Now you are really into your competitive season, with at
least a sprint or Olympic distance triathlon or maybe a marathon under your
belt. If the concept of heart rate (HR)
training described in last month’s article was new to you, don’t worry, there
is still plenty of time left to put technology to use and reap the rewards of
better training through science. For
you who have been training with HR monitors for years, we hope you were able to
fine-tune some of your workouts. Now
that you all have an understanding of the intensities involved in aerobic,
lactate threshold, VO2, and anaerobic training (see last month’s article), this
month we want to help you plan a viable training calendar for peaking at the
right time. Ever see a high school track team that peaked mid-season but were
burned out by the time “states” rolled around?
That does not have to be YOU!
When planning the phases of your training schedule using
the different types of workouts, remember that it is all a matter of
emphasis. In any given week you may do
2, 3, or even 4 types of workouts, but you major in each type at different
times of the year in preparation for peaking for your BIG race. Coach likes to assign a priority to each
type of training for each phase within a training plan. The highest priority types are done at least
once every week while the lower priority types may be dismissed or “maintained”
and done every other or every third week.
Let’s look at a training plan broken down into four
distinct phases. Your preparation starts
with a first phase of primarily aerobic workouts. Typically this takes place in winter. You remember those cold, dark mornings when you tried your
hardest to avoid getting dropped on those roads with the horses and farms because
you could end up in another county or state.
Or those lonely mornings or evenings in the basement when every other
sane person was asleep and you were on the trainer. These workouts included a lot of mileage building your aerobic
capacity. This aerobic base is crucial
whether your goal is an Ironman or a Sprint Triathlon (as “sprint” triathlon is
hardly a sprint when you think about it).
In your second phase you begin to move on to some more
intense anaerobic/lactate tolerance or VO2 max training along with some
moderate threshold training. Which
type of training gets more emphasis depends on both what event you are planning
to “peak” for and what you determine to be your own personal strengths and
weaknesses. Ideally, you want to work
on your weaknesses at this time - don’t wait until a few weeks before your
first race! If you are training for
Olympic distance triathlon or shorter you might include an occasional
“maintenance” VO2 session. If you are
training for an Ironman that occasional workout might be a longer aerobic
workout.
Now comes the third phase, and in most instances this will
be your most intense training period.
Fortunately, this usually occurs in either late spring or the middle of
the summer so you can capitalize on the warmer weather. For shorter distance athletes this means
more VO2 max training as well as anaerobic workouts - group rides and runs are
often a great way to get both. This
type of training will also be appropriate for longer distance athletes but
should be incorporated into or in addition to some long aerobic and lactate
threshold workouts. Again, this is a
time where specific weaknesses should be given a good amount of attention -
particularly if that weakness is something that will be exposed and exploited
in your goal races.
During the fourth phase, it’s time to start to specialize
and narrow your training focus - you may either start to put some metal to the
floor or pile on some serious mileage at your ½ Ironman or Ironman race
pace. Whether your goal race will take
you 1 hour or 12 hours - the highest priority will be threshold workouts - the
faster your threshold paces get, the faster you will race - period. This is where you “tweak your engine”. The training you will do is very “race
specific” - if you are racing shorter distances your next highest priority is
anaerobic/lactate tolerance training, up to 95-110% VO2 max pace and/or VO2 max
training. Longer distances, on the
other hand, will require more emphasis on longer workouts at goal race pace.
At the end of this fourth phase you cap off your training
by “tapering and peaking”. Or is it
“peaking and tapering”? If everything goes right you will be at your physical
and mental peak on race day so....you decide.
Basically, you want to be fully recovered from all the training you have
done, be well rested but at the same time feel loose and fluid going into your
race. Some do better with more rest,
while others need to keep the “engine running”. The length of your “taper” could be as little as 2-3 days and as
long as 4-5 weeks. In general, the
longer the race, the longer the taper but really, how you taper and get to peak
condition is very personal and is much an art as it is science. Since we are running out of space let’s just
say this will be a great topic for a future article. Yeah, that’s what we’ll do.
So there you have it - in a nutshell - think, plan, be
patient and save your best effort for race day. As the coach always says, “you get fast when you sleep” so along
with all of those VO2, threshold, aerobic and anaerobic workouts - make sure to
include plenty of that in your training schedule.
Dr.
Dan Moser, Ph D, is the director of research and clinical services at ELITE
Health & Wellness (http://www.elitewellness.com).
Coming from a background in track and field, he has more than 10 years of
experience testing professional and recreational athletes, including
triathletes, runners, cyclists, in-line skaters, and hockey players.
Jeff Devlin is an endurance coach and former professional triathlete, who
offers practical insights into the application of the latest science. Jeff
holds five national championship titles and two 3rd place finishes at the
Hawaii Ironman. He runs his own international coaching business, Human
Performance Engineering (http://www.jeffdevlin.com).
