I think I figured it out. Well I didn’t figure it out, plenty of coaches and exercise scientists figured it out but I am seeing the light. Incorporating speedwork in the base period used to be blasphemy to my ears now its as sweet as music. As I’ve been coaching people I’ve been reading way more training plans and books. This post is about how I’ve structured my base period.
Swimming:
I’ve found that when I’m swimming 25′s and 50′s my stroke-form is money even when sprinting. I’ve included more short sprints into my training plan. Swimming is mostly made up of speedwork anyway. Most likely you wont need to include a ton more speedwork into your swim plans but most swimmers don’t do enough endurance sets. Triathletes more than anyone need to do 300′s, 500′s, 1000′s, and 1500′s in their workouts. I would be sure to include long swims in at least one workout a week.
Cycling:
I’m riding on an indoor trainer right now and get bored doing long endurance rides on trainers so I started doing speed-work and then read as much as I could on when to start speed-work to make sure I wasn’t screwing anything up. I found speed, muscular endurance, and force workouts encouraged in the base period. I’ve included one day of long 10-15 minute intervals with 5 minute rests, and one day of 60 second intervals with about 2 minute rests. Save your Anaerobic endurance and power workouts for the build period of your training. Anaerobic intervals could be 2-5 minutes long of max effort, power workouts are short max sprints (as opposed to sub-maximal sprints you might do in the base period).
Running:
Be careful including tons of speed with your running. Running is very high impact and high intensities are more risky with running than the other sports. I would definitely include some long hills in your base period run workouts. Long hills will strengthen your running muscles while keeping the impact low. Including some 200 meter near-sprints would also be a good idea. Running fast teaches your body good form. Don’t all out sprint these 200 repeats.
I wouldn’t do speed-work in your first couple weeks of base building. I would do 2-3 weeks of easy base training before including higher intensity efforts. Base training is basically training so you can train at higher intensities. Including some moderately high intensities gradually as you build your base will be really helpful once you get to your build period and really start upping the intensity.
