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Triathlon Is A Single Sport

3/27/2016

Single sport athletes are a wonder to watch, aren’t they? The ease with which an Olympic champion swimmer glides seemingly effortlessly through the water; how a top cyclist dances on the pedals and ascends a climb as if with wings on his feet; a distance runner floats over the pavement as she puts one foot in front of the other as she clips off near-5:00 miles. Single sport athletes put so much focused time into their pursuit, that they become the epitome of skill and efficiency. Of the 3 sports mentioned above, swimming is the most challenging at which to become technically adept. Compared to the time spent competing, swimmers arguably put in the most training time leading to the greatest disparity between training and racing.

Triathlon is a combination of swim, bike and run legs. Maybe the biggest mistake triathletes and their coaches make is treating triathlon as three separate sports. Yes, it is important to become fast in all 3 disciplines, but within what context? Burning a sub-60sec 400m on the track may hold little value if you fall apart at the end of an Olympic Distance triathlon. Think about how each of the three disciplines affect one another over the course of a triathlon.

Triathletes swim when they are most fresh, at the beginning of the race. The energy they expend on the swim leg impacts how much energy they have left for the bike and run legs. Swim too hard and you’ll run out of steam on the run, if not sooner. Swim too easy and you’re off the back with no hope of a PR. I’ve contended in the past that if you want to cut 30+ minutes off your Ironman, then you need to be able to swim 5 minutes faster. By training enough in the pool, you will become faster and more efficient, and you will expend less energy while swimming faster by the time you hit T1. This extra energy gets put toward the bike and run legs. And, since you exited the water faster, you are now surrounded by a larger number of faster athletes as well who will help spur you on and motivate you to faster bike and run splits.

The problem is that triathletes, on average, swim 2-3 days a week for 2,000-3,000 meters. The reasoning typically comes down to one of three things: 1) athletes are lazy in terms of carving out time for the pool; 2) since the time spent swimming in a race is small compared to overall time spent racing, athletes feel they can skimp on pool time; or 3) they loathe getting in the water and, thus, avoid it. The huge problem is that 2-3 sessions in the water is not nearly enough to set yourself up for success in a triathlon. If you are racing well, you could be racing a heck of a lot better. The swim comes first and it sets the tone for the rest of the race. Since you are swimming fresh, it is important to swim a lot and pepper your swim workouts with plenty of race-specific work. The cardiovascular engine you can build in the pool is astounding and will translate positively to the other two legs.

The bike is the meat of the race. It comes after roughly 20 minutes to 2 hours of swimming, depending on an athlete’s swim speed and the race distance. Bike training needs to be done in order to allow for you to be able to “go for the long haul”. It’s more important to be able to bike aerobically strong than it is to be able to light the world on fire for VO2max intervals. Peppering in intervals is critical to allowing you to cover the bike course more quickly, but endurance athletes tend to overstress the intervals and not put enough emphasis on aerobic efficiency. Like with the swim, if you burn too many matches on the bike, you will flounder come the run leg. Being able to stay in the aero tuck for extended periods of time and become comfortable with the discomfort of doing so are critical.

The run is the last leg and you’re already fatigued when you slip on your running shoes. While being able to run a fast fresh 10k is important, it is more important to be able to run well off the bike well into the race. Aerobic efficiency is arguably most critical with this leg. The long run, therefore, becomes more critical than your track sessions or fartlek workouts. It’s a beautiful thing when the efficiency with your running gait allows you to complete a long run feeling tired from the duration but not beat to Hell.  Interval sessions will help smooth out your running gait, but if you are overly fatigued by the time you hit the run leg in a race, then you will still find yourself plodding along to the finish line. It’s of critical importance to focus on your aerobic running engine.

What triathletes typically don’t conceptualize is the fatigue carryover as they progress from one leg to the next in a race. By treating triathlon as a single sport rather than three separate ones, it should cause you to rethink the way you structure your training which will in turn better set you up for more successful racing. In the end, that’s what it’s all about.

Happy Training,
Coach Nate

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The Anatomy of the Long Ride & Long Run

3/18/2016

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There is conflicting information out there on how to approach long workouts, especially in biking and running (swimming is a bit different due to Masters swim sessions, but, certainly, the information shared here can be applied to water workouts). Some articles talk about slow and steady as she goes, while others speak to race simulations either during the entire long workout or in its latter stages. To me, neither approach is necessarily correct.

When we take a step back and look at the entirety of our training as it is mapped out day-to-day, week-to-week, we see a flow of workouts that is broken into various categories: interval sessions; recovery workouts; aerobic workouts; strength workouts; long workouts and days off. If you’re a regular visitor to the ORION Training Systems site or are following me on Twitter, then you know I am a proponent of putting each workout in a box and treating it as it is meant to be treated.

