I love a Sunday Reset in general, as someone who works for herself and as someone who—by nature of working for herself from home—tends to have a few household things pile up over the course of the workweek. But I’m also realizing that a Sunday Reset is also an incredibly valuable tool for busy athletes.
David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, is generally considered the person who popularized the idea of a Weekly Review, often done on Sunday before the start of the work week. That process—looking at the past week, reflecting on it, then looking at the week coming up and making any necessary notes + adjustments, setting intentions, etc—is one that I’ve done for years. The Sunday Reset is an extension of that, taking the weekly review and then adding the practical element of actually organizing your stuff for the coming week.
What does a Sunday reset/weekly review look like for an athlete?
Weekly Review for an Athlete:
- Visit Training Peaks / Strava (wherever you record your training) and assess what got done, if anything got missed (and why) and generally, how the week of training went.
- Get specific with points you tend to struggle with, and assess how they went. Fueling is always an issue for me, so I think back on my week and reflect on how well I fueled before, during and after workouts.
- I also like to look at more health/wellness things like: How well did I eat this week? How was my sleep? Did I get in walks with DW every day?
- Look at your training schedule for the upcoming week. Can you fit it all in? Does anything need to move/get adjusted?
- Plan your meals for the week. Even if you’re not a full-on meal prepper (I’m definitely not), it’s helpful to make a rough plan. Look at life ‘stuff’ for the upcoming week as you think through meals. Do you need to do any meal prep to avoid making last minute fast food choices?
Sunday Reset Checklist for an Athlete
- Laundry, laundry, laundry!
- Bike clean (also shoes, helmet etc)
- Bike check – anything need replacing?
- Charge watches, headlamps, computers, headphones, shifters
- Clean water bottles and packs
- Check stock of gear: Do you need any bars, gels, drink mix, spare tubes, CO2, etc?
- Put away all laundry and lay out kit for the week (if you’re the kind of person who needs that ready to go)
- Meal prep if needed
- I also use Sundays to grocery shop for the full week