Coach Joe Beer - What you have been training for It's a new year and the calendar says 2016. You are keen as mustard because you're entered events and set those lofty goals. However, it is very important that even if you have over 100 or over 200 days before the key Immortal race dates of 2016 it is still a very long time and mindful action is the priority. There are three steps to starting out right. First is the admin Second the training Third is the kit Let's do numbers one and two and leave the third until next time... // Admin // Training must be progressive to allow your body to improve over the coming weeks. No athlete keeps doing more and more and more. There are those that train until they are very tired and then have to have a break, incur and injury or just leave their best performances on the training ground not at the races. Every individual has a different starting point right now. You may have cycled three hours regularly or only done one hour occasionally. You may have gone to the pool four times per week or gone four times in the last month. You run shoes could be very muddy or very very dusty. // Action One // Look at the number of hours you can regularly give to training and do please check this with the significant persons in your life and training partners that know your personality and pitfalls Ideally then look at doing 2 to 3 sessions per discipline (not all long sessions) Plan one longer session per discipline per week e.g. Long bike Saturday morning, Long run Wednesday evening. // Action Two // Work back from the race dates so that you plan an adaptation week every 4th Page 1 of 6
week. Four example Immortal Half is the week of the 9th May (race day 15th of May) So the weeks commencing January 18th, February 15th, March 14th and April 11th are your adaptation weeks this is where you put recovery, others, admin and recuperative actions (e.g. massage, days off etc) at the top of your list. The intervening three-week blocks are when you get your training done and therefore you plan to make the sessions progressive so training works to build your increased fitness and abilities for race day. As the Immortal full-distance is on 7th August your adaptation weeks are 4th July, 6th June, 9th May and so on. If you are doing both the events then a taper into the Immortal half is such that you are ready to race well - however you will still need to adapt from the race in the following week. The harder you race, especially the run segment, the more days your body will need to recover. Therefore the impact level and the volume of training must be very light on week the commencing May 16th as you are recovering from a 4, 5, 6, or 7 hour effort. // Action Three // Look at your past training sessions that have worked for you and see these as potential sessions to have in your planning diary. I say potential because a persons weaknesses or strengths can change or those who come to a session or organise/run it can also change. A good session can becomes just a race or poor use of your time. The latter is junk unless it is planned to be intervals or similar high intensity efforts. Or you need to see people and the big chunk of time sits okay in your week. Look at bad sessions or things that took too much time for the benefit accrued. If they can't be made to work then drop them but find something that will work instead. E.g. if swimming on a Wednesday & Friday at a Masters session at 7pm was very erratic and costly in time used, you have to change pools or times, you cannot drop swimming totally. It's a decision you have to make or find the same issue impeding the gains you could get in the next 100-200 days of training. Page 2 of 6
Have a rough week plan and use January to see what sessions, habits and actual training happens for you to refine that during the following month. // Training // The science of Triathlon training is such that no less than three quarters of your training volume needs to be below 80% of your maximum heart rate. Granted that anyone who just swims, bikes and runs regularly in a haphazard way will be doing those sports, and probably getting some kind of end result (though not guaranteed) but its not what you see written in the plans or retrospective diaries of effective pro and age group athletes. There was some planning (above admin) and there was some element of what to do in those planned sessions. Look at these numbers in simple terms: ¾ or 75% of your training time is easy to moderate effort Read it a few times so you get the enormity of the realization of what that means (ie. You must know how hard you are going [heart rate monitor], you must be able to write it down to quantify it [training diary] and you must look back to check on yourself that you are still doing what is known to be the right way to be an endurance athlete [simple analysis].) Page 3 of 6