In general, endurance athletes, especially Masters athletes, tend to press too hard too often. Recovery between intervals is both too short and too hard; recovery workouts are most definitely done too hard (even if they don’t feel hard) and typically too long. Strict aerobic workouts turn into Tempo sessions and long workouts tend to become slug fests with other athletes, especially on the bike.

Just as interval sessions serve a purpose and help us become faster, long workouts too have their purpose. And, if we press them too hard, we defeat the purpose for which they exist. Long workouts are meant to stress the body in ways that our other workouts simply cannot. The physiological adaptations by settling in and going long are different than a shorter long workout where you press the effort or do some race simulations. Learning to spare glycogen while tapping into fat as a fuel source is an important adaptation which gets compromised when the pace gets lifted and greater recruitment of Type II muscle fibers occurs. The goal isn't to "go hard" every workout, but rather ensure that the various types of workouts you complete complement each other rather than become variations of the same type of workout.

You should absolutely be tired at the end of a long workout. Afterall, you just ran for 90min or longer, or biked for 4+ hours. However, you shouldn't be shattered. If you feel shattered, you went too hard. My rule of thumb is this: If after I get home, shower up and replenish with a meal and water, if going up a flight of stairs later in the day feels normal, then I aced the workout, my in-workout fueling/hydrating, and my post-workout recovery. If, on the other hand, I feel like I'm climbing Everest or in standing up I get a little light-headed, then either my workout was too hard, I didn't fuel/hydrate nearly enough during it, or both.

And this over-reaching has lasting effects. Pushing that hard creates latent fatigue that will rear it's ugly head in various forms for days to come. Some workouts will go off fine, but others will certainly suffer. And, if you couple that over-reaching with under-fueling/under-hydrating, the effects last even longer. You've scraped the bottom of the barrel, which is much easier to empty than it is to fill back up.

The best mentality you can take into a long workout is to just complete it. Set your ceiling at the top of your L2 zone and focus on settling in to a solid yet manageable aerobic effort. This is not LSD training. This is not a recommendation to keep your chain in the SCR and spin away the time. This is guidance to stimulate the systems long workouts are meant to stimulate, keep the ego in the box and allow yourself to become a more efficient, faster aerobic machine. The biggest limiter for endurance athletes is not their thresholds; it is their lack of aerobic efficiency. Think of it as putting a lawnmower engine in a Porsche. You may look good, but your body can't support you the way you need it to because you've gravitated toward pushing your limits every workout. Who wants that?

Happy Training,
Coach Nate

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70.3 and Ironman - Final 10 Days

3/13/2016

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Last week, I talked about tapering strategies in general. Today, I want to get more specific and talk about what athletes could be doing in the final days heading into their key 70.3 and Ironman distance races.

The easiest part about training for a key race is the training. The closer athletes get to the big day, the more jittery they become and the more questions arise as to how to ensure they get to the start line feeling fresh, sharp and ready to tear into the race. Athletes swear they can feel their fitness melting away during a recovery day or a complete rest day. When during high-volume training they were excited about some R&R, during taper time that same R&R freaks them out.
What’s challenging to remember – but, also critical to remember – is that all the hard work has been done. Before you even start tapering, you’re ready to tackle the distance. You’ve logged the endless miles and you’re super fit. The taper is about adding some freshness, some spring to your step, so that you can cover the distance even faster because you have less fatigue (not less fitness) built up in the muscles. Instead of partly drained, your battery will be fully charged.

So, here is a blueprint for the final 10 days of training heading into your key long-distance triathlon event. If you need to rejigger a couple of days, go ahead. The point is that this provides you with a nice mix and balance of S/B/R, providing enough stimulus to keep the body humming without allowing it to start hibernating, so you hit the start line feeling ready to go rather than sluggish. You can also set your mind at ease and not fret about whether you’re doing too much or too little – this approach will be just right.

I find this approach to be of particular value to Masters athletes, who tend to have fuller lives and more stressors than their younger counterparts. With kids of various ages, higher stress jobs and typically more financial responsibilities, it is easy to let mental and emotional stressors overflow and drown out the added energy from reducing the physical stress during taper time. Following this plan will at least allow Masters athletes to combat the potential for heightened mental and emotional duress, which can be more fatiguing than a hard day of training.

Final 10 days heading into an Ironman or Ironman 70.3
10 - swim 45min, include 500-1,000 of race-specific pace work, broken into 50s-100s
9 - run 30min with the middle 20 being steady, strong L2. No higher. Swim 20min easy and relaxed, emphasizing some kicking
8 - bike 2-3 hours. Include 2-3x30min efforts at or slightly faster than race day pace. For example, if your goal is to hold 20mph average, then shoot for 20.5-21mph here. Simulate the race course as closely as you can
7 - swim 40min, mainly relaxed L1-L2 working on form. Can include 8x50 L3 with 10-15sec rest before cooling down
6- run 30min relaxed L1 with 4-5x10sec strides w/1:20 easy jog between 
5 - bike 75-90min, middle 50-60min done as 8min L2/2min L3; last of the tuning up
4 - swim 20min easy and relaxed; run 20-30min easy and relaxed with 4-5x10sec strides w/1:20 easy jog between
3 - bike 60min mainly L2. Keep the aerobic engine tuned but avoid pressing the effort. Settle in
2 - pool swim 20-30min relaxed, to limber up, rejuvenate and burn some nervous energy
1 - Race!

