of my efforts, always the numbers telling me how hard I was working. It was addictive being accountable. Our relationship developed into one of trust and commitment. I was pushed and driven to higher numbers and heights, always keeping track of my times, urging my vertical speeds faster and faster, always wanting me to go higher and further; 30 vertical feet a minute, come on you can do better, 50 feet a minute, that’s it … hold on… push and push… you've got this! One of my first goals was to max out how much I could do in a day’s effort. We diligently worked on getting my one hour vertical as fast and high as possible. My trainer coached me to a point where I could glide and slide my way uphill very fast for an hour at a time. He watched me hit personal best after personal best. Always keeping track and letting me know how well I had done. Or poorly depending on the day. Eventually with this coaching we saw the numbers get higher and higher, 10k, 20k, 30k, 40k in a day. Finally, my biggest vertical day ever, 50 000 feet (15, 240 m) in 23.5 hours. My coach kept those numbers and I was proud. Yet we knew we had more to do … lots more. For many years we worked at doing 3000 m days as fast as possible, pushing and working my fluidity until it felt normal to go out for four to five hours and log 3000 + meters of uphill travel. As a team, we worked up to one million feet in a winter, then eighty days over 3000 m in a season. Finally, we decided it was time for my biggest year ever. With my coach at my side at all times, I felt like we could challenge the world. As scared as I was of the audacity of the task, I knew that together we could make it happen. My drive and the constant progress reports would keep me motivated. The year was going to be all about getting out every day and moving up and down mountains. For 365 days I went to bed with my trainer beside me. Immediately on waking I was told how much vertical I had climbed up to that point. It took exactly 270 days out of 365 to push my numbers over the two million feet (609 km) mark but it was the endless support and drive of my trainer that kept me getting up in the morning. Greg celebrates back in 2014 after completing his March Madness, skiing 100.000 meters of vertical in a month. His trainer played a key role also in this challenge! In the last 10 years the information has changed and there is so much more that I get from my trainer: GPS lines that show the adventures with distances, apps that have all my efforts on them. I am even told how much time to relax between training sessions, though I find this one hard to follow!! These days my trainer captures all my efforts to stay off my “dad bod” and keep pushing my personal limits. High intensity training is key to pushing back against the effects of age. Now I am pushed hard for two minutes, then slow my heart rate down, then back up for two minutes, pushing hard into the 90 % of effort range. My heart rate is watched, recorded and displayed. I know if I am pushing hard enough to lose these love handles. By now it may be obvious the trainer I met in the parking lot in Whistler was my first altimeter watch. It has been an incredible time, using it for endless hours of quantified fun. I can honestly say that without the constant updates, and the evolution of these watches, I most likely would not have been as obsessed and pushed to excel in my life. All images: © Bruno Long Read more articles 14 tips for backcountry skiing this winter 10 must-read Suunto articles from 2020 7 tips for running in the rain