I’ve also written up my personal training plan. I’m not building a huge base this year because I’m focusing on sprint distance races. I’ve been working pretty consistently on my swim and strength training. Once January hits I’ll be starting my strength maintenance phase, lifting once a week. I’ve been lifting twice a week since August. It’ll be nice to get back to the swim bike and run.

Another thing I’ve learned about training during school is that my rest weeks need to be my test weeks. I haven’t included rest weeks in my training plan because rest weeks will be thrust upon me at random times according to my professors whims. I’ll plan on training consistently whenever school isn’t too busy, once school gets crazy I’ll take the rest week.

My number one goal is to get the course record at the IceBreaker and get as close to two hours at the 5150 Provo or Echo.

Click here to see the complete plan

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.

Rewind a little, my unlce Leo recently got diagnosed with a pretty intense cancer. I used to rent his basement and we are pretty good friends. This race was a fundraiser for his family. I was helping to set up cones before the race began and my famliy was asking me why I wasn’t racing. Even though my legs were already really sore, I was in jeans, and best of all I was wearing my 1990′s addias high tops which weight probably 1.8 pounds each.

I went to the start line and actually started getting really pumped. I don’t know why but if there is any kind of competition, in any circimstance, I need to prove something. I know I was wearing jeans and high tops and about 500 other people were racing but I had to do my best.

As the race got underway I immediately noticed how tight my calfs were. There were some good hills I pushed through. I got outsprinted at the finish line by some guy who refused to lose to someone in jeans. A decent time, 21:15, four minutes off my personal best. I took 16thish.

I really noticed how big of a difference shoe weight makes. Those old school high tops are sweet but really heavy (they did have good ankle support though). I definatly see the value in racing flats.

I have found that as I teach others it pushes me to a new level of knowledge. As I’m training these peers I research the training topics more and am more carful about structuring workouts for others than I often have been for myself.

For my freind who is training for Ironman, I give him swim help sessions about once a week. He is improving a lot but doesn’t necissary see it. As an outsider I can see his improvement more objectively.

For the BYU triathlon club it is harder to get a one on one approach, but I’m really excited about the general training plan I wrote. Most training plans are pretty simple and watered down. This plan is updated weekly with specific workouts and includes a pretty good overveiw of what the season will look like. You can find a link to it here.

Last week I tested my 500 freestyle and dropped ten seconds of my best time I had posted over the summer. Over the summer I was training for a 10K open water swim. I was swimming about 4 days a week 2-4 miles each workout. My 500 time was just under 7:0o min. Last week I went a 6:49. Considering I’m not swimming 10 miles a week like I was over the summer I’m pretty happy I’m faster than I was then. Here are some thing’s I’ve been doing to help.

Intermediate swimming class. It’s only an hour on Mondays and Wenesdays but the workouts are different from what I’m used to doing. There is a lot of speedwork and not too much endurance work. Probably the biggest help is the guy I share lanes with. He is about 5% faster than I am so the difference isn’t so much that we can’t swim together but I have to kill myself to almost keep up.

I’ve been swimming outside of class once or twice a week and focusing on longer endurance sets. One workout I did recently was 5X200 on the 3:00 minutes. A year and a half ago I would have really had to work to get one 200 under three minutes. I was finishing the 200′s with about ten seconds to spare.

I’ve altered my form a bit. I’ve dug my arms a little deeper in the water and rolled my shoulders a touch more. When I count strokes for a 25 it used to be around 15 now it’s closer to 14 and as low as 12. I did a 100 freestyle in 1:12, a fast but not max pace, and my stroke count was 48. That means even when I’m nearly sprinting my stroke count stays pretty low. Don’t assume that rolling more and digging my arms a bit deeper will work for you because it worked for me. I’m going on what I felt and what the long distance swim coach told me to do (I’ll ask for pointers every now and then when the swim team is getting ready for their workouts).

I’ve been weight training consistently and I feel that it helps. When my arm’s are sore after a hard swim it’s not a cardiovascular issue but a muscular one. If you’ve read my posts on weight training you know my philosophy. I’ve been getting stronger from lifting but with minimal weight gains.

I’ve noticed that as I’ve changed my stroke some I swim better but can’t hold it as long. This usually happens when you make a change to your form. You’ll have to give your muscles some time to get used the the slightly different movements you are making them do.

Last year my best swim was 22:15 for a 1500 meter in open water. I’m hoping to be about a minute faster than that this year. Last spring my best 500 was a 7:05 so I should be able to go about 45 sec faster now; by the time race season comes my swim will be pretty awesome.

From time to time I run into a runner or swimmer who will tell me they aren’t getting any faster despite running or swimming consistently a few days a week. You’ll see this all the time a runner will go out a few days a week and run 2-5 miles at pretty hard pace. These are the guys who get fit but not fast. They improve for the first few weeks then they don’t feel like they are getting faster then they burn out and quit. That’s the difference between specific training and general, “don’t get heart disease” exercise. This post isn’t about sport specificity its about getting specific-targeted workouts. I’ll explain what I it in general terms, scientific terms will be in another post.