There you have it. The critical component of the taper is having full confidence in your final approach and not questioning or second-guessing the final 1-2 weeks of preparation. Affirm that you are fit, that you are indeed sharpening your sword, and that when the gun finally goes off you will be flying through the race course.

Happy Training,
Coach Nate

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Triathlon Tapering - Perspective & Parameters

3/6/2016

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Racing can be a year round affair now, especially in triathlon. Ironman distance and Ironman 70.3 races are popping up like daisies all over the calendar in exotic locations. That big race of the season, the one your whole season is geared toward, may be now as much as late-Summer or early-Fall, and should be an exciting time.  You've put in the hard work and hopefully you're ready to put the hammer down.  However, the final weeks leading into that big event can be some of the most stressful of the year.

This is when the doubts start to creep in.  This is when you start doing things you shouldn't do during a taper.  You start pushing harder to make sure you eek out every bit of speed for the race, or you do that "one last" track workout or long ride "just to be sure" your fitness is OK.  Problem is, in the final weeks those workouts are the ones that can cripple your ultimate performance.

If the work hasn't been done before tapering begins, then it's too late.  If you're still under trained - due to recent sickness, injury, laziness, etc, - still, the only way you're going to get your body totally prepared is by tapering and not by working harder.

I suggest a 2-week taper for Olympic distance triathlons and 40k TT's on the bike, or 10k runs.  For marathons, Ironmans and ultra-cycling events, I give my athletes a month-long taper.  Weekly volume tapers off dramatically, and the intensity of the hard workouts stays high though the volume of hard work done also decreases.  During this decrease in overall work the body takes less time to recover from workouts and, thus, is able to top off its energy systems stores - something it can't usually do during hard bouts of traning.

Finally, don't misinterpret the "mid-taper blues", a period of time where you can feel sluggish.  Its very common to the taper process.  Your body has been used to getting hammered and all of a sudden you're being nice to it.  It takes a while fo the the body to adapt and round the corner.  If you encounter the blues, don't panic.  You'll rebound quickly.  When you do, you should be feeling more energetic stronger, faster and confident.

Cutting down on duration, amount of intensity and, possibly, the number of weekly workouts is the way to maximize the taper process.  Doing that last hard/long workout just to be sure your fitness is OK, is not the way to ensure great results.

Now, some coaches will state the opposite.  Their premise is that the more intensely you train (i.e., the higher the HR you sustain during your training), the more time you need to recover so you can peak for an event.  False, I say.

Intense training makes you fast.  Yes, added rest will allow you to be more "sharp" and, thus quicker.  But if you rest too much, you'll lose fitness and be flat; or, you'll be sharp but unable to sustain your newfound speed because you've slacked off the most important aspect of your training -- endurance. Make no mistake, even at the Olympic Distance, triathletes are endurance athletes not speed freaks.

Before you think that a month-long taper for a 70.3 or 140.6 is crazy, hear me out. What's crazy to me is "Triathlete" magazine publishing an article from a well-known coach on "13 weeks to a respectable Ironman", where in this article the coach suggests an athlete complete his/her longest run only 2 weeks before the main event, in excess of 3 hours.  In my mind, this approach will not lead to the best performance an athlete can demonstrate.

Long hours of training, in any discipline, pounds the body.  You may be more sore or tired immediately following a hard interval workout, but the repercussions of a long-distance workout last far beyond the effects of an interval workout.  For example, the rule of thumb for recovering from a hard run is "Avoid hard running for the same number of days as miles you ran in the race".  So, after a 5k, you would wait 3 days before running hard again; for a marathon, it would be close to a month.

Thus, I have my ultra athletes complete their longest week of training 4 weeks out from their main event.  From there, each week (and each long workout) drops 20-25% until the final 2 weeks are pretty minimal in duration.  To counteract the drop in volume, the athletes complete intervals at a slightly higher rate of exertion than is typical for their training.

However, this is counterbalanced with a higher work/rest ratio, which leaves the athletes fresher for each repeat, as well as fresher at the end of the workout.

The best thing you can do for yourself in the final weeks leading up to a major competition is to rest and relax.  This doesn't mean "kick back in a chair" but rather significantly cut your volume and slightly increase the intensity of your hard workouts (as they get shorter as well).  If you've put the work in and have been honest with your efforts, you'll hit the starting line ready to turn in your best performance to date.

Happy Training,
Coach Nate

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Triathlon Is A Single Sport

The Anatomy of the Long Ride & Long Run

70.3 and Ironman - Final 10 Days

Triathlon Tapering - Perspective & Parameters

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