Workout Wednesday - 11 December 2013

For some athletes, the pre-season has begun.  This is where athletes should be looking to have their base-build phase created and they should start working on their limiters and remediating any mechanical issues.  As I've said before, athletes too often neglect speed and speed endurance in their training.  Especially during their base period.  This is a great time to work on speed.

Most athletes that I know can easily swim the distance for an Olympic distance triathlon, or 70.3.  How fast they can swim that distance is the real question.  So today we're looking at another speed endurance / threshold set.  This is one of my favorites (after the set of descending 100's, that is).

I call these "Super 500's", and many of you have most likely seen these before.  As stated below these are done at 95% effort so we again focus on the ability to buffer, clear, and tolerate lactic acid build-up. The main set consists of 2 to 3 of these efforts and, depending on the athlete, three of these 500's will be more than enough.  Chances are, 2 of them will suffice for the majority of athletes.  This written for SCY and should last about 1:15 in duration.

Warm up:

300 easy

200 kick

12 x 50

1-6 on 1:00

7-12 on :50

.

Main set:

2/3 x 500 broken up as:

25-25-50-25-75-50-50-75-25-50-25-25

95% effort. :10 between each effort.

2 min after each 500

8 x 100 on 1:40 (or base + :30)
Descend 1-4, 5-8

Cool down:

200

3100 yards (with 2 x 500)

It's important to note that in any set that is speed-based (whether in the pool, or at the track) it's critical to maintain good form.  If you or your athlete can't maintain good and proper form during high intensity efforts, then the pace needs to come down a little bit until you can.

As always, if you have any questions or would like more information on any sets, please reach out to me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Triathlon, Diet, and Nutrition

Some time ago, I wrote about a presentation I gave to a triathlon club in Manhattan.  My goal that day was to discuss training, planning, periodization, and nutrition, and to handle any questions as they arose.  

As I said back in my

earlier post

, the volume of questions was nominal during the discussion on proper training methodologies, the differences between speed and speed endurance, etc. But 

what really got everyones attention was my statement that

 “triathlon is not a diet”.

I won't fully recap the previous post - you

can read it

 at your leisure.  The point here is that you need to fuel your body for training, recovery, and performance.  You need to eat carbs.  You need to eat. Period.

I know an individual who, 3 weeks before an Ironman race - his goal race of the year - had cut out carbs in an effort to attain his "ideal racing weight".  

Well, he lost weight. Mostly muscle mass, I'm guessing, as his body had no significant source of glycogen to fuel and recover.  He had a terrible race by his own admission, but he blamed it on other factors. I'm not saying that other factors didn't contribute, but I'm pretty confident that not eating correctly for the final three weeks of training was the primary culprit.

This took place a few years ago.  But that's not so far into the past that smart nutrition didn't exist.

The fact that you should be smart in how you eat is obvious.  But I say "you need to eat" as I hear far too many beginner, and age-group triathletes, talking about losing weight, cutting carbs, and cutting calories, in an attempt to get to their "race weight".

Incorporating a well balanced, whole-food based, nutritionally solid diet during your training is critical. You'll feel better.  You'll recover better.  You'll train better.  You'll most likely race better.  

And it just might make you revisit what your "ideal race weight" is.

Look at what the pro's eat.  They're careful about what they eat, yes, but they eat to train, recover, and race. They consume a large amount of calories to ensure they are providing themselves the fuel and nutrients to train and recover given the volume and intensity of their training.  

Depending on your own activity levels, you will most likely need more than the average amount of calories a day as well.

A well balanced, well thought-out, diet includes proteins, fats, and carbohydrates - always - with the percentages of each macro-nutrient changing throughout the year as you progress from off-season, through your race season.

My education as a coach, as well as my education in sports and performance nutrition, has really opened my eyes to what a proper pre-season, race-season, and off-season, diet can and should look like.  As we're beginning our 2014 season planning, I'm working with my athletes to discuss not only goals and races, but also how diet and nutrition is built into their training.

Are you talking with your coach about nutrition as part of your training?  If not, you should be.

Workout Wednesday - 04 December 2013

I thought I'd change up this weeks workout and focus on the warm-up.  I'll still include a full set at the end, but the warm-up is a key aspect to any workout (swimming, biking, or running) and should never be overlooked.  I tell all my athletes - swimmers, cyclists, or triathletes - that if you're crunched for time, skip the cool down.  Never skip the warm up.  A proper warmup not only gets you ready for the workout, but helps you avoid potential injury as well.

The warm-up ensures that your muscles are ready for the main set.  Just as you never simply show up at the track and go right into a set of 400's, the same applies here in the pool.  But what does one include in a good warm-up?

That depends on the individual athlete.  Drills or kick sets might be included.  Some individuals require more yards to become properly warmed up.  Bottom line: Your athletes needs should always be taken into consideration.

So what are good options and best practices for a solid warm-up?  Personally, I like an easy swim, followed by some sets that are tailored to the athlete individually.  For instance:

Athlete 1:
2 x 150 easy on :30 rest.
4 x 50 kick on :30 rest.  With or without fins.
6 x 50 drills (Belly-button swim, dog paddle, Tarzan) on the 1:15 / 1:30.  Shortie fins are good here.
4 x 100 build up last 50 on 2:00

Athlete 2:
300-400 easy swim.
6 x 50 kick on 1:15
8 x 100 on 1:40 descending 1-4, 5-8.

