So…Back to Training!

Hopefully, you have all had a good break from training, and during this time have planned your 2015 goals and have entered some races, which may just get your mojo back. If it hasn’t, and you are still feeling rather fatigued, don’t panic, give yourself a few more days rest, or start very gently with some easy rides, and it may kick start your body into getting back to some structured training, and start looking at some races for next year.

Getting back to structured training is hard after a break, so give yourself a few weeks to adjust to the consistency, don’t throw in really hard anaerobic sets straight off, your body wont like it!! Then once your body has remembered your training routine, its time to think about your short term as well as long term goals. These are really important targets, as race season is a long way away, and you need to give yourself short term targets to maintain motivation and focus. For example, maybe your running economy is poor, you have a low cadence, and your posture sinks after 6miles of running. So, wear a tempo trainer, and slowly (I stress very slowly) increase the beats per minute ( you want to be getting close to 180) Alongside this work on your mobility, particularly around you hips, shoulders, and ankles (will help with all three disciplines) and if this is good, work on developing your core strength. This will help your running posture, as well as your positioning in the bike and in the water. Also, Log everything, so when you get despondent, you can look back and see that in September your run cadence was 120, and by Jan it was 160! These smaller training goals are valuable.

Also, don’t fall into the trap thinking that all your winter training should be long and easy working the aerobic system. Whilst this is very important, and is the building blocks of your training and is necessary before your race specific speed work that you will be working on later, it is also important to remind the body of what its like to work at race pace, so don’t ditch the threshold and anaerobic work. Enter running races and duathlons, and remember to regularly (every 6-8weeks) test yourself. This can be the classix 400 / 200m Timetrial in the pool to reassess your CSS time, or a FTP test on the bike, or a 5k / 10k run.

My final point at this stage is make sure there is a big distinction between your hard sessions, (so interval work, threshold work etc,) and your easier recovery sessions. So many athletes fall into the trap of going too hard on those recovery rides, or the longer base endurance rides, which should be kept in the aerobic, fat burning zone, this is of particular significance for those racing long. If you get carried away and push too hard, chase the rider in front, or want the fastest strava time up a stretch of road, then you will become that middle of the road rider! You need to be fully recovered to make your quality sessions work for you. Be confident in your training plan whether you have designed it yourself or your coach has, trust the macro cycle, and subsequent micro cycles and don’t let your testosterone influence you on a ride. Leave racing for race day!!

Oh, and remember, good results and progression isn’t all about the training. Remember to fuel yourself well, and get plenty of sleep / rest! Keep hydrated, avoid refined food, and remember, healthy fats are good for you! They develop your ability to burn fats in your aerobic zone – high sugary foods inhibit this process. Loads of fruit, veg, protein, and unrefined foods . Want to know more, drop me an email!