In my circle of friends and triathlon club I see guys who go to the pool and do the same junk workout every time; I see runners going out and running 5-7 miles at a 6:45 per mile pace every workout. What these athletes don’t realize is they are almost wasting their time and these are often the good guys who have experience in high school sports. Sure, running is the best way to get better at running, but specific organized run workouts will produce far better results.  Albert Einstein described insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

You need to learn to focus your energy in the areas that will give you the best returns; it makes perfect sense to do biceps curls if you are into boxing or football but having big biceps in a triathlon will most likely eat up calories that ought to go elsewhere. Let me show you how you can break down your fitness in helpful ways.

There are different aspects to run fitness such as: endurance, speed, and even form. Swimming and cycling are the similar. You need to decide what aspect of your fitness you are going to work toward in each session. If you go and run 4 miles at a pretty hard pace you are kinda working your speed, kinda working your endurance and kinda doing nothing.

When you plan your workouts you should have some sort of variety in what areas of fitness you will work on. Endurance workouts are most effective if you really force yourself to avoid going too fast. Speed workouts are only effective if you are pushing yourself beyond that comfortably hard zone to the uncomfortably hard zone. Even tempo runs should be slightly beyond your comfortably hard zone. Basically the “comfortably hard” is the exact area you want to avoid unless you are Ironman training.

Very generally you need to have and endurance run, a tempo style run, and a speed workout each week. In the base period, where you focus on endurance, you might have a long endurance run, a shorter endurance run and a tempo run in the week. As you get closer to the race season you’ll do less endurance and more speed. You can follow a similar pattern on the bike and even swim. (See my post on best bike workouts for some ideas on what you can do to get specific, I’ll post a best run workouts and a best swim workouts soon.)

Stop wasting your workouts on general fitness, get specific! If you feel like you lack endurance you need to focus on building up longer and longer workouts at a slow (not even kinda fast) pace. If your weakness is strength then do power workouts like running hills, mashing big gears, or lifting weights. Don’t waste your time with general “don’t get heart disease” fitness if you are trying to race fast. If you are going to the gym don’t waste your time with biceps curls, go for the muscles that you will use when you race.

The process of improving any skill is virtually the same no matter what you are doing. When I learned to play classical guitar I would have to break down each song into specific sections. I was up until midnight last night doing calculus problems, focusing on one principle at a time. Fitness is no different. When Eddy Merckx said that riding lots was the reason he was winning a pro bike race each week he was teaching the principle of practice and patience. Eddy Merckx didn’t become the “Cannibal” cyclist who would destroy stage races by just going out for rides.

Recently I’ve started riding my bike up to work and back on Saturday’s. Its a 36ish mile round trip and even though I am just getting back into cycling I’ve felt really strong these last couple Saturdays. The only workouts I’ve been doing these last 4 weeks is weight training.

The first thing is I’ve kept all my workouts to three sets. Doing more than three sets takes too much time if you are going to rest between sets. I’ve increased the weight as I’ve gone as well. There are guys who when they lift they gain wait and muscle mass pretty easily; that isn’t me. I’m the guy who doesn’t gain weight or size almost ever but I do get stronger. For those easy gainers it is probably better to avoid weight training or do really light weights and high reps. For me, I figure I can do higher weights without getting heavy. So I’m doing three sets of 20 reps on each exercise.

I’ve changed a couple of the exercises as well. Instead of doing squats I’m switching to doing lunges. I take a couple 20 lbs dumbbells and lunge down to touch the dumbbells down on each side of my foot. I lunge straight forward, at a 45 degree angle out, then straight out. I do each an equal amount of time. I changed this because it works similar muscles and I feel like I can get more a muscular balance doing multi-directional lunges than I can with squats. Last summer when my IT band was shot, the physical therapist had me doing these kind of exercises to help strengthen my supporting muscles.

For my core strength I’ve done sit-ups with my feet raised and I twist across to touch my elbow to my knee each time. Keep your feet as high as your knees when you do these. For my back I lay on my belly and raise my legs. With my arms extended out in front of my (like superman) I raise my chest up (keep your legs ups) and swing my arms back to be even with my shoulders. Swinging the arms back will get your upper back and lifting will get your lower back. I’ve added 5lbs dumbbells to this exercise.

Last, I’ve been really diligent with eating 100-140 grams of protein each day. Your body can only handle about 20 grams or protein at a time so I have a couple protein shakes throughout the day, in between meals. The rest comes in my regular diet. I can tell it has made a good difference to be on top of my nutrition.

I’m lifting weights two days a week and will probably do this program until the end of September then I will transition to lifting heavier weights.

The other job I had was helping people out of the water on the slippery boat ramp. Its hard enough to come up out of the water after a hard swim (you can get wicked dizzy) but the ramp was covered in slipperly algae. I’ve seen quite a few people since the race and all of them have said something like “you helped me out” or “Thanks, I didn’t know that was you until I the the race pictures.” It was pretty tiring pulling close to 400 folks out but definatly worth it. I got to shout some time gaps to some freinds coming out of the water.

The reason why it was torture was I stinking love racing. It was killing me to see my freinds and rivals (can be the same person just depending on where we are) out there racing and performing so well. Volunteering always makes me want to go work out all the more. It’s true that triathlon is inspiring. I don’t usually get to into the hero stories you see each year on the Ironman broadcast but I love seeing people I know accomplish their goals.

Tomorrow I’ll be out on the Camp Yuba Triathlon course hassling people to keep going and to go faster. Its always good to give a little back.