This week’s episode focuses on season planning; how to structure your general and specific preparation blocks; how to plan your A race and supporting races; how to approach training during the holidays; how to incorporate early-season racing and training camps into your season plan; how to think about planning for being a lifelong athlete; and many other topics that we will cover in future podcasts!
Extended show notes:
It’s Taylor Swift’s birthday! And the first episode of our podcast
Context -- situate this conversation in the time of year
How do you handle the holidays? Take the pressure off in the context of changing schedules and variables; enjoy time with family; don’t worry about hitting all workouts perfectly, as goal is to hit the ground running on January 1st
Looking for 80% compliance at this time of year
Time to purchase necessary equipment and gym membership
Get familiar with TrainingPeaks, Zwift, with your bike trainer, etc
Big picture principles -- Ironman training
2 phases: general preparation and specific preparation
General preparation + examples
A ton of Zone 2 base work. 80/20. Very easy. Many athletes are not even swimming now.
Additional spice goes from least specific to most specific: Neuromuscular, VO2s, Threshold to Tempo to specific race watts/paces. Shorter intervals to longer intervals.
Specific preparation + examples
Last 12 weeks is key, most specific to your race. What you do in the last 12 weeks has the most impact on your race.
Big days: nail fueling, hydration, metabolic adaptations, gear, mindset, etc. Example big days 12, 8, and 4 weeks out from race day.
Consistent routine, less travel, good recovery, family is on board. Live a boring, steady life. Don’t let yourself get sick.
If racing an Ironman, would you race during prep period?
Sprints and Olympics OK during specific period
Race mindset can be helpful. Example: Cohasset Tri.
But do not race in the month leading up to IM.
Why is it a problem to race long leading up to IM? Example: 70.3 six weeks out from IM. Takes too long to recover. If you do a one week taper and two week recovery, you lose three weeks of specialized training.
Early season 70.3: March, April can be OK. Example: 70.3 in Florida.
Should you go to camp? When? Specific blocks?
Coast ride // CA camps Jan-Feb
May include specific single sport training blocks i.e., run focus, bike camp in a warm location, etc.
How about if your goal is shorter races?
General to specific, but specific looks different, affords more opportunities to race. If you do sprints and Olympics, race a LOT; 70.3 could do 2-3… etc.
Recovery is much shorter for shorter races. If you love to race, shorter races are the way to go.
Life planning, beyond season planning? Shorter distances at younger ages into longer distances at older ages. We don’t recommend that young athletes are signing up for Ironman-distance events (e.g. while still in college).
Katie’s triathlon progression -- 5-year development period.
Being an endurance athlete is about being patient on micro and macro levels. Our goal is lifelong athletes with a healthy approach to sport. Joy, health, and community out of sport.