Training Modifications

Cross Triathlon Nationals AG Silver

This year I took a different approach to training for triathlon. I experimented with shorter, more frequent sessions, and longer recovery periods. And, it worked! The aim was to have many small and short training sessions throughout the week along with an occasional major brick workout to push the limit. The goal was to balance family life/work/training (in that order) to try and be efficient with my time (a limited resource these days!).

The average week I would train 8-10 hours and this would be combining bike commuting, mtn biking, run training and a small smattering of swimming sessions, core strength and weights. The majority of my training was in shorter sessions (usually lasting 30-45 minutes) but more often. Usually two short sessions a day. Every 10 days or two weeks, when time would permit, I would do an epic brick session for 3-5hrs - this would involve mainly biking and running. On the image above and below, you can see a few times a month you can see a big spike in time spent training. I feel these epic sessions spaced farther apart gave adequate time to recover and let the adaptation occur and build endurance.

The average week run training sessions would involve 3-4 runs/week, averaging 30-40km. This is much less than I normally do, being a running specialist in the past, but for triathlon. I would make sure to do a hard session of hills or intervals and also one medium long run (60-90min or 12-18km) each week. Almost every run is on trails, for a softer uneven surface and changing directions and with hills included.

I usually cycle to work 3-4x/week and that is about 20km round trip. I use that as most of my bike time, as cycling takes up the most amount of time for training. On the commute home, I would do an extra 10-20km every other day when time permits. The change this year is that I got my single speed road bike going again that is geared really high and develops power over the hills. On the average I would get one mountain bike ride and one road bike ride a week as well (averaging 200km/week in 6 rides).

Swimming is my downfall, I straight up do not swim enough during the year. I enjoy swimming in open water (lake, ocean, river) as opposed to the pool. This year from January I spent a grand total of 3 sessions in the pool. I will try to incorporated more focus to swimming this year.

I feel the key component for me is building strength and power. I'm not a particularly strong athlete or have explosive power but if I can get better it will compliment endurance.  I do like going to the gym and feel that it is a good stress relief in a short workout. I mainly hit the squat rack for a progression of Olympic lifting (squats, lunges, and deadlifts). Along with core strength I like to do some box jumps and balance drills to finish it off.