If you doubt endurance is about control please read this easy to understand research paper: http://bit.ly/qh2agv Though some of you may know what 80% of your maximum heart rate actually is, a simple reference point is that you can comfortably nose breathe (this is quite simple, just keep your mouth closed). This ensures you are in the correct training Zone to be using more economical aerobic fuels, able to repeat training that can be absorbed and mentally in the moment (and compus mentus for the rest of the day also). For an in-depth article in this area please refer to the following web link: http://bit.ly/1t15afq This means that many of your sessions are in cruise mode. There is still scope for hard work, there is still scope for strength training (1-2days/week, 30-45mins each session) and there is still scope for a small amount of high intensity intervals (swim: 25, 50, 100m reps at 80, 90 or 100% effort with long recoveries; bike: 6 x 4 mins @ 60 revs over-geared). However, you are doing an endurance event which needs training sessions that are repeatedly working on: - Your economy of movement - Your ability to absorb carbohydrate fuels - Your awareness of race pacing and others around you These mean Zone 1 works for many reason's and certainly not because heart rate hits a certain level for a certain number of minutes or hours. Right now your motivation is due to last seasons revenge, a new you for 2016 or something else like break 6 hours or not stretch to 16 hours. That's the fire inside but outside in the real world you must be able to control training effort to get the most from what you do. The majority of time that long distance triathletes train in what is termed (by them, not me) Zone 1 (or Z1). This should provide the bulk of your training for technique, fun and modest endurance sessions. Z1 includes any training below 80% of maximum heart rate and much data shows that it is perfectly valid to be as low as 55 or 60% of your maximum heart rate and still be training very effectively; If you work this out for many it means low HR is an okay mode to be in, especially Page 4 of 6
if its swim drills for better skill in the water, modest terrain riding or flat running (when you're fit and not fightling quite a few extra pounds). To see a model of the zones I've worked on for a while CLICK HERE You may feel 'under-trained' with over three-quarters of your training in Zone 1 but real-life and scientific data illustrates that this is the path to follow. The key is to know where your zones are and to do sessions in the right zone. It is pointless to know your Zone 1 then turn a session that was meant to be base endurance into a Z2 hammer-fest with a faster (or similarly loose-cannon as yourself) training friend. Neither of you is helping the other. See how well you are at controlling the basic Z1 sessions before you start to worry you haven't been doing any speed training. Age group triathlon is not about who does the most sessions, greatest hours or puts in the most competitive digs. Those who train in the right zone for the appropriate amount of time will develop the most of their potential. Zone one, the zone, is vital to allow aerobic training to be absorbed not turned into competitive withdrawing from the fitness bank. Be sure to use the advancing daylight of the first three months of this year to increase your training volume, take those planned training adaptation weeks and enjoy the harder sessions when they are planned. //BOX OUT // SOME SESSIONS TO TRY // 1. Swim technique Duration: 30 to 60 minutes including relaxed warm up and cool down Aim: The HR is low because your focus is on drills Example: 25m and 50m reps with rest between to maintain concentration and keep the drill focus 100% (you are unaware of how fast others are swimming or who just walked across poolside) 2. Cycling technique Duration: 50 to 70 minutes including relaxed warm up and cool down Aim: nose breathing and relaxed body position varying tops & aerobars - use stationary bikes, turbo trainer or rollers Example: riding for intervals of 5 mins relaxed cadence (85-90rpm), 1 minute bigger gear grinding (60rpm) but staying smooth (Add a cheeky little brick run of 5-10 minutes to loosen your posture) Page 5 of 6
3. Run Technique Duration: 30-50 minutes including relaxed 10' nose breathe warm up and cool down Aim: short perfect form repetitions, ideally on well maintained grass Example: 10 x 200m at 10k pace whilst staying in Z1 with 2' jog between // More Info // Joe Beer is a Traithlon coach with over 20 years experience. He has written extensively in 220 Triathlon, Triathlete and Inside Triathlon on training, nutrition and technology to improve triathletes racing ability. He is an ambassador for Scott, PowerBar, InfoCrank, Indurance and Speedo. He works with Neovite, Nopinz, Dryrobe and FX-Sport on products specifically geared to endurance athletes. His latest book Time Crunched Triathlon is out early 2016 on Crowood Press a book that provides a vault of information, personalized by the reader and dipped back into time and time again. The experienced team at Immortal Sport, have a mission to create tough, triathlon races, in beautiful locations around the south west. You may be an accomplished performer, challenging for prizes. You may have taken to sport recently and are looking to enjoy the finish line feeling of immense pride and satisfaction. Either way, every triathlon hosted by Immortal Sport has to be tough enough to be considered worthy of the Immortal brand. Find out more an enter at www.immortalsport.com Page 6 of 6