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
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
South Beach Family Fitness Weekend
The South Beach Publix Family race was full of good results for the best team in South Florida. Tri-Strong had Boris Fernandez, and Ramiro Osorio leading the Elite pack out of the water. Boris took a commanding lead with firefighter Evan Evans on the bike portion to take first place overall, a very important win for him since it gave him the lead in the series. Osorio had a strong run coming back from fourth place to finish second overall. In the women side, Monica Rossi had an impressive win in the 35-39 age-group. Also very impressive was Sandro Del Bosco 5th place in the 40-44 male, a very good result since he was recovering from a knee injury. Juan Meza kept his consistency good performances, and after very impressive results in the last trilogy and Huntington, he closed the season with a 13 place in the male 35-39 the strongest age-group of the field. Miguel Molina had a very good race to finish 10th in the 25-29 age-group. Also racing for 3S, we had Jose Rocha and Takashi (Tak) Osawa finishing in 16th and 17th place on the 40-44 age-group. On the Duatlhon, we had Carlos Mendez finishing in 4th on the 30-34 age-group.Boris Fernandez
Race Results
http://www.familyfitnessweekend.com/FFW-2006/Results/MiamiBeach/Miami-TriDu.pdf
http://www.familyfitnessweekend.com/FFW-2006/Results/MiamiBeach/Miami-TriDu.pdf
Sunday, October 08, 2006
My Favorite Water Sport, 8 Locals Share Theirs
Joaquin Duro
Day Job: Writer for Univision.com in Miami
My Favorite Water Sport: Swimming in Triathlons
Why: Getting better.
It was so dark that even though I was standing three feet from the shore of Crandon Beach I could not see the water. I knew the sea was in front of me because the roar was so loud that I wasn't able to process my fear of what 1 was going to do.
Seven thirty carne around and the start of the Huntington's Disease Triathlon was inevitable. And with it, my lack of training and technique in the swimming discipline would be clear to me and everybody present.
The result was a painfully embarrassing 18 plus minutes to swim 0.4 miles of dirty and smelly ocean. I needed to do something if I wanted to continue competing in this sport.
Later I visited Swim, Bike and Run, a South Miami triathlon store owned by my friend Wilber. He recommended that I sign up for Tri-Strong, a new triathlon club. Tri-Strong's motto captivated me on the spot: ""Get better together." "That's exactly what you need," Wilber told me. "A team where you can learn from other members and improve in all three sports, but especially in the swimming."
Tri-Strong's president, Juan Meza, said, "The time you spend on the swimming is only 8 percent of the total time of the race. Although it's not that much, it is very important to finish the swimming part fresh and with no lactic acid accumulated in your body to be able to perform the best way you can on the bike and the running."
He recommended that I start training with his swimming coach, Jose "Pepe" Fernandez, a former coach of the Cuban national swimming team. He's now in charge of the Rockway Swimming Team in Miami.
I called Pepe the next morning and hours later I was swimming under his supervision.
"Swimming is the most complete sport, he said. "You work all the muscles, it develops your cardiovascular system, your endurance and strength. With no stress on the body, your joints and bones don't suffer unlike running or biking."
A month later, The Coca Cola Classic in South Beach showed that all my training paid off'. I improved my time by five minutes.
My Favorite Water Sport, 8 Locals Share Theirs
Article extracted from South Florida Adventures Magazine, August/September 2006, Page 45
Day Job: Writer for Univision.com in Miami
My Favorite Water Sport: Swimming in Triathlons
Why: Getting better.
It was so dark that even though I was standing three feet from the shore of Crandon Beach I could not see the water. I knew the sea was in front of me because the roar was so loud that I wasn't able to process my fear of what 1 was going to do.
Seven thirty carne around and the start of the Huntington's Disease Triathlon was inevitable. And with it, my lack of training and technique in the swimming discipline would be clear to me and everybody present.
The result was a painfully embarrassing 18 plus minutes to swim 0.4 miles of dirty and smelly ocean. I needed to do something if I wanted to continue competing in this sport.
Later I visited Swim, Bike and Run, a South Miami triathlon store owned by my friend Wilber. He recommended that I sign up for Tri-Strong, a new triathlon club. Tri-Strong's motto captivated me on the spot: ""Get better together." "That's exactly what you need," Wilber told me. "A team where you can learn from other members and improve in all three sports, but especially in the swimming."
Tri-Strong's president, Juan Meza, said, "The time you spend on the swimming is only 8 percent of the total time of the race. Although it's not that much, it is very important to finish the swimming part fresh and with no lactic acid accumulated in your body to be able to perform the best way you can on the bike and the running."
He recommended that I start training with his swimming coach, Jose "Pepe" Fernandez, a former coach of the Cuban national swimming team. He's now in charge of the Rockway Swimming Team in Miami.
I called Pepe the next morning and hours later I was swimming under his supervision.
"Swimming is the most complete sport, he said. "You work all the muscles, it develops your cardiovascular system, your endurance and strength. With no stress on the body, your joints and bones don't suffer unlike running or biking."
A month later, The Coca Cola Classic in South Beach showed that all my training paid off'. I improved my time by five minutes.
My Favorite Water Sport, 8 Locals Share Theirs
Article extracted from South Florida Adventures Magazine, August/September 2006, Page 45
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