The triathlon season is a very long season and getting prepared for it takes years of training. Many athletes have asked why I train so much for short distance events like the Olympic distances and the sprint distances. My answer to them is it helps me to be able to endure the triathlon season, to be able to compete more, and to avoid setbacks due to injury or illness. However, the most important reason for all of that training is to build to a new level of fitness in the long term.
The season starts in April and ends in October. In order to compete consistently well throughout the season you have to have a very strong foundation of training hours. The more training hours you have, the better you recuperate from one effort to the next. It also allows you to compete more frequently. For example, I have done eight races in the last eleven weeks. In 2002, I could barely race once a month without getting sick or fatigued. Right now my body is a little tired but nowhere near as fatigued as it was back then.
Another benefit of cumulative training hours is in avoiding setbacks. If you train well and develop all of your energy systems it will be easier for your body to compete, train, and withstand the heat and humidity of Florida. That is why I start the preparation for my season at the beginning of November. I do very long easy rides and runs to get my body ready for the season. How do you think that the Tour de France athlete can compete twenty-one days in a row without getting injured or sick? They train a lot and they make it to the Tour after many years of preparation. I do four to five hour rides on Sundays even though my bike leg in the triathlon clocks in at only thirty minutes to one hour. These rides are like putting money in the bank. Racing is like making a withdrawal. The more long rides you accumulate throughout the year, the longer you will compete successfully and the less chance of injury or illness you will have.
See your training as long term. That is the best approach. Build, build, and build your mileage year after year. You will reach a point where you will jump to a different level. Olympic athletes do not become champions from one day to the next. It took Deena Kastor six years to prepare for her Olympic bronze medal in Athens. She went from training fifty miles a week to one hundred and twenty miles a week. Plan your training and within your limitations of time and work gradually increase your total training hours. It will help you to improve and stay at that level for longer periods of time. You have to be very organized because you, like me, do not have all the conditions that Olympic athletes have, so with limited time we have to optimize to the best of our ability.
Remember I said build your mileage “year after year” not from today to tomorrow. A gradual increase over time will get you there. It is not recommended to increase total mileage by more than ten-percent per week for any given sport and you are doing three different sports so the increases will be extremely minute and incremental. Your body and your family need time to adjust to the added stress or you could suffer from burnout or over training that we will discuss in my next article. Until then, keep the long-term perspective in mind and enjoy whatever your triathlon experience is today!
Boris Fernandez
No comments:
Post a Comment