How to Reflect on Your Race Season: Key Questions to Ask

Now that the race season has officially come to a close, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the year. Although you might be tempted to look ahead and set exciting new goals, it’s important to first look back… By taking time to reflect on your performance, celebrate progress, and learn from challenges, it can provide valuable insights to set you up for an even stronger season ahead.

What follows is a 5-step guide with questions about training, racing, mindset, and goals. This guide isn’t just for triathletes. Athletes of all sports can use this guide as a way to reflect and set their intentions for the new year.

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How to do a Post-Race Season Assessment

A post-race season assessment includes an honest reflection of your performance, progress, and mindset during the year. If you have a coach, you’ve probably done something like this before. But especially if you’re self-coached this is a great way to organize your thoughts and prepare for next season.

I would encourage writing your answers on a piece of paper or in a Word document. The act of physically writing out the answers helps to clearly define our thoughts and provides a record we can look back on for years to come.

Step 1: Celebrate the wins

1. What went well this season?

2. What moments made you proud or excited, both in training and racing?

3. What are some specific improvements you made this year?

4. Did you hit any personal bests or achieve goals?

5. What was your highlight moment of the year?

Step 2: Identify challenges

1. What are some areas where you see room for improvement?

2. Did you encounter any obstacles or setbacks?

3. How would you rate your ability to adapt and be flexible when life gets in the way of training? (scale of 1-10)

4. How would you rate your ability to be mentally tough and push past challenges during a race? (scale of 1-10)

5. Do you recognize yourself falling into any bad mental habits? (Perfectionism, overthinking, comparison to other athletes, negative self-talk, ect.)

Read More: Breaking Mental Barriers: 8 Bad Habits Holding You Back in Triathlon

Step 3: Performance evaluation

1. What type of training sessions did you enjoy the most?

2. How well did you do completing your prescribed workouts? (Estimate a percentage.)

3. How do you feel about your performance at races?

4. Assess your race day execution with a focus on each of these areas: pre-race planning, taper, pacing, nutrition, and mindset. (scale of 1-10)

5. Do you think your performance reflected your current level of fitness and the effort you put into training?

Highs, Lows, and Buffaloes: How to Write a Post-Race Recap

Step 4: Mental and emotional check-in

1. How did you feel while training? (Use adjectives)

2. How well did your training schedule align with your work/life schedule?

3. How did you feel while racing? (Use adjectives)

4. How would you rate your triathlon/life balance? (scale of 1-10)

5. Were there times you felt overly stressed or burned out?

6. How did you stay motivated throughout the season?

Step 5: Setting future goals

1. What things did you do well that you want to continue next year?

2. What things do you want to eliminate or change?

3. Did you meet the goals you set for yourself this season?

4. What do you enjoy most about triathlon?

5. What motivates you to continue training and racing?

6. What are some short term goals you have for next season?

7. What are some long term goals you have for the next 2-3 years?

By taking some time to reflect on the progress you’ve made, celebrate your wins, and highlight areas for growth, you will already have a head start on next season. In the coming weeks, we’ll be talking about how to set better goals and the ABC’s of planning a race season, so subscribe to the free newsletter to stay in the loop.