Athlete 3:
400 easy.
6 x 50 kick on 1:15
4 x (75 - 100) on 1:15 and 1:35

The goal of all of these warm up sets is to get the athlete ready for the main set(s) of the day.  And yes, I said "warm up sets".  A warm up isn't just the easy swim at the beginning of the practice - it's multiple sets, incorporating all the aspects required to prepare the athlete physiologically.  This isn't to say that the warm up sets are all easy either.  I see them as a progression - building up intensity where prudent and allowing the athletes to not only get a training benefit from the set, but to also ensure they're ready to move on to the higher intensity portion of the day.

Things can look different during the warm up due not only to differences in individual athletes, but also on the focus in the main set (speed, speed endurance / threshold, or aerobic.)  You would then build your warm-up sets to prepare the athlete for what's coming.  For instance: building up intensity gradually during the pre-sets so the athlete is primed and ready for a speed focused main set.  Or, building up some distances, set by set, so they're fully warmed up for a longer endurance workout.

Additionally, if the athlete requires some work on mechanics, then drills would always be included in the beginning.

With that said, here's a sample workout that I gave one of my athletes last week.  He's a strong athlete, but we're working on some stroke mechanics at the moment.  He has a great aerobic engine, but his top-end speed and speed endurance is a limiter.  This set was tailored for him.  It's SCY, lasts about an hour or so.  The yardage is a little lower, but the quality and intensity is high in the primary main set.

Warm up:
2 x 150 easy on :30 rest.

10 x 50 drills (Two each of: Belly-button swim, dog paddle, Tarzan, fingertip drag, One-arm swim with kick-board) with shortie fins on :45 rest.

Main set:
6 x (3 x 25, 75)
25's on :45 max effort.  75 on 1:00
1 minute extra rest after every two cycles.

5 x 100 pull with buoy and paddles on 1:45

Cool down:
200 easy.

2,400 yards.

Should you have any questions about this set - or any other set that I've published - please feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Workout Wednesday - 27 November 2013

We've been focusing on speed and speed endurance over the past couple of weeks, so this week we bring the heart rate down a bit back into Zone 3 as we focus on aerobic endurance.  And remember, Zone 3 isn't necessarily easy.  A high Z3 heart rate can still require a good effort and output.

Where speed and speed endurance help with overall pace, as well as the ability to clear lactic acid, aerobic endurance is the ability to do the distance.  Everyone needs this. Even if you know you can swim a specific race distance, it's always good to add an endurance set.  After working on speed and speed endurance, a good endurance-based test set is a great way to gauge improvement and regression rates.

I like to ensure that I build out each week to include an aerobic, speed, and speed endurance based workout.  Then, you can double up on whatever specificity is required based on the needs and limiters of your athletes.

This workout is written for SCY and runs about 1:30 in duration.  The times here were targeted for a lane at my swim club where the base 100 times are - at an aerobic effort - 1:15-1:20.  So in this instance you would get about :30-:35 seconds of rest, on average, between each effort in the main set.  Be sure to have your athletes (or yourself) check their heart rate during the rest interval to ensure it's not getting into their threshold zone.  (Just have them count for 6 seconds and multiply their HR count by 10....or just add a zero to the number.)

Warm up:

300 easy.

4 x (50-75-100)

On :50, 1:15, 1:40

8 x 150 pull on 2:15

Main set: 

3 x 300 on 4:20 / 4:30
500 on 7:05
3 x 300 on 4:20 / 4:30
500 on 7:05

Cool down:

200

4400 yards.

When I'm doing longer aerobic sets, I like to mix up the distances during that set so the athletes don't get too bored, as well as changing the duration of the aerobic output. Granted, on occasion there will be a longer set of 500's or 800's, but I don't throw these in too frequently.

Should you have any questions about this set - or any other set that I've published - please feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Workout Wednesday - 20 November 2013

Last week the focus was on speed.  Going hand-in-hand with speed, is speed endurance.  What's speed endurance?  Well, to put it as simply as possible, it's the ability to maintain a higher intensity over a longer distance.  Most everyone who races Olympic distance races has the ability to swim 1,500 meters.  The question isn't "can you?" but rather "how fast?" Being able to carry more speed over a longer distance is massively helpful - especially if you race ITU.

Workouts of this nature help ensure that, as you make the turn at the half-way point of the swim, you have the ability to maintain your pace and keep up the intensity. The work-rest ratio here doesn't allow for a lot of rest as this is all about being able to improve your lactic acid clearance and tolerance.

This workout was written for long course meters (LCM) and it's about 1 hour to 1:15 in duration.  If you don't have access to a LCM pool, you can easily do this in a SCY pool as it's based completely on your base 100 time.

The key here on the main set is to know your base 100 time, as the goal is to maintain that time (say, 1:20) but have less rest between each send-off as the set progresses.  In this example, if your base 100 meter time is 1:20, then your first round of 6 x 100 would be on the 1:40, the next round on the 1:35, and the last round on the 1:30.

Warm up
300m easy.
.
10 x 50 on 1:10
Build 25m, maintain for 10m, easy for last 15m
.
6 x 100 on 2:00
75m hard, 25 easy.

Main set
3 x (6 x 100)
First round: Base time + :20 secs
Second round: Base time + :15 secs
Third round: Base time + :10 secs
1 minute rest between each round.

Cool down
100 / 200m easy.

3300 